Just
about every Monday night for the past 15 years, Antaeus members have come
together to invigorate their talent and technique by tackling the challenges
of classical plays. Originally based at the Center Theatre Group’s Music
Center Annex, since 1996 Antaeus has made its home at NewPlace Theatre
Center in the NoHo Arts District.
Through
the years, Antaeus has presented over 300 readings, workshops and full
productions of the classics. We’ve trained young and emerging professional
actors in our Academy programs. We’ve provided a wide variety of
educational outreach programs to the community. We collaborate, cooperate
and share resources with theater companies within greater Los Angeles
including Center Theatre Group, The Theatre @ Boston Court, The Matrix, The
Secret Rose, The Raven, The Road, The Rubicon, The Getty Museum and many
other local arts organizations. We’ve been a mainstay of the annual NoHo
Theater and Arts Festival
Marie
has worked with Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin, Steve Martin and Billy Crystal;
recorded solo albums for CBS and Elektra Records; earned a Clio for her
Coca-Cola jingles; two gold records for songs recorded by Helen Reddy and
Laura Brannigan. She co-authored Thirty with Shel Silverstein, and Naked
Boys Singing with Mark Winkler.
Moderator, Sunday afternoon: Los Angeles Theatre Companies
Susie is a writer, composer, and lyricist, and an
Associate member of ANMT.Production credits include: the Broadway
Series for L.A.Women
in Theater; The
Broadway USA Staged Reading Series
of the National Alliance for Musical Theater, at the Falcon Theatre in LA;
and a staged reading of the musical Vanillaville
at the Hollywood Court
Theatre.She has collaborated as composer, lyricist and co-book writer on the
musical
Searching for Eden, which
had a reading at Temple Emanuel Center for the Arts, and the musical Vanillaville,
developed at ANMT, which had a reading at the Falcon Theatre and Hollywood
Court Theatre.She is currently collaborating with Phyllis Zimbler Milleron various projects
for television and film.Susie is the director of the theatrical division and children’s
book division of the recently formed production company, State
of the Art -Bringing Stories to Life.
Chromolume
Theatre Company is out to prove that "theatre is only as important as
our Dreams." Founded in 2003, with a commitment to raising the quality
of theatre productions, raising the expectations of theatre lovers, and
raising the number of theatre-goers in Southern California. Chromolume's
passion (and primary food source) is the American Musical, and the finest
meals always include the works of Stephen Sondheim. Every season will
present at least one Sondheim show as a prime example of contemporary
genius. The rest of the meal will include courses both dramatic and
comic--some fine wines from the days of Shakespeare or even Euripides--and
more contemporary dishes--Chekhov, Shaw, O'Neill--even some we've cooked up
ourselves!
Chromolume
hopes to create a company of actors as part of the full support system
needed to maintain a working theatre. Students in theatre--actors,
stagehands, directors, writers, and musicians--will be provided
opportunities to master their talents and develop their skills. At the same
time, each student will be encouraged to bring something that is uniquely
theirs into the company--some taste of their passion or culture.
In The Musical From the
Inside Out, an entertaining and informative guidebook to the creation of
a musical show, long time composer and lyricist Stephen Citron goes behind
the scenes to describe in marvelous detail how a show is put together from
the first glimmer of an idea to the excitement of opening night.
Los
Angeles productions include: Do I Hear A Waltz? (Pasadena Playhouse), Six
Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (Geffen Playhouse), The Music Man (Hollywood
Bowl), Haven (Gindi Auditorium), The Grave White Way (Hudson Theatre),
Musical Chairs (El Portal Theatre), Fiorello!, The Threepenny Opera, Sweeney
Todd, 1776, The Most Happy Fella (REPRISE!), Grass Harp, The Robber
Bridegroom, The Baker's Wife, Take Me Along (MTG/Pasadena Playhouse), Songs
of the Tall Grass, Chang & Eng, Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief (Falcon
Theatre), Cabaret (East/West Players – Drama-Logue Award), Assassins (LATC
– Ovation Award Nominee), She's a Handful (HBO Theatre – Director), Is
It Just Me (CBS), The Pirates of Penzance (La Mirada), Dancing at Lughnasa
(McCoy/Rigby), The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It (Shakespeare L.A.). New
York productions: Good Times (Manhattan Theatre Club), One Man Band (South
Street Theatre). Regional: A Chorus Line (Director/Choreographer – San
Jose & Sacramento), Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief (Goodspeed Opera House),
Jekyll & Hyde, Triumph of Love (Santa Barbara CLO).
