‘bobrauschenbergamerica’ - Bart DeLorenzo Directs LA Premiere

‘bobrauschenbergamerica’ - Bart DeLorenzo Directs LA Premiere

from: John Anson Ford Theatres
category: Arts and Entertainment
posted: December 15th, 2009

The SpyAnts presents the Los Angeles Premiere Of Charles L. Mee's ‘bobrauschenbergamerica’ At [Inside] The Ford.



Los Angeles - Have you ever wondered what it was like to swim in a giant martini? TheSpyAnts Theatre Company presents the long-awaited Los Angeles premiere of Charles L. Mee's delightful, kaleidoscopic play, bobrauschenbergamerica.  Director Bart DeLorenzo teams up with choreographer Ken Roht to dish up Mee's rollicking collage-montage tribute to Robert Rauschenberg that captures the happy, improvisational quality of the artist's singular vision. bobrauschenbergamerica opens at [Inside] the Ford on January 23, with Pay-What-You-Can previews on January 21 and 22.



bobrauschenbergamerica is a wild road trip through our American landscape, a play made as one of America's greatest artists, Robert Rauschenberg, might have conceived it if he had been a playwright instead of a painter.  TheSpyAnts Breeze Braunschweig, Eric Bunton, Adam Dornbusch, Jennifer Etienne Eckert, Brett Hren, Mari Marks, John Charles Meyer, Danny Parker-Lopes, Mark Slater, and Maria Tomas create a collage of people and places, of music and dancing, of love stories and picnics and business schemes and shootings and chicken jokes and golfing, and of the sheer exhilaration of living in a country where people make up their lives as they go.   



Artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) once said, "A painting is more like the real world if it is made out of the real world."  This infatuation with art and everyday life led him to pioneer the idea of "Combines," provocative collages created out of nontraditional materials.  Taking a single canvas, Rauschenberg would combine pictures, familiar prints, sculptures and everyday objects (like tennis balls and stuffed goats), blurring the line between art and sculpture, between art and life.  In bobrauschenbergamerica, the stage is the canvas, and TheSpyAnts create a living, breathing "Combine."  The eclectic group of characters and collage of colorful vignettes and fantastical images may seem to unfold like juxtaposing elements, but when seen as a whole they produce a loving tribute to American life. 

"The play is a celebration," enthuses DeLorenzo.  "It's a collage play written by a collagist about another collagist - an appropriate homage to our crazy quilt of a country."



bobrauschenbergamerica originally premiered at the 2001 Humana Festival in Louisville. Conceived and produced by Anne Bogart and New York's SITI Company, where Mee is resident playwright, it enjoyed limited runs in New York, at Boston's ART, Chicago, France and Germany.  The New York Times called it, "Brashly, unapologetically entertaining... a work that will resonate even with someone who has never seen one of Mr. Rauschenberg's famous collages."



Charles L. Mee was born in Barrington, Illinois in 1938. He was stricken with polio in 1953, which he details in his 1999 memoir A Nearly Normal Life.  His plays include The Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem, Full Circle, The Trojan Women: A Love Story, Snow in June, Hotel Cassiopeia, True Love, A Perfect Wedding, Big Love, Viena Lusthaus, Orestes 2.0, The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador, Fetes de la Nuit, Summertime, Wintertime, Agamemnon 2.0, Iphigenia 2.0, Paradise Park, Queens Boulevard, Chiang Kai Shek and First Love.  As of February, 2007, he has made all of his plays available on his Web site ( www.charlesmee.org) with an invitation to other artists to use them as copyright-free texts as a "resource" for their own work. However, the Web site indicates that the play texts as they appear on the site are protected by copyright, and that permission from his agent must be obtained before performing them "essentially or substantially as I have composed them."  Mee is also an accomplished historian, having written about the Potsdam Conference and World War II.  He currently teaches playwriting at the Columbia University School of the Arts.



