2013-2014 Douglas Season Includes the
World Premiere Musical “The Black Suits”
Barry McGovern in his Critically
Acclaimed Beckett Piece “I’ll Go On”
The World Premiere Drama “different words
for the same thing”
A Re-Twisting of The Second City’s “A
Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens”
And DouglasPlus Programming of Three L.A.
Solo Performers:
Luis Alfaro’s “St. Jude” in its World
Premiere Production,
Trieu Tran’s “Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam”
and Roger Guenveur Smith’s “Rodney King”
The New Season Begins September 14, 2013, and Runs
Through June 1, 2014.
[For
complete listing of plays and performance dates, please see final page of
release.]
Center
Theatre Group is celebrating its 10th anniversary at the Kirk
Douglas Theatre with a season that encapsulates the variety and artistry that
has filled the first nine seasons.
Since the
theatre’s birth in late 2004, over 70
productions,
workshops and readings have been presented – new, edgy, boundary-pushing pieces
along with the best of American classics and of international fare. Twenty of
these productions were world premieres. Three works moved to Broadway:
the world premieres of Alex Timbers’ and Michael Friedman’s musical
“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and Rajiv Joseph’s dark comedy (and Pulitzer
Prize finalist) “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” and the revival of William
Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba.” Other works were produced off-Broadway and at regional
theatres throughout the country.
“We stated early
on that the Douglas would offer as broad a scope of theatre as possible,” said
CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie. “With the announcement of the 2013-2014
season, we are definitely continuing that commitment.”
Three world premieres, seven
productions in all, are scheduled for the 10th season at the Douglas. The works
range from a new rock musical to a sweeping new drama to a masterful
interpretation of the works of Beckett, plus the bonus option of The Second
City’s one-of-a-kind Christmas show. In addition, three Los Angeles solo
artists will be presented in the popular DouglasPlus program, and will
represent CTG in the Radar L.A. festival.
“I’m really looking forward
to the premiere of the rock musical ‘The
Black Suits,’” said Ritchie. “Joe
Iconis is a young musical theatre artist to watch, and his and Robert Maddock’s story of a suburban
garage band takes us all back to younger days and the powerful effect that music
has on our lives.
“Kimber Lee’s story in the premiere of her “different words for the same thing” is a beautiful, haunting
homage to sweeping, multi-generational tales of families and communities, and I
welcome the work of this important, rising young
playwright.”
“We are also very lucky to
have Barry McGovern with us again,”
said Ritchie. “His poignant Vladimir
in Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ last year at the Mark Taper Forum was
unforgettable. This season,
Ireland’s beloved son returns with his celebrated one-man show, ‘I’ll Go On,’ based on three Beckett
novels. I can’t wait to see this talented actor at the Douglas.
“The best holiday gift we can
give is the happy return of The Second
City’s ‘A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!’ by Second City alums Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort. The audiences loved this show in its world premiere
last year, and for good reason.
It’ll be fun to see what is meant by this year’s promise of ‘re-loaded
and re-twisted.’
“An important part of the
Kirk Douglas Theatre experience is our DouglasPlus programming. We often
feature works that have shorter runs but have maximum effect. This season we will be presenting three
important solo artists from Los Angeles: Luis
Alfaro and the world premiere of his ‘St.
Jude,’ Trieu Tran and his ‘Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam’ and Roger Guenveur
Smith and his ‘Rodney King.’ One-person
shows cut to the heart of theatre: a performer, a stage and a story that needs
to be told.”
“As
we planned this special 10th anniversary season at the Kirk Douglas
Theatre, many happy memories popped into my mind,” said Ritchie.
“Memories of exciting plays and musicals created on the Douglas stage, of
emerging theatre artists spreading their wings, and of audiences enjoying live
theatre in that special intimate space. Over the last nine years artists
and audiences together have brought life, light and magic back to our transformed movie house. It has
been a wonderful adventure. Here’s to the new season and to the all
seasons (and decades) to follow.”
“The Black Suits”
Music and Lyrics
by Joe Iconis
Book by Joe
Iconis and Robert Maddock
Directed by John
Simpkins
World Premiere
October 27 –
November 24, 2013
The
high energy, soaring dreams and emotional intensity of being in a high school garage
band are captured in the world premiere of the engaging “The Black Suits,” a
new rock musical presented at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, October 27 through
November 24. Opening is set for
November 3.
