Camelot Artists Renamed The Kitsalas Theatre Company & Announces 2009 Season

In October 2008, the theatre world and most especially the LA theatre community lost a giant. Milton Katselas, founder of The Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school and its non-profit theatre company Camelot Artists (founded in 1982), was arguably one of the premiere theatrical directors and acting teachers of his time. This year, in his honor, the Board of Directors of Camelot Artists, has announced the changing of its name to Katselas Productions, in conjunction with the announcement of its ambitious 2009 Season.

Pittsburgh-born Milton Katselas made his professional directorial debut with the much-celebrated 1960 off-Broadway production of Edward Albee's the Zoo Story, and quickly followed it up on Broadway with the Tony nominated production of Butterflies Are Free. At one time, Milton had three productions running simultaneously On and Off-Broadway. In 1970, Katselas made the move to Los Angles to bring Butterflies.. to the screen, followed by When You Comin' Back Red Ryder and a host of other films, but his first love was always theatre. In 1977, Milton's production of Streamers at the Westwood Playhouse earned four LADCC awards including best production and one for Milton's direction.

Besides working at The Mark Taper, the then Huntington Hartford and San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, Katselas formed Camelot Artists and joined with others in waging a fight with Equity to keep waiver theatre alive in Los Angeles. His 1984 Los Angeles production of Romeo and Juliet is still being talked about today. A constant advocate for theatre, Milton was always the actor's director having directed George C. Scott, Jose Ferrer, Robert Duval, Bette Davis and a list of our most celebrated artist's to award winning performances.

In his honor, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) has voted overwhelmingly to establish a brand-new award to be named for Milton Katselas. The award to be given for lifetime achievement/singular distinction in directing, along with a $500 honorarium, will be awarded for the first time in 2010 and continue on every year after that.

"I believe it is fitting that our 2009 theatrical season, which was originally nurtured by Milton, will be produced under the banner of Milton's name," says Gary Grossman, Producing Artistic Director, Beverly Hills Playhouse.

Katselas Theatre Company 2009 Season

Opens Saturday, May 2 at the Skylight Theatre - "The Real Thing" by Tom Stoppard, directed by Allen Barton, Executive Director of Beverly Hills Playhouse. British playwright Tom Stoppard combines his characteristically brilliant wordplay and wit with flashes of insight that illuminate the nature--and the mystery--of love, creating a multi-toned play that challenges the mind while searching out the innermost secrets of the heart.

Opens Saturday, May 15 a the Beverly Hills Playhouse Research Theatre - "I'll Give You Something To Cry About," co-written by Jonathan Cooper and Dan Frischman, performed by Cooper and directed by Frischman. WORLD PREMIERE.

Opens mid May (TBA) at the Beverly Hills Playhouse - "Hatful of Rain" by Michael V. Gazzo, directed by Dean Kreyling. One of the earliest plays after World War II to deal openly with a growing problem, the play fearlessly explores many aspects of personal relationships, such as the complicated interactions of husband and wife, father and son, and brother to brother. When it premiered, it was declared, "...a powerful piece of theatre" by the New York Times.

Opens mid-June (TB) at Skylight Theatre - "Place Settings" by Jack Conforti. WORLD PREMIERE

Opens early summer (TBA) at the Beverly Hills Playhouse - "Stone Witch" by Shem Bitterman. WORLD PREMIERE

Opens early September (TBA) at the Skylight Theatre - "La Ronde De Lunch" by Peter Lefcourt, directed by Terri Hannauer. Sreenwriter/playwright Peter Lefcourt has adapted turn-of-the-20th Century Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler's classic comedy, "Le Ronde," into a series of interlocking contemporary playlets that skewer "let's do lunch' world of Tinseltown dealmaking.

Opens early December (TBA) at the Skylight Theatre - "Children of the Night," a new musical by Scott Martin, directed by David Galligan. WORLD PREMIERE

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