Showing results by publisher "L.A. Theatre Works" in Entertainment & Performing Arts

In five autobiographical vignettes, Charlayne Woodard tells the moving and inspirational tale of her African-American family through three generations of love, struggle, and triumph.

Bad Axe is the story of a woman accused of murdering her husband at a military outpost in the Old West. Did hostile Indians force her to scalp him as revenge for his brutality, or did she kill him out of frustration with her plight as a soldier’s wife? An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring John Castellanos, Harry Hamlin, Amy Irving, Peter Jacobs, and Jessica Walter. Recorded before a live audience.

George Bernard Shaw's warm and witty play continues to challenge conventional wisdom about male/female relationships. Candida concerns a beautiful married woman's choice between the two men who love her.

Written by José Rivera, recent Academy Award Nominee for The Motorcycle Diaries, Each Day Dies with Sleep is the story of a young woman's struggle to find an identity apart from the two men in her life: her father and her husband. Written in Rivera's typical satiric and super realistic style, this fantastical tragi-comedy leaps from coast to coast, and from one outrageous moment to the next.

Harry Shearer’s parody of a presidential election. In this fantasy, Bob Dole Jr. faces off against a wrestler named Greenberg, as they fight for one family’s votes by camping out in their living room. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Fran Adams, Ed Begley Jr., Judyann Elder, Arye Gross, Daniel Passer, Richard Masur, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard, and Kenny Williams. Directed by Harry Shearer. Recorded before a live audience.

Terry Malloy, the "seemingly soulless street survivor," unwittingly lures a rebellious longshoreman to his death in Budd Schulberg's searing drama about the New York waterfront, the racketeering unions controlling it, and the kid who "coulda been a contender."

Taking Flight is a deeply compelling, humorous, and truly moving work that brings to the stage a mystical and poignant tale of a friendship tested by tragedy, and of the resilience of the human heart.

A pointed look at organized, merchandised religion; the dangers of pride and ambition; the battes for power between generations; and the redemptive power of faith. A face off for control between a legendary Baptist pastor and an ambitious young preacher.

Angela Arden wants to be free of her suffocating marriage to film producer Sol Sussman. What better way than poison! Distraught by her father’s death and convinced of her mother’s guilt, Edith Sussman plots to get the truth out of Angela using any means necessary. Charles Busch stars in the role he originated in this camp send-up where tongues aren’t the only thing dipped in acid.

During WWII in Seattle, University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi fights the US government's orders to forcibly remove and incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. As he struggles to reconcile his country's betrayal with his passionate belief in the US Constitution, Gordon begins a 50-year journey toward a greater understanding of America's triumphs - and a confrontation with its failures.

In April of 2010, British Petroleum gave orders to speed up production on its colossal drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon. Despite the objections of many on the rig, safety measures were ignored or overlooked. On April 20th, the Deepwater Horizon exploded. Eleven men paid the ultimate price and countless thousands who call the Gulf Coast home found their lives irrevocably altered.

As Jews tried to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s, they faced unthinkable roadblocks in obtaining exit visas. And while they were denied entry in one country after another, a bureaucratic oddity enabled some of them to flee to an unlikely destination: Shanghai, China. In this LATW original commission, playwright Kate McAll used the survivors’ own words to create a narrative of people starting their lives over in a completely new land.

On the last night of his life, Henry Jekyll records the harrowing story of his years-long struggle to maintain his reputation as a physician and philanthropist—while secretly suppressing the voracious beast he had long felt lurking within. Playwright David Rambo drew on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson for inspiration to create this original L.A. Theatre Works commission.