Category Archives: Theatre

Brian Otaño named recipiemt of IAMA’s Shonda Rhimes-sponsored ‘Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission’

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IAMA Theatre Company names Brian Otaño as 2024 recipient of
Shonda Rhimes–sponsored ‘Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission’
 

LOS ANGELES (June 25, 2024) — IAMA Theatre Company has selected ensemble member Brian Otaño as the 2024 recipient of the company’s Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission, sponsored by award-winning writer and producer Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Inventing Anna).

Now in its seventh year, the annual Rhimes commission was created to help grow and nourish budding playwrights and artists with an emphasis on cultural inclusion, and to showcase fresh, creative, thought-provoking work. The commission helps foster long-lasting relationships with the diverse voices that IAMA is committed to developing; by incorporating the talent and inspiration of IAMA’s acting ensemble into the development of writers and their work, IAMA continues to create a dynamic family of artists.

Past recipients include Brooklyn-based playwright and activist Geraldine Inoa; Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toosi, who went on to receive a Pulitzer Prize; Obie-winning performer/playwright Ryan J. Haddad; Emmy-nominated writer, director and producer Larry Powell; celebrated actor, director and playwright Jule Carryl; and Chinese-Canadian playwright, TV writer, screenwriter Chloé Hung. Otaño is the first IAMA ensemble member to be honored with the award.

“We’re so lucky to be able to extend this opportunity to a writer from our ensemble for the first time,” says IAMA artistic director Stefanie Black. We’ve been invested in Brian’s work for years, helping early on to develop his ambitious Dooley Street Trilogy. We can’t wait to see what he’s been dreaming up next that we can build from the ground up together.”

A Brooklyn-born playwright and screenwriter, Otaño’s full-length plays include Dolores Slayborne: A Grand Guignol Drag Fantasia (Atlantic Theater Company Launch Commission), Under Normal Circumstances (UCSB), The Dust (2019 MCC Theater PlayLab), Tara, Zero Feet Away (Roundabout Underground Series) and The Dooley Street Trilogy. In television, Otaño developed numerous projects and served as writer-producer for The Horror of Dolores Roach while under a two-year overall deal with Amazon Studios. Other TV credits include Goosebumps: Gravesend (Disney+, upcoming) and the first season of Cruel Summer (Hulu). Otaño is a two-time alumnus of National Hispanic Media Coalition Writers Program, as well as Echo Playwrights Lab, CTG LA Writers Workshop, Geffen Playhouse Writers Room, Ars Nova Playgroup and Page 73’s Interstate 73 Writers Group. He is the recipient of the New Dramatists Van Lier Fellowship and the New York Theater Workshop 2050 Fellowship. He currently lives in LA, where he is an IAMA Theatre Company member playwright and a participant in the Rogue Machine Playwrights Roundtable. Otaño is represented by William Morris Endeavor, Grandview Management and Jackoway Austen et al.

IAMA has been dedicated to developing new plays and musicals by emerging and established playwrights since 2007. Rhimes, a frequent IAMA audience member, came on board in March 2017 as the company’s first-ever “Patron of the Arts,” committing funds for the commission as well as tangible support for IAMA’s mission and operations through her Rhimes Foundation. The Rhimes Foundation was established in 2016 to support arts, education and activism with a focus on promoting cultural inclusion and fighting inequality.

Fringe Review: Hold Me Down

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Jackie Yangyuen presents Hold Me Down. Produced by Cooper Edgren.

Bad experiences in life can have tragic consequences for some people. For Jackie Yangyuen, however, traumatic events led her to unleash her creativity. In Hold Me Down, she finds a safe place to express and share her own narrative.

A mother with gambling issues and a supportive, but distant father, exacerbated Jackie’s struggles. Furthermore, she developed mental health issues that just added more pressure to the already critical situation. Fortunately, Jackie found avenues to channel the pain towards a positive outcome. Music was one of those avenues. The other one was more of a surprise: BDSM.

Rope play became a healing paradox, one that only people that have experienced the world of BDSM can understand. Submission and pain, as degrading as they can sound, are powerful elements to unlock freedom. Obviously, BDSM is more than Fifty Shades of Grey; the practice, in Jackie’s case ropes and suspension, can heighten the senses to an orgasmic level, liberating insecurities and traumas, deepening the Dom-Sub relationship. The adrenaline of pain can be powerful and healing.