Bart DeLorenzo is founding Artistic Director of the Evidence Room in Los Angeles where he has directed many shows over the last 14 years including local and world premieres by Charles L. Mee, David Greenspan, Kelly Stuart, Philip K. Dick, Gordon Dahlquist, Martin Crimp, David Edgar, Naomi Wallace, and Edward Bond, as well as his own adaptation of Dickens' Hard Times, The Cherry Orchard, and Don Carlos, among many others.  His freelance work includes the world premiere of Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment at South Coast Repertory, later revived at the Geffen Playhouse; the world premiere of Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress at the Geffen; Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone at South Coast Rep; Racine's Britannicus at Cal Rep; and Around the World in 80 Days at the Cleveland Playhouse.  2009 productions include Adam Bock's The Receptionist and Caryl Churchill's A Number at the Odyssey, and the world premieres of Justin Tanner's Voice Lessons at the Zephyr, and Michael Sargent's The Projectionist at the Kirk Douglas. For his work, he has received five LA Weekly awards and three Back Stage Garlands.  



A member of the company since January 2008, Breeze Braunschweig has appeared in TheSpyAnts' The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild and What If?  Other L.A. theater roles include Peggy in The Women, The Moon in Bloodwedding, Nina in The Seagull, and "The woman who loved to make vagina's happy" in The Vagina Monologues.  



Eric Bunton, a founding member of TheSpyAnts Theatre Company as well as a member of the Elephant Theatre Company, has appeared in TheSpyAnts' hit productions of Kidnapped by Craigslist, Infinite Black Suitcase, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, The Reunion, The Birds, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Terminus Americana, Hellcab, La Ronde, and Edmond.  



Adam Dornbusch previously appeared with TheSpyAnts as Charlie (the coworker) and Jason (the pothead) in Terminus Americana.



Jennifer Etienne Eckert is a long time member of TheSpyAnts and is also on the board of the Elephant Theatre Company.  Recent stage credits include Seven Redneck Cheerleaders, Tooth and Nail, and One Fell Swoop, all of which were original world premiere productions. 



Brett Hren has been a member of TheSpyAnts since 2001 and is also a member of the Elephant Theatre Company.  For his role in TheSpyAnts 2009 production of Terminus Americana, he was nominated by StageSceneLA.com for Best Performance by a Lead Actor.  



Mari Marks has appeared in TheSpyAnts' productions of What If? (original works by company members), Susan Smith Could Talk, and The Reunion.  Other L.A. theater roles include Nat in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Rabbit Hole (The Complex), Karla in Wonder of the World (Hollywood Fight Club), the Doctor in Getting Out (Lyric Hyperion), and a year-and-a-half run as the woman who couldn't get no satisfaction in Sex, Relationships and Sometimes Love (Sierra Stages).  



A former front man for the rock band Strawman, John Charles Meyer returned to acting three years ago.  TV credits include CSI: NY, The Forgotten, iCarly and Zoey 101. Films include upcoming features The Taqwacores and The Millennium Bug; the Emmy-winning USC pilot The Cost of Living; and more than twenty shorts, including In Twilight's Shadow, love/junkie, Lily and Sam, and Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer. 



Danny Parker-Lopes is a founding member of TheSpyAnts and has been on the Board of Directors since its inception a decade ago.  He starred in Hellcab, Kidnapped By Craigslist, and The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild among others, and directed Infinite Black Suitcase, Terminus Americana and The Reunion, which he also co-wrote and acted in.



Mark Slater has performed in The Reunion (TheSpyAnts); In The Boom Boom Room (Underground Theater); Welcome To The Moon and The Woolgatherer (2nd Story Theater); Working (Ascending Artists Theater); Twelfth Night (Descanso Gardens Outdoor Theatre).  A dancer, he was a member of Le Studio Dancecorps.



Maria Tomas has been a member of TheSpyAnts since 2003, performing in critically-acclaimed productions of Terminus Americana, The Birds (LA Weekly Award nomination for Best Comedy Ensemble), Hellcab, and La Ronde, among others.  Maria portrayed Gabriela in the Los Angeles premiere of Jose Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (directed by Jon Rivera).



Scenic Design for bobrauschenbergamierca is by Marina Mouhibian; Lighting Design is by Christopher Kuhl; Sound Design is by Cricket S. Myers; Costume Design is by Leah Piehl; and Lori Evans Taylor produces for TheSpyAnts.



