Jane Wagner News

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced a special one-night-only concert by Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter/actor Levi Kreis in his show Broadway at the Keys. 

S/HE & ME chronicles the unvarnished, complex, desperate, and often hilariously wacky story of Billings' life, centering on the transition from the young Scott to the show-stopping Alexandra. She carries the story forward through story and plenty of songs, all of which represent the various life lessons she has learned along with way about herself, from learning to deal with feeling like a girl in a boy's body, falling in love at 16 with the woman who becomes her wife, to now living her life as an openly transgender woman. I learned more in this one evening's entertainment than I ever have leading any articles on the subject, especially when the fiercely flamboyant star stripped down to reveal her body as well as her soul to the audience.

New York City burlesque performer, producer, and porn star Chris Harder is known for exhilarating audiences and leaving them breathless. This week, he performs in the world premiere of his debut solo-play #BIGBRIGHTSTAR. To get the skinny on the show, we caught up with Harder for a chat.

The Hollywood Museum is thrilled to announce its 2017 salute to the LGBTQ community's contributions to the entertainment industry. The fourth annual "REAL to REEL: Portrayals and Perceptions of LGBTQs in Hollywood" exhibit, in partnership with Los Angeles City Council member Mitch O'Farrell, is an educational, entertaining and informative retrospective of LGBTQ images in film, TV, new digital platforms featuring costumes, props, photos, and iconic imagery all telling the story of the milestones and influence that LGBTQ characters and plot lines have had in Hollywood from early stereotypes to modern-day representations.

Running in rep with WITHERING HEIGHTS, is the one-woman comedic show THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE by Jane Wagner featuring Monique Gaffney and directed by Dr. Rachel Hastings. Ms. Gaffney plays 12 unique characters including Trudy, a bag lady who advises extraterrestrials about life on earth. The role is a tour de force, a one-woman rocket that propels the audience straight into the stratosphere while remaining hilariously grounded in our common human experience.

???????Rainbow Theatre Project Producing Artistic Director H. Lee Gable and Managing Director Michael Kelley announce the 2017/18 season, which will include two readings and two productions, one of which will be a part of the 2018 Women's Voices Theater Festival. During Rainbow Theatre Project's fifth season, the company will be in residence at the District of Columbia Arts Center.

Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced that as part of the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center will present Blackbird by David Harrower.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced the one-night-only return of Julie Goldman in her new comedy extravaganza It's a Miracle on Saturday, May 13, at 8pm.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced a limited engagement of S/He & Me: A Theatrical Cabaret, written and performed by Alexandra Billings, star of Amazon Prime's hit show Transparent.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced it will be welcoming the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles (TCLA) to its Renberg Theatre for the first time. The musical ambassadors will perform two nights only, Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8, at 8pm. TCLA will perform planet Earth's first staged concert production of the full The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie. As Bowie intended, additional hit songs will complete the entire musical saga.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced a special, one night only performance by two legendary drag icons, Jackie Beat and Sherry Vine, in Battle of the Bitches. On Sunday, March 26 at 7pm at the Center's Renberg Theatre, the two formidable queens will go head to head in a no-holds-barred, anything goes, musical melee.

In response to overwhelming popular demand, the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced the return of the legendary Miss Coco Peru in her latest solo show, A Gentle Reminder: Miss Coco Peru's Guide to a Somewhat Happy Life. There will be two performances only at the Renberg Theatre today and Saturday, February 10 & 11 at 8pm.

In response to overwhelming popular demand, the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced the return of the legendary Miss Coco Peru in her latest solo show, A Gentle Reminder: Miss Coco Peru's Guide to a Somewhat Happy Life. There will be two performances only at the Renberg Theatre on Friday and Saturday, February 10 & 11 at 8pm.

Bringing together notable local actors, directors and playwrights, they have formed a new theatre company called THE ROUSTABOUTS. A non-profit San Diego theatre company dedicated to entertaining, educating, and inspiring audiences in southern California by producing fresh visions of classics, well-known contemporary plays and new works.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced a special one-night-only return of the internationally acclaimed singing string quartet Well-Strung. The four performers, who specialize in pairing classical compositions by Mozart, Bach, and Aaron Copland with pop hits by Green Day, Adele, and Taylor Swift, will perform at the Renberg Theatre for one show only on Friday, January 13, 2017 at 8pm.

One thing is perfectly clear. Jane Wagner's perspective of the 80s, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is a brilliant piece of writing. When Lily Tomlin performed it in the 80s (the film version was released in 1991) as a one-woman play, portraying all twelve characters, the charm of the play was watching Tomlin's ingenious skill. She flawlessly slipped in and out of all the characters, female and male, without changing makeup, hair or clothes. It was a phenomenal performance. Now thirty years later, Wagner and Tomlin have adapted the work for a cast of 12 actors under the direction of Ken Sawyer, which opened in October and has been extended until December 11 only at the LGBT Center on the Ed Gould Plaza at McCadden Place, Hollywood.

La MaMa just celebrated its 55th season with a singular Gala Event like no other last night, November 10, at La MaMa Annex (66 E.4 St.). The Grammy-winning, co-author of the Tony-winning musical THE COLOR PURPLE and legendary party-hostess Allee Willis threw one of her renowned bashes, created especially as a benefit for La MaMa: BADEYA BABY! or HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THE THEATRE. 

La MaMa celebrates its 55th season with a singular Gala Event like no other tonight, November 10, at La MaMa Annex (66 E.4 St.) when the Grammy-winning, co-author of the Tony-winning musical THE COLOR PURPLE and legendary party-hostess Allee Willis throws one of her renowned bashes, created especially as a benefit for La MaMa: BADEYA BABY! or HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THE THEATRE.

Allee Willis will host Gala 55 at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and perform her live show, 'Ba-de-ya Baby! Or: How I Learned to Love the Theatre.'

Center Theatre Group received submissions from 76 local theatre companies from North Hollywood to San Pedro, Topanga to Sierra Madre for the inaugural Block Party: Celebrating Los Angeles Theatre at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Block Party will highlight some of the remarkable work being done on stages throughout Los Angeles by fully producing three previously staged productions.