Showing results by publisher "L.A. Theatre Works" in Drama & Plays

They may go to the same school, but misfits Solomon, Diwata and Howie have never met and their teachers and peers just don't take them seriously - until a sex scandal involving one of their teachers brings them together. Soon they realize that three voices are stronger than one. And since their school has no speech and debate squad, maybe this is their chance to be heard at last - by the school and even the world.

A series of short comedic works from playwright David Ives, with subjects ranging from the Lindbergh baby to chimps typing literary classics. The title work is a more serious, nostalgic look at two generations of apartment dwellers who meet in a time warp. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Samantha Bennett, Jane Brucker, Ian Gomez, Arye Gross, Richard Kind, Dinah Manoff, Nia Vardalos and Tom Virtue. Directed by Ron West. Recorded before a live audience in June, 1995.

New York dilettante Marjorie Taub, a middle-aged doctor's wife, is hooked on culture - mornings at the Whitney, afternoons at MOMA, evenings at BAM. Plunged into a mid-life crisis of Medea-like proportions, she's shaken out of her lethargy by the reappearance of a fascinating childhood friend.

Featuring some of the entertainment industry's most prolific writers and talents, this hilarious production is sure to soothe anyone with wit who has suffered the trauma and humiliation of being fired. Is getting fired the best or worst thing that has happened to you? In this new collection, some of the more talented individuals in the entertainment industry take a stab at that question by sharing their hilarious stories.

Macon and Bess are two mail-order brides, lured to the West of the 1860s by the promise of new beginnings through marriage to men they've never met. While waiting for their respective husbands-to-be, one bubbling with optimism, the other mousy and plain, the two women become instant best friends. As Abundance follows the two women through their friendship and adventures for the next 25 years, this Western epic unearths the dark underside of American mythology.

In this Pulitzer Prize finalist by award winning playwright Gina Gionfriddo, Suzanna sets up Max, her best friend, on a blind date with her husband's co-worker, the mysterious Becky Shaw. What follows is a series of cataclysmic events that forever changes all their lives. Mixing sharp wit and humor with the taut suspense of a psychological thriller, the critically acclaimed Becky Shaw is a comedy of romantic errors that will keep audiences guessing. Directed by Bart DeLorenzo. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in February, 2011.

The blowhards, the know-it-alls, the scrupulous and the impecunious are all targets for Shaw's incisive wit in his classic satire of the medical profession. A well-respected physician is forced to choose whom he shall save: a bumbling friend or the ne'er-do-well husband of the woman he loves.

A series of short comic vignettes from playwright David Ives. In the title work, two houseflies try to make the most out of their brief time on earth. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Fran Adams, Ed Begley Jr., Shannon Cochran, Evan Gore, Arye Gross, and Victoria Principal. Directed by Ron West. Recorded before a live audience in March, 1998.

Broadway legend Elaine Stritch stars as author Lillian Hellman in Peter Feibleman’s beguiling account of Hellman’s tumultuous relationship across several decades with a man 25 years her junior, played by Oscar nominee Bruce Davison.

In his brilliantly imagined, Obie Award-winning show, Roger Guenveur Smith explores the life of the controversial Black Panther leader through a series of improvisations based on Newton's own words and writings.

A galaxy of friends, lovers, relatives and theatre acolytes sparkles around stage star Garry Essendine like bubbles in fine champagne. While Garry struggles to plan his upcoming trip to Africa, his elegant London flat is invaded by a love-struck ingenue, an adulterous producer, and a married seductress - not to mention Garry's estranged wife, Liz, and the memorable Roland Maule, an aspiring playwright who is quite, quite mad.

Director David Fishelson transforms Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot into spellbinding drama that illuminates both titanic novels. In The Brothers Karamazov, the passionate brothers spring to life, led by their roué of a father ¿ who entertains himself by drinking, womanizing, and pitting his three sons against each other. The men have plenty to fight over, including the alluring Grushenka.

A Chekhovian comedy from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lillian Hellman about the sad and funny frailties of human existence. As the summer of 1949 draws to a close, a group of middle-aged friends are gathering for their annual retreat at a genteel Southern resort. An acquaintance from the past thrusts himself into the yearly gathering, forcing them to re-examine their mundane yet seemingly idyllic existence, the opportunities they’ve lost, and the lives that have passed them by.

Nell Ryder is a sardonic and urbane school teacher transplanted to small-town Michigan in Joyce Carol Oates’ play. But when she gets into a dispute with an aggrieved parent, Nell finds herself accused of impropriety with one of her adolescent charges.

After Vladimir Lenin’s death, Stalin orders two Jewish scientists to preserve Lenin’s body for all time. If they succeed, the rewards will be considerable. If not, it’s the gulag - or worse. Based on real events, Vern Theissen’s nimble dark comedy exposes the absurdities of Soviet life under Stalin.

A crumbling convent school is on the verge of insolvency, when a young postulant begins to display strange heavenly powers. And when a dashing film executive arrives to buy the rights to her story, the Reverend Mother refuses to put profits over prayer. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance.

Playwright/performer Charlayne Woodard is a force of nature, and in The Night Watcher she finds a new way to explore her "mother" nature. Woodard describes her life as half of a childless couple, finding herself mysteriously drawn to second-hand parenting. With wisdom and wit, Woodward's acclaimed one-woman show strikes a chord for the longing of motherhood. Written and performed by Charlayne Woodard. Directed by Stuart K. Robinson. Recorded by L.A. Theatre Works before a live audience.

Forty-Two Stories is a comedy about life in a high-rise condominium. A motley assortment of staff members struggles with survival in the face of urban pandemonium - and with the fact that one of them may be breaking into the units and stealing women's underwear.

With wisdom, humor and insight, The Busy World Is Hushed examines the contradictions we find in our faith, our families and ourselves. Hannah, a widowed Episcopal minister, is hoping to translate a long-lost gospel when she is challenged by both her scholarly assistant and her wayward gay son. But when family secrets are revealed, only the intercession of a stranger can help Hannah find peace.

The Tony Award-winning playwright and creator of TV's MASH has fashioned a wickedly funny satire about the Iran-Contra Senate hearings and their participants. A top-notch Hollywood cast, headed by Walter Matthau, brings this scathing comedy to life.