TheSpyAnts is a 26-member company that started as play reading group and quickly evolved into a formidable theater company that has developed numerous critically acclaimed hit productions including The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, The Birds, Hellcab (1st production) and the co-production with the Elephant Theater Company, Edmond, Infinite Black Suitcase, Rudolph The Red Hosed Reindeer, The Reunion (2006 production and 2007 production) and Kidnapped By Craigslist.  TheSpyAnts strive to provide a quality theater experience while challenging the audience to "think outside the box."



bobrauschebergamerica is the second production in the 2009-10 Season at [Inside] the Ford, a three-play, curated series of new works from three L.A.-based theater companies.  The 2009-10 Season at [Inside] the Ford is supported by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Ford Theatre Foundation, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.



bobrauschenbergamerica runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm and 7pm, January 23 through February 28. Two previews take place on Thursday, January 21 and Friday, January 22, both at 8 pm. General admission is $20; seniors and full-time students with ID are $12; Pay-What-You-Can tickets are available for previews and all Sunday matinee performances when purchased at the door (subject to availability).  

[Inside] the Ford is located in the Ford Theatres complex at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068, just off the 101 Hollywood Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal Studios.  On-site, non-stacked parking is free.  For reservations and information, call the Ford Theatres Box Office at 323.461.3673 (323.GO1.FORD) or go to www.FordTheatres.org.



When:


Previews: January 21 and 22
Performances: January 23 through February 28: 
- Thursdays at 8 pm: January 21 (preview), 28; February 4, 11, 18, 25 
- Fridays at 8 pm: January 22 (preview), 29; February 5, 12, 19, 26 
- Saturdays at 8 pm: January 23 (opening night), 30; February 6, 13, 20, 27 
- Sundays at 3 pm: January 24, 31; February 7, 14, 21, 28 
- Sundays at 7 pm: January 24, 31; February 7, 14, 21, 28



Where:
[Inside] the Ford (the 87-seat indoor theater in the Ford Theatres complex)
2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East
Hollywood, CA  90068
(just off the 101, across the freeway from the Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal Studios)

How:
(323) 461-3673 (GO 1-FORD) or www.FordTheatres.org 



Tickets:


General admission: $20 
Students with ID and Seniors: $12 
Pay-What-You-Can
. Tickets are available for previews and all Sunday matinee performances when purchased at the door (subject to availability).

Parking:
Free on-site (non-stacked)

TheSpyAnts Holiday Boutique December 13, 2009

We will be having a Holiday Boutique on Sunday December 13, 2009 from 11am to 4pm at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood. A variety of goodies will be for sale to help us produce bobrauschenergamerica at [Inside] The Ford (opening January 23, 2010).

Come join Santa and TheSpyAnts as we shop and enjoy complimentary cocktails.

Click on the photo for a larger view and more information.

Thanks, and we'll see you at The Lillian

Help TheSpyAnts produce "bobrauschenbergamerica" at [Inside] The Ford!

Dear Esteemed Friends, Family and Fans:

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of TheSpyAnts Theatre Company. We are proud to announce our next production: bobrauschenbergamerica by Charles L. Mee was selected to be part of the [Inside] the Ford Winter Partnership Program by the L.A County Arts Commission. This amazing opportunity at such a special venue, within the Ford Amphitheater complex, will be our most adventuresome endeavor to date! Running from January 23rd through February 28th, 2010 bobrauschenbergamerica will certainly be the most expensive show we've ever done. Due to the high production costs we are looking for supporters, like you, to assist us in the funding of our show. Your tax-deductible donation at our secure PayPal Link will help us to create this spectacular production.

As you may know, TheSpyAnts began in the year 2000 as a small group of passionate actors that met weekly to read plays. After meeting for several months, we grew tired of sitting and reading plays. As a result, we decided to take the next step and formed our own theater company. Since then we have produced 23 shows, including the smash hit Kidnapped By Craigslist the LA Weekly award nominated production of The Birds and Paul Rudnick’s The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, and now bobrauschenbergamerica. We have also gained non-profit status, been nominated for multiple LA theater awards, earned a loyal fan base of more than 1,000 people, and donated time and money to numerous local charities.

