September | 2014 | Intimate Excellent

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Anna Khaja, Joel Polis and Jason Karasev in “My Name is Asher Lev”

The Fountain Theatre is pleased to announce that it has received six 2014 Ovation Award nominations, including in the prestigious categories of Best Season and Best Production of a Play. Fountain productions eligible for the 2013-14 Ovation voting season were our riveting revival of The Normal Heart, and our acclaimed Los Angeles premieres of  My Name is Asher Lev and The Brothers Size.  The Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, November 2 at 7pm at the historic San Gabriel Mission Playhouse in San Gabriel.

Often hailed as LA’s version of the Tony Awards, the peer-judged Ovation Awards recognize excellence in theatrical performance, production and design in the Greater Los Angeles area.  For the 2013-2014 voting season, there are a grand total of 195 nominations for 78 productions, presented by 49 companies. There were 318 total productions registered from 137 companies. 

Gilbert Glenn Brown, Matthew Hancock, Theodore Perkins in ‘The Brothers Size’.

The LA Times has referred to the Ovation Awards as the “highest-profile contest for local theatre.”

The Fountain Theatre has been honored with the following 2014 Ovation Award nominations:

  • Best Season – The Normal Heart, My Name is Asher Lev, The Brothers Size
  • Best Production of a Play – My Name is Asher Lev
  • Best Lead Actress in a Play – Anna Khaja, My Name is Asher Lev
  • Best Acting Ensemble for a Play – Jason Karasev, Anna Khaja, Joel Polis, My Name is Asher Lev
  • Best Acting Ensemble for a Play – Gilbert Glenn Brown, Matthew Hancock, Theodore Perkins,  The Brothers Size
  • Best Choreography – Ameenah Kaplan, The Brothers Size 

The preeminent Best Season category honors a company’s overall excellence throughout an entire season. Over the years, The Fountain has dominated the Best Season nominations category. This year now marks the 5th time that The Fountain Theatre has been nominated for Best Season since the category was created 6 years ago, winning the award in 2011. The Fountain has also won the Ovation Award for Best Production of a Play 5 times. 

Stephen O’Mahoney, Tim Cummings in ‘The Normal Heart’.

For a full list of all the nominees click here.

Posted in Acting, actors, arts organizations, Drama, Fountain Theatre, non-profit organization, Ovation Awards, performing arts, plays, Theater, theatre

Tagged actors, Ameenah Kaplan, Anna Khaja, arts organizations, award, Best Production, Best Season, choregraphy, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Jason Karasev, Joel Polis, Los Angeles, Matthew Hancock, My Name Is Asher Lev, nominations, Ovation Awards, performing arts, plays, Stephen O’Mahoney, The Brothers Size, The Normal Heart, theater, theatre, Theodore Perkins, Tim Cummings

Who would have guessed that buying a gallon of milk at Ralphs will help  support a playwright at the Fountain Theatre? Or a carton of eggs and loaf of bread will help pay for our costumes? A box of Cheez-Its will support building stage scenery?  

It’s that time again! As of Sept 1st, you must RE-ENROLL your Ralphs card to continue donating to the Fountain Theatre. Everyone must RE-REGISTER your Ralphs Rewards card and RE-ENROLL to the Community Rewards program and re-assign your card to the Fountain Theatre for another year.

Go to www.ralphs.com, sign in, go to “my account” then “account settings” and re-enroll the Fountain Theatre (#84796). You are set for another year of having Ralphs donate to the Fountain every time you shop.

What? You’ve NEVER registered your Ralphs card? You know nothing about their Community Rewards program? It’s easy and allows you to support the Fountain Theatre every time you buy groceries and — best of all — costs you nothing! 

It’s easy! Go to www.ralphs.com and “create an account”. To link your card to the Fountain go to “Community Rewards” and follow instructions to assign your card to the Fountain Theatre (#84796). Then every time you shop and swipe your Rewards card, Ralphs donates a percentage of your grocery bill to the Fountain Theatre. The more you shop, the more they give. A no-brainer easy way for you to support the Fountain and it costs you nothing! 