With
music and lyrics by Joe Iconis, and book by Iconis and Robert Maddock, “The
Black Suits,” directed by John Simpkins, is set in a garage in suburban Long
Island where four boys (lead singer, guitar, bass and drums) are preparing for
stardom by way of the St. Anne’s Battle of the Bands.
The band and the music give focus and
sustenance to the boys whose lives are filled with teenage angst and longing,
struggles with friends and girlfriends, and the need to make choices. For one
brief summer they find escape in the camaraderie of the band, the sheer fun of
creating and playing music and the core belief in the “transformative coolness
of rock ‘n’ roll.”
Joe
Iconis is a musical theatre writer and concert performer. He has been
nominated for two Drama Desk Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, and is the
recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, a Jonathan Larson Award, an ASCAP Harold
Adamson Lyric Award, and a MAC John Wallowitch Songwriting Award. Joe’s
songs appeared on the second season of NBC’s “Smash.” He is the author of “Bloodsong of Love” (directed
by John Simpkins; Ars Nova and NAMT Festival of New Musicals), “ReWrite” (Urban Stages, Goodspeed
Opera House Festival of New Artists), Theaterworks USA’s “The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks” and
“We The People” (The Lortel, national
tour). The original cast recording of his theatrical rock concert “Things To Ruin” and his pop/rock
album “The Joe Iconis Rock and Roll
Jamboree” are both available on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight
Records. He is currently working
on a musical adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s “Be More Chill” (with Joe Tracz)
and a musical about Hunter S. Thompson (with Gregory S. Moss).
Robert
Emmett Maddock is a Jonathan
Larson award-winning lyricist and a graduate of the Tisch program at NYU. He is
the lyricist of the Nightlife award-winning cabaret/concert “Triumphant Baby” (music by Joe
Iconis) and the Daryl Lee Roth award-winning musical “Plastic! The Musical” (music by Iconis and Reza Jacobs).
Maddock’s writing has been featured in NYMF, NAMT and SPF events, as well as
the Bound For Broadway concert series at Lincoln Center. The Dramatist magazine included
Maddock on their list of “writers to watch.”
Gate Theatre production of
Barry McGovern in
“I’ll Go On”
by Samuel Beckett
From “Molloy,” “Malone
Dies” and “The Unnamable”
Texts Selected by Gerry Dukes and Barry McGovern
Directed by Colm Ó Briain
January 10 – February 9, 2014
Celebrated
Beckett interpreter Barry McGovern returns to Center Theatre Group following
his memorable performance last year as Vladimir in the acclaimed production of
“Waiting for Godot” at the Mark Taper Forum.
This
season, for the first time in Los Angeles, McGovern performs in his
tour-de-force, one-man show, “I’ll Go On” by Samuel Beckett in the Gate Theatre
production presented at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, January 10 through February
9, 2014. The opening is set for January 12.
“I’ll
Go On,” which is based on three of Beckett’s novels – “Molloy,” “Malone Dies”
and “The Unnamable,” is directed by Colm
Ó Briain. Texts from the works have been selected by Gerry
Dukes and McGovern.
First
performed at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1985, “I’ll Go On” has toured
worldwide to great critical acclaim.
Charles
Isherwood of The New York Times said, “Certainly language turns plenty of
somersaults in the skilled interpretations by Mr. McGovern … [McGovern] embodies these variously abject,
embittered and infuriated story spinners with an intensity that both tickles
and stings.” “… An outright triumph … arrestingly funny,” remarked William A.
Henry III of Time magazine. Adam Perlman of Backstage said, “… McGovern – technically flawless,
emotionally dazzling – is the consummate Beckett clown. His entire performance
is an instinctive shriek of pain that, on second thought, he converts to a
belly laugh.”
Barry McGovern, a leading figure in Irish theatre for many years, has performed at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in “Waiting for Godot,” “Endgame,” “Happy Days” and two one-man
Beckett shows, “I’ll Go On” and
“Watt,” which have played
worldwide, most recently at the Perth and Edinburgh festivals. He has
appeared in a number of films including “Joe
Versus the Volcano,” “The
General” and “Far and Away.”
