Showing results by publisher "L.A. Theatre Works" in All Categories

Yasmeen is a Yemeni-American high school senior with big dreams. Dr. Guy Royston is her science teacher with a mysterious past. When Yasmeen asks Dr. Royston for an important favor, it sets off a series of events that challenges their core beliefs about science, faith, and the nature of love. Includes a conversation with playwright Laura Maria Censabella.

A portrait of one of the greatest American food writers of the 20th century, Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, whose writing transcended recipes and reviews to probe our deep-seated relationship to our appetites. Assembled from diaries, journalism, and short stories, Kelly Nespor's play creates a vivid tableau of the life of this preeminent and influential gourmet.

Austin is a distinguished Bostonian with a WASP pedigree, an unbeatable squash game, and a frightening secret. After he meets up with his old flame Ruth, they begin a comic and painful voyage of self-discovery.

Set in Yonkers in 1942, two boys, aged 13 and 16, must spend one year with their austere and demanding grandmother. While the war rages in Europe, Jay and Arty learn the ropes from Uncle Louis and assorted relatives, all peculiar characters. Neil Simon's Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play is performed here by a full cast, featuring Barbara Bain, Dan Castellaneta, and more.

A quartet of aging retirees tee up for a witty and incisive reflection on love, faith, time, and (of course) golf. Over 18 holes, the four men face truths ranging from the quotidian to the cosmic as they bicker and bond on the putting green. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring John Astin, Charles Durning, Richard Hoyt Miller, John Randolph and William Schallert. Directed by Robert Robinson. Recorded before a live audience in Santa Monica, CA in December, 1992.

Three former big-league baseball players reunite at a fantasy camp and reveal funny and poignant things about their lives and careers. This bittersweet comedy comes from playwright Jeff Santo, whose father Ron Santo was a beloved player and broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Dennis Franz, Joe Mantegna, and Richard Zavaglia.

Eric Simonson explores the most famous archeological hoax in history. Alternating between 1914 and 1953, journalists and scientists set out to uncover who planted the Piltdown Man skull. Everyone's a suspect, including legendary Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

This painfully funny slice of Cuban-American life in the suburbs is a cross between a Hispanic soap opera and an ethnic comedy with political overtones. This deft play can turn serious or silly in an instant and you’ll need a scorecard to keep track of the cascading and frequently arboreous calamities. A full-cast performance featuring: Max Casella, Peter Michael Goetz, Valerie Harper, Alexuna Lambros, Anna Sophie Loewenberg, Jonathan Silverman, and Joyce Van Patten.

During WWII in Seattle, University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi fights the US government's orders to forcibly remove and incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. As he struggles to reconcile his country's betrayal with his passionate belief in the US Constitution, Gordon begins a 50-year journey toward a greater understanding of America's triumphs - and a confrontation with its failures.

Jamie Lee Curtis and JoBeth Williams star in this delightful Broadway hit which chronicles three Jewish sisters from Brooklyn as they gather in London to celebrate a birthday.

Razor-sharp wit inflames a competitive game of survival in the salons of 17th century France where, in this world of "finest appearances," one man's blunt honesty shatters his society's delicate web of manners. Often considered to be Moliere's Hamlet, this is a wickedly scathing satire.

The extraordinary true story of Abe, a man the playwright met at his synagogue. Abe was a fellow of great humor and heart who not only survived three years at Auschwitz - certainly the worst place on earth - but fell in love there. Abe’s life speaks to the resilience of the human spirit, renewal, and hope, even when there seems to be none.

Taut with suspense, this critically-acclaimed adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House focuses on Nora, a young wife and mother who exploits her childlike charm to survive in a man’s world. But Nora has a secret that threatens her cozy existence. Recorded before a live audience at the Doubletree Guest Suites, Santa Monica, CA, in 1997.

You Never Can Tell was originally born out of a bet that Shaw couldn't write a "seaside comedy" (a popular theatrical genre at that time). The result is perhaps the most surprising of Shaw's plays, complete with marital mayhem, tangled romance, and even doubtful dentistry. Despite the play's lighthearted tone, it's really another of Shaw's brilliantly observed social treatises, this time in the guise of a light comedy.

In this wild satire, a Mexican immigrant has a feverish dream while studying for his American citizenship exam. He meets a parade of characters ranging from Sacagawea to Teddy Roosevelt to Jackie Robinson, who take him on a mind-bending, hilarious, and poignant trip through American history

Originally produced for Chicago Theatres on the Air, Shakespeare's Greatest Hits contains some of the most memorable scenes from the Bard's most profound works: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Othello, and many more. It was performed by Chicago's Shakespeare Repertory, including Amy Irving and Kevin Gudhal, in 1993.

In the high-stakes world of cancer research, Dr. William Shumway has just made a stunning breakthrough. But is it really the long-sought cure for cancer? Despite the young scientist’s reservations, a senior mentor pressures him to trumpet his findings to the world. Part medical drama, part suspense-filled thriller, Secret Order turns its microscope on bioethics, money and power.

In 17th-century Sicily, a clever valet named Mascarille tries to help his boss, Lélie, win the girl of his dreams – only to find that Lélie is a monumental dunce who ruins every one of his intricate schemes. Undaunted, Mascarille invents progressively wilder plots, only to see his best-laid plans go very awry in Molière’s The Bungler, translated by Richard Wilbur.

The first revised and updated version of this 1970s cult classic by Studs Terkel. A rousing musical with a cast of 20, Working is for anyone who has ever punched a clock, a cow or a supervisor - or wanted to.

When Claudia gets pregnant, she has a very clear plan for how she wants to give birth. Her prenatal anxieties inspire her father to create a device for safer deliveries, and Claudia realizes that nothing ever goes quite as expected. Includes a conversation with playwright Chiara Atik and Dr. Judith Reichman, an OB/GYN and longtime medical contributor to The Today Show.