Announcing: Blank Theatre Company’s ‘The Temperamentals’ Cast Set; Rehearsals Underway; Previews Begin April 9

CAST ANNOUNCED AND REHEARSALS HAVE BEGUN
FOR THE BLANK THEATRE COMPANY’S WEST COAST PREMIERE OF THE TEMPERAMENTALS BY JON MARANS
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MATTHEWS

FINAL PRODUCTION OF THE BLANK’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON WILL FEATURE ERICH BERGEN, DENNIS CHRISTOPHER,
PATRICK SCOTT LEWIS, MARK SHUNOCK AND JOHN TARTAGLIA

PREVIEWS BEGIN APRIL 9; OPENING SET FOR APRIL 16
AT 2nd STAGE THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD

Casting is complete and rehearsals have begun for The Blank Theatre Company’s final production of its 20th anniversary season, the West Coast premiere of The Temperamentals. Directed by Michael Matthews, The Temperamentals will begin preview performances on Saturday, April 9, 2011 and is set to open on Saturday, April 16 at 8pm. The engagement will run through Sunday, May 22.

The cast, in alphabetical order, is Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for Reprise, Venice at the Kirk Douglas Theatre), BAFTA Award-winner Dennis Christopher (Deadwood, Profiler, and returning to The Blank where his performance as Alan Turing in Breaking The Code won him LA Weekly and LADCC Awards), Patrick Scott Lewis (American Dreams, Zodiac), Mark Shunock (Timon in The Lion King), and John Tartaglia (Tony Award nominee for Avenue Q; the original cast of Shrek The Musical). Director Michael Matthews has worked extensively on Broadway, internationally, and in Los Angeles and Chicago. Recent highlights in Los Angeles include the critically acclaimed productions of Haram Iran!, The Women of Brewster Place, and Take Me Out at Celebration Theatre; Dead End at the Ahmanson Theatre, and The Cherry Orchard (starring Annette Bening) at the Mark Taper Forum. He has also directed The Jazz Age and The Santaland Diaries for The Blank.

In 1950s Los Angeles, tired of police harassment, back alley bars and living in fear, a few brave souls set out to change their world and claim their civil rights. In a time when nothing could be spoken in the open, notorious communist Harry Hay and cultural icon Rudi Gernreich fell in love while building a movement. This is their story. “Temperamental” was code for “homosexual,” part of a secret survival language created by gay men in the pre-Stonewall United States.

Of the recent smash off-Broadway production, The New York Times called The Temperamentals “Intellectual, emotional, and sexual.” “Combines savvy context and ascending flights of bittersweet fabulousness,” said New York Newsday. And the Associated Press called it, “Fascinating, entertaining, and emotionally affecting.” Playwright Jon Marans is well known for his play Old Wicked Songs, which was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, and has been produced throughout the United States and translated and produced in a dozen countries around the world. Other plays by Marans include A Strange and Separate People, Child Child, and Jumping for Joy.

The design team for The Temperamentals includes set by Kurt Boetcher, lighting by Cameron Zetty, costumes by Lauren Tyler, and sound by Warren Davis. Matt Wolpe serves as music director, and producers are Daniel Henning, Noah Wyle, Matthew Graber and Angel Parker. The production stage manager is Marcedes Clanton.

The Temperamentals begins previews on Saturday, April 9 at 8pm. Previews will continue on Sunday, April 10 at 2pm and Tuesday, April 12 through Friday, April 15 at 8pm. Opening night is Saturday, April 16 at 8:00. Admission is $26 for previews and ranges from $26-$30 for regular performances. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased by visiting www.TheBlank.com, or by calling (323) 661-9827. A speakeasy-style bar will be open to ticket holders at the Dragonfly Club (adjacent to the 2nd Stage) before evening performances, as well as at intermission.

The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre is located at 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard (at Wilcox), in Hollywood. Secured valet parking is available.

Photographs:
The cast of “The Temperamentals,” L to R: Erich Bergen, Dennis Christopher, John Tartaglia, Patrick Scott Lewis.  Missing: Mark Shunock. PHOTO BY MATTHEW GRABER.
L to R: Dennis Christopher, Erich Bergen and John Tartaglia during the first read-through of “The Temperamentals” (The Blank Theatre Company production) on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. PHOTO BY MATTHEW GRABER.

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03-02-11

Announcing: Submissions Now Being Accepted for The Blank Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights Festival

THE BLANK THEATRE COMPANY’S
19TH ANNUAL NATIONWIDE
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

The Blank Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights Festival is now seeking submissions nationwide from playwrights 19 years of age and younger. Submission deadline is March 15, 2011. Winning plays will be presented by professional actors and directors from June 2-26, 2011 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, CA.

Now in its 19th year, The Blank Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights Festival is a nationwide competition that produces the work of eight to twelve teenaged playwrights each year. Since 1993, the festival has produced 208 plays by playwrights 19 and younger from over 25 states.

