Tony Award-Winner Paul Sand's THE PILOT WHO CRASHED THE PARTY Opens April 8 At The Broadwater

 

Something mysterious is going on. Danger, not out of the question. Something... funny. Add a classical string duo. Sit back and enjoy the world premiere of The Pilot Who Crashed the Party, written and directed by Tony Award winning actor and Second City alum Paul Sand. Presented by Public Works Improvisational Theatre Foundation in association with Paul Sand Projects, opening night is set for Saturday, April 8 at Hollywood's Broadwater Theatre, where performances continue through May 7.

Sand's off-beat homage to the drawing room dramas of the '30s is set in the Santa Monica Mountains on a violent, stormy night filled with rain, lightning and thunder. The streets outside the mansion where Sally (Jacqueline Wright) is celebrating her 50th birthday are narrow, winding and newly full of mud - when a pilot in a small, single engine plane (Sol Mason) literally crashes the party.

Who, exactly, is this surprise guest? Friends at the intimate soirée, including Daniel (Lee Boek), Laura (Claudia Ferri) and Ilo (Francis C. Edemobi) are suspicious. The caterer (Debra Lane) might be in love. The evening's musicians (Yennie Lam on violin and Chris Rorrer on cello) continue to entertain, even as they sip wine from its new perch on the plane wing now hovering over the dining room table.

"I'm always struck by how people who barely know me project a part of themselves onto who they think I am," says Sand. "That's what happens with the pilot. He's in a 'fugue state' caused by the crash and can't remember who he is. As the partygoers take turns caring for him, each projects a part of themself onto the pilot as they try to figure him out."

"This play is that rare combination of great comedy and high art that makes for a wholly satisfying evening of theater," says Second City executive director Kelly Leonard. "It's sublime, smart, and funny."

A ninth cast member, Marcia Lynn Anthony, makes an appearance later in the play.

The creative team includes scenic designer Jeff G. Rack; costume designer Linda Muggeridge; lighting designer Azra King-Abadi; sound designer Shoshana Kuttner; and projection designer Fritz Davis. The assistant director is Alex Hogy, and the production stage manager is Anna Kupershmidt. The Pilot who Crashed the Party is produced  is produced by Amanda Weier for Public Works Improvisational Theatre Foundation and Paul Sand Projects.

Paul Sand is a Tony and two-time Drama Desk Award-winning actor, writer and director who has been working in film, television and theater for over 60 years. An early member of Chicago's The Second City, Paul has appeared in dozens of television shows, including roles as the boyfriend of various funny ladies like Mary Tyler Moore (who can forget the lovesick IRS auditor?) and Carol Burnett. Paul's own MTM sitcom, Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers aired on CBS. More recent film and television credits include the soon-to-be released feature Loren and Rose with Jacqueline Bisset; a recurring role on the upcoming streaming series Mrs. American Pie with Allison Janney, Laura Dern, Kristin Wiig and Carol Burnett (with whom Paul is thrilled to reunite after appearing numerous times on her legendary The Carol Burnett Show); HBO's hit series Curb Your Enthusiasm; The Hot Rock with Robert Redford; The Main Event, with Barbra Streisand; Taxi; The X Files; and Murder, She Wrote. Paul is the recipient of a Tony Award for best performance for a featured actor in a play for portraying 11 roles in Paul Sills' Story Theatre, and he garnered two Drama Desk Awards for outstanding performance on Broadway, one for Story Theatre and one for Ovid's Metamorphosis. Paul performed in his original play Louis, From Work, directed by world-renowned director/choreographer Jerome Robbins at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. As the co-founder and artistic director of Paul Sand Projects, he has brought creative and original works of theater to perfectly outlandish locations, including Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel, performed atop a Mexican restaurant at the end of the Santa Monica Pier, and An Illegal Start, staged inside the Santa Monica Pier's merry-go-round amongst the carousel horses. Yearly, audiences enjoy Save the Pier!, a play that recounts the fight to save the Santa Monica Pier from demolition, performed outside to the sounds of the chill wind and crashing surf.

The Pilot Who Crashed the Party was workshopped over the course of three nights at the Odyssey Theatre in 2022.

Performances of The Pilot Who Crashed the Party take place Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., April 8 through May 7. General admission is $35; seniors pay only $25, and tickets for students with valid ID are $20. The Broadwater Theatre is located at 6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

For more information and to purchase tickets, go to www.onstage411.com/Pilot.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.