THEATRE 40 CELEBRATES ITS 44TH YEAR WITH COMEDIES, MYSTERIES, MURDER AND MAYHEM

FOR 2008-2009

WORLD PREMIERES, WEST COAST PREMIERES AND BOOKEND COMEDIES

THEATRE 40 will open it’s 2008-2009 Season on July 26th, 2008 with “LOST IN YONKERS” by NEIL SIMON, the world’s favorite and most prolific writer of Comedy!  Although many of Simon’s plays had won major dramatic awards before this, LOST IN YONKERS was the first Simon play to win the PULITZER PRIZE. It also received a Tony and Drama Desk Award.  Many critics consider the play to be Simon’s best work and the pinnacle of his career.  The play was very timely.  Although it is set during WWII, Simon published the play as America was entering the Gulf War in the Middle East circa 1991. With history repeating itself, the main themes – including survival, the importance of one’s family, and acceptance – still seem timely.  The play is technically a comedy – the darker material is still handled with Simon’s light, just-funny-enough touch, allowing the audience to laugh their way through things that may be too painful otherwise. "The best play Simon ever wrote." N.Y. Post. HOWARD TEICHMAN, whose last play at Theatre 40, Modern Orthodox, was Critic’s Choice in the LA Times, and was nominated for an LA Weekly award, will direct.  Teichman was also responsible for the critical acclaim received by his Theatre 40 productions of Simon’s Rumors and the World Premiere of Richard Martin Hirsch’s Atonement.  LOST IN YONKERS opens July 26th and closes August 31st.

Playing in Repertory with Lost In Yonkers will be the West Coast Premiere of PEN, DAVID MARSHALL GRANT’S eloquent psychological drama of three people caught in an untenable situation – mother is confined to a wheel chair, there is a bitter aftermath of a marriage gone sour and a son who is desperate to escape from the home that has him ‘penned’ by his mother’s neediness. But there is a fantastical twist that turns this tale into a modern fable  - Grant allows the impossible to happen.  The pen of the title – a zero-gravity design with which the mother can work her crossword puzzles while lying down – becomes the agent through which the impossible occurs. “The one-liner’s shoot forth nonstop; some funny, others leaving a bloody track on their target.” New York Times. DAVID MARSHALL GRANT is an actor and playwright.  His first paying job was as Richard Gere’s lover in the Broadway play Bent.   He began his career as a writer in 1998 with his first play, Snakebit, which was nominated for a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award.  His second play, Current Events, was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club in 2000 and Pen, his most recent play, opened in 2006 at Playwrights Horizons.  JEFF G. RACK, who helmed last season’s LA premiere of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s The Mystery Plays at Theatre 40 and two of Rod Serlings’ original “Twilight Zone” episodes for Theatre West in addition to numerous other Los Angeles projects, will direct.

The American Premiere of HALO by JOSH MacDONALD moves into the second slot of THEATRE 40’S 2008-2009 Season opening on October 4th.  Life in Nately, Nova Scotia is forever changed when an image of Jesus Christ appears on the side of Tim Horton’s restaurant.  The town inhabitants are challenged to ask difficult questions about faith, life, love and customer service.  MacDonald pushes together two emotions, amusement and a kind of understanding compassion that produces a play that snaps back and forth between laughter and tears.  He does it by creating some genuinely funny dialogue spoken by people with understandable human problems.  “There is not a false note in this high wire act of comedy and tragedy.” The Halifax Herald.  JOSH MacDONALD is a writer and actor living in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.  HALO was produced and toured during his time as the company’s Writer-In-Residence, and was nominated for two Merritt Awards for Best Play. It has toured Canada twice and is in development with Telefilm as a feature-length film.  BRUCE GRAY, whose most recent productions at Theatre 40 were critically-acclaimed Dangerous Corner and The Little Foxes, will helm this production. Gray has directed at virtually every major Waiver Theatre in town, from his controversial production of MY LIFE IN ART at the Tiffany to the AIDS play "seven sundays" (Drama-logue) at Theatre 40 (later transferring to the Odyssey). His 1993 production of the Holocaust play SHAYNA MAIDEL was hailed by critics as "wondrous. It doesn't get better than this." Bruce Gray is also an actor. His credits appear on imdb. This will mark Gray’s 20th directorial stint for Theatre 40. HALO opens on October 4th and closes on November 9th.