Recent theatre work includes “An Enemy
of the People” and “Glengarry
Glen Ross.” On TV he has appeared in “Gift of the Magi,” “The
Tudors” and “Game of Thrones.”
The
Gate Theatre has been, artistically and architecturally, a landmark for over
250 years. Established as a theatre company in 1928, the Gate offered Dublin
audiences an introduction to the world of European and American theatre as well
as classics from the modern and Irish repertoire. It
was with the Gate that Orson Welles, James Mason and Michael Gambon began their
prodigious acting careers. Michael Colgan has been the Director of the Gate
Theatre for 30 years and in that time he has produced a great many award-winning
productions and festivals. Notably, these included five Pinter Festivals and
six Beckett Festivals. Many of the productions have been seen throughout
the world from Beijing to New York, Sydney to Toronto and London to Melbourne.
Most recently, the Gate produced B.P.M. – a Beckett Pinter Mamet Festival,
which comprised a season of works dedicated to the writings of these great
writers.
“different
words for the same thing”
by Kimber Lee
Directed by Neel Keller
World Premiere
May 4 through June 1, 2014
The
world premiere of Kimber Lee’s remarkable new play, “different words for the
same thing,” directed by CTG Associate Artistic Director Neel Keller, will be
presented May 4 through June 1, 2014, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The opening is set for May 11.
Set
in the small town in southwestern Idaho, and the vast spaces that surround it,
“different words for the same thing” depicts the intersecting lives of the
townspeople as they deal with the web of love, tradition, religion, politics
and heartbreak that connect them all.
In
a series of intimate, deeply felt scenes, Lee introduces Marta and Henry, three
generations of their family, and many of their friends and neighbors, including
a Mexican-American restaurant owner and his teenage daughter, a funeral
director, a hairdresser’s assistant, a donut shop owner, a priest, and the town
busybody. All are linked to the
heartbeat and daily life of the community in ways reminiscent of Thornton
Wilder’s classic “Our Town.”
Alice,
the Korean American woman adopted by Marta and Henry as a child, no longer
lives in Idaho. She has not been home for years but compelling family news is
now calling her back. Her return will
unearth secrets and smoldering conflicts but it will also heal wounds, bring
happiness and help her find her true home.
With
a subtle, sometimes mysterious mixture of the present and the past, “different
words for the same thing” wrestles with the joys and compromises of love,
family and being an American in the 21st century.
Kimber Lee’s other plays include “fight,”
“tokyo fish story” and “brownsville song (b-side for tray).” Her work has been presented by: Lark
Play Development Center, Page 73 Productions, Hedgebrook Women Playwrights
Festival, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival,
Dramatists Guild Fellows, Represent Playwrights Festival at ACT/Seattle, The
Playwrights’ Center, Theatre of the 1st Amendment/1st Light, Great Plains Theatre Conference
(mainstage), Southern Rep, and Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company. She received the 2010 Holland New
Voices Award, and has been a finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights
Conference, Ruby Prize, Soho Writer/Director Lab, and Premiere Stages Play
Festival. Kimber is a 2012-2013 Lark Playwrights’ Workshop Fellow, member of
the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, and the 2013-2014 recipient of the PoNY Fellowship. She has her MFA from the University of Texas, Austin.
Bonus Option
The Second City’s
“A Christmas Carol:
Twist Your Dickens!”
by Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort
Directed by Marc Warzecha
December 8 through 29, 2013
The
genius of The Second City will once again take over the Kirk Douglas Theatre as
the legendary comedy theatre group gleefully delivers its special brand of
holiday cheer with “A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!” for three weeks
only as a special season bonus option, December 8 through 29, 2013. The opening
is set for December 12.
Last
year’s world premiere of “Twist Your Dickens!” was an audience favorite, broke
all box office records, and according to Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles
Times, “… brought me the gift of laughter.”
The
creative team describes this year’s offering as “reloaded and re-twisted – the
same show you loved last year, just better.” “Twist Your Dickens!” is written by
a team of Second City alums, Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort, directed by Second
City alum Marc Warzecha, and performed by a cast of talented Second City performers
yet to be announced.