IF YOU HAVE NOT REGISTERED YOUR REWARDS CARD ONLINE

  1. Log in to www.ralphs.com
  2. Click on ‘Create an Account’
  3. Follow the 5 easy steps to create an online account
  4. You will be instructed to go to your email inbox to confirm your account
  5. After you confirm your online account by clicking on the link in your email, return to www.ralphs.com and click on ‘my account’ (you may have to sign in again first).
  6. View all your information and edit as necessary
  7. Link your card to The Fountain Theatre (#84796) by clicking on:
  8. Community Rewards
  9. Edit my community contribution and follow the instructions
  10. Remember to click on the circle to the left of Fountain Theatre (#84796).

 IF YOU ARE ALREADY AN ONLINE CUSTOMER

  1. Log in to www.ralphs.com
  2. Click Sign In
  3. Enter your email address and password
  4. Click on ‘My Account’ (In the top right hand corner)
  5. Click on Account Settings
  6. View all your information and edit as necessary
  7. Link your card to Fountain Theatre (#84796) by clicking on:
  8. Community Rewards
  9. Edit my community contribution and follow the instructions
  10. Remember to click on the circle to the left of Fountain Theatre (#84796).

Thank you for supporting us! Any questions? Call us at (323) 663-1525

Looking for a part-time job? Want to be involved with an award-winning theatre company? Not afraid of witches, ghosts and things that go bump in the night? Have we got the job offer for you.

The Fountain Theatre is looking to hire a House Manager for our upcoming production of Broomstick starring popular Stage/Film/TV actress Jenny O’Hara.  And what a house it’s going to be! 

‘Broomstick’ set design by Andrew Hammer

Broomstick is a funny and sinister solo play about a wacky old lady who lives in the deep, dark forest who just may happen to be a witch.

House Manager duties include seating patrons, distributing programs and interactive audience relations. Seeking friendly articulate individual with warm manner, good “people skills”, and strong ability to navigate issues when they arise.

Performances are October 4 – November 30. Performance are Thursday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm. Shifts are approximately 2 1/2 hours. There is pay.

Interested? Please email query to: [email protected]

Jenny O’Hara in ‘Broomstick’ (rehearsal photo by Ed Krieger)

More info on Broomstick

Posted in Arts, arts organizations, Fountain Theatre, non-profit organization, Theater, theatre

Tagged arts organizations, Broomstick, employment, Fountain Theatre, House Manager, Jenny O’Hara, job offer, Los Angeles, Now Hiring, performing arts, theater, theatre, West Coast Premiere

The Fountain Theatre has gobbled up 26 Theater Awards from Stage SceneLA for our acclaimed 2013-14 productions of The Normal Heart, My Name is Asher Lev and The Brothers Size. StageSceneLA editor Steven Stanley announced the winners this week after seeing and reviewing 268 productions from September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2014. The overall awards list is long and there are multiple winners in many categories.  All of it demonstrating, as Steven Stanley affirms, that “theater in Los Angeles and its surrounding communities is alive and thriving and quite often simply as good as it gets. “

These 2013-14 Fountain productions received the following awards:

The Normal Heart 

Tim Cummings and Bill Brochtrup in ‘The Normal Heart’.

  • Production of the Year – The Normal Heart
  • Best Director, Drama – Simon Levy
  • Best Performance, Lead Actor – Tim Cummings
  • Best Performance, Lead Actor – Bill Brochtrup
  • Best Performance, Featured Actress – Lisa Pelikan
  • Best Performance by an Understudy – Ray Paolantonio
  • Best Performance, Featured Actor – Matt Gottlieb
  • Best Performance, Featured Actor – Fred Koehler
  • Best Performance, Featured Actor – Stephen O’Mahoney
  • Memorable Performance, Featured Actor – Dan Shaked & Jeff Witzke

My Name Is Asher Lev

Jason Karasev, Anna Khaja and Joel Polis in ‘My Name Is Asher Lev’.

