HIS GIRL FRIDAY and SIDEWAYS Added to Lineup at La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse announced two additional productions for its 2013/2014 season. Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley (Glengarry Glen Ross, Memphis) will direct His Girl Friday, John Guare's (Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves) acclaimed adaptation of the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page and the Howard Hawks film His Girl Friday, with screenplay by Charles Lederer, produced by Columbia Pictures. The production will kick off the season in June/July in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

In His Girl Friday, a major story is brewing in a 1939 Chicago press room when ace reporter Hildy Johnson stops by for one last visit before leaving the newspaper game for good. But when her former editor and ex-husband entices her with the promise of the scoop of a lifetime, the lure of fame and rekindled romance prove more than she can resist. Renowned playwright John Guare and Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley team up to deliver this fast-paced comedy that exposes the unsavory politics of tabloid journalism.

The Playhouse will also produce Sideways, a play by Rex Pickett based on his own novel, which was also adapted into the celebrated 2004 film of the same name. Directed by Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Jersey Boys), Sideways will run in July/August in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

Sideways is the story of two friends – Miles, a frustrated novelist; and Jack, a no-name TV actor and director – and their journey across the Santa Ynez Valley wine country. During one last blowout road trip before Jack is to be married, the two men run tangle-footed into their midlife crises, all the while exploring this once little-known central California wine region. This new play "is more intimately involving than the movie," enthused the LA Weekly, and will take audiences on what the Los Angeles Times called a hilarious "oenophilial odyssey."

"In an age where media sensationalism and the role of journalism are consistently in the spotlight, John Guare's fresh and funny adaptation of this classic comedy has more resonance than ever," said Ashley. "And it's always a special occasion to welcome my predecessor, Des McAnuff, back to The Playhouse, especially with a new stage version of Rex Pickett's iconic road trip story."

His Girl Friday and Sideways join the previously-announced 2013/2014 productions: Nina Raine's Drama Desk and New York Critics Circle Award-winning Tribes, directed by David Cromer; a re-imagined production of the Tony Award-nominated musical Side Show, music by Henry Krieger, book and lyrics by Bill Russell and directed by Academy Award-winner Bill Condon, produced in association with The Kennedy Center; and a special week-long engagement of Neva, written and directed by award-winning playwright Guillermo Calderón, with English translation by Andrea Thome, co-produced with Center Theatre Group and South Coast Repertory. The remaining 2013/2014 season productions, as well as dates and theatres, will be announced at a later date.

Tickets for The Playhouse's 2013/2014 productions are only available through a subscription purchase by calling the box office at (858) 550-1010 or online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski

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