Showing results by publisher "L.A. Theatre Works" in All Categories

It's London, 1879, and the hapless members of the Explorers Club must confront their most lethal threat yet: the admission of a woman into their hermetically-sealed ranks. But the intrepid Phyllida Spotte-Hume turns out to be the least of their troubles, in this hilarious farce starring members of the original Broadway cast.

Before Lucy and Desi became America’s favorite television couple, Lucille Ball developed her show-business-aspiring housewife character from 1948-1951 on CBS Radio. Some of TV’s most popular sitcom stars reprise two episodes from the radio series that inspired I Love Lucy. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Samantha Bennett, Jeff Conaway, Harold Gould, Marilu Henner, Joe Liss and Alley Mills.

Masterfully written by one of America’s most lauded playwrights, this deeply human story unfolds in three hotel rooms in Morocco, the Virgin Islands, and Oaxaca, Mexico, as a married couple reflect on their lives as players in the game of international business. A devastating tour-de-force of humor, tragedy, and penetrating insight from one of America’s premier playwrights. An L.A. Theatre Works performance featuring Christine Lahti and Ron Rifkin.

In the high-stakes world of cancer research, Dr. William Shumway has just made a stunning breakthrough. But is it really the long-sought cure for cancer? Despite the young scientist’s reservations, a senior mentor pressures him to trumpet his findings to the world. Part medical drama, part suspense-filled thriller, Secret Order turns its microscope on bioethics, money and power.

In this classic farce, a young man pretends to be a war hero to impress a pretty girl. As his lies progress, so do his troubles - with hilarious results. Playwright Pierre Corneille’s comedy of manners is considered a groundbreaking work that influenced contemporaries such as the young Molière. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production, starring Tara Lynne Barr, Janine Barris, Sue Cremin, Danny Mann, Christopher Neame, John Sloan, Mark Sullivan, and Matthew Wolf Includes a conversation about Corneille and French drama with Larry F. Norman of the University of Chicago.

In the wake of increasing concern over brain trauma in professional athletes, Patrick Link has crafted a story about a retired NFL linebacker who must deal with a family tragedy and his own suffering because of the violence of his chosen sport. Includes a conversation about brain injuries and sports with Dr. Robert Cantu, the Senior Advisor to the NFL Head, Neck, and Spine Committee. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance.

Diane Samuels' play about families, secrets and survival takes us to the days of the impending Holocaust. As conditions deteriorated in Germany in the 1930s, many tried in vain to escape. But thanks to a British humanitarian effort, about 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and neighboring countries were relocated to live with families in the United Kingdom, while their parents stayed behind. This passage to freedom became known as Kindertransport. The audio drama stars Jane Kaczmarek and Susan Sullivan, and includes a conversation with Kindertransport survivor Hilda Fogelson.

Three young women share an apartment in New York during the summers of 1967 and 1968. But as the Vietnam War begins to exact its toll on their generation, they must decide whether to stand for their country or their loved ones. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Barbara Bain, David Birney, Beth Broderick, Anthony Edwards, Megan Gallagher, Peter Gregory, Patricia Sill, and Wendell Sweda. Directed by Valerie Landsburg. Recorded before a live audience in November 1992.

The price of accidental fame is hashed out in this comedy about a famous bank robber and the clerk who foiled his biggest heist. Ayckbourn’s 1988 play anticipates the popularity - and absurdity - of reality TV. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Rosalind Ayres as Jill Rillington; Jane Carr as Trudy Parks; Kenneth Danziger as Douglas Beechey; Martin Jarvis as Vic Parks; Ian Oglivy as Kenny Collins; and Yeardley Smith as Sharon Giffin. Directed by Robert Robinson. Recorded before a live audience in Santa Monica, California in February 1994.

Actual events during the Cold War inspired this thriller that takes place in a suburb of London during the autumn and winter of 1960-1961. Loyalty, duty, and friendship collide when the Jacksons slowly discover the Krogers, their neighbors and cherished friends, are not what they appear. A gripping play that may leave you wondering exactly what it is those nice people next door are really up to.

In a thought-provoking new play, 13-year-old Lucy, who suffers from autism, moves in with her estranged, misanthropic mother. Having lived her entire life with her father, Lucy, as well as her mom, struggle with all the difficulties of such an arrangement.

Kelsey Grammer portrays J. Edgar Hoover in this irreverent and hilarious musical spoof about one of the most powerful men in 20th century America. As head of the FBI, Hoover was privy to the secrets in the lives of many men. Now you learn about his secret love live, his need for personal privacy, and his obsession with knowing the private affairs of others.

In 1943, Los Angeles exploded in the infamous Zoot Suit riots, provoked by the Sleepy Lagoon murder case that railroaded young Chicano gang members who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Valdez masterfully synthesizes fact and fiction, using the case to examine Chicano Zoot Suit culture of the '40s, prejudices, the role of the media in the judicial system, and Latino family culture.

The first revised and updated version of this 1970s cult classic by Studs Terkel. A rousing musical with a cast of 20, Working is for anyone who has ever punched a clock, a cow or a supervisor - or wanted to.

Starring Anne Heche and Jared Harris, the hilarious Henceforward... is one of Alan Ayckbourn’s most unusual works. In the near-future, a composer with creative block tries to reunite with his estranged wife and daughter, hoping their reconciliation will free his mind to create his greatest musical masterpiece. But his own erratic impulses hinder his journey to creative freedom.

After helping to murder Becket, King Henry II is haunted by memories of their passionate friendship. Appointing Becket as Archbishop was the King's greatest mistake, for Becket finds his allegiance shifting from king and country to God and Church.

Based on National Book Award-winner Joyce Carol Oates' novella about the Chappaquiddick scandal, this tragic and beautiful new opera enthralls as a handsome Senator uses power to enchant, seduce, and carelessly destroy.

A country house weekend goes haywire when the guests and their hosts play a game of romantic musical chairs. A most delightful madcap comedy.

An exhilarating epic featuring the award winning Antaeus Company (Los Angeles' Classical Theater Ensemble) with 16 actors portraying more than 50 characters. London in the 1830s, the most colorful and chaotic city in the world, and young journalist Charles Dickens is uncovering a dark conspiracy of arson and murder. A fanciful look at the man before he became the iconic author we know today.

Eugene O’Neill’s tale of Ephraim Cabot, greedy and hard like the stone walls that surround his farm, the family patriarch brings home his new young bride, Abbie. His grown sons dissaprove; one leaves but the other stays to fight for the family fortune. What follows is a tragedy of epic proportions.