Working 1999 - Articles Page 28

South Coast Repertory has announced the lineup of actors and directors who will participate in the 12th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF). Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year?s Festival will take place during the May 1 through May 3 weekend and will feature five staged readings and two fully-produced World Premieres on South Coast Repertory?s Segerstrom and Julianne Argryos Stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

South Coast Repertory has announced the lineup of actors and directors who will participate in the 12th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF). Since its creation in 1998, PPF has grown into one of the most important festivals of new scripts in the United States. This year?s Festival will take place during the May 1 through May 3 weekend and will feature five staged readings and two fully-produced World Premieres on South Coast Repertory?s Segerstrom and Julianne Argryos Stages. Tickets to PPF may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

Old Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto recently announced that the theatre will present a special one-night engagement of Stephen Schwartz and Friends.. This delightful event, featuring the Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer/lyricist of the smash Broadway musicals Wicked, Godspell, Working, Pippin and many others, will be performed in the Old Globe Theatre on Monday, March 9 at 7:30pm. Schwartz will be center-stage for an evening of unforgettable music and memories, with some of Broadway's best singer/actors, including, Debbie Gravitte, Liz Callaway and Scott Coulter, performing Schwartz's most beloved songs.

Original New York cast members Jeremy Beck, Mike Doyle (Law and Order: SVU), Sevan Greene and Waleed F. Zuaiter head the cast under the guidance of original director Pippin Parker when L.A. Theatre Works presents the West Coast premiere of Betrayed, the haunting new play by award winning writer and journalist George Packer. Five performances take place February 18-22 at the Skirball Cultural Center where they will be recorded to air on LATW's nationally syndicated public radio theater series, The Play's The Thing. In early 2007, George Packer published an article in The New Yorker about Iraqi interpreters who jeopardized their lives on behalf of the Americans in Iraq, yet were provided with little or no U.S. protection or security. The article drew national attention to the humanitarian crisis and moral scandal. Based on Mr. Packer's interviews in Baghdad, Betrayed tells the story of three young Iraqis - two men and one woman - who were motivated to risk everything by America's promise of freedom. The award-winning play explores their complex relationships with each other and with their American supervisor as they struggle to find purpose even as their country collapses around them. 'The voices of the Iraqi men and women I met were so powerful that even after I finished The New Yorker article, they wouldn't leave me alone,' Packer said in an interview. 'These Iraqis put their trust in us, went to work with us, risked their lives to work with us - and nothing is riskier in Iraq than working with Americans - and as they began to come under threat, we essentially walked away from them and left them on their own. It's of a piece with everything that's wrong with this war.'

Original New York cast members Jeremy Beck, Mike Doyle (Law and Order: SVU), Sevan Greene and Waleed F. Zuaiter head the cast under the guidance of original director Pippin Parker when L.A. Theatre Works presents the West Coast premiere of Betrayed, the haunting new play by award winning writer and journalist George Packer. Five performances take place February 18-22 at the Skirball Cultural Center where they will be recorded to air on LATW's nationally syndicated public radio theater series, The Play's The Thing. In early 2007, George Packer published an article in The New Yorker about Iraqi interpreters who jeopardized their lives on behalf of the Americans in Iraq, yet were provided with little or no U.S. protection or security. The article drew national attention to the humanitarian crisis and moral scandal. Based on Mr. Packer's interviews in Baghdad, Betrayed tells the story of three young Iraqis - two men and one woman - who were motivated to risk everything by America's promise of freedom. The award-winning play explores their complex relationships with each other and with their American supervisor as they struggle to find purpose even as their country collapses around them. 'The voices of the Iraqi men and women I met were so powerful that even after I finished The New Yorker article, they wouldn't leave me alone,' Packer said in an interview. 'These Iraqis put their trust in us, went to work with us, risked their lives to work with us - and nothing is riskier in Iraq than working with Americans - and as they began to come under threat, we essentially walked away from them and left them on their own. It's of a piece with everything that's wrong with this war.'

In conjunction with the second edition of his hit book How Does the Show Go On?, Broadway producer Thomas Schumacher gave the keynote address at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta. The national festival dedicated to groups working with elementary and middle school aged young people, ran from January 16 -18, 2009. Schumacher's presentation (on Sunday, January 18), much like his book, enlightened more than 1,500 theater lovers about what goes into putting on a Broadway show. Child actor Henry Hodges, who starred as ?Michael Banks' in the original Broadway cast of Disney & Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins joined Schumacher. Schumacher's much heralded book, How Does the Show Go On?, was originally released in 2007 and went on to sell over 50,000 copies. A second edition was released in late 2008 and has been updated to include Broadway's The Little Mermaid and the stage production of the mega-hit High School Musical. A library edition of How Does the Show Go On? is also available. The book, written with Jeff Kurtti, gives readers the opportunity to meet the cast of characters who work onstage and behind the scenes to deliver unforgettable performances, and explore the inner workings of the theater building itself.