The Los Angeles Premiere of PUSH by KRISTEN LAZARIAN will play in Repertory with “HALO” in the second slot of Theatre 40’s 2008-2009 Season.  Marital games are put into play and no one is without fault in Lazarian’s dark comic examination of love, manipulation, fidelity and deceit.  PUSH is the story of a vibrant L.A. art dealer with everything going for her.  She has a loving husband, a solid group of friends, and a thriving career with money to burn.  When love becomes a game for this couple, it’s a “push” that leaves everyone devastated and the fate of one marriage hanging in the balance. PUSH is the winner of the Outstanding Playwright Fritz Blitz Festival of New Plays Award. From The San Diego Union-Tribune “Fritz Blitz deals a winner with Lazarian’s Push.”  KRISTEN LAZARIAN is an L.A.-based playwright who has had her full-length and short plays at many venues here including the Geffen, First Stage, East-West Players, The Road, PRT, the Blank and recently the critically acclaimed production Love Like Blue: at the Whitefire. Her plays have also been staged across the United States, including New York City. She has had productions internationally in Holland, England, Australia, and Canada.  She is a published theater critic and poet and has also written for TV animation.  MICHAEL CONNORS, whose most recent production won two LA Weekly awards, will direct. 

At year end, THEATRE 40 will offer A CHRISTMAS PUDDING, adapted and edited by DAVID BIRNEY, in their holiday slot opening December 3rd and closing December 14th.  A CHRISTMAS PUDDING  is a holiday confection of songs, tales, stories and poems by Charles Dickens, Frank McCourt, Longfellow, Truman Capote, Diane Ackerman, St. Luke and others.  It is a literary and musical tapestry woven together with the real stories of Christmas spiced with carols, both ancient and modern.  It provides a perfect evening to warm hearts, stir memories and give laughter during the holiday season.  DAVID BIRNEY is an award-winning actor/director whose career has embraced a substantial list of performances in both contemporary and classical roles in theatre, film and television.  He was named Best Director by LA Weekly in 1980, received the Clarence Derwent Award and the Theatre World Award in 1968 and for his contribution to classical theatre he has been recognized with Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre’s Millennium Award.

THEATRE 40 rings in 2009 with a World Premiere drama, VIOLET SHARP by WILLIAM CAMERON, winner of the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild’s 2007 Julie Harris Playwriting Award.  Based on a true story, VIOLET SHARP is set against the backdrop of one of America’s most notorious crimes – the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping case.  Violet Sharp, a young British domestic in the home of Anne Lindbergh’s mother, raises the suspicions of a police officer investigating the kidnapping of the Lindberghs’ infant son.  Violet strives to clear her name but only manages to strengthen the case against her.  A mix of fact and speculation heightens the dramatic credibility of these events.  WILLIAM CAMERON is the founding chair of the Theatre and Communication Department at Washington & Jefferson College where he has been teaching and directing for over 20 years.  His plays have been produced frequently and won numerous awards.  DAVID COLEMAN, who has been chosen to direct VIOLET SHARP, was the Artistic Director of the Gallery Playhouse, has a host of directing credits including Little Shop of Horrors, The Mikado, The Belle of Amherst and Pump Boys And Dinettes, and has written the score for 6 new musicals.  For CBS TV he produced the pilot of The Next Best Thing  and the Emmy nominated The Party Shop. Coleman also was honored with the NoHo Artistic Director Achievement Award for best Music and Musical Director. VIOLET SHARP opens February 7, 2009 and closes March 15th.