London
West End: Snoopy (Duchess Theatre), Blockheads, an original musical (Mermaid
Theatre – Co-Author/Choreographer). Television: Brooklyn Bridge (pilot),
C.L.A.S.S. (Cable special/co-director), Guidepost Junction (kid-vid series).
Film: Ella (Choreographer), The Human Quality (Director), Country
(Director). Kay is currently in pre-production for the Reprise revival of On
The Twentieth Century and The Boulevard of Broken Dreams at the Coconut
Grove Playhouse in Miami.
Book: The Break-Up
Notebook: The Lesbian Musical, which was recently produced at the Hudson
Theatre by Rose Marcario.
Patricia's play Three was produced by Apartment A in 2004. Her
play The Girls premiered in 2005 as part of The Apartment A Theatre
Company's production of An Evening on the Brink. Patricia
co-wrote a screenplay with Dustin Hoffman for his company, Punch
Productions, and is currently working with Twentieth Century Fox
Television in the development of a comedy for the small screen.
Patricia's non-musical The Breakup Notebook was a 2002 GLAAD Award
nominee. She co-wrote the book and lyrics to Fat, a musical
comedy about eating disorders, which premiered at the Celebration Theatre.
Her short film Krazy Girls won Best Short in LA's OUTFEST film
festival. Patricia is a former member of the Groundling Theatre's
Sunday Company and in 2004 she received a Daytime Emmy Award for her writing
on Comedy Central's "Win Ben Stein's Money."
Steve
co-created the smash hit musical, Jekyll & Hyde, writing the
show’s original book and lyrics with noted composer, Frank Wildhorn.Recently, Steve directed and co-produced the international
cult-favorite horror movie, Lucky, for which he won the Best Director
award at the Nodance Film Festival.As
well, Steve has written over eighty produced teleplays for more than thirty
different television series, shows such as: X-Men, Xiaolin Showdown,
Loonatics Unleashed, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers, The Mask, Godzilla,
Beetlejuice, Savage Dragon, The Pink Panther, RoboCop, NASCAR Racers,
Extreme Ghostbusters, Stargate Infinity, ExoSquad, Mummies Alive, Manhattan,
AZ, and many others.He also
spent two years as a staff writer at Walt Disney TV Animation, where he
wrote multiple episodes of Goof Troop, Bonkers, and Quack Pack.
Elise
is currently the Associate Artistic Director of the Academy for New Musical
Theatre, and has been involved in the development of new works for over
fifteen years; as an actor/singer, as a director, a dramaturge, and as a
writer.While living in Toronto, Elise served as the Assistant Artistic
Director of the Muskoka Festival; the Co-Ordinator of the festival’s
annual Musical Theatre Writers’ Colony, the Associate Dramaturge of the
Canadian Stage Company, the Resident Dramaturge of the Smile Theatre
Company, and was the co-founder of Toronto’s Script Lab.Elise spent many years touring Canada with Nine
Months—a one-woman
musical which she commissioned from writers Carl Ritchie and Stephen
Woodjetts.Elise and Carl also co-wrote the who-dunnit farce Any
Body Home?, which is
published by Dramatic Publishing Inc. and has had multiple productions
internationally.