We have been thrilled to bring you many amazing productions over the last nine years; however, now we need your help in order for us to take a giant leap forward for our company. We ask you to make a tax-deductible donation to TheSpyAnts at our secure PayPal Link to show your support and help us reach our goal to raise enough money to create what we know will be our most dynamic, vital, and exciting production to date, bobrauschenbergamerica. You will also be able to track your donation from our website and watch as the mercury in our thermometer rises to the top on the way toward our goal. Thank you for being a continued supporter and fan of TheSpyAnts. We appreciate your help and support and hope to see you at the show!

Our non-profit tax identification is: EIN # 95-4853522.

Sincerely,

TheSpyAnts

Buy your 2009-10 [Inside] the Ford Theater season subscription now

Hello,

Here is how you can buy a subscription to all three shows (including ours, bobrauschenbergamerica) at [Inside] the Ford this season right now.

Thanks!

TheSpyAnts

======

Three compelling premieres...one afFORDable price!
25% SAVINGS Subscriptions for all three plays are $45

Save money this season and be a part of an adventurous line-up in 2009-10 at [Inside] the Ford.

For more information or to order, call the Ford Box Office at 323 461-3673 or download and complete the subscription form below. Fax and mail instructions are on the order form.

Download a subscription form
here (pdf)

An Evening w/ "Born to Run" author Christopher McDougall Thursday, October 8, 2009 2:12 PM at Traveler's Bookcase

Our longtime member Natalie Compagno (The Reunion, Hellcab) is also the owner of Traveler's Bookcase, and we wanted to pass along information about a cool event going on at her store. So if you get a chance, check it out.

Thanks!

TheSpyAnts

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AUTHOR READING & SIGNING
Wednesday, October 14 at 7:00pm.

The Washington Post says Born to Run is "thrilling... an operatic ode".

The Oregonian calls it "spellbinding".

Traveler's Bookcase says "a fascinating read that spans the globe, from the Kalahari Desert to the Rocky Mountains to central Mexico. This is the kind of book that makes you want to strap on a backpack and just go!"

BORN TO RUN: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about our feet is wrong.

We are pleased to welcome author Chris McDougall to the store! If you've ever been curious about phenomenal endurance athletes, improving your health, or tribes who live in complete serenity as if the modern world never intruded, we invite you to the store.

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. The author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country.

BORN TO RUN is for anyone who loves adventure tales (from Endurance to Krakauer), Mexico, the outdoors, or is interested in travel, health, nutrition, meditation or serenity.

Christopher McDougall is a former war correspondent for the Associated Press and is now a contributing editor for Men’s Health. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Men’s Journal, and New York. He does his own running among the Amish farms around his home in rural Pennsylvania.

Born to Run makes a great gift book

WHAT: Author reading & signing
Refreshments provided.

WHEN: Thursday October 14th at 7pm

WHERE: Traveler's Bookcase
8375 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(limited parking in back)

Jennifer Eckert in "Mix Tape"

Jennifer Eckert, who most recently wrote and directed Life's A Bitch for our What If? evening of one acts earlier this year, is appearing in Mix Tape: Taking Flight, an original one act festival, at the Elephant Space Theater in Hollywood, 6322 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90038.

It runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and 8pm and Sundays at 2pm until October 17th. So go check this out!

You can buy tickets online by clicking here, and see the attached flyer for more information.

Thanks!

TheSpyAnts

SAVE THE DATE - October 7 at [Inside] the Ford

SAVE THE DATE

OCTOBER 7, 2009
from 6 PM - 9 PM at the Ford Theatres in Hollywood, CA
FREE!

You and a guest are invited to the Ford Theatres for an exclusive, intimate evening at L.A.'s urban oasis as we kick-off an adventurous [Inside] the Ford winter season with Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, TheSpyAnts Theatre Company and
Circle X Theatre Co.

Mingle and munch under the stars in the Hollywood Hills! Meet other theatre aficionados, get the [Inside] scoop on the 2009-10 season and explore the historic Ford complex.

We hope you will join us for light refreshment, lively conversation and to meet and greet with producing theatre companies of the 2009-10 Winter Season

Specific details on this event will follow by invitation only.

For more information, please email communications@arts.lacounty.gov or 213.202.5941.