Getting professional help and having a supportive BDSM partner were essential to stop Jackie’s darker intentions. Hold Me Down delivers a critical message of hope, compassion, and self-acceptance. For Jackie, finding an artistic expression to process and overcome her struggles was pivotal. She is busy working on several projects, so her mind is occupied with creative endeavors. For sure, we will hear more from her in the near future.

Her play contains reference to sexual abuse, gambling, and mental health issues, all presented with tact and in an engaging manner. Jackie also debunks some taboos about BDSM and the dynamics among its practitioners, something that always triggers interesting conversations. Jackie uses pop music, lighting, and comedy to lighten up the darker side of her story, but they’re also elements that signify that there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Hold Me Down

Asylum @ Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre
5636 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Fri June 28, 9:00 PM – NEWLY ADDED!

Sun June 30, 2:30 PM

Tickets: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10490

Written and performed by Jackie Yangyuen.

Producer: Cooper Edgren. Music Director: Paul Kirz Jr. Movement Director: Shyamala Moorty. Script Director: D’Lo. Set Designer: Mario Aguirre. Costume Designer: Sam O’Neul.

Theatre Review: Psycho Beach Party

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HorseChart Theatre presents Psycho Beach Party. Written by Charles Busch. Directed by Tom DeTrinis and Ryan Bergmann. Produced by Brett Aune and Steven Luff.

Teenage tomboy Chicklet Forrest (Drew Droege) wants to join the surfer crowd on Malibu Beach, but her multiple personalities become a concern. Her alter egos are a checkout girl, an elderly radio talk show hostess, a male model named Steve, the accounting firm of Edelman and Edelman, and the most dangerous one—sexually voracious vixen Ann Bowman.

In her quest to learn from the master surfer Kanaka (Karen Maruyama), Chicklet meets an array of peculiar characters. Yo-Yo (Adrián González) and Provolone (Daniel Montgomery) are friends who grow closer and closer until…well, you have to see it. Also in the crowd are diva extraordinaire Bettina (Chase Rosenberg/Roz Hernandez), Swing (Michael P. McDonald), Swing (Harrison Meloeny), Marvel Ann (Pete Zias), and Starcat (Thomas Hobson). Supporting Chicklet in good and bad times is her best friend Berdine (Daniele Gaither). And, of course, don’t forget about Chicklet’s mom, the stern Mrs. Forrest (Sam Pancake).

The play is fun, silly, and upbeat. Playwright Charles Busch wrote Psycho Beach Party in 1987, so the play is somehow anti-establishment. The 80s were especially tough for the LGBT community in America. The Family Protection Act tried to ban the federal funding to any organization accepting a gay lifestyle as an alternative. The Act was defeated, but it was endorsed by Ronald Reagan. Paul Cameron published bogus studies trying to prove that gay people have more tendencies to commit murder, child molestations, and the intentional spreading of diseases. The U.S Department of Defense discharged around 17,000 gay soldiers, stating that homosexuality was incompatible with military service. Pat Buchanan said that AIDS was nature’s revenge on gay men. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick held that state anti-sodomy statutes were constitutional. There were many more to mention, but the point is that Busch used this play to push back against the anti-gay sentiment of the time. As the fight continues, Psycho Beach Party is still relevant in reaffirming the pride of the LGBT community.

The set design and the costumes fit the intentional campiness of the story. The lighting is mostly high key, reflecting the upbeat tone of the play. The acting is superb, stressing the comedic nature of the script. The co-direction by Tom DeTrinis and Ryan Bergmann is excellent, the blocking and the use of space allow the actors to move freely, with enough room for physical comedy.

Psycho Beach Party is a crazy dream, a fantasy, and a menagerie of eccentric characters that celebrate the pride of the LGBT community and the diversity of society.