The World Premiere of an original stage adaptation of DOUBLE INDEMNITY will run in repertory with “Violet Sharp.”  Theatre 40 Playwright KATHRINE BATES, whose acclaimed production THE MANOR has been running at Greystone Manor for six years, has adapted the James McCain novel and film noir classic about a two-timing ‘dame’ and an insurance salesman whose murderous plot to collect on a double indemnity policy, goes terribly wrong!  An accomplished writer, actress and musician, KATHRINE BATES is a true Renaissance woman.  A lively interest in history led her to create “THE MANOR,” a fictionalized play dramatizing the Doheny family tragedy as well as ROAR OF THE CROWD, the sad downfall of ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, taken from headlines in 1921. “Roar of the Crowd” was also featured in a segment on Celebrity Justice on CBS’ Sunday Morning Show.  Kathrine has also appeared in numerous Theatre 40 productions that include BLOOD WEDDING, THE CONSTANT WIFE, ON BORROWED TIME, THE MANOR, CHEKHOV IN YALTA, AN ACT OF THE IMAGINATION, ROAR OF THE CROWD, and as one of the singing Betty Lou’s in T40’s 2004 holiday radio show presentation. BEVERLY OLEVIN will direct DOUBLE INDEMNITY.  OLEVIN was recently named Artist in Residence for UCLA’s Lifelong Learning Institute where she leads courses in a variety of creative subjects.  A writer and director, a number of her THEATRE 40 productions, The Green Room (which she wrote), Enigma Variations, The Lion in Winter and The Manor (at Greystone Mansion), to name a few, have had wide-spread critical acclaim.

Theatre 40’s 2008-2009 Season will close with INCORRUPTIBLE, MICHAEL HOLLINGER’S dark comedy about the Dark Ages. The play is set in a down-on-its-luck monastery in Priseaux, France, in 1250 A.D., and explores the extremes to which the monks must go when things get desperate. Their holy relic, the bones of Saint Foy, has not produced a miracle in 13 years and the town’s peasants refuse to pay to pray before her. The destitute monks feel their faith slipping away –until they cross paths with a sneaky, one-eyed traveling minstrel who teaches them an outrageous new way to pay

off their old debts.  From The Philadelphia Weekly “A farcical romp, scintillating and irreverent.” MICHAEL HOLLINGER is an assistant professor of theatre at Villanova University and a resident playwright at New Dramatists. He is the author of the plays Tooth and Claw, Red Herring, Incorruptible, An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf, and Tiny Island, all of which premiered at Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company and have together enjoyed productions around the country, off-Broadway, and abroad. His newest play, Opus, premiered at the Arden and Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in 2006. Hollinger’s awards include the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays.  PAUL MILLET will direct.  INCORRUPTIBLE opens April 18, 2009 and closes May 24th.

In Repertory with INCORRUPTIBLE, Theatre 40 will offer The West Coast Premiere of APPLE by VERN THIESSEN, one of Canada’ most produced playwrights.  The story of APPLE revolves around the rocky marriage of Andy and Evelyn.  Andy is in trouble.  Downsized from his job, his marriage in crises, he meets a mysterious young woman who he looks to for salvation.  But when his wife becomes seriously ill, Andy is faced with choices. A haunting tale of sex, secrets and second chances.  From The Edmonton Sun "...the eloquent story of a consuming love that burns itself out but then rises, phoenix-like, from its own ashes to fly to new heights...a resonant story of resurrection and enduring love..." The director of APPLE will be announced at a later date.

ALL PRODUCTIONS PLAY IN REPERTORY – MONDAY THRU SATURDAY AT 8 PM.  SATURDAY AND SUNDAY MATINEES AT 2 PM FOR SIX WEEK RUNS.  Show schedules TBA w/individual press on shows.

TICKETS:  $20.00 FOR ALL MONDAY THRU FRIDAY PERFORMANCES; $22.00 FOR ALL WEEKEND PERFORMANCES MATINEES & EVENINGS. Students and members of the 4As half-price with ID on stand-by basis only at the door.

THEATRE 40 is a professional Equity theatre located in the Reuben Cordova Theatre on the campus of Beverly Hills High School at 241 Moreno Drive located directly adjacent to Century City. Theatre is AIR-CONDITIONED – AMPLE FREE INDOOR PARKING – disabled accessible – Credit Cards accepted. RESERVATIONS: 310-364-0535. Website: www.theatre40.org 

The information provided above was accurate when it was published, it can however change without notice. Please confirm it with the establishment you're planning to visit PRIOR to making the trip.

Back to top

Words of Wisdom:

(for a new quotation refresh the page)

Don't be selfish:

Back to top

Copyright © 2005 CEILA (Cultural Events in Los Angeles);

All Rights Reserved  

CEILA is the publisher of L.A. Scene and So Cal Guides as well as the founder of Cultured So Cal Alliance, So Cal Eminent Business Alliance and So Cal Creative Alliance.