TED TURNER AND THE LAST ROUNDUP to be Presented at Long Beach Playhouse in January

The world premiere of Mark Whicker’s one-act of the life of Ted Turner, Ted Turner and the Last Roundup, will open on January 10, 2025, as part of the Long Beach Playhouse’s 2025 Studio Collaborative Season. The man who brought satellite television and 24-hour cable news to the world, and who devoted his late life to environmental causes, spends his waning days in Montana, trying to remember it all and wondering what it meant, all while dealing with a degenerative mental condition, Lewy Body Dementia.
 
“After reviewing all the submissions, I felt this play would be ideal to kick off our 2025 Studio Collaborative season,” said Sean Gray, Artistic Director for the Playhouse. “I was also thrilled to see James Rice, Noah Wagner and Amanda Karr attached to the project, as I am very familiar with their body of work and creativity.”

In his director’s notes, James Rice explained, “Ted Turner has always been a fascinating character to me. I very clearly remember the advent of CNN and the massive changes made to news broadcasting. Then came TBS, the Superstation, and the changes to how we watch television. And lastly, Turner's passion for sailing and his competitive spirit made him a beloved and sometimes polarizing figure in the sailing community. But working on Ted Turner and Last Roundup has shown me so much more of what shaped him as a man and iconoclast. I am thankful to the playwright Mark Whicker for his insightful script and to Noah Wagner and Amanda Karr for their enormous talent and their many contributions to this project. I hope you find this as entertaining and thought-provoking as I have.”
 
Ted Turner and the Last Roundup is a 2-person one-act with a running time of a little over an hour. Noah Wagner is a LB Playhouse staple, will be playing Ted Turner and Amanda Karr who recently was the assistant director and choreographer for the LB Playhouse’s production of Hamlet will be playing the Interlocutor.

“This is a show you don’t want to miss,” said Playhouse Executive Director, Madison Mooney. “And please check out the rest of our Collaborative Series! A lot of great local artists putting up unique shows this year.”
 
The LBP Studio Collaborative Season offers outside, local theatre companies and performing arts organizations the opportunity to produce their own shows in the Studio Theater.
 

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