Rogue Machine to Present COME GET MAGGIE Beginning Tonight

Rogue Machine will present the World Premiere of "COME GET MAGGIE" in Los Angeles beginning tonight, Saturday, February 11. Written by Diane Frolov, with Lyrics by Diane Frolov and Susan Justin, and Music by Susan Justin, this intergalactic, joyously quirky new musical pays homage to all those with the courage to live life as their true selves. The production is directed by Michael Pressman and runs through March 26, 2023.

Maggie, a brilliant young woman stuck in 1950's suburbia, is out of sync with her times. She wonders if her real home might be somewhere else. When an alien answers her call to the stars for help, she begins an intergalactic romance that will change her, the world she lives in, and the whole universe. The theme is inclusivity, accepting and rejoicing in our differences and not allowing our differences to separate us or keep us from living life as our true selves.

Diane Frolov (Book/Lyrics) is a Los Angeles writer who created the first version of Come Get Maggie while attending UCLA for her MFA in playwriting. She continued writing and developing plays as a member of Theatre West. Frolov wrote for NBC's science fiction mini-series "V" and was a writer/producer on Fox's "AlienNation." She became an executive producer/showrunner on CBS' "Northern Exposure" and while on the show won two Emmy's, a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. Diane received an Emmy and a Writers Guild Award for her work on HBO's "The Sopranos." Frolov co-created and produced Showtime's The Chris Isaak Show and WB's Easy Money. She served as co-executive producer on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and was a consulting producer on Amazon's Bosch. Presently, Frolov is in her eighth season as an executive producer and showrunner of NBC's Chicago Med.

"What I most admire in Maggie, and people like her, is the desire to ask herself the big questions: Who am I? Where do I belong? Why am I here? Her curiosity, openness to new things and her acceptance of differences shows that she's also capable of self-examination, and has the ability to change, says writer Diane Frolov."

Susan Justin (Composer/Lyrics) studied music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen and earned a BA in music at UCLA. While working at Santa Monica College as Staff Pianist, Vocal Coach and Musical Director for many musicals, she fronted her own band as singer songwriter and played the LA Club Circuit for ten years. Her film composing career began with working for Roger Corman. She blended New Wave and Sci-Fi in one of the first fully electronic film scores. Her work continued with such directors and producers as Roger Corman and Joe Roth and her most recent work in documentaries has been heard on TBS, TNT, Lifetime, Showtime, and PBS. Justin is also a choral music educator for Santa Monica-Malibu USD. Her remarkable music program is nationally acclaimed.

Michael Pressman (Director) returns to Rogue Machine where he last directed the Los Angeles Premiere of Joe Gilford's Finks, a play about the struggle of artists during McCarthy era in the 1950's (Top Ten - Stage Raw). Selected theater credits include the acclaimed revival of Come Back Little Sheba at the Kirk Douglas Theater for which he won the NAACP Award for Directing (the production moved to Broadway for a successful run where S. Epatha Merkerson was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Lola), and the West Coast premiere of To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday in which he also directed the film version starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Peter Gallagher, and Kathy Baker.

Michael is a two-time Emmy Winner as producer/director for the TV series Picket Fences, which was the beginning of a long working relationship with David E. Kelley. He has directed numerous TV series, among them Law and Order SVU, Chicago Med, Weeds, In Treatment, and The Guardian. Among his film credits are "Boulevard Nights," (recently named to the Library of Congress), "Some Kind of Hero," starring Richard Pryor, and "Those Lips, Those Eyes," which was his love letter to the theater and the life of the actor starring Frank Langella.