Each winning play will have five performances in a weekend run. The productions are made possible in part by grants from The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Plum Foundation, The John and Marilyn Wells Family Trust, Los Angeles County Arts Commission and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Hollywood’s Blank Theatre Company has had its work featured on MSNBC, CNN Showbiz Today, Entertainment Tonight, BBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, NPR, in Entertainment Weekly magazine, and in the Financial Times of London.

“Every year I am amazed at the depths to which these teenagers go in their writing. They are brave, bold and uninhibited,“ said Noah Wyle (star of television’s ER), Artistic Producer at The Blank. “The winners are thrilled to see their plays presented by professionals, but these professionals are often given a great gift in return: a renewed sense of artistic purpose. We learn from the playwrights as they learn from us!”

The rules for the festival competition are as follows: playwrights must be 19 years of age or younger on March 15, 2011; original plays and musicals can be any length, on any subject. Scripts must be legible; pages must be numbered and unbound; submissions must be postmarked or emailed by March 15, 2011. There is a limit of three (3) plays per playwright. All plays must include a cover sheet with the play’s title, playwright’s name, date of birth, school (if any), mailing address, contact phone number, e-mail address and the play’s production history (if any). Visit www.YoungPlaywrights.com for further information.

Each playwright whose work is accepted will be assigned a mentor: professional writers who will help the youngsters hone their work for performance. Past mentors have included Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally, Tony Award-nominated composer Michael John LaChiusa, writer Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace), Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), television and film director Garry Marshall, among many others. The playwrights then experience the thrill of seeing their plays performed by industry professionals in staged workshop productions.

Past festivals have featured well known actors such as Jeremy Sisto, Chris Pine, Noah Wyle, Molly Shannon, Tiffani Thiessen, Michael Welch (The Twilight Saga), Heather Morris (Glee) Nicholas Brendon and Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Tom Lenk, Josh Radnor and Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother), Sherri Shepherd (The View), Kelly Lynch, Debra Messing, Mark Valley and Constance Zimmer (Boston Legal), Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), Tony Award-winning actress Daisy Eagan, Emmy Award-winner Edward Asner, and many others.

In past years, some winning plays have gone on to have a life on The Blank’s mainstage for full-scale production. Should this happen, the playwright is treated as a full professional, from signing an option agreement to being paid royalties for his/her play. The Why, a play by 19-year-old Victor Kaufold, received a Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award nomination for ‘Best Writing – World Premiere’ as a result of The Blank’s production. Kaufold is the youngest nominee in his category in 21 years of Ovation Award history.

For more information, visit the festival’s web site at www.YoungPlaywrights.com or The Blank Theatre Company’s website at www.TheBlank.com.

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01-19-11

Announcing: The Blank Theatre Company Announces Final Production of 20th Anniversary Season

THE BLANK THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES FINAL PRODUCTION
OF ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
THE TEMPERAMENTALS BY JON MARANS
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MATTHEWS

WEST COAST PREMIERE BEGINS PREVIEWS APRIL 9, 2011
AT THE BLANK’S 2nd STAGE THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD

The Blank Theatre Company (Daniel Henning, Founding Artistic Director) has announced the final production of its 20th anniversary season, the West Coast premiere of The Temperamentals by Jon Marans. Directed by Michael Matthews, The Temperamentals will begin preview performances on Saturday, April 9, 2011 and is set to open on Saturday, April 16 at 8pm. The engagement will run through Sunday, May 22.

“Temperamental” was code for “homosexual” in the early 1950s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The Temperamentals tells the story of two men – the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich – as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the pre-Stonewall United States.

Of the 2009 off-Broadway production, The New York Times called The Temperamentals “Intellectual, emotional, and sexual.” “Combines savvy context and ascending flights of bittersweet fabulousness,” said New York Newsday. And the Associated Press called it, “Fascinating, entertaining, and emotionally affecting.”

Playwright Jon Marans is well known for his play Old Wicked Songs, which was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, and has been produced throughout the United States and translated and produced in a dozen countries around the world. Other plays by Marans include A Strange and Separate People, Child Child, and Jumping for Joy. Director Michael Matthews is currently represented by the critically acclaimed, sold out hit Take Me Out at Celebration Theatre. Other L.A. credits include The Women of Brewster Place – The Musical, Haram! Iran!, Three Tall Women, Porcelain, Stupid Kids, Beautiful Thing, and The Bacchae (which was recently seen at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival). On Broadway, he served as assistant director on Butley. Previously for The Blank, Matthews directed The Jazz Age and The Santaland Diaries (in both 2009 and 2010).

Tickets will go on sale February 1 and may be purchased by calling (323) 661-9827 or online at www.TheBlank.com. The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre is located at 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard (at Wilcox), in Hollywood. Secured valet parking is available.

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01-04-11