La Mirada Theatre Presents DINNER WITH FRIENDS, Runs 6/4-20

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment present the fifth and final production of La Mirada Theatre's 2009-2010 season, the Pulitzer Prize-winning DINNER WITH FRIENDS, written by Donald Margulies and directed by La Mirada Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Brian Kite (Proof, Steel Magnolias). DINNER WITH FRIENDS will begin performances on Friday, June 4 (with a press opening on Saturday, June 5) and will run through Sunday, June 20 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard in La Mirada.

Playwright Donald Margulies has been quoted as calling his Pulitzer Prize-winning play DINNER WITH FRIENDS, "a rueful comedy." The story is not just a thoughtful study on divorce, but a turbulent meditation on the minefield of middle age. Gabe and Karen, a happily married couple, have been friends with married couple Tom and Beth for many years. While having dinner at Gabe and Karen's home one night, Beth tearfully reveals that she is getting a divorce from Tom, who has been unfaithful. Over the course of the play, we witness the effects of Tom and Beth's breakup on Gabe and Karen, who first feel compelled to choose sides, and then begin to question the strength of their own seemingly tranquil marriage. The play exposes the same, universal insecurities that people face every time there are shattering changes in their lives. Margulies' characters are real. They are normal. They are family, friends, and the people next door.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Donald Margulies (Playwright) Plays include: Brooklyn Boy (South Coast Repertory; Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre; Outer Critics' Circle Award nominee; American Theatre Critics' Association Best Play Award finalist); Dinner With Friends (2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Outer Critics', Lucille Lortel, and Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Awards; Drama Desk nominee); Sight Unseen (South Coast Repertory; Manhattan Theatre Club/Orpheum Theatre (1992); MTC/Biltmore Theatre (2004); Obie Award; Hull-Warriner Award; Drama Desk nominee; Pulitzer Prize finalist); Two Days (Long Wharf Theatre); God of Vengeance (based on Sholem Asch's 1906 Yiddish classic; Williamstown Theatre Festival; A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle); Collected Stories (HB Studio/Lucille Lortel Theatre; MTC; South Coast Repertory; Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award; L.A. Ovation Award; Drama Desk nominee; Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner finalist; Pulitzer Prize finalist); The Model Apartment (Primary Stages; Obie Award, Drama Desk nominee; Hull-Warriner finalist); The Loman Family Picnic (MTC; Drama Desk nominee); What's Wrong With This Picture? (MTC; Jewish Rep; Brooks Atkinson Theatre); Found A Peanut (New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre); Broken Sleep: Three Plays (Williamstown Theatre Festival); July 7, 1994 (Actors Theatre Of Louisville/Humana Festival); Pitching To The Star (West Bank Cafe). 2000 Sidney Kingsley Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Theatre by a Playwright. 2005 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. 2005 National Foundation for Jewish Culture Cultural Achievement Award. Adjunct Professor, Yale University. Council member, Dramatists Guild of America.

Brian Kite (Director) has directed across the United States and abroad. He is the Producing Artistic Director of La Mirada Theater where his credits include the critically acclaimed productions of Steel Magnolias starring Cathy Rigby, Driving Miss Daisy starring Michael Learned and David Auburn's Proof. He recently helmed a production of Cabaret in Bermuda under the patronage of the Queen's Governor and directed a production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie at The Actors Co-op in Hollywood. Before that he directed two Los Angeles revivals, J.B. by Archibald MacLeish, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and the West Coast premiere of Václav Havel's The Beggar's Opera. He directed the Philadelphia production of Glenn Wein's Grandma Sylvia's Funeral and worked with Tony Award-winning director Daniel Sullivan on The Geffen Playhouse's production of Hedda Gabler starring Annette Bening. He directed over 20 productions at French Woods Festival in New York where he was the Director of Theater Programs for over 7 years. Brian is currently a member of the directing faculty at U.C.L.A.'s School of Theater, Film and Television, serves on the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles Stage Alliance, and is the Artistic Director of the award-winning Buffalo Nights Theatre Company.

The cast of DINNER WITH FRIENDS features: Cate Cohen, Patrick Fabian, Melanie Lora and Kevin Weisman (Marshall on TV's "Alias").

DINNER WITH FRIENDS has assembled an award-winning design team. The set design is by John Iacovelli. The lighting design is by Craig Pierce. The costume design is by Dwight Richard Odle. The sound design is by Cricket S. Myers. Prop design is by Terry Hanrahan. Casting is by Julia Flores.

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING

DINNER WITH FRIENDS will begin performances on Friday, June 4 (with a press opening on Saturday, June 5) and runs for three weeks through Sunday, June 20. Performances will be 7:30pm on Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8pm on Fridays; 2pm and 8pm on Saturdays; and 2pm and 7pm on Sundays. There will be no matinee performance on Saturday, June 5 and no evening performance on Sunday, June 6. There will be a talk-back session following the performance on Tuesday, June 8.

Tickets range from $35 - $50 and can be purchased at La Mirada Theatre's website, www.lamiradatheatre.com or by calling the La Mirada Theatre Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310. Student, Senior, Children and group discounts are available.

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