Variety is reporting that two-time Tony Winner Donna Murphy has landed a recurring role on the TNT series TRUST ME. In 1994, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Fosca in Stephen Sondheim's and James Lapine's Passion. In 1996, she appeared as Anna Leonowens in the Broadway revival of The King and I alongside Lou Diamond Philips. The role earned her another Tony for Best Actress in a Musical.She also appeared in a revival of Wonderful Town (from 2003 to 2005) and in Lovemusik (2007) as Lotte Lenya, opposite fellow Tony winner Michael Cerveris as Kurt Weill. She also appeared in the recent presentation of Follies by Encores and in the BC/EFA Benefit concert of Pamela's First Musical. Murphy's recent film roles include The Nanny Diaries as Scarlett Johansson's mother and Spider-Man 2 as Rosalie Octavius, wife of Dr. Otto Octavius, the movie's villain. Murphy is perhaps best known to film viewers for her role as Anij in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) as the love interest of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

On Monday, January 12, 2009 at 8 p.m., the Chicago Company of WICKED will host DEFYING INEQUALITY, a special evening of benefit cabaret performances promoting equality and civil rights. Held at Park West (322 W. Armitage, Chicago) and featuring cast members from WICKED as well as special guest performers, this unique one-night only event will benefit Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality California, Garden State Equality and Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, four non-profit charitable organizations working to legislate equality and protect civil rights for the gay and lesbian community. All proceeds will be distributed evenly among the four organizations.

On Monday, January 12, 2009 at 8 p.m., the Chicago Company of WICKED will host DEFYING INEQUALITY, a special evening of benefit cabaret performances promoting equality and civil rights. Held at Park West (322 W. Armitage, Chicago) and featuring cast members from WICKED as well as special guest performers, this unique one-night only event will benefit Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality California, Garden State Equality and Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, four non-profit charitable organizations working to legislate equality and protect civil rights for the gay and lesbian community. All proceeds will be distributed evenly among the four organizations.

Old Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto recently announced that the theatre will present a special one-night engagement of Stephen Schwartz and Friends.. This delightful event, featuring the Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer/lyricist of the smash Broadway musicals Wicked, Godspell, Working, Pippin and many others, will be performed in the Old Globe Theatre on Monday, March 9 at 7:30pm. Schwartz will be center-stage for an evening of unforgettable music and memories, with some of Broadway's best singer/actors, including, Debbie Gravitte, Liz Callaway and Scott Coulter, performing Schwartz's most beloved songs.

From October 23rd through November 16th, just in time for election season, America's beloved cowboy humorist is brought to vivid life in WILL ROGERS' AMERICA, a 90-minute one-man-show of homespun wit, the working man's voice and small-town common sense-complete with vintage film clips and live rope tricks! Adapted and performed by veteran actor Rich Hoag, this production will be directed by Hoag's long-time friend and Rubicon Artistic Director James O'Neil.

One of the Broadway's Young Frankenstein stars, Fred Applegate, who will play Inspector Kemp, recently spoke, in between rehearsals in Seattle, to BroadwayWorld's James Sims about the monster musical and his experiences working with Mel Brooks in The Producers...

Simpson took time out of rehearsals to talk about his working with McAnuff again, having been in the La Jolla Playhouse production of Tartuffe in 2002, along with his experiences with Sorkin and his upcoming films set for release later this year...

The Zipper Theatre, Ryan Hill and John Johnson are pleased to announce a one-night only, newly adapted concert version of WORKING, the 1978 musical adapted from the acclaimed non-fiction book by Studs Terkel. This one-night only premiere concert event to benefit the Actor's Fund of America will take place on Monday, February 19, 2007 at The Zipper Theatre (336 West 37th Street, between 8 th and 9th Avenues).

Bill Kenwright and Marla Rubin announce that they will present the Almeida Theatre production of FESTEN, the hugely successful London play about a family with a dark secret, on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre (239 W. 45th St.), with performances beginning Thursday, March 23. Larry Bryggman, Michael Hayden, Ali MacGraw and Julianna Margulies have been cast in the Broadway production. Directed by Rufus Norris, in a dramatization by David Eldridge from the Danish 1998 film, FESTEN will have its official press opening on Sunday, April 9.

Connie Grappo is the new artistic director of the Working Theater