Susan
Dietz has been producing theatre in Los Angeles for more than twenty years
and is the recipient of a Drama-Logue
Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contribution to Los Angeles
theatre. As Artistic Director of LA Stage Company, she produced
Christopher Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius, Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine, Wendy Wasserstein's
Isn't it Romantic, and the world premiere of Penn and TellerAs
Artistic Director of the Pasadena Playhouse, she produced four seasons of
plays in two theatres. She ran the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills for
21 years, where she produced dozens of plays, including The
Last Night at Ballyhoo and Love
Letters. On Broadway she produced the Michael Rupert/Jerry Colker
musical Mail; the Pulitzer
Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog by
Suzan-Lori Parks; Martin
McDonagh's The Lonesome West, which received four Tony nominations; a revival
of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, starring
Whoopi Goldberg and Charles Dutton; and the recent Broadway revival of Steel
Magnolias, starring Delta Burke. She is currently developing
a new Christopher Durang/Peter Melnick musical called Adrift
in Macao, opening at New York’s Primary Stages in January, and
Terrence McNally’s Some Men, opening
at Second Stage in November; as well as a musical based on the movie Dangerous Beauty, with music by Michele Brourman and
Amanda
McBroom, to be featured at NAMT in the fall;and Mixed Company, an
African American Stephen Sondheim review, conceived by Billy Porter and
workshopped at New York Stage and Film this summer.
Saturday "Should I Write a Big or a Small Musical?"
Artistic Director of the
renowned Pasadena Playhouse, Mr. Epps conceived and directed the Duke
Ellington musical Play On! which received three Tony Award
nominations and was produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where it
received four Jefferson Awards including Best Musical. He also
conceived and directed the highly acclaimed musical revue Blues in the
Night which was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Musical and for two
Laurence Olivier Awards. For television he has directed episodes of
Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, and many others, as well as
several pilots. For five seasons he was also producer/director for the
hit series Girlfriends. Mr. Epps is a two-time recipient of the
Theatre Communications Group/Pew Charitable Trust National Theatre Artists
Residency Grant, which supported his four-year tenure at the Old Globe
Theatre as Associate Artistic Director. Mr. Epps was pleased to join
Pasadena Playhouse as Artistic Director in 1997.
Lyricist
John Heath and composer Ron Fink wrote their first kids' musical (Jack and
the Beanstalk) in 1992 for a first grade teacher in Camarillo, CA.
Response was extremely positive and the writers did another show the next
year. Kids had a great time, parents got excited, and teachers began to
talk. Fink & Heath started contacting publishers, all of which turned
them down. Eventually they forged ahead and started publishing on their own.
Ten years later, with some 70,000 productions worldwide, the Bad Wolf Press'main focus continues to be
listening carefully to teachers so that they produce shows that fulfill a
clear need in the classroom.
Gordon Firemark is an attorney whose practice is devoted to the representation of artists, writers, producers and directors in the fields of theater, film, television,and music. He is also the publisher of Entertainment Law Update, a newsletter for artists and professionals in the entertainment industries. His practice also covers intellectual property, cyberspace, new media and business/ corporate matters for clients in the entertainment industry. Gordon is also an accomplished producer of stage plays and musicals and serves as CEO of Fierce Theatricals which is currently producing several touring productions. Mr. Firemark has served as a moderator and featured panelist at seminars sponsored by the Beverly Hills Bar Association, California Lawyers for the Arts,Theatre LA, and the Oregon Artist's Rights Coalition. He is also a frequent guest lecturer at Southwestern University School of Law, Loyola Law School, California Western School ofLaw, UC Irvine, and California State University, Northridge.
Hilary's producing projects
have included Second Chance by Demmy Tambakos, which was featured on
the Channel 2 news and was a Critic's Pick in the LA Times and other
publications; The Married Bachelor by Lew Rily, which earned five
Critic's Choice awards; The Veil by Henry Slesar, directed by James
Gardner at the Tiffany Theaters; and three productions of Tight Quarters
- the first at the Tiffany Theatres where it garnered seven Critic's Picks,
ten Drama-Logue Awards, and an Ovation Award nomination, the second at the
Tulsa Performing Arts Center in conjunction with The Make-A-Wish Foundation,
and the third at the Whitefire Theatre. Ms. Genga served on the Board
of Governors of the LA Theatre League Alliance for four years, where she was
instrumental in reorganizing the Ovation Awards.
GREENWAY
Arts Alliance is a not-for-profit professional theatre company housed at
GREENWAY Court Theatre on the campus of Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.
