BWW Previews: West Coast Premiere of HOW I FELL IN LOVE by Joel Fields Presented by Collaborative Artists Ensemble, 10/17

Collaborative Artists Ensemble presents the West Coast Premiere of HOW I FELL IN LOVE by Joel Fields, the producer/writer of the immensely popular and critically acclaimed television series "The Americans," from October 17 through November 16, 2014 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 7:00pm at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, located at 5636 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038. The production is directed by Steve Jarrard by special arrangement with the author. Featured in the cast are Austin Iredale, Desiré Noël, Casey Sullivan and Meg Wallace.

According to D.H. Lawrence, "We have made a great mess of love since we made an ideal of it." HOW I FELL IN LOVE centers on two lost souls, Nessa and Todd, each haplessly seeking their ideal romantic partner as they stumble into adulthood alone. When they accidentally find their way into each other's lives while seeking professional help, they soon discover their individual stories may be more intertwined than they could ever have imagined, leading each to start questioning the meaning of fate, friendship, and true love. Can two people not attracted to each other actually be perfect life partners? With the audience acting as their sounding board, Nessa and Todd's story unfolds amid the many twists and turns in their search for true love and happiness - despite their neuroses!

Much like Annie Hall is a love letter to the City of New York, HOW I FELL IN LOVE celebrates modern love and its challenges in and around Los Angeles. Audiences will certainly recognize many locations in the play from McCabe's Guitar Shop to Topanga Canyon, The Bodhi Tree to the Venice Canals and Molly Malone's Irish Pub, bringing back memories of their own loves lost and found in the City of the Angels.

Tickets are $20 with a $5 discount for seniors and full-time students. To purchase tickets by phone, please call the box office at 323-860-6569. You may also purchase tickets online at http://www.plays411.com/inlove or at the door one hour prior to curtain. A limited number of half price tickets will be available on Goldstar. And why not make plans to enjoy a great meal at any of the wonderful restaurants just a few blocks away in Larchmont Village or near Paramount Studios before or after the show?

If you are interested in becoming involved with Collaborative Artists Ensemble, please email us at collaborativeartistsensemble@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @collaborativear and "like" us on Facebook.

PLAYWRIGHT JOEL FIELDS After premiering at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Fields' romantic comedy HOW I FELL IN LOVE received its New York debut at the Abingdon Theatre in 2011. Fields received the Abingdon's 2009 Christopher Brian Wolk Award for excellence in playwriting. Fields has served as writer-producer for numerous television series including Ugly Betty, Raising the Bar, Over There, and as writer/executive producer on FX's critically acclaimed series The Americans.

Fields shares, "HOW I FELL IN LOVE was written as I struggled with a sudden avalanche of transitions: professional, artistic, and romantic. In the midst of this struggle I found myself returning more and more to the idea that for me life is best understood as a story, that events and relationships only truly make sense later, upon reflection. Of course, life is not lived in reflection and life's challenges do not come with intrinsic perspective. But the idea helped me dig through that period, and in the process this play emerged.

My hope is that the piece can be more than an emotional romantic-comedy "date night" entertainment-that it can also, through its fun and drama, make people think about their own lives and loves, about the decisions they've made in the past, and most importantly about the decisions they are making in their lives here and now. After all, at their very best that is what both good relationships and good theater should do."

DIRECTOR STEVE JARRARD is a Southern California native and grew up in the business. Steve is an integral component of Collaborative Artists Ensemble, currently serving as Managing Director of the company, and has directed 11 of our 14 previous productions including Sharon Pollock's Blood Relations, Nicky Silver's The Food Chain, How I Learned to Drive, Eleemosynary, Lucia Mad, Through A Glass Darkly and the West Coast Premiere of Carson McCuller's The Square Root of Wonderful. Some of his other directing credits include Civilization, Doubting Thomason and Noel Coward's Present Laughter at the Edgemar Center for the Arts. Steve is also an actor and a poet.

COLLABORATIVE ARTISTS ENSEMBLE was founded in 2007 to create the opportunity for passionate theater artists to come together to create works that challenge and provoke both the artists as well as the audience. We are currently in our Seventh Season and HOW I FELL IN LOVE is our 14th production. Past Productions include: Blood Relations by Sharon Pollock, A Strange Disappearance of Bees by Elena Hartwell (West Coast Premiere), Through A Glass Darkly (West Coast Premiere), The Square Root of Wonderful by Carson McCullers (West Coast Premiere), Eleemosynary by Lee Blessing, How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, Lucia Mad by Don Nigro and Standing on My Knees by John Olive. For more information about our company, please visit our website: www.collaborativeartistsensemble.com

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