A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS, DEAR GALILEO & More Set for Pasadena Playhouse's HOTHOUSE AT THE PLAYHOUSE 2012-13 Season

The Pasadena Playhouse announced the first four productions of the 2012 – 2013 season of its HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse new play development, staged reading series. The season will feature the world premiere reading of Lee Blessing's (A Walk in the Woods) A View of the Mountains starring Jane Kaczmarek and Betsy Brandt, Marsha Mason as the title role in Aunt Stossie's Coming for Five Days and Michael Arabian (Ovation nominee, Waiting for Godot) directing a new work supported by the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance.

"It is a pleasure and privilege to look forward to this season of HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse and see authors and actors returning to us having had rewarding prior experiences – work that has started at HOTHOUSE, had life on our Mainstage, going on tour after successful Tony-nominated Broadway productions and the brand new authors that are just starting out," said Courtney Harper, HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse Producer, Outreach & Education Manager / Artistic Associate for The Pasadena Playhouse. "It's a time for sustainable growth for us at HOTHOUSE and we could not be more thrilled about the four readings we are announcing today and the other additional works we are considering to include in the upcoming season."

"We also want to thank our supporters for their continued attendance this past season at HOTHOUSE," Harper added. "We presented a record-breaking nine staged readings since September 2011, and a wide and exciting variety of work – from a world premiere musical, to an adaptation of a New York Times bestselling book, to a play that could have been ripped from the headlines. We are proud of our accomplishments and so thoroughly enjoyed sharing the experience with each and everyone who joined us. Like the Mainstage season at The Playhouse, we are feeling "better than ever!"

The 2012 – 2013 season of HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse will feature:

A View of the Mountains
By Lee Blessing (A Walk in the Woods)
Directed by Brian Shnipper
Starring (in alphabetical order): Betsy Brandt, John Getz, Jane Kaczmarek, Josey Montana McCoy and Chris McGarry
Tuesday & Wednesday, October 30 & 31 at 8:00 p.m. in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre

As enormous forces close in around them, a prominent family is split down the middle in America's liberal-conservative dogfight. "For keeps" politics dominates in this unsparing look at what we're willing to do for our beliefs.

Aunt Stossie's Coming for Five Days
By Ellen Simon
Directed by Jon Mascone
Starring Marsha Mason as "Aunt Stossie"
Tuesday & Wednesday, January 8 & 9 at 8:00 p.m. in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre

A comedic drama about what happens when the uninvited enters your life. Set in a Central California beach town, three generations of women and two surfer boys navigate the entanglements of sex, health and family after a tsunami warning sign goes up in their neighborhood.

Title-TBA
An exciting new play supported by the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance
Directed by Ovation Award Nominee, Michael Arabian
Tuesday & Wednesday, February 12 & 13 at 8pm in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre

Dear Galileo
By Claire Willett
Starring Matthew Lillard and Danielle Soibelman (The Playhouse's Under My Skin)
Directed by Courtney Harper
Tuesday & Wednesday, March 12 & 13 at 8:00 p.m. in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre

Three women wrestle with their identity, the conflict between science and religion, and their fathers' legacies. As their stories move towards a point of convergence, the destinies of each become inextricably bound with the others, linked through time by love, family, grief, faith, the search for identity and the wonder of the stars.

To RSVP for any of the HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse staged readings, click HERE or call The Pasadena Playhouse box office at 626-356-7529.

The Pasadena Playhouse was established in 1917 and was designated the State Theatre of California for bringing national and international renown to the state as a center for dramatic art in 1937. Built on a tradition of innovation and excellence, The Pasadena Playhouse is committed to continue to be the premiere theatrical experience in Southern California showcasing the most exciting theatrical entertainment in the state and being an amazing forum for launching new work onto the national stage. Broadway productions that originated at The Pasadena Playhouse (as well as previous HOTHOUSE seasons) include: Sister Act, Baby It's You!, Looped and Mail. Unchain My Heart, The Ray Charles Musical, which premiered at The Playhouse, is scheduled to open on Broadway in the 2012-13 Season. Looped has also recently announced a US Tour, starring Valerie Harper, beginning January 2013. The Pasadena Playhouse is the recipient of the Los Angeles Times 2012 Reader's Choice Award for "Best Dramatic Theatre," the Pasadena Star-News' "San Gabriel Valley's Best Live Theatre" 2012 Reader's Choice Award and the Pasadena Weekly's 2012 "Best of Pasadena" Award for Best Live Theatre and Best Historical Landmark. For more information on The Pasadena Playhouse, visit www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org.

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