  • Best Production, Drama – My Name is Asher Lev
  • Best Director, Drama – Stephen Sachs
  • Best Performance, Lead Actor – Jason Karasev
  • Best Performance, Featured Actor – Joel Polis
  • Best Performance, Featured Actress – Anna Khaja
  • Best Costume Design – Shon LeBlanc
  • Best Lighting Design – Ric Zimmerman 
  • Best Scenic Design – Jeff McLaughlin 

The Brothers Size

Gilbert Glenn Brown and Matthew Hancock in ‘The Brothers Size

  • Best Director – Shirley Jo Finney
  • Best Ensemble Cast, Drama
  • Best Choreography, Play – Ameenah Kaplan
  • Memorable Lighting Design – Pablo Santiago
  • Best Scenic Designer – Hana S. Kim

Multiple Productions: 

  • Sound Design/Composer of the Year – Peter Bayne, The Brothers Size, The Normal Heart
  • Best Props Design – Misty Carlisle – Asher Lev, Brothers Size, Normal Heart

Our thanks to Steven Stanley and StageSceneLa for this acknowledgement.  We appreciate and applaud his enthusiasm and support for theatre in Los Angeles.   

For the complete list of StageSceneLA Award winners click here.

Production photos by Ed Krieger

Posted in AIDS, Arts, arts organizations, designers, director, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Gay, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, playwright, Theater, theatre

Tagged actors, Ameenah Kaplan, Anna Khaja, arts organizations, award, Bill Brochtrup, Dan Shaked, Fountain Theatre, Fred Koehler, Glenn Gilbert Brown, Hana S.Kim, Jason Karasev, Jeff McLaughlin, Jeff Witzke, Joel Polis, Lisa Pelikan, Los Angeles, Matthew Hancock, Misty Carlisle, My Name Is Asher Lev, Naila Aladdin-Sanders, new plays, Pablo Santiago, performing arts, Peter Bayne, plays, Ric Zimmerman, Shirley Jo Finney, Shon LeBlanc, Simon Levy, StageSceneLA, Stephen O’Mahoney, Stephen Sachs, Steven Stanley, Tarell Alvin McCraney, The Brothers Size, The Normal Heart, theater, theatre, Theodore Perkins, Tim Cummings

‘The Brothers Size’ company celebrates a wonderful run.

On Sunday, September 14th, the Fountain Theatre celebrated the finish of the wonderful run of our LA Premiere of  The Brothers Size with a party in our upstairs cafe. Actors, audience and company members gathered for food, drink and good times following the exhilarating  and deeply moving final performance.  The acclaimed 3-month run earned rave reviews everywhere, including hailed as Critic’s Choice in the LA Times. 

Enjoy These Snapshots from the Closing Party

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Posted in Acting, actors, Arts, arts organizations, Drama, Fountain Theatre, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, Theater, theatre

Tagged actors, arts organizations, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Premiere, Matthew Hancock, performing arts, plays, playwriting, Shirley Jo Finney, Simon Levy, Tarell Alvin McCraney, The Brothers Size, theater, theatre, Theodore Perkins

Tamlyn Tomita and Juanita Jennings in ‘Heart Song’

Our 2013 Fountain Theatre World Premiere production of Heart Song has been nominated for 2 NAACP Theatre Awards for excellence in acting and choreography.  Juanita Jennings has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Maria Bermudez for Best Choreography. The 24th Annual NAACP Awards ceremony will be held Monday, November 17, at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

Written by Stephen Sachs and directed by Shirley Jo Finney, our 2013 world premiere of Heart Song earned rave reviews and an extended run. In this funny and touching comedy/drama, Rochelle is a middle-aged Jewish woman in New York City in the middle of a life crisis. Lost and alone, her life is suddenly changed when she is convinced to take a Flamenco class with other middle-aged women. The Flamenco class and its unforgettable circle of women — all shapes, sizes and colors — lead Rochelle on a journey of sisterhood, faith and discovery of her own deep inner voice.

The NAACP Theatre Awards is presented by the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP Branch. The gala is produced for the purpose of honoring artists in the field of entertainment. The branch also celebrates a three-day theatre festival, which provides a platform for theatre artists to express their craft and share their contributions with an audience of their peers, the community and other individuals who celebrate live theatre in Los Angeles.

