Welcome to the first installment of Julio Martinez‘s LA Stage Insider for the week of March 2, 2022.
NEWS
Longtime KNBC weatherman, comic and (Honorary) Mayor of Toluca Lake Fritz Coleman will take to the stage for a comedy concert, Sunday, March 20 at 3pm, at El Portal Theatre in NoHo to benefit the Toluca Lake Chamber of Commerce. His special guest star is comedienne Wendy Liebman. For tickets and more information, go here.
L.A. Theatre Works has announced that the complete Arthur Miller Collection from L.A.T.W. is now available for the first time for digital download. The world’s leading producer of audio theater, LATW has recorded a total of ten titles by Miller, but only recently was awarded the rights to distribute them all digitally. They works include: “After the Fall;”“All My Sons,” starring Julie Harris; “Broken Glass;” “The Crucible,” featuring an all-star cast led byStacy KeachandRichard Dreyfuss; “Death of a Salesman,” withStacy Keach starring as Willy Loman; “Incident at Vichy;” “The Man Who Had All the Luck;” “The Price;” “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan,”starring Brian Cox; and “A View from the Bridge.” For more information and to order the complete Arthur Miller Collection from L.A. Theatre Works, go to latw.org/title/arthur-miller-collection.
PREMIERES
Two Roads Theater in Studio City is hosting Two Heads Are Better Productions’ premiere of the stage comedy, “Escape from the Garden” (aka “Tracy in the Kitchen”), focusing on a fading star, who after her latest “bomb” retreats to her kitchen, written by Sarah Hunter. The cast features Sandra Cruze, Juls Hoover, Michael Selle, Aurelio Miguel Bocanegra and Victor Bill, directed by Marianne Davis. Opens Mar 11, running through Mar 27. Performances are Fri & Sat at 7:30pm, Sun at 3:00pm. Two Roads Theater is located at 4348 Tujunga Ave, Studio City. Tickets and further information available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/escape-from-the-garden-tickets-243218161067?ref=eiosor
AROUND TOWN
Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) presents the third show of its 2021-2022 season, Nancy Travis (“Last Man Standing, “The Kominsky Method,” “Three Men and a Baby”) starring as “Lillian,” by David Cale and directed by Jonathan Fox. Lillian, a bookish middle-aged British woman, falls for Jimmy, a man almost half her age. As life continues to throw curious curveballs, Lillian rises to each occasion, discovering a part of herself that laid dormant. “Lillian”begins previews on Mar 3, opens on Saturday, Mar 5 at 8:00pm and runs through Sunday, Mar 13 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.
Performances are Wed & Thu (7:30pm), Fri & Sat (8:00pm), and Sun (2:00pm). Tickets are available through the ETC box office at (805) 965-5400, or online at etcsb.org. ETC’s previously announced production of “Carmen Jones” will be presented in the fall of 2022.
Interact Theatre Company in NoHo is holding six staged readings of Tony Award-winning plays, streaming the second Saturday of each month through June. On Mar 12, Interact company members Anne Gee Byrd, Marc Velera, Stacey Farber and Kacie Rogers will be featured in John Patrick Stanley’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Best Play Tony winner, “Doubt.” Directing is Cate Caplin. The production will stream for 24 hours (12:01 a.m.-11:59 p.m. Pacific Time). Available exclusively on interactla.org, free, but ticket availability is limited.
Open Fist Theatre Company returns to in-person performances witha comedy about “sex, intimacy and equality.” Lane Allison directs “In the Next Room, or the vibrator play” by Sarah Ruhl for a Mar 18 opening at Atwater Village Theatre. Performances continue through Apr 23. Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity, and based on the little-known historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat “hysterical” women (and some men), the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how this new therapy affects their household. Cast includes Spencer Cantrell, Dionna Veremis, Stephanie Crothers, Alex Wells, Monazia Smith, Bryan Robert BertoneandJennifer Zorbalas. Performances are Fri &Saturdays (8 p.m.), Sun (6 p.m.) For reservations and information, call (323) 882-6912 or go to www.openfist.org.
Theatre West is presenting two free cabaret evenings featuring the talented members of its Musical Theatre Workshop, singing songs of love on Saturday, Mar 12 and 19 at 7pm. The cast includes Sara Ballantine, Sandra Tucker, Paul Cady, Sara Shearer, Arden Teresa Lewis, Constance Mellors, Mimi Kmet, Anne Leyden, Michael Van Duzer, Heidi Appe, Rick Simone-Friedland, Tessa Bell and Robert W. Laur. Victoria Lavan directs. Theatre West is located at 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, in Los Angeles. This is a FREE, non-ticketed event. Reservations are not necessary. Donations will be gratefully accepted. For more information call, (323) 851-7977 or go to the website: http://theatrewest.org.
SOLO MOJO
Echo Theater Company is presenting solo works by two of its company members under the collective title. “Alone Together: Solos at the Echo.” Conceived, written, and performed by Ann Noble, “Little Parts Hunts a Baby-Daddy” will run Tuesdaysat8 p.m.,Mar 15–Apr 5. Created and performed bySky Paley, “Antiman”can be seen every Sundayat7:30 p.m.,Mar 20–Apr 10. All performances take place at the Echo Theater Company’s home at Atwater Village Theatre,located at3269 Casitas Avein Los Angeles. For reservations and information, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.
Arts in Review, celebrating the best in theater and cabaret in the Greater Los Angeles area, airing on KPFK (90.7fm) on Fridays (2-2:30pm), streamed live around the world in real time over www.kpfk.org. On Mar 11, Arts in Review welcomes Fritz Coleman.