Dedicated to
serving the artistic needs of both the general public and the student
population of its local community, GREENWAY presents theatrical and other
arts productions, and sponsors educational performing arts programs for
teenagers attending Fairfax High School.
Pierson
Blaetz is the co-founder of Greenway Court Theatre and co-founder of The
Melrose Trading Post, a swap meet/fundraiser held every Sunday at Fairfax
High School.The Trading Post is currently the most successful on-going fundraiser
in the history of Los Angeles Unified School District.He has been a founding member of three other theatre companies, The
Men’s Project in NYC, Hard City Theatre in Dallas, and the Asylum Theatre
Company in Los Angeles. His other work with nonprofits includes the founding
of Free Time, a volunteer placement service established after the LA Riots. He
is also on the board of Mid-City West
Neighborhood Association, Fairfax Business Association and the Shared
Leadership Council of Fairfax High School.
Moderator: Saturday "Should I Write a Big or a Small Musical?"
In
Chicago, Scott was the Producing Artistic Director of both Passage Theatre
and the Children’s Classical Theatre. In Los Angeles, Scott has been
writer/producer of television shows for PBS, Disney Channel, the Learning
Channel, The Discovery Channel, FOX-TV, Children’s Television Workshop,
NBC (WMAQ-TV), and Warner Brothers, gathering over 120 produced television
scripts and six Emmy nominations.His
musicals have been produced in New York, Chicago, London, San Francisco.This year his “Crime and Punishment” was a Finalist at the Eugene
O’Neill Festival, and his “Cleopatra” is currently being considered as
a Finalist for the Cardiff International Musical Theatre Festival.
Saturday "Should I Write a Big or a Small Musical?"
David is Head of Business
Affairs for East of Doheny, a multi-faceted independent production company
with interests in theatre, film, and television. East of Doheny's
Broadway productions include the Tony award winning Sweet Smell of
Success, starring John Lithgow. Additional theatrical productions
world-wide include the West End productions of The Fully Monty and
Napoleon, and the Los Angeles production of Flower Drum Song.
East of Doheny also produced the television feature of Trevor Nunn's The
Merchant of Venice which aired on the BBC and PBS, and their first film
production was A Time for Dancing.
Producer: The
Break-up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical.
Jon left an acting career in NYC to become a full-time community activist in
L.A., first as a national advocate for queer youth and, since 1998, as the
creator and director of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Lily Tomlin Jane
Wagner Cultural Arts Center. In the program's first seven years, Jon
has produced more than 140 stage productions and special events, including
the West Coast premier of The Vagina Monologues and debut shows by
Margaret Cho, Carol Channing, Kathy Griffin, Jenifer Lewis, Miss Coco Peru,
Joely Fisher, Varla Jean Merman, Alec Mapa, and Megan Mullally's L.A.
concert debut.
Michael A. Kerker has been
Director of Musical Theatre for ASCAP (American Society for Composers,
Authors and Publishers) since 1990. In addition to coordinating ASCAP's
Musical Theatre Workshop in New York, Kerker works with Walt Disney Feature
Animation to produce the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop in Los
Angeles. He also co-produces with the Kennedy Center a development program
for new musicals entitled "In the Works."
Michael produces the Sunday
night ASCAP Songwriters' Series at the Firebird Café in New York. Together
with Michael Feinstein, he produces a regular series of concerts featuring
contemporary songwriters at Carnegie Hall. He also produces a continuing
series of songwriter/singer concerts and showcases at UCLA in Los Angeles.
He has produced concerts featuring today's Theatre and Cabaret songwriters
and singers at Town Hall, the 92nd Street "Y" and the
Smithsonian.
Kerker serves as Vice-President
of both the Manhattan Association of cabarets and Clubs (MAC) and the Johnny
Mercer Foundation. In addition, he is also a member of The Board of
Directors of both The Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Society of Singers.
Executive Producer: The
Break-up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical.
Rose has been a producer, director, and actor for more than twenty years.
She has worked at American Conservatory Theatre, the Globe Playhouse, L.A.
Theatre Centre, Celebration Theatre, and the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland
Oregon to name a few. She has been active in gay and lesbian theatre
in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, producing and performing new
work by lesbians including Judy Grahn, Sarah Dreher, and Rebecca Ranson.