‘Heart Song’ featured flamenco choreography by Maria Bermudez.

This year’s Awards show will be hosted by Kym Whitley, star of the humorous and poignant docu-series “Raising Whitley” on Oprah Winfrey’s The OWN Network.  The awards show will take place on Monday, November 17, 2014 at 6PM at the historical Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California.

Full list of NAACP Award nominees.

Posted in Acting, actors, Arts, arts organizations, Dance, Drama, flamenco, Fountain Theatre, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, playwright, Theater, theatre

Tagged actors, Flamenco, Fountain Theatre, Heart Song, Jewish, Juanita Jennings, Kym Whitley, Los Angeles, Maria Bermudez, NAACP Theater Awards, Oprah Winfrey, OWN Network, performing arts, plays, Raising Whitley, Saban Theatre, Shirley Jo Finney, Stephen Sachs, theater, theatre, world premiere

Is She Really A Witch? Whatever Happens, She’ll Put a Spell On You …

Trick or Treat. Director Stephen Sachs and actress Jenny O’Hara (Bakersfield Mist) reunite for the wickedly entertaining, spine-chilling West Coast premiere of Broomstick by John Biguenet. A funny, poignant and “spell” binding tale about the magic of the human heart, Broomstick opens at the Fountain Theatre on Oct. 11.

Set in Appalachia and written entirely in verse, Biguenet’s charming and mesmerizing solo play introduces us to a wacky, bizarre old woman living in an odd little shack deep in the woods… who just may happen to be a witch. Creepily funny and frightening, she takes us back to our childhoods when, in our innocence, we first wrestled with good and evil. As she unveils her life, we journey with her down a shadowy path somewhere between our material world and the realm of fantasy. But this is no Hansel and Gretel fairytale; in Broomstick, justice is meted out swiftly and harshly.

“In the course of this crazy old lady’s attempt to explain and justify herself to an unexpected visitor, certain truths come out,” says Sachs. “It’s up to the audience to decide how much is fact and how much is imagined – and to what extent all of our realties are influenced by what is in our heads and in our hearts.”

Jenny O’Hara in ‘Broomstick’

Broomstick was first produced in a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ), Montana Repertory Theatre (Missoula, MT) and Southern Rep (New Orleans, LA) with support from the National New Play Network’s Continued Life of New Plays Fund. “Broomstick doesn’t settle for just entertaining… the show shocks with moments of unexpected insight… Biguenet’s writing [is] so skillful that you might not even realize the play was written in verse until you’re already fifteen or twenty minutes into it,” wrote the TriCity News.

Jenny O’Hara

Jenny O’Hara was last seen at the Fountain in the long-running Bakersfield Mist, written and directed by Sachs. She has starred on Broadway in the female version of The Odd Couple, The Iceman Cometh, Promises, Promises, The Kid and The Fig Leaves Are Falling. Regional and L.A. credits include 4000 Miles and Our Mother’s Brief Affair (South Coast Rep), Seder, Little Egypt The Musical and The Bold Girls (Matrix), The Body Of Bourne (Taper), Lanford Wilson’s Sympathetic Magic; the LADCC-nominated Book Of Days at Theatre Tribe, and the Drama-Logue award-winning The Fox. TV credits include Big Love; King of Queens; Costello; Life’s Work; My Sister Sam; NCIS; The Closer; House; Cold Case; CSI; Nip/Tuck; Grey’s Anatomy; Ghost Whisperer; Six Feet Under; The Practice; and If These Walls Could Talk 2. Films include M. Night Shyamalan’s Devil; Heartbeat; Ridley Scott’s The Matchstick Men; Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River; Forty Shades of Blue; Two Weeks; Jonathan Toomey; How To Make Love To A Woman; Hit List; Extract; Angie; andCareer Opportunities. She is a founding member of EST (Ensemble Studio Theatre) in N.Y.C. and L.A., and is also a member of the Matrix and Theatre Tribe Companies.