Psycho Beach Party

Matrix Theatre
7657 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Opening: 7pm Friday, June 14, 2024
Schedule: 7pm Thursdays – Sundays
(added performance on Monday, July 1; no performance on Thursday, July 4).
Closing: Sunday, July 7, 2024
Written by Charles Busch. Directed by Tom DeTrinis and Ryan Bergmann. Produced by Brett Aune and Steven Luff. Associate Producers: Brian Nesbitt and Sami Klein.
Cast: Adrián González, Chase Rosenberg, Daniel Montgomery, Daniele Gaither, Drew Droege, Harrison Meloeny, Karen Maruyama, Michael P. McDonald, Pete Zias, Sam Pancake, Thomas Hobson, Roz Hernandez.
Creative team: Yuri Okahana-Benson, Nicole Bernardini (Scenic Design), Nicole Bernardini (Scenic Painting and Properties), RS Buck (Lighting Design), Andrea “Slim” Allmond
Composer/Sound Design), Alexis Carrie (Costume Design), Jenni Gilbert (Wigs).

Interview with Roger Q. Mason about their play Night Cities

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Acclaimed Black Filipinx playwright and Kilroys List honoree Roger Q. Mason will receive an industry reading of Night Cities, a new play about Queer civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, as part of the Not a Moment, But a Movement Festival presented by Center Theatre Group In collaboration with The Fire This Time Festival and Watts Village Theater Company. The reading, directed by Nancy Keystone, will take place on Sunday, June 23 at 7pm at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (9820 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232) in Los Angeles. Tickets ($15) are available for advance purchase at www.centertheatregroup.org.

Below is an interview with Roger Q. Mason.

Are you approaching Night Cities from a fictionalized or documentary perspective?

This is a work of poetic expressionism extracted from fact, but aimed at getting to a deeper emotional truth about young Bayard Rustin’s struggles with personal desire versus public duty.

The Cold War was raging during Bayard Rustin’s life. How do you think that affected his activist vision?

In the 1930s, the Communist Party supported Civil Rights work, particularly centering on labor reform. World War II found a shift in interest within the Party, less focus on activism and resistance within the US, particularly military desegregation – a focus of Bayard’s in the 1940s.  He left the Communist Party around 1941. Our dramaturg, Dylan Southard, opined in rehearsal that, “The Cold War and the fear of Communists provided another obstacle for Rustin because his dissidents could always tie him to Communism, even if he had dropped it years ago. Much of the fear around homosexuality was tied to Communism and the idea that Communists could blackmail people like Rustin, threatening to out them.”

Rustin traveled to India to learn about Ghandi’s non-violent resistance. Do you think Rustin’s pacific activism in America achieved the same impact as Ghandi’s in India?

It is difficult to directly compare Ghandi’s tear down of the British Empire in India with Rustin’s various efforts to provide labor reform, civil rights, and later desegregation (and its legal ramifications) in the United States. However, in the play, we allude to the notion that Gandhi’s vision of nonviolent protest provided strong reinforcements to Rustin’s pacifist ideals – he was certainly a possibility model for him. Later on, he became a master strategist of logistical and social coordination for protests. I think his experiences in the theatre, and the coordination that producing a show entails, had a significant impact on his work in the movement. Those rallies were indeed a show!

He also traveled to Africa, where he met with leaders of the independent movement. What lessons do think he learned during those travels?

In the play, we feature a quote from his time in Africa, wherein he praises the cultural and robust civic infrastructure that various African countries possessed. This information was suppressed to favor the superiority of the white West. I am sure this information fortified Rustin, particularly later when organizing Black America around finding the bounty they are due in America.

How important was jazz music for a young Rusting living in America?

Rustin was a devotee of gospel and spiritual music. There are recordings of him performing such genres.  In the 1930s, he was hanging out at Cafe Society in downtown New York and living in Harlem in the early 1940s, so jazz was an inevitable part of his life.

For your research, did you talk to surviving people that were part of Rustin’s life?

When building a new play, I reserve conversations with surviving persons for later in the process so that my own narrative impulses are articulated first before they are influenced and amended by survivors’ lived experiences.  However, those points of view are essential, and I look forward to talking with folks in the next iteration of the piece.

Rustin was arrested for having sex with other men. How do you think that incident shaped or reinforced his activism?

Rustin was arrested quite a few times for sex with men, and it is something that marked his visibility within the Civil Rights Movement for the remainder of his career.  It is easy to draw a line between Rustin’s queerness and his activism, but the facts are a bit more complicated than that.  It is this tension between private life and public duty that inspired my play.

