IT'S ONLY A PLAY Opens March 23 At Theatre 40

It's Only a Play a comedy written by Terrence McNally, directed by Larry Eisenbergm and produced by David Hunt will be presented by Theatre Forty (241 S, Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212)., running March 23- April 23, 2023. Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.., Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

It's the opening night of The Golden Egg on Broadway, and the wealthy producer Julia Budder is throwing a lavish party in her lavish Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs in the bedroom, where a group of insiders have staked themselves out to await the reviews. The group includes the excitable playwright; the possibly unstable wunderkind director; the pill-popping leading lady, treading the boards after becoming infamous in Hollywood; and the playwright's best friend, for whom the play was written but who passed up this production for a television series. Add to this a drama critic who's panned the playwright in the past and a new-in-town aspiring singer, and you have a prime recipe for the narcissism, ambition, childishness, and just plain irrationality that infuse the theatre-and for comedy. But don't worry: This play is sure to be the hit they have all been hoping for.

Terrence McNally (1938-2020) is the playwright. The recipient of a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, he also received Tonys for Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!, and the books for the musicals Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. He won an Emmy Award for the teleplay of Andre's Mother.

It's Only a Play debuted off-Broadway in 1985. A revised version of the play debuted on Broadway in 2014.

Larry Eisenberg directs the current production. The recipient of an MFA from CalArts, he received a Drama-Logue Award for his work in directing Isaac Bashevis Singer's Stories for Children at the West End Playhouse. He directed numerous productions at Lonny Chapman Group Rep theatre, where he served as Co-Artistic Director from 2010-2020. His favorite credits include The Poor of New York, The Trip to Bountiful, Over the River and through the Woods, and his own play Nautilus, which was adapted into the feature film Fish Don't Blink. His short film David Proshker aired on KCET and several other public television stations. Also an actor, he most recently appeared in Theatre 40's acclaimed production of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

The cast of It's Only a Play includes Todd Andrew Ball, Peter Bussian, Fox Carney, Joe Clabby, Cheryl David, Mouchette van Helsdingen and Jeffrey Winner.

Assistant director: Gary Kaskel. Stage manager: Paul Reid. Costume design: Michael Mullen. Lighting design: Derrick McDaniel. Sound design: Nick Foran. Set design: Jeff G. Rack.

It's Only a Play, but it's packed with laughs from start to finish.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.