The Cast includes Philip Casnoff as Ziskin (Broadway: Shogun: The Musical; Chess - Theatre World Award for Best Actor in a Debut Performance and Grammy nomination for Best Musical Cast Show Album. TV includes the role of Major Bent in the North and South miniseries); Beth Egan as Little Ruthie (Regional theatre credits include Les Miserables, Julius Caesar, Loves Labors Lost, and The Little Mermaid); Melissa Jobe as Mrs. Wyberry (originated role of Wallis Simpson in the stage production of THAT WOMAN! Selected credits include The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife, Fiddler on the Roof, Evita, The Rocky Horror Show); Nicole Ledoux as Kwee (played Joanne in Coeurage Ensemble's production of Rent. Selected roles include Whatsername in American Idiot, Viola in Twelfth Night, and Judy in A Chorus Line. Writer/actor - LGBTQ musical comedy pilot Groovy Tuesdays); Melanie Neilan as Maggie (Steppenwolf Theatre: Russian Transport and Domesticated. TV: Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders and NCIS: Film: Stephen Cone's film, "Henry Gamble's Birthday Party," which won a Silver Hugo award. One time member of Makkai Ballet Company); Bruce Nozick as Gen Winthrop/Mr. Wyberry (Best Male Comedy Performance nomination - Stage Raw Awards for Honky at Rogue Machine: Off-Broadway A Shayna Maidel; National Tour of Lost in Yonkers. TV: Weeds, currently The Rookie: Feds, and Hulu's "Menorah in the Middle"); Chase Ramsey as Hugh (Broadway: Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon. TV: Yellowstone, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, CSI: Vegas, and Kevin Costner's epic Horizon Series on WB); Dennis Renard as Varex (Choir Boy with Dezart Performs, Mono/Poly - Odyssey Theatre, Baby Eyes - Playwrights' Arena, and 12 Angry Men - Laguna Playhouse. TV/Film credits: Book of Queer on Discovery+ and Sinister Minister on Lifetime); Jacquelin Lorraine Schofield as Auntie Ruthie (Ovation, NAACP Awards for The Color Purple, NAACP Award Nom. for role as Mrs. Muller in Doubt: A Parable, and Mrs. Potts in Disney's Beauty & The Beast. First Afro-Latina to play Abuela Claudia - In The Heights at La Mirada Theatre); Eddie Vona as President/Rodney (as President/Rodney (Under Milk Wood and The Secret in the Wings at Coeurage Ensemble, Chisme y Queso at Center Theater Group, Girlfriend: The Musical and Hand to God (Dezart Performs), In Love and Warcraft (Artists at Play, West Coast Premiere); Sarah Hinrichsen (Swing); Alan Trinca (Swing).

Creative Team: Stephanie Kerley Schwartz (Set Design), Ric Zimmerman (Lighting Design), Chris Moscatiello (Sound Design), Dana Rebecca Woods (Costume Design), Michelle Do (Music Director), Albin Konopka (Music Supervisor and Incidental Music), Brooke Wendle (Choreographer), Nicholas Santiago (Video Design), Glenn Michael Baker (Assistant Set Design & Props Head).

Rogue Machine presented the first English translation of INSULTED. BELARUS (sia), which was featured on the BBC, sparking world-wide activism from over 100 theatre companies in 39 countries. RMT won the Ovation Award for BEST SEASON (2017) and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for BEST SEASON (2016). In the last 8 years, Rogue Machine has won "BEST PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR" three times from these organizations. RMT has produced seventeen World Premieres, nine of which have been published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service or Broadway Play Publishing. Six of the productions have had subsequent productions at significant theatres, including Off Broadway, major regional houses and The Donmar Warehouse in London. Three world premieres, Small Engine Repair, Lone-Anon, and One Night in Miami... were made into feature films, and playwright Kemp Powers was nominated for an Academy Award. In recognition of its artistic achievement, administrative strength, development of new work and other significant contributions to the field of professional theatre in the United States, Rogue Machine is supported by the Shubert Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The David Lee Foundation, The City and County of Los Angeles, The Ahmanson Foundation, and The Richenthal Foundation. RMT is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing's 2014 National Theatre Company Grant. The company presents plays that are new to Los Angeles.

COME GET MAGGIE opens at 8pm on Saturday, February 11 and runs at 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays through March 26, 2023 (no performance Monday, Feb. 13). Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre), is located at 7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tickets are $60 for general seating. Reserved seating Saturday and Sundays only: $75 (Seniors: $50; Students with ID: $40; Children under 18: $40). Pay-What-You-Can Fridays Feb. 17 ($10+), Feb. 24 ($15+), Mar. 3 ($20+). Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or for more information 855-585-5185. Run time approximately 2 hours (includes one intermission)

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