For more general season information, click here.

[INSIDE] THE FORD

The 87-seat indoor theatre in the John Anson Ford Theatres Complex
2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068
www.FordTheatres.org
323.461.3673

Post show Q & A with playwright Matt Pelfrey Sunday August 9th

Just a reminder that on Sunday August 9th at 7pm, following our performance of Terminus Americana, we will have a post show Q & A with playwright Matt Pelfrey.

It is also a pay what you can show.

We'll also be up Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm. There are only six more shows, so call (323) 860-8786 and make your reservations now!

LA Times review of "Terminus Americana"

Theater Review: 'Terminus Americana' at Elephant Theater

The title of "Terminus Americana" refers to the tome of conspiracy theorem that drives Matt Pelfrey's coruscating satire. That volume is something of a Macguffin. The core focus of "Terminus" is the twilight of American empire, as refracted through a violence-infatuated media, which the jaggedly effective production by TheSpyAnts caustically embraces.

It begins benignly enough, as Mac Winchell (the excellent Brett Hren) takes a chirpy phone call from wife Brenda (CB Spencer). His confidential exchange with fellow employee Felix (Hal Perry) suggests the kind of corporate evisceration that Billy Wilder patented.

Then Felix goes on a shooting rampage, whispers a tacit message to Mac before killing himself, and "Terminus" barrels into pitch-black absurdist territory.

Pelfrey ("An Impending Rupture of the Belly") possesses an unflinchingly original voice. If the polemic can be overt, that seems the point, with the accuracy of Pelfrey's broadsides both hilarious and disturbing.

Barring some halting transitions, director Danny Parker-Lopes keeps the tone grimly akimbo. The designs are sparely resourceful, and the cast (with alternates) is adept, impressively centered by Hren's antihero. At the reviewed performance, John Charles Meyer's outré executive, Maria Tomas' secret-society emissary, and Justin Dabuet and Adam Dornbusch as hacking Marlboro Men stood out amid an accomplished pack.

Written well before Sept. 11, 2001, the play premiered at Lodestone Theatre Ensemble shortly afterward. Its relevance has only deepened in the wake of subsequent gun-related national tragedies. "Terminus Americana" won't be for everyone -- but perhaps it should be.

--David C. Nichols

"Terminus Americana," Elephant Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Aug. 15. $20. (323) 860-8786. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.

Photo: Hal Perry and Brett Hren in "Terminus Americana." Credit: TheSpyAnts

Pay what you can shows and Q & A with playwright added

Our July 26th and August 2nd performances of Terminus - both Sunday nights at 7pm - will be pay what you can shows.

Also, we will have a Q & A with playwright Matt Pelfrey following our August 9th performance.

And discount tickets are still available. Click here for information on that.

So mark your calendars and call (323) 860-8786 for reservations now!

Thanks!

Promo video for "Terminus Americana"

Check it out!

Discount tickets available NOW for "Terminus Americana"

Discount tickets for Terminus Americana, opening July 17th, are available for a limited time online at the following sites:

Plays411, where codes for discounts are as follows: 007: $5 off 008: Half price 077: $5 off; LA Stage Alliance, where 1/2 price tickets are available, and Goldstar which also has 1/2 price tickets.

So make your plans now!

TheSpyAnts present "Terminus Americana" by Matt Pelfry

TheSpyAnts present the LA Premiere of

Terminus Americana

by Matt Pelfrey

directed by Danny Parker-Lopes

July 18th through August 15th at The Elephant Theatre

From the TheSpyAnts Theatre Company that brought you productions including the smash hit KIDNAPPED BY CRAIGSLIST, the award nominated THE BIRDS: A TAIL OF ORNITHIC PROPORTIONS, and the inter-active, long-running THE REUNION: EVERYTHING CHANGES, EVERYONE STAYS THE SAME, comes TERMINUS AMERICANA.

After barely surviving an office rampage, Mac Winchell is thrust into a nightmare landscape populated by lost Marlboro Men, psychotic vagabonds, sinister corporate thugs and a strange cult known as “The Church of Christ, Office Shooter.”  Mac attempts to escape this twisted reality by undertaking a quest that ultimately leads him into the darkest corners of the American Dream.  Terminus Americana is a surreal, visceral and challenging examination of our violence-saturated culture.

