HUNGER: IN BED WITH ROY COHN Plays Odyssey Theater

HUNGER: IN BED WITH ROY COHN is a world premiere fantasy play by Joan Beber about Roy Cohn, the attorney whose hunger for power and prominence ultimately destroyed him. Directed by Jules Aaron, choreography by Kay Cole and original music by Max Kinberg. 

About the show: Waiting in a purgatory of his mind and holding court on his bed, Roy Cohn is haunted by tragi-comic visions of Ronald Reagan and Barbara Walters; his lover, G. David Schine and Julius Rosenberg, with wife, Ethel, on the phone. Only after his dancing inner child implores him to "come out", are we able to see Roy as he might have been. 

JOAN BEBER (Playwright) received a B.A. in English from Northwestern University at age twenty-one and a MFA in playwriting from USC at age 67. She worked primarily as a visual artist in her early career, experimenting with painting, performance and installation art. Joan raised four daughters and exhibited her work in five one-person shows in San Diego County including the UCSD Annex Gallery, The Jewish Community Center Gallery and The Art Institute in Balboa Park. During this time, writing started to become her primary focus and she went on to complete ten years of classes at UCSD's Concurrent Enrollment program to prepare for graduate school. She was accepted into USC's graduate playwriting program and, after three years of commuting from San Diego and competing with students half her age, she received her MFA. Hunger: In Bed with Roy Cohn, written at age seventy-three, is her first produced play in Los Angeles and a world premiere. Joan hopes to have Ethel Sings, her play about Ethel Rosenberg, produced in 2013 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg's execution. At the risk of his career as an attorney, Joan's father tried to exonerate Ethel in the early 50s. www.joanbeber.com

JULES AARON (Director) has directed over 250 productions, including over 75 world premieres. He has worked at the Public Theatre (NY), South Coast Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival), the Pasadena Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Utah Shakespearian Festival, McCoy/Rigby Entertainment at LaMirada Theatre of the Performing Arts, International City Theatre, Colony Theatre, Hudson Theatre, Odyssey Theatre, and Victory Theatre, among many others. Jules has directed Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Bruce Davison, Carrie Snodgrass, Zelda Rubinstein, Greg Itzen, Sam Anderson, Mercedes Ruehl, Lee Meriwether, Jeff Demun, Ralph Waite, and Marian Mercer, among many others. He has won 20 Drama-Logue Awards, three Garland Awards, an LA Drama Critics award (with several nominations), and Special Chair at UC Davis. He has a Ph.D in Dramaturgy, Theatre History and Criticism from NYU. He has been Artistic Director of the Unit Theatre (in NY and LA) as well as Artistic Director at the Grove Shakespeare Theatre. He was head of the M.A. program at UC Riverside and head of the MFA Directing Program at California Institute of the Arts for seventeen years. He is now on the Adjunct Faculty at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Most recently Mr. Aaron directed the World Premiere musicals of Garbo (ICT) and Ighost (Lyric Theatre). His acclaimed productions of Southern Comforts played at ICT and Garry Marshall's Falcon Theatre with the talented Michael Learned and Granville Van Dusen. His next projects are Private Lives (Grove Theatre) and The Paris Letter at Group Repertory. In the past year, Jules has spent much time in New York writing the book for the new Sammy Davis Jr. musical, Yes I Can!, due to open late Fall, 2012.

LINDA TOLIVER and GARY GUIDINGER (Producers) have been producing the original work of LA writers and actors for over two decades. They produced World Premieres of Justin Tanner's Voice Lessons, starring Laurie Metcalf, French Stewart and Maile Flanagan (also in NYC and at Sacred Fools Theater in 2011), Procreation, Space Therapy and Day Drinkers, directed by Bart DeLorenzo, which recently enjoyed an extended run at the Odyssey Theatre, as well as revivals of his Teen Girl and Wife Swappers. Other favorites include The Last Session and The Big Voice: God or Merman?, by Jim Brochu and Steve Schalchlin, and the outrageous seasonal treat, Bob’s Holiday Office Party. They were associate producers on Larry Biederman's sold-out production of La Ronde at the 2009 NY International Fringe Festival, and Del Shores' trio of plays, Southern Baptist Sissies, The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife and Sordid Lives. This year their shows garnered six Ovation nominations, including a Best Playwriting nod for Elliot Shoenman's AfterMath, starring Annie Potts. Next up this Spring: Matt Leavitt's The Boomerang Effect at the Odyssey Theatre, which they'll be producing with Del Shores.

Written by JOAN BEBER.
Directed by JULES AARON.
Choreography by KAY COLE.
Original Music/Sound by MAX KINBERG.
Scenic Design by JOHN IACOVELLI.
Lighting Design by JEREMY PIVNICK.
Costume Design by SHON LeBLANC.
Projection Design by ADAM FLEMMING.
Wig Design: DIANE MARTINOUS.
Graphic Design: DOUG HAVERTY.
Casting by MICHAEL DONOVAN.
Stage Manager: JULIE SIMPSON.

Produced by LINDA TOLIVER, GARY GUIDINGER and UNDERCOVER PRODUCTIONS.

Cast: BARRY PEARL, CHERYL DAVID, PRESCILIANA ESPAROLINI, JEFFREY SCOTT PARSONS, TOM GALUP, LIZA de WEERD, JON LEVENSON and DAVID SESSIONS.

OPENS: Saturday, January 21 at 8:00 p.m.

PERFORMANCES: Fridays and Saturday at 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

CLOSES: Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

TICKETS: Friday: $25.00; Saturday and Sunday: $30.00

ODYSSEY THEATRE
2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025-5621
(One block north of Olympic Blvd.)

Reservations: (310) 477-2055
www.odysseytheatre.com

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