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

An early Miller gem about a young Midwesterner who finds good fortune shining on him while it passes others by. As his successes pile up, he starts to wonder if he deserves it—and what will happen when his luck finally runs out.

Eight highly diverse works from one of America’s most prolific and versatile authors. This collection includes an exclusive dramatization of Oates’ best-selling novel American Appetites; two comedic plays, The Perfectionist and The Truth Teller; four short plays (Gulf War, Black, The Key, and Tone Clusters); as well as her libretto for Black Water: An American Opera, composed by John Duffy.

Starring James Marsters, this classic comedy of manners from 1773 is still widely performed and studied. Love, lies, and dysfunctional families. Sound like your last family gathering? Try this one on for laughs. Two randy young gents, Charles and George, set out to woo the alluring and upper-crust Kate and Constance. But inexperienced Charles is shy and clumsy around upper-class ladies, so it’s the barmaid who catches his eye. But is she really who she seems?

Set in a South African traveling amusement park on New Year’s Eve, Athol Fugard’s Playland explores the possibilities for blacks and whites to find understanding in a racially divided world. A volatile dialogue begins when two men - a former soldier and a night watchman - delve into their sordid pasts. A Steppenwolf Theatre Company production.

A brand new lawyer and his young bride have returned from their honeymoon and are moving into their new high-rent apartment. In order to reach this "charming" dwelling, they must first climb six creaking flights of stairs. Once there, they find the place is absolutely bare of furniture, the paint job is all wrong, the skylight leaks, there is room for only one twin bed, and the wacky neighbors pop up at the worst times.

Three terminally stylish friends, who share rivalrous affections, attempt to uncoil their twisted love triangle in this sexy and scandalous gem. Written in 1932, the play was deemed extremely daring, and even by today's standards is considered controversial. In its frank and funny take on sex, love, and commitment, Design for Living proves to be one of Coward's greatest successes.

Orphaned Jane journeys from a harsh childhood to become the loving caregiver of a child at the mysterious manor of Mr. Rochester. Jane is drawn to her enigmatic employer, but as dark secrets emerge, she must choose between her newfound security and the uncertainty of a life lived for oneself.

This play is a powerful account of the case filed by the American Federation for Equal Rights (AFER) in the U.S. District Court in 2010 to overturn Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that eliminated the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. Framed around the trial's historic closing arguments in June 2010, 8 provides an intimate look at what unfolded when the issue of same-sex marriage was on trial.

France's master comic playwright has a field day with the subjects of hypochondria and our blind obedience to doctors. Molière’s witty attack on the medical profession has more than a little resonance today. Translated by John Wood, adapted by Beth Milles.

A boy from the Bronx becomes the toast of Broadway. Moss Hart's classic stage autobiography is brought to life, with his son Christopher directing, in a story that illuminates the early years of one of theater's great humorists. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production.

The most iconic love story of all time, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is an epic-scale tragedy of desire and revenge. Despite the bitter rivalry that exists between their families, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet have fallen madly in love. But when the long-running rivalry boils over into murder, the young couple must embark on a dangerous and deadly mission to preserve their love at any cost. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Calista Flockhart as Juliet.

Hilarity abounds in this portrait of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza Hotel. A suburban couple takes a suite while their house is being painted, a Hollywood producer calls a childhood sweetheart for a little sexual diversion, and a mother and father fight about the best way to get their daughter, the bride, out of the bathroom and back to the wedding.

1993. In this rollicking take on modern diplomacy, a Norwegian social scientist and his diplomat wife are determined to try a new tactic to break the long-standing deadlock of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A secret back channel in Norway leads to unexpected breakthroughs as negotiators find common ground. When the political becomes personal, relationships are forged that offer a chance to alter the course of history.

This darkly satirical drama by Gore Vidal finds two presidential contenders seeking the endorsement of an aging ex-president, and explores how personal agendas can change the course of a nation's destiny. The political intrigues rampant in Vidal's 1960 setting are strangely similar what is going on today. Includes an interview with actors Fred Thompson and Marsha Mason.

Based on National Book Award-winner Joyce Carol Oates' novella about the Chappaquiddick scandal, this tragic and beautiful new opera enthralls as a handsome Senator uses power to enchant, seduce, and carelessly destroy.

In Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus discovers that he has been caught in his terrible destiny, unknowingly murdering his father and marrying his mother.

David Fishelson has transformed Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot into a spellbinding drama that illuminates the titanic novel. In The Idiot, meet the kindly, childlike Prince Myshkin, as he returns to the decadent social whirl of 1860s St. Petersburg. The two most beautiful, sought-after women in the town compete for his affections, in a duel that grows increasingly dangerous.

Good-hearted Bessie has been taking care of her ailing father for 20 years. But now she's the one who's sick, and she must reconcile with her estranged sister, Lee. A remarkably humorous and tender play, this critically acclaimed family drama was dubbed by The New York Times as "one of the funniest plays of the year as well as one of the wisest and most moving."

Modern parallels abound in the plight of Cambridge-educated mathematics wiz Vivie Warren, who discovers that her comfortable upbringing was financed in unspeakable ways. George Bernard Shaw pits a clever heroine against a memorable gallery of rogues in this superbly intelligent (and still shocking) comedy, banned for eight years from the English stage.

Hilary believes fervently that consciousness is more than the sum of our biology. When she receives a position at a prestigious think tank, she develops a novel experiment to prove that humans are intrinsically altruistic, but the results are something she never anticipated.