Her performances and productions have garnered numerous awards and
nominations. In her spare time, Rose is an investment banker and
strategic consultant and a published poet and essayist.
Tom McCoy is one half of the
producing team of McCoy Rigby Entertainment, one of the nation's premier
theatrical production companies. Credits include Tony-nominated Broadway
shows, long-running national tours, multiple-award-winning Los Angeles stage
productions, and hit TV specials.
Creative home-base for McCoy Rigby is the beautiful La Mirada Theatre for
the Performing Arts, one of Southern California's top legitimate theaters
which offers an eclectic mix of dramas, musicals and comedies ranging from
beloved American classics ("Annie Get Your Gun," "Guys and Dolls," "The
Wizard of Oz," "The Gin Game," "The Rainmaker," "Same Time, Next Year," "The
Unsinkable Molly Brown," "The Lion in Winter," "A Grand Night for Singing,"
"To Kill a Mockingbird," "Evita," "Grease," "My Fair Lady," "My Way,"
"Smokey Joe’s Café," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and "Peter Pan") to
contemporary fare ("Radio Gals," "Forever Plaid," "Crazy for You," "On
Borrowed Time," "Family Secrets," "Oil City Symphony," "Always, Patsy
Cline," "Once on this Island," "Accomplice," "I Ought to be in Pictures,"
"Dancing at Lughansa," "Pump Boys and Dinettes," and the wildly popular
"Tuna" series, including "A Tuna Christmas," "Greater Tuna," and "Red, White
and Tuna") to Southern California Premiers ("Smoke on the Mountain," "Over
the Tavern," "Everything's Ducky," and "Sister’s Christmas Catechism") to
special events ("Tim Conway and Harvey Korman," "Smother’s Brothers," and
"Count Basie Orchestra.")
Phil
Olson has written three national award-winning plays. His musical comedy,
"Don't Hug Me," has been booked into 25 cities around the country since it
opened and is being published by Samuel French. Phil's newest musical, "A
Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol," will open this Christmas in multiple cities.
He's sold two screenplays, and script doctored three screenplays that were
produced. He also writes a comic, Halle the Hooters Girl, that is
being developed into a video game.
Playwrights' Arena is the
only theater dedicated to discovering, nurturing and producing works for the
stage written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights. It was founded
in 1992.
Stuart
wrote and directed the musical phenomenon Forever
Plaid. He directed the
original New York production, as well as subsequent productions across the
United States, Japan, Canada and on London's West End. On Broadway, he
co-authored the Tony nominated musical Starmites
and the acclaimed
Radio City Music Hall Easter Show. Off-Broadway he wrote Fun
With Dick and Jane (workshop
Playwrights Horizons), The
Heebie Jeebies: The Musical and
The Not-So-New Faces.
Stuart staged the premiere of The
Boswell Sisters: a new musical,
which he co-rote with Mark Hampton at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Conference
for the Nation Music Theatre. Prior to this he directed his new play Tea
With Bea at Chicago's
Royal George Theatre and Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre. He directed three
productions for HBO's New Writers Project, and also won Chicago's Joseph
Jefferson Award for Best Director of a Musical.
As a director his work
includes Breaking
Up, Nasty Little Secrets, Conrack, Creeps, The Lunch Girls, It's a Bird, and
It's a Plane, It's Superman
among others.
Music: The Break-Up
Notebook: The Lesbian Musical, which was recently produced at the Hudson
Theatre by Rose Marcario.
Lori was the composer/lyricist for Sneaux! The Sinsational Gothic
Figureskaing Musical, which ran for six months at the Matrix Theatre and
was nominated for six L.A. Weekly Awards including Best Musical. She
co-wrote the theme song for the film The Audition and contributed
music to The New Normal, a musical being developed by acclaimed L.A.
composer David O.
Attorney/author. Former
General Counsel, Music Division, Paramount Pictures Corporation; former
Director of Business Affairs, CBS Records. Author of Legal Aspects of
the Music Industry, Billboard Books - 2nd Edition
publication date, February 1, 2005. Senior Instructor, Department of the
Performing Arts, UCLA Extension, 23 years; Teacher of the Year (1990); Host,
UCLA Music Career Days. Guest Lecturer, music; law; and Shakespeare.
