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

Director David Fishelson transforms Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot into spellbinding drama that illuminates both titanic novels. In The Brothers Karamazov, the passionate brothers spring to life, led by their roué of a father ¿ who entertains himself by drinking, womanizing, and pitting his three sons against each other. The men have plenty to fight over, including the alluring Grushenka.

A talkative New Yorker corrals a writer at a cocktail party and forces him to listen to the story of her life. A co-production with the National Jewish Theater. Recorded before a live audience at Chicago’s Guest Quarters Suite Hotel in July 1992.

Ah, to be young, gifted, and broke! Three struggling artists swindle an art collector in Keith Bunin's critically acclaimed new play. Exploring a complex labyrinth of love, friendship, and true intimacy with moon-washed delicacy, Bunin's deft dialogue drives this beautifully constructed play to its soul-shattering climax.

Chekhov's masterful last play, The Cherry Orchard, is a work of timeless, bittersweet beauty about the fading fortunes of an aristocratic Russian family and their struggle to maintain their status in a changing world. Alternately touching and farcical, this subtle, intelligent play stars the incomparable Marsha Mason.

Eugene O’Neill’s tale of Ephraim Cabot, greedy and hard like the stone walls that surround his farm, the family patriarch brings home his new young bride, Abbie. His grown sons dissaprove; one leaves but the other stays to fight for the family fortune. What follows is a tragedy of epic proportions.

The onscreen pairing of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is at the heart of one of the most popular TV shows in history. Who would have thought that to get on the air, they had to battle both a network and a sponsor who thought the show couldn't possibly succeed? Playwright Gregg Oppenheimer, son of I Love Lucy’s creator Jess Oppenheimer, spins the hilarious true story behind America’s beloved TV comedy.

The Scopes trial, over the right to teach evolution in public schools, reaffirmed the importance of intellectual freedom as codified in the Bill of Rights. The trial, in a small-town Tennessee courtroom in 1925, set the stage for ongoing national debates over the separation of church and state in a democratic society - debates that continue to this day.

Addiction, pain, and explosive tempers are not exactly what you’d call the ingredients for a side-splitting comedy. Yet Steven Adly Guiguis has created a profane, hilarious masterpiece that earned a “hatful” of theatrical accolades in 2011, including a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for Bobby Cannavale. Stars the original Broadway cast: Chris Rock, Bobby Canavale, Annabella Sciorra, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Yul Vazquez.

Issues of inheritance have splintered a family for 20 years before an enterprising sister begins a crusade for change. Playwright Claudia Allen tells this universal story with characteristic warmth and eccentric humor. Performed by a full cast starring Tyne Daly, Sharon Gless, and more.

In this darkly comic, poignant, and at times surreal play, two couples in Tunisia—one Muslim and one Jewish—share a deep and complicated friendship before the German takeover of their country in World War 2. Now under a brutal regime, they face the truth about their long-simmering feelings about friendship and romance as they struggle to save themselves from a Nazi commandant—named Grandma.

Abby Mann's classic story about the Nuremberg trials, under which German leaders were found guilty of crimes against humanity in 1945 and 1946. Even today, the play remains a shattering indictment of the consequences of unchecked authority and the seductive power of group thought.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for aging Hollywood stars Karen and Steve that means agreeing to a shocking contractual clause. On the eve of a "climactic" day of shooting, they finally tell their significant others what's to come.

The latest work from one of America's most important young playwrights and creator of the current hit TV series, "Brothers and Sisters". Financial powerhouse Sandy Sonnenberg finds his personal and professional life threatened by unraveling secrets from his past. A tragic game of financial and moral betrayal plays out over four decades, with an exacting price - family, friends, love and marriage. Starring members of the original Off-Broadway production.

Angela Arden wants to be free of her suffocating marriage to film producer Sol Sussman. What better way than poison! Distraught by her father’s death and convinced of her mother’s guilt, Edith Sussman plots to get the truth out of Angela using any means necessary. Charles Busch stars in the role he originated in this camp send-up where tongues aren’t the only thing dipped in acid.

A brand spanking new bedroom farce about three couples who say what they oughtn't, do what they shouldn't, and deliver terrific one-liners while doing it. Ben and Nancy have a midnight therapy session over some unfortunate pillow talk; Grace and Gene take surprising sides over the one-night-stand issue; and therapist Mark finds his romantic rendezvous with an older man rudely interrupted.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein spins a comic and moving tale about the pitfalls that await female political appointees. On the eve of Dr. Lyssa Dent Hughes' nomination as Surgeon General, a witty and dangerous cast of characters stir the calm waters of her Georgetown home.

This play tells the powerful story of an epileptic woman in her early 40s systematically preparing her own death...and the frantic and touching efforts of her mother to stop her. This searing drama, which won the Pulitzer Prize on Broadway, is guaranteed to keep any listener on the edge of their seat.

Devilishly attractive Lord Illingworth is notorious for his skill as a seducer. But he is still invited to all the "best" houses, while his female conquests must hide their shame in seclusion. In this devastating drawing-room comedy, Oscar Wilde uses his celebrated wit to expose English society's narrow view of everything from sexual mores to Americans.

Neil Simon's hilarious, semi-autobiographical Tony Award-winning play stars Josh Radnor and Justine Bateman. This production features an exclusive interview with the prolific playwright.

Knocked-up and seriously broke, a successful publicist is plunged into a topsy-turvy world of welfare mothers and drug addicts, and forced to confront the family she left behind. Fabulation is a darkly comic rags-to-riches-to-rags tale of falling down and reaching up to find the goodness within.