Created
in collaboration with CTG, The Second City’s satirical twist on Dickens, features
Scrooge, the Cratchits and all the time-traveling ghosts normally found in this
uplifting holiday fare. “Twist Your Dickens!” also breathes new life into the classic
tale of hope and redemption with celebrity guests, audience-interactive
improvisation, a few new characters, and a festive party atmosphere in the
lobby – complete with the cocktails Tiny Timtinis and Scroogedrivers.
As
McNulty noted last year, “… this twist on Dickens is good medicine for a
harried season. …” CTG is thrilled that the yuletide comedy pharmacy will be
open and dispensing liberally again this year.
The
Second City, which specializes in sketch comedy and improvisation, has
delighted audiences for over 50 years. With resident stages in Chicago and
Toronto and touring ensembles, The Second City entertains over a million guests
each year. It is also the largest training center in the world for
improvisation, sketch and acting, with schools in Los Angeles, Chicago and
Toronto, and 20,000 registrations per year. The Second City served as a
training ground for a host of famous alumni, including Mike Myers, Bill Murray,
Gilda Radner, John Candy, John Belushi, Catherine O’Hara, Tina Fey, Steve
Carell, Stephen Colbert and more. Colbert said, “The Second City was everything
to me,” and Murray said, “Second City is the best job anybody in the American
theatre can get. It’s
incomparable.” The New York Times reported that “The entire recent tradition of
America satire can be summed up in three words: The Second City.”
Peter
Gwinn is one of the original writers for “The Colbert Report” on Comedy
Central, for which he won two Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards and three Writers
Guild Awards. He has performed and taught improv and sketch comedy at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York, the iO Theater in Chicago, as
well as with the Second City National Touring Company, where he got into trouble because back then, his bio was Roddy McDowell’s
bio with his name on it.
Bobby Mort is an actor and comedian living in Los
Angeles. He's written for “The Colbert
Report” and is the writer behind several action movies involving people
punching each other. Bobby grew up in South Carolina before moving to
Chicago where he trained at iO and performed for a number of years with the
improv group People of Earth and sketch comedy trio Maximum Party Zone.
He is extremely excited to be working with Peter Gwinn and the fine folks
of The Second City.
DouglasPlus
“St. Jude”
Written and Performed by Luis Alfaro
Directed by Robert Egan
“Uncle Ho to Uncle
Sam”
by Trieu Tran with Robert Egan
Directed by Robert Egan
“Rodney King”
Created and Performed by Roger Guenveur Smith
September 14 – October 6, 2013
An exciting repertory of
performances by some of the hottest solo theatre artists in Los Angeles will
open the Kirk Douglas Theatre’s new season, September 14 through October 6,
2013, with the DouglasPlus presentations of Luis Alfaro’s “St. Jude,” Trieu
Tran’s “Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam” and Roger Guenveur Smith’s “Rodney King.”
The
opening for “St. Jude” is September 20, and the openings for “Rodney King” and
“Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam” will take place on September 22.
The
DouglasPlus trio of solo performances will be part of the Radar L.A. festival, the
international contemporary theatre festival
presented this fall by REDCAT and CalArts in association with Center Theatre
Group.
In
“St. Jude,” written by Luis Alfaro and directed by Robert Egan, Alfaro faces
his father’s stroke and a flood of family memories with poignant clarity and
gentle humor. “St. Jude” was nurtured at the Ojai Playwrights Conference in
2012 and will have its world premiere at the Douglas.
In
“Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam,” written by Trieu Tran with Robert Egan, and directed
by Egan, Tran recalls the harrowing journey he took from Vietnam to Canada to the United States, and his quest to find
some place to belong. The piece had its premiere last year at ACT Seattle.
In “Rodney King,” created by Roger
Guenveur Smith, new light is shed on the man whose famous question “Can’t we
all get along?” continues to resonate 21 years after it was first posed to a
riot-torn Los Angeles in 1992.