Playwright: Matt Pelfrey is the critically acclaimed and award winning playwright-in-residence at Furious Theatre Company.   His produced plays include Pure Shock Value, An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Cockroach Nation, Terminus Americana, Freak Storm, Honkies With Attitude, Monkey, Gore Hounds and many others. Mr. Pelfrey is the winner of the National 10-Minute Play Competition and his winning play, Drive Angry, was subsequently produced at the prestigious Humana Festival of New American Plays. He is winner of a 2007 Back Stage Garland Award for playwriting.  He has been nominated for an American Critics New Play Award, a PEN Center West Literary Award, an LA Ovation Award, and an LA Weekly Award for playwriting. 

Starring - Brett Hren

Eric Bunton*(1), Justin Dabuet, Adam Dornbusch, John Charles Meyer*(2), Marina Mouhibian, David Page, Hal Perry*(3), Matt J. Popham*(4), CB Spencer, Maria Tomas*(6), Alison Zatta*(6)

*Alternating cast

1) Performing July 24, 25, 26, Aug 1, 2, 13, 14, 15
2) Performing July 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31, Aug 1, 2
3) Performing Juy 17, 18, 19, 31, Aug 7, 8, 9
4) Performing Aug 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15
5) Performing July 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, Aug. 8, 13, 15
6) Performing July 26, 31 Aug 1, 2, 7, 9, 14

Terminus Americana will run at The Elephant Theatre July 18th – August 15th, 2009 with performances on Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7pm; including a special Thursday, August 13th at 8pm. Preview on Friday, July 17th at 8pm, tickets $10. There will be an Opening Night Gala Saturday, July 19th at 8pm with hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine provided for a $30 donation. The Elephant Lab Theatre is located at 6322 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90038. Street parking is available.

General admission is $20 for all performances. Group sales rates and student discounts available.
To reserve, please call (323) 860-8786 or buy tickets online at our website.

TheSpyAnts.com • PO Box 480202, Los Angeles, CA 90028 • (323) 860-8786

TheSpyAnts to perform at [Inside] the Ford

We are thrilled to be a part of [Inside] the Ford's 2009-10 season, and you can find out about our show, bobrauschenbergamerica by Charles Mee, and the Ford's upcoming season by reading their press release below:

============

[Inside] the Ford
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2009
Press Contact (for media only):Lucy Pollak
(818) 887-1499 lucy@lucypr.com

2009-10 SEASON AT [Inside] the Ford:

Three new plays from EST-LA, TheSpyAnts and Circle X

about love, loss, betrayal… and America.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Love, loss, betrayal… and America: Los Angeles County's Winter Partnership Program is back with a second season of provocative new work in 2009-10. Once again, three outstanding L.A. theater companies have been selected to present an ambitious season of premieres at [Inside] the Ford, the 87-seat state-of-the-art theater located in Hollywood's Ford Theatres complex.

"These are three beautifully written pieces, each offering a profoundly different perspective on modern America," comments Los Angeles County Arts Commission Executive Director Laura Zucker. "We're pleased to be able to help three of L.A.'s most accomplished theater companies bring this exciting new work to Los Angeles audiences."

Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA opens the season in November with a powerfully moving new work that eloquently melds realism and poetry. In the world premiere of Tree by Julie Hébert, three generations divided by race, culture and time connect when a white Southern woman discovers old love letters leading her to an African-American half-brother.

In January, TheSpyAnts presents the Los Angeles premiere of Charles L. Mee's bobrauschenbergamerica, a fantastical voyage through the heart of small town America as seen through the eyes of visionary artist Robert Rauschenberg.

Finally, Circle X Theatre Co. returns to [Inside] the Ford in March with the world premiere of Lascivious Something by Sheila Callaghan. It's 1980 and Reagan has just been elected. On a secluded Greek island, an American ex-pat pursues his passions: wine making and his breathtaking young bride. On the eve of his first tasting, an old lover reappears, and with her, a wild and violent past.

