Road Theatre Company Will Perform Two Premiere Productions in Repertory

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY will present two world premiere plays performing in repertory, HIGH MAINTENANCE by Peter Ritt and directed by Stan Zimmerman & SINGULARITIES or the Computers of Venus, written and directed by Laura Stribling. HIGH MAINTENANCE will begin previews on Tuesday, April 9; will open on Friday, April 12 at 8pm; and run through Sunday, May 19.  SINGULARITIES or the Computers of Venus, will begin previews on Monday, April 22; will open on Friday, April 26 at 8pm; and run through Sunday, June 2. Both will perform at the Road Theatre, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.   

ABOUT “HIGH MAINTENANCE”

A recently disgraced actor makes her comeback in a production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House - opposite a robot that could bring about the end of the acting profession.  HIGH MAINTENANCE raises questions about the relationship between art and AI, and how the status quo can turn both against each other, but really. it’s just funny.  After all, when a robot built to act is “the product of theatre and big tech,” an ego is inevitable.                                                                                                                                                                                    

PETER RITT (Playwright) is a Chicago based writer/comedian, and is a graduate of The Second City Conservatory, Improv Olympic, and Annoyance Theatre Training programs; as well as a past ensemble member at The Under The Gun Theatre, and a writer for The Artists’ Lab.   He graduated with a double-major in Theatre and English from Marquette University in 2010, and has been writing plays since high school.  His one-act, The Ritual, was given a staged reading at the Southeast Texas Festival of New Plays in 2019.  His full-length play, Spencer: The Seven Year Old Boy That Went to Hell, was a finalist for the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival in 2019.  His full-length play, The Convict and The Kids, was a finalist in the Screen Craft 2020 Stage Play Competition.  And his full-length play, Stage Fight, is to be published by Gitelman & Good Publishers in 2024.  High Maintenance was first given a staged reading at The Road Theatre Summer Playwrights Festival in 2023.

Stan Zimmerman (Director) is a man of many mediums (TV, film and theatre). He’s been nominated for two WGA Awards for Best Comedy Writing – The Golden Girls and Roseanne. Stan’s also written and produced on Gilmore Girls, co-created the Lifetime sitcom, Rita Rocks, wrote on both Brady Bunch movies and rewrote the ABC-TV movie of Annie. Stan has a BFA-Drama from NYU/Circle-in-the-Square and has directed such LA productions as The Diary of Anne Frank-Latinx (eight iterations since 2018), Entertaining Mr. Sloane, A Tuna Christmas, Gemini, Spike Heels, Pledge, Heartbreak Help and his original plays -- Meet & Greet, Knife to the Heart, Yes Virginia and Have a Good One. Stan directed Off-Broadway’s Hyprov (Daryl Roth Theatre). TRWplays has published and licensed four of his works -- Yes Virginia, Silver Foxes and his suicide awareness play, right before I go, including a School Edition. Stan has appeared in the play across the U.S. Zimmerman & Berg wrote the recent Lifetime Christmas movie, Ladies of the 80’s: A Divas Christmas. Stan’s book, The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore was recently published by Indigo River Publishing. Stan just returned from Palm Springs where he directed Paul Rudnick’s The Next Century (BENT Theatre).

The Cast of HIGH MAINTENANCE will feature (in alphabetical order); Tommy Dickie as “Thesbot Prime,” Kris Frost as “Alan,” Alexis Ingram as “Samm,” Ivy Khan as “Laura,” Merrick McCartha as “Gus,” Christian Prentice as “Roger,” and Tamiyka White as “Vera.” 

ABOUT “SINGULARITIES or the Computers of Venus”

The stars? The past? The future? Our own limits? Set in three different time periods, , looks at the lives of women astronomers in three different time periods as they grapple with light, love and the infinite.

LAURA STRIBLING (Playwright/Director) A seasoned director, she has directed more than seventy-five productions, workshops, and readings. Some selected titles include Henry IV, Part 1, Orpheus Descending, The Fattest Man in the World Lives Upstairs, Hedda Gabler, A Little Night Music, Footprints, Gobpile, and Clownfish.  Singularities or the Computers of Venus was developed as part of Under Construction Three and was part of the Road’s Summer Playwrights Festival before being selected to be part of this year’s season.  Her play Rivers, was part of Ensemble Studio Theatre LA’s WinterFest, and was selected to be part of their development program.  Her play, Primary Languages, was selected to be Festival Feature at InkFest.  Other plays, If I Fell, Celestial, and National Zoo, were also performed at InkFest, and If I Fell and National Zoo were part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Laura has a Masters of Fine Arts in Directing from the Yale School of Drama, where she was a Patricia Boykin Scholar, and a Fox Foundation Research Fellow.

The Cast of SINGULARITIES or the Computers of Venus will feature (in alphabetical order); Blaire Chandler as “Julia,” Avery Clyde as “Caroline,” Susan Diol as “Maria,”Kate Huffman as “Lena,” Noelle Mercer as “Elizabeth,” and Krishna Smitha as “Sophia.”