Luis
Alfaro is a Chicano writer/performer known for his work in poetry, theatre,
short stories, performance and journalism. He is also a producer/director who spent
10 years at the CTG/Mark Taper
Forum as Associate Producer, Director of New Play Development and Co-Director
of the Latino Theatre Initiative. His plays and performances include “Oedipus
El Rey,” “Bruja,” “Electricidad,” “Downtown,” “No Holds
Barrio,” “Body of Faith,” “Straight as a Line,” “Bitter Homes and Gardens” and
“Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner,” among others. He wrote the film script
for “From Prada to Nada,” and wrote and directed the short film “Chicanismo,”
for which he was nominated for a local Emmy. He is the recipient of a John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship, popularly known as a “genius
grant.”
Trieu Tran earned his B.A. in
Performing Arts from American University. He has appeared in numerous
theatrical productions including the role of Alan Strang in “Equus” (LADCC nomination) with George Takei,
the title role in “Oedipus The King, The Legacy Codes” (Dean Goodman Award)
with TheatreWorks, “Rashomon,” “As
You Like It,” “Henry IV, Part One” (Hotspur), and the title role in “Richard
III.” He is also a frequent participant at the Ojai Playwrights
Conference. His film work includes “Trade Of Innocents,” “Tropic Thunder,” “The
Chaos Factor,” “Desperation,” “How High,” “Hancock” and “Last Call,” and he has a recurring role on the
HBO series “The Newsroom.”
Actor, writer, and director Roger Guenveur Smith adapted
his Obie Award-winning solo performance of “A Huey P. Newton Story” into a
Peabody Award-winning telefilm. For
CTG he has created and performed “Juan and John,” “The
Watts Towers Project,” “Iceland” and “Christopher Columbus 1992.” At Bootleg Theater, Roger has presented “Rodney King,” “Who
Killed Bob Marley?,” “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat,” “Frederick Douglass Now,” “Patriot Act” and, with
Mark Broyard, “Inside the Creole Mafia” (LA Weekly Production of the Year).
He directed “Radio Mambo: Culture Clash Invades Miami” (Ovation Award) and the
acclaimed “The Mountaintop.” He has appeared in eight films with Spike Lee, the
HBO series “K Street,” and “American Gangster,” for which he was nominated for
the Screen Actors' Guild Award.
2013-2014 Season is
Currently Available by Season Ticket Memberships Only
The
2013-2014 season at the Douglas is currently available by season ticket
memberships only. Season members can also purchase in advance discounted tickets
to The Second City’s “A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!” and also the
DouglasPlus solo performances.
A
popular feature of the Kirk Douglas Theatre is The Lounge, where patrons can
enjoy a cocktail before and after the show in the comfortable lobby of the
theatre, and chat with the well-informed and engaging staff. A new policy of the theatre is that
drinks – alcoholic and non-alcoholic – can be taken into the seating area.
Patrons
are encouraged to come early and explore the interactive displays and
activities in The Lounge that are specially crafted for each production. Past
productions have included experiences as diverse as a punching bag in the
historic ticket booth outside the theatre (for “The Royale”), a recording and listening station
where patrons can record memories of pivotal moments in their lives (for “Krapp’s
Last Tape”) and a series of
citizenship tests which patrons could take to win prizes (for “American Night:
The Ballad of Juan José”).
In
addition, certain productions feature post-show conversations in The Lounge
facilitated by CTG’s knowledgeable and specially trained staff. Each production
features Stage Talks (post-play discussions in the theatre) for two of the performances.
Also available for each production is AfterWords, which takes place a week
after the show has closed; audience members are encouraged to come back to the
theatre for a fun, social hour of refreshments and a discussion of the play.
Center
Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd. in
Culver City. Parking is free in
the nearby Culver City’s City Hall garage, and a number of the restaurants
within steps of the theatre offer exclusive discounts to Douglas Theatre ticket
holders.
For
information and to charge season tickets by phone, call the Exclusive Season
Ticket Membership Hotline at (213) 972-4444. For more information about season
tickets visit CenterTheatreGroup.org/Douglas.
Center
Theatre Group, a non-profit organization, is one of the largest and most active
theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at
the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and the 1,600 to 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at
the Music Center of Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in
Culver City. In addition to providing theatre of the highest caliber to the
rich, diverse communities of Southern California and beyond, CTG supports a
significant number of play development and arts education initiatives.