Being gay and a civil rights activist was dangerous back then. Is it still dangerous today?

It is just as dangerous, if not more, because certain leaders have emboldened our dissidents to feel that they are above the law and beyond reproach.

What is the most important legacy of Rustin’s work that has inspired your own work?

Rustin presents the complex, multivalent, intersectional civil rights leader that we need as a guiding light now.

How did you get involved with Not a Moment, but a Movement Festival?

My champion, hero and constant friend Cezar Williams collaborated with Los Angeles theatre legends Tyrone Davis and Bruce Lemon to bring me into the Festival – and the rest is history.

What can people take away from Night Cities?

We all need to embrace the complexity and contradictions of our desires.  How do we balance who we are for others with our private selves?  And how do we live honestly and fully along the way.  That’s the only way we’ll truly be free.

Dido of Idaho

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WHAT:
The Echo Theater Company presents Dido of Idaho, a very dark comedy about the lengths to which a woman might go for the love of a good man. Nora, a lovelorn baroque musicologist with a drinking problem, is head-over-heels for Michael, an English professor. Unfortunately, this particular good man has already been claimed by Crystal, a former Miss Idaho with a penchant for home manicures. When the extramarital hijinks go brutally awry, Nora flees to the Rocky Mountains to seek comfort from her estranged mother, Julie, and Julie’s new partner, Esther. In her desperate bid to find compassion, Nora risks losing the only family she’s ever had — maybe forever.

WHO:
• Written by Abby Rosebrock
• Directed by Abigail Dreser
• Starring Alana Dietz, Julie Dretzin, Nicole Duport, Joby Earle, Elissa Middleton
• Presented by The Echo Theater Company, Chris Fields artistic director

WHEN:
Previews: July 17, July 18, July 19
Performances: July 20 – August 26
• Wednesday at 8 p.m.: July 17 ONLY (preview)
• Thursday at 8 p.m.: July 18 ONLY (preview)
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: July 19 (preview), July 26, Aug. 2, Aug. 9, Aug. 16, Aug. 23
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: July 20 (opening night), July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 10, Aug. 17, Aug. 24
• Sundays at 4 p.m.: July 21, July 28, Aug. 4, Aug. 11, Aug. 18, Aug. 25
• Mondays at 8 p.m.: July 22, July 29, Aug. 5, Aug. 12, Aug. 19, Aug. 26

WHERE:
Echo Theater Company
Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039

PARKING:
FREE in the Atwater Crossing (AXT) lot one block south of the theater

TICKET PRICES:
Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays: $34
Mondays: Pay–What–You–Want
Previews: Pay–What–You–Want

HOW:
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com
(747) 350-8066

Fringe Review: Grape Culture

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Grape Culture. Written by Toni Nagy and Sarah Buckner. Produced by Mike Blaha of Fringe Management and Lee Costello.

One of the reasons theatre has survived for more than 2,000 years is the fact that this artistic expression reflects society in all of its beauty and ugliness. In Grape Culture, performers Toni Nagy and Sarah Buckner take the audience out of their comfort zone to explore the struggles of coping with rape in a society that stills puts the blame on the victims.

From sexual remarks to a little girl to harassment in the workplace, this play conveys the uncomfortable situations faced by many women as a result of society’s objectification and ownership of the female body. In some instances, the non-consensual ownership of the body is exercised in medical settings, like when sedated women are used to practice gynecological procedures by medical students.

The stage serves as a platform to emphasize the fact that women own their bodies, and only them can use and manage them as they please. Whether is sex or medical procedures, the woman should be in control to avoid sexual abuse, even in relationships with sexual partners. The key is consent.

Even though the show presents the traumas generated by rape, one positive element is finding the way to heal. For Nagy and Buckner, this can be achieved by somatics and sharing the experiences with the audience to break the cycle of complicit silence. Grape Culture is an effort to dig deep and find the root cause of the toxic attitudes that promote and celebrate abuse.

One of the messages that comes across is that when women expose their bodies, it is not a permit to use them for exploitation, it might be just a way to regain ownership and the narrative about their bodies and womanhood.