Stephen Sachs is a multi-award winning director and playwright. His play, Bakersfield Mist, which he directed at the Fountain starring Jenny O’Hara and Nick Ullett, recently completed a successful run in London’s West End with Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid. Other directing credits include the Los Angeles premiere of My Name Is Asher Lev; Completeness by Itamar Moses, starring Jason Ritter; Warren Leight’s Side Man starring Christine Lahti and Tony-winner Frank Wood; a three-city tour in China directing Top Secret for LA Theatre Works; the L.A. premiere of Conor McPherson’s Shining City (LA Weekly Award); the world premiere of Miss Julie: Freedom Summer at the Fountain, Canadian Stage Company (Toronto), Vancouver Playhouse and Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Euripides’ Hippolytos at the Getty Villa in Malibu, Gilgamesh at Theatre @ Boston Court, West Coast premiere of String of Pearls at the Road Theatre, Arthur Miller’s After the Fall (4 Ovation awards including Best Production and Best Director), Sweet Nothing in My Ear (Fountain Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis), and many others. Sachs has a special relationship with Athol Fugard, who calls the Fountain his “artistic home on the West Coast,” and has directed the premieres of six of the master playwright’s works including the U.S. premieres of The Blue Iris and The Train Driver (LA Weekly Award, Best Director); West Coast premiere of Coming Home (Best Director, LA Weekly award); U.S. premiere of Victory (NAACP Award, Best Director); world premiere of  Exits and Entrancesat the Fountain (Ovation and LA Drama Critics Circle awards, Best Director) and Off-Broadway at Primary Stages in New York (NY Outer Critics Circle nomination Best New Play); and L.A. premiere of Road to Mecca. Sachs has twice won the LA Ovation Award for Best Director of a Play and has been twice nominated for the SDC Zelda Fichandler Award, recognizing an outstanding director who is making a unique and exceptional contribution to theatre in their region. He co-founded The Fountain Theatre with Deborah Lawlor in 1990.

John Biguenet made his mark as a fiction writer around 2000 when Ecco (an imprint of HarperCollins) published his story collection, “The Torturer’s Apprentice,” and a novel, “Oyster.” In the past decade, he has focused on theater, producing a string of plays including a Katrina-themed trilogy about the flooding of New Orleans —Rising Water (2007), Shotgun (2009) and Mold (2013) — that has been the subject of articles in American Theatre, The American Scholar and elsewhere. He was awarded a Marquette Fellowship for the writing of Night Train, his new play, which he developed on a Studio Attachment at the National Theatre in London and which premiered at New Jersey Rep Theatre in 2011. In 2008, Biguenet was named Theatre Person of the Year at the Big Easy Theatre Awards, the region’s major professional theater awards. He received the Louisiana Writer Award in 2012. Having served twice as president of the American Literary Translators Association and as writer-in-residence at various universities, he is currently the Robert Hunter Distinguished University Professor at Loyola University in New Orleans.

Set design for Broomstick is by Andrew Hammer; lighting design is by Jennifer Edwards; sound design is by Peter Bayne; costume design is by Shon LeBlanc; prop design and set dressing are by Misty Carlisle; dialect coach is Tyler Seiple; associate producer is James Bennett; and the production stage manager is Terri Roberts.

Jenny O’Hara

Broomstick opens on Saturday, Oct. 11 and continues through Nov. 30, with performances Thursdays,Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., except Friday, Oct. 31, when audience members are invited to “trick or treat” at the Fountain with an early curtain at 6 p.m. – come in costume! Preview performances take place Oct. 4 through Oct. 10.  For reservations and information, call 323-663-1525 or click here.

rehearsal photos: Ed Krieger

Posted in Acting, actors, Arts, arts organizations, designers, director, Fountain Theatre, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, playwright, Theater, theatre

Tagged actors, Andrew Hammer, arts organizations, Broomstick, Deborah Lawlor, Fountain Theatre, Halloween, James Bennett, Jennifer Edwards, Jenny O’Hara, John Biguenet, Los Angeles, National New Play Network, new plays, NNPN, performing arts, Peter Bayne, plays, playwriting, Shon LeBlanc, Simon Levy, Stephen Sachs, theater, theatre, Tyler Seiple, West Coast Premiere, witch