True story: in 1953, iconic L.A. architects Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, onetime friends and business partners who had been bitterly estranged for 23 years, found themselves, by a vagary of fate, occupying the same hospital room in Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA presents a site-specific production in which playwright/director Tom Lazarus imagines what might have transpired during that reunion. Ray Xifo and John Nielsen star as Neutra and Schindler, with Heather Robinson in the role of Nurse Rothstein. The world premiere of THE PRINCES OF KINGS ROAD opens today, September 12 for a four-week run at the architecturally significant Neutra Institute and Museum of Silverlake. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the stars in action below!
Neutra and Schindler, both Austrian-born, became friends while students at Vienna's Technical College. In 1925, Schindler, who had immigrated to the U.S. a decade earlier in search of
Frank Lloyd Wright, invited the newly-arrived Neutras to share the home he had designed and built on Kings Road in West Hollywood. Designed as a communal "indoor/outdoor" living space for two families, the Schindler house is recognized as his masterpiece, the first house ever built in the Modern style. In 2008, it was named #1 in a Los Angeles Times survey of architects, preservationists and professors to determine the "best houses of all time in L.A." Rudolph and his wife Pauline lived a wildly bohemian life - perhaps one that proved a bit much for the more straight-laced Richard and Dione. The two men lived and worked together for five years, until a parting of the ways left them implacable rivals.
Following several workshop readings at EST/LA's Playwright Unit, The Princes of Kings Road was selected for inclusion in the company's 2015 Winterfest festival for plays in development, where the audience included Dion Neutra, the architect's son. It was Dion who suggested the play receive a production at the Neutra Institute and Museum, the office/work space designed by his father.
Music for the production is being taken from vintage recordings by late concert singer and cello master Dione Neutra, Richard's wife. Technical direction is by Kevin Comartin and costume design is by Chuck Marso. The stage manager is
Kay Foster and Stevie Stern Lazarus produces for
Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA withDion Neutra and the Neutra Institute and Museum of Silverlake.
The Princes of Kings Road runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m., tonight, Sept. 12 through Oct. 4. On Sunday, Sept. 27 only, there will be two performances, at 4 p.m. and at 7 p.m., and no performance at 5 p.m. All tickets are $25. The Neutra Institute and Museum of Silverlake is located at 2379 Glendale Blvd. Silverlake, CA 90039. For reservations and information, call (323) 641-7747 or go to
www.ThePrincesofKingsRoad.com.
Photos courtesy of Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA
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