For this radical, funny, and entertaining show, Nagy and Buckner use tap, modern dance, film, comedy, and storytelling to represent the challenges of being a woman and the opportunities to heal and find peace. The material might be uneasy for some, but shows like this one present an opportunity to start a meaningful and empathetic conversation.

Grape Culture

Broadwater (Second Stage)
6320 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Dates:

Monday June 17 2024, 6:30 PM

Friday June 21 2024, 9:00 PM

Wednesday June 26 2024, 9:30 PM

Saturday June 29 2024, 5:00 PM

Sunday June 30 2024, 12:30 PM

Tickets: hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10853

Written and performed by Toni Nagy and Sarah Buckner. Produced by Mike Blaha of Fringe Management and Lee Costello.

Theatre Review: The Outsider

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The Los Angeles premiere of The Outsider is presented by International City Theatre. Written by Paul Slade Smith. Directed by Brian Shnipper. Produced by caryn desai [sic].

Ned Newley (Stephen Rockwell) is afraid of public speaking, and his poll numbers are really bad. Even his chief of staff, Dave Riley (Nikhil Pai), thinks that Newley is destined for failure. However, political consultant Arthur Vance (Jonathan Bray) sees something special about Newley that might click with the voters. For that reason, Vance suggests that Newley should run for governor. Not only that, Vance also suggests that the bubbly but inept temp, Louise Peakes (Susan Huckle), should run for lieutenant governor. All she needs is some color-coded cards so she can answer the reporter’s questions.

Playwright Paul Slade Smith sees a trend in current politics, not only in America but in other countries as well, and writes an accurate description of the machinations of the political system to attract popular votes. By looking insecure or even ignorant, the character Newley appears to come to the voters’ level, less intellectual, more average-person type. And, how about Louise Peakes? Clueless and inept, she connects with the public almost instantly. These two characters represent the characteristics that people want from their elected officials nowadays.

The play goes beyond simple comedy. Analyzing what’s seen on stage, a question lingers in the air. What is democracy and who gets to define it? Both characters Newley and Peaks might not be the most prepared candidates to run the government, but what if they are exactly what the people want? In the end, who really runs the government?

The set is one single room, the Governor’s office, but is full of details and it looks stately. The comedy is always there, scene after scene. Susan Huckle steals the show with her hilarious interpretation of a character in a constant state of confusion and cluelessness.

In this election year, The Outsider fits perfectly in the collective consciousness. Its themes and characters feel familiar and are a vivid representation of the trickeries used by the political system to gain popular support for whatever interests the candidates and their respective teams are promoting.

The political animals observed in The Outsider are either oblivious of the current state of things or genuinely interested in satisfying people’s needs. Whatever the case, The message is the same: There will always be someone manipulating the threads of power from the shadows, for better or worse.

The direction by Brian Shnipper is a great example of how to utilize the space to create fluidity, leaving enough room for physicality to give that additional punch to the comedic situations. Even though the whole play happens in one single room, Shnipper makes sure the brilliant cast and the amusing comedy keep the audience entertained.

The Outsider

International City Theatre in the Beverly O’Neill Theatre
Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center
330 East Seaside Way
Long Beach, CA 90802

Performances: June 14 – June 30
• Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.: June 20, June 27
• Fridays at 7:30 p.m.: June 14 (Opening Night), June 21, June 28
• Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.: June 22, June 29
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: June 23, June 30

Tickets: ictlongbeach.org

Written by Paul Slade Smith. Directed by Brian Shnipper. Produced by caryn desai [sic]. Presented by International City Theatre.

Cast: Thomas Anawalt, Jonathan Bray, Susan Huckle, Nikhil Pai, Taylor Popoola, Stephen Rockwell, Natalie Storrs.

Creative team: Set designer John Patrick, lighting designer Crystal R. Shomph, costume designer Claire Fraser, sound designer Dave Mickey, and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA. The stage manager is Pat Loeb.

Fringe Review: Ice Cats

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Orgasmico Theatre Company proudly presents Ice Cats, A Dead Mother Traumedy. Written and performed by Alli Miller-Fisher. Directed by Marissa Jaret Winokur. Produced by Chadd McMillan and Michael Shaw Fisher.