Through the Winter Partnership Program, L.A. County-based theater companies without permanent facilities submit projects for consideration. Three companies are chosen through a competitive process to present at [Inside] the Ford, where they receive significant promotional and technical support while being allowed to keep the lion's share of the box office. The season is supported by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Ford Theatre Foundation, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The first Winter Partnership season at [Inside] the Ford was a resounding critical and popular success. Song of Extinction by E.M. Lewis, which was presented by Moving Arts in the fall of 2008, was recognized with a slate of prestigious awards including the 2008 Production of the Year Award from the LA Weekly; the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's Ted Schmitt Award for World Premiere of an Outstanding New Play; and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, the largest national award for a new play. Circle X Theatre Company's Battle Hymn by Jim Leonard was a Los Angeles Times "Critic's Choice," an LA Weekly "GO!," and a Back Stage "Critic's Pick." The LA Weekly's Steven Leigh Morris called Home Siege Home, Ghost Road Company's ensemble-derived adaptation of Aeschylus' trilogy, The Oresteia and the final offering of the season, "a calculated blend of ancient lyricism and contemporary humor… [Katharine] Noon and company… conjure the psychological and cosmic forces that lead to the end of an era."

Embedded within a 1929 historic structure, [Inside] the Ford is an 87-seat indoor theater space at the Ford Theatres complex that boasts 21st Century lights and sound, comfortable seats, and a decades-long history of nurturing new theater. For decades it was rented by numerous groups, most notably the Mark Taper Forum which made it the home of its second stage Taper, Too from 1972 to 1997. In 1998 the space was extensively renovated and renamed [Inside] the Ford, following which a season of three productions was presented under the Los Angeles County Art Commission's subsidized rental program designed to help theater companies without permanent facilities. From 2000-01 through 2003-04, [Inside] the Ford hosted "Hot Properties," seasons of new plays and musicals produced by County-based theater companies and supported by A.S.K. Theater Projects and the James Irvine Foundation. Finally, from 2005-06 to 2007-08, [Inside] the Ford was the home of the Ensemble Theatre Collective, known as ETC@ITF, a collaboration of five L.A.-based theater companies that was supported in part by the Flintridge Foundation.

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Laura Zucker, Executive Director, provides leadership in cultural services of all disciplines for the largest county in the United States, encompassing 88 municipalities. In addition to programming the John Anson Ford Theatres, the Arts Commission provides leadership and staffing to support the regional blueprint for arts education, Arts for All; administers a grants program that funds more than 300 nonprofit arts organizations annually; oversees the County's Civic Art Program for capital projects, funds the largest arts internship program in the country in conjunction with the Getty Foundation, and supports the Los Angeles County Cultural Calendar on ExperienceLA.com. The Arts Commission also produces free community programs, including the L.A. Holiday Celebration broadcast nationally, and a year-round music program that funds more than 50 free concerts each year in public sites. The 2009-10 President of the Arts Commission is Araceli Ruano.

[Inside] the Ford is located in the Ford Theatres complex at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068, just off the 101 Hollywood Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal Studios. On-site, non-stacked parking is free.

Single tickets to Tree, bobrauschenbergamerica, and Lascivious Something are priced at $20 with a special price of $12 for full-time students with ID and senior citizens. A season subscription for all three plays is $45. For information go to the Ford Theatres website at www.FordTheatres.org or call 323.461.3673. Subscriptions and individual tickets go on sale July 15.

Kim Estes for Actors Reporter on "Lions"

Kim Estes (The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild, Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion) has posted interviews with the cast of the long running play Lions, along with it's writer Vince Melocchi, and director Guillermo Cienfuegos on Actor's Reporter, which you can see here.

Lions is currently up at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, so check it out while it lasts!

Kim Estes demo reel

This is the demo reel of our longtime member Kim Estes (Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion, The Birds).

Have a look and enjoy!



Link

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

If you're on Facebook, you can follow us on our page, and if you're on Twitter, follow us here.

Thanks!

Hal Perry's Miller Lite Commercials

Our member Hal Perry (Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion, The Birds) has at least three commercials airing now for Lite Beer from Miller, two of which you can see here. After clicking the link, verify your age, and then go to "commercials," and from there, click on either "Wedding Tailgate" or "Outdoor Movie."