Private practice emphasizing Entertainment - clients have included Oscar
winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Tony winners and (improbably, but
true) Nobel Peace Prize winners. Independent film producer. Concert
promoter. Music publisher. Vice Chairman, Western Region, Shakespeare
Globe Centre (US). Board member: American Shakespeare Center; Antaeus
Company. Consultant (MTM Productions, Royal Bank of Scotland, Family
Channel, etc.). Recently appointed Executive and Artistic Director of the
Connecticut Center of the Performing Arts (in development)
Susan Chodakiewitz and Phyllis Zimbler Miller are excited
to introduce their company State
of the Art –Bringing
Stories to Life -- dedicated
to developing storiesthat
inspire, empower, and promote a strong positive message.State
of the Art is
currently developing projects for theatre, television, film and children’s
literature. The company has a special interest in stories with Jewish
cultural content as well as stories featuring Latinos in non-stereotypical
roles.
Susan Chodakiewitz is a writer, composer, and Associate
member of ANMT, where she developed the musical Vanillaville.Susan is
director of
State of the Art’s theatrical
division and the children’s book division. Phyllis
Zimbler Miller is a screenwriter as well as a published author of the book Seasons
for Celebration.She is currently working on the novel Mrs.
Lieutenant and the
book A
Leg Up On Life.Phyllis is director of State
of the Art’s
television and film division.
Pier Carlo Talenti is the
Literary Manager of The Center Theatre Group (which includes the Mark Taper
Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre).
Housed
at the Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, Center Theatre Group is
recognized as one of the nation’s leading regional theatre companies with
a history
of theatrical excellence. Center Theatre Group is a not-for-profit
organization that lives behind its mission.With dedication and passion, the staff
and Board
of Directors work year-round to make the theatres artistically and
financially successful. Great
scripts, outstanding directors, and inspiring actors.
For the past 37 years, this has served as the foundation for Center Theatre
Group’s reputation for high caliber theatre.
Valley
Musical Theatre is dedicated to presenting the wealth of American Musical
Theatre to the people of the San Fernando Valley. In addition to the
presentation of these productions to the public, Valley Musical Theatre will
also be working with the LA County School District to bring this live
entertainment to the children of the valley. Discovering the newest musicals
being written and presented to the public from the newest writers, lyricists
and song writers will also be part of the mission of Valley Musical
Theatre.
As
a member of the Southern California theater community, The Theater @ Boston
Court values the creative work done by our fellow theater artists.We believe that a strong, vibrant theater community benefits us all.To support the work of local artists and companies, the Theater @
Boston Court has established its Open Court program.Open Court will give time and space at the Boston Court facility to
theater companies and artists for the purpose of developing theatrical work.Twice a month, companies and artists will have four hours in the
space to hold readings, workshops, or work sessions.(Unfortunately, we cannot support showcases or fundraisers).Michael Michetti is the Co-Artistic Director of The Theatre @ Boston
Court in Pasadena where he has directed: A
Picture of Dorian Gray (a
world premiere adaptation by Michetti); Pera
Palas (Winner of L.A.
Drama Critics’ Award and Back Stage Garland Award for Direction; Ovation
Award Nominee);
Summertime; Romeo and Juliet: Antebellum New Orleans,
1836. Elsewhere:
Ouroboros,
by Tom Jacobson (Road
Theatre - L.A. Weekly Award Winner, Production of the Year); Sondheim’s Anyone
Can Whistle (Matrix
Theatre); David Hare’s Amy’s
View starring Carol
Lawrence (Florida Rep); Mamet's A
Life in the Theatre starring
Hal Holbrook (Pasadena Playhouse); Brecht's Edward
II and Aphra Behn's The
Rover (Circle X at the
Actors’ Gang); Titanic
(CLO of South Bay
Cities); Sweeney
Todd starring Amanda
McBroom and George Ball. Double Ovation Award winner for his A
Midsummer Night's Dream, set
in British-colonized India.