A eulogy turned into a comedy, or vice versa. This solo show delves into the processed and unprocessed emotions of loosing one’s mother. With her characteristic witty humor, Alli Miller-Fisher (CLUELESQUE, The Nightlesque Before Grinchmas) relates the emotional journey of dealing with her mom’s passing.

Cancer, with its ups and downs, becomes pretty intense. Loosing the battle is the end of a journey and the beginning of another one. For Alli, the second journey started with cleaning her mom’s house, where surprises were abundant. Mice, letters, bills, newspapers, you name it. Oh, and the cats. Frozen cats. Ice cats. Was mom waiting for a burial special?

The show combines black humor, tender memories, and even music thrown in the mix. The healing process might take time, but it’s a learning curve, exhausting, rewarding. The discovery of material things it’s also the discovery of hidden feelings that need to be addressed and come to terms with. The more the time advances, the more we understand our parents, in life, in grief, in healing.

Miller-Fisher presents a deeply personal and relatable account of her struggles coping with her loss, but in a funny and entertaining way. She pays tribute to the cherished memories with her mom, connecting with the audience instantly. Above all, her story reminds us that despite the pain, the show must go on.

Ice Cats, A Dead Mother Traumedy

The Three Clubs
1123 Vine Street
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Dates: June 15th 6:30PM, June 21st 8:30PM, June 23rd 2:30PM, June 26th 7:30PM

Tickets: hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10563

Written and performed by Alli Miller-Fisher. Directed by Marissa Jaret Winokur. Produced by Chadd McMillan and Michael Shaw Fisher.

Brainwashed

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Brainwashed

Written and Performed by Alina Konon

Directed by Nathan Mohebbi

Hollywood Fringe Festival

Brainwashed is a solo clown show about growing up in a dictatorship.

Alina brings her personal sometimes bizarre experiences from living in Belarus under a brutal regime to the stage. Her dark comedy explores the surreal and disturbing reality of growing up under dictatorship. She shares her childhood love for all things communist, and, through a series of absurd clown bits, she engages the audience in the process of brainwashing. The show features a mix of silly elements, including live cooking of soup, which is shared with the audience, creating an interactive and intimate setting.

Trigger warnings:  This is a dark comedy based on a personal experience, there will be mentions of death, murder, self-harm, and police brutality.  Also partial nudity.

Dates:

Saturday June 15 2024, 8:30 PM | 1hr

Friday June 21 2024, 7:00 PM | 1hr

Thursday June 27 2024, 5:30 PM | 1hr

Saturday June 29 2024, 10:00 PM | 1hr

Location: ACTORS COMPANY (THE LITTLE THEATER), 916 N. Formosa Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046, 323-463-4639

Tickets: hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10475

Wendy’s Peter Pan

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Wendy’s Peter Pan

WHAT:
Calling all young-at-heart: Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum has transformed its uniquely beautiful outdoor amphitheater into the imaginary isle of Neverland for a magical production of Wendy’s Peter Pan.

WHO:
• Adapted from J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play by Ellen Geer
• Directed by Ellen Geer
• Presented by Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

WHEN:
Performances: June 22 – October 4
• Saturday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, July 6 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, July 21 at 8 p.m.
• Friday, July 26 at 7:30 p.m. * **
• Friday, Aug. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Aug. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. 
• Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
*Prologue (pre-show discussion): Friday, July 26 from 6:30 p.m.–7 p.m.
**Pay-What-You-Will performance: Friday, July 26 

WHERE:
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum
1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Topanga CA 90290
(midway between PCH in Santa Monica Canyon and the 101 in the San Fernando Valley)

TICKET PRICES: 
• Adults: $48 (lower tier); $30 (upper tier); $60 (premium seating)
• Seniors (65+), Students, Military Veterans, Teachers, AEA Members: $35/$20
• Children (5-15): $15
• Children 4 and under: Free
• Friday night, July 26: Pay-What-You-Will (cash only at the door)

OTHER:
• The outdoor amphitheater at Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is terraced into the hillside of the rustic canyon. Audience members are advised to dress casually (warmly for evenings) and bring cushions for bench seating.
• Patrons are welcome to arrive early to picnic in the gardens before performances.

HOW:
theatricum.com
(310) 455-3723