Presently they are airing during the NCAA basketball tournement on CBS, among many other places.

Come see "What If? An Evening of Original One-Acts (starts March 22)

COME EAT, DRINK, AND WATCH...



What If? An Evening of Original One-Acts

March 22, 23, 29, and 30

Sunday and Monday nights at 8pm
Tickets $10

St. Nick's Pubs (Upstairs Theatre)
8450 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles (just off La Cienega near the Beverly Center)

For reservations, call (323) 860-8786

Written By

Jennifer Etienne Eckert, Florian Klein, and Jerry Pappas

Directed By
Adam Dornbusch, Jennifer Etienne Eckert, Addi Gaash, Dawn Merkel, and Marina Mouhibian

Starring

Ken Arquelio, Breeze Braunschweig, Eric Bunton, W. Shay Hammond, Brett Hren, Mari Marks, Marina Mouhibian, Jerry Pappas, and Hal Perry

"Choke.Kick.Girl" at LA Comedy Shorts Festival March 6th/"Kill A Kitten"

"Choke.Kick.Girl is a short film written by our Ryan Churchill (Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion) directed by Danny Parker Lopes (Kidnapped by Craigslist, The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild, The Reunion) and starring Ryan, Jenny Vilim (Tulsa Lovechild, The Reunion, The Birds), Kim Estes (Tulsa Lovechild, Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion), Linc Hand (Tulsa Lovechild, Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion) Eric Bunton (Kidnapped by Craigslist, Tulsa Lovechild, The Reunion) and many many more of our members has been chosen as an official selection of the 2009 L.A. Comedy Film Festival sponsored by The Onion and Funnyordie!.com.

You can see a clip here.

The festival is a four day celebration of comedic short films that takes place March 5-8 in Downtown Los Angeles. Choke.Kick.Girl. screens in the "I'm Gonna Git You" block from 2-4pm on Friday, March 6th - it's the last film in that block of time. There will be a short Q&A following the screening, and then, stick around for a film with one of our former members Darcy Halsey (co-director along with Danny of The Reunion) called Kill A Kitten (written by our Ryan Dornbusch, and Adam Dornbusch) in the block starting at 4:15 pm.

The festival is hosted by Adam Carolla and a bunch of other comics so it's going to be a fun and exciting time, and we hope you can make it!

Click here for more details and ticket information.

Kidnapped by Craigslist on LA Cityview 35 tonight at 10pm PST

Our recently closed hit show Kidnapped by Craigslist is being featured tonight on LA Cityview 35 tonight at 10pm PST, and again one week from today at 11am and 10pm PST, and there may also be additional airings next month.

So tune in, or watch the live feed here

There is also a nice little write up here on page 3.

Thanks!

"Kidnapped by Craigslist" is extending once again until February 7th!

We are proud to announce that Kidnapped by Craigslist is EXTENDING once again!

Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm
until February 7th

***SPECIAL OFFER***

Print out your favorite Craigslist posting for $5 off
EVERY THURSDAY

***********************************************************************************
Only three weekends left!:

Thursday, January 22nd at 8pm
Friday, January 23rd at 8pm
Saturday, January 24th at 8pm
Thursday, January 29th at 8pm
Friday, January 30th at 8pm
Saturday, January 31st at 8pm
Thursday, February 5th at 8pm
Friday, February 6th at 8pm
Saturday, February 7th at 8pm

Reservations (323.860.8786) and online tickets purchases strongly encouraged

Thanks so much for your support!

New member auditions will be January 31st

We have updated information for our new member auditions and it is as follows:

TheSpyAnts Theatre Company is looking for Actor's to add to it's merry cast of character's. You will also have opportunities to produce, write and direct.

When: January 31st from 11am to 5pm.

Where: TBD

What You Need To Prepare: A two person scene under 5 minutes OR two monologues that you feel show you off best.

How Do I Get An Audition Time: Please call Lori Evans Taylor at 310-569-6456.

Thanks!

Ryan Churchill's Demo Reel

Ryan Churchill (Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion) has been a member of TheSpyAnts since 2006, and this is his demo reel:



Link

Ryan also produced a short film called Choke.Kick.Girl which featured many of our company members.