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Now Casting: 40th Anniversary production of landmark play “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove”

Posted on March 29, 2023 | Leave a comment

The Fountain Theatre is now casting for all roles in its 40th Anniversary production of Jane Chambers’ landmark play, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. The play ran for two sold-out years at the Fountain Theatre from 1981-1983 in a groundbreaking production starring Jean Smart. The 40th Anniversary production will be performed outside June 17 to August 27 as an immersive experience on the Fountain’s outdoor stage directed by Hannah Wolf.

Storyline: Set in 1980, a group of queer women spend their summers together in a remote seaside town on Long Island. Their lesbian enclave is disrupted when Eva, a naïve straight woman recently separated from her husband, stumbles unaware into their circle and falls for the charming, tough-talking Lil. This heartfelt landmark play in lesbian history, bursting with friendship, laughter, love, and hope, brings well-rounded, three-dimensional characters to the stage to transcend stereotypes and preconceptions.

NOW CASTING

LILIAN (LIL) ZALINSKI – Late 30s/early 40s, any ethnicity, woman. The only single resident of Bluefish Cove (for the moment). Lil is dry, sarcastic, headstrong and a bit of a ladies’ lady. Her lust for women equals her lust for freedom. She’s slept with most everyone in the cove. Lil is suffering from a terminal cancer that progresses throughout the show. Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, cuddling, hand holding, and lying in bed together (role does not contain simulated sex).

EVA MORGOLIS – Late 30s/early 40s, white (the script mentions that she has blue eyes), woman. Recently divorced after 12 years of marriage. She’s nervous, curious, worries about what others think about her and likes having a plan. She starts the play heterosexual but is willing to explore her wants and desires with Lil. Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, cuddling, hand holding, and lying in bed together (role does not contain simulated sex).

KITTY COCHRANE – 40s, white, woman. “Literature’s most credible women’s libber.” She’s a former OBGYN, current feminist writer and public figure in the women’s movement. She speaks before she thinks, is possessive and takes up a lot of space in any room that she’s in. She’s publicly in the closet and is partnered with Kitty (after a failed relationship with Lil). Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, cuddling, hand holding, and lying in bed together (role does not contain simulated sex).

ANNIE JOSEPH – Late 30s/early 40s, any ethnicity, woman. Famous sculptor, Lil’s oldest friend. She’s the core of the group, steady and patient with the others. She doesn’t care what others think about her. Annie’s married to Rae and presents as butch or stud. Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, hand holding, physical closeness.

RAE – Late 30s/early 40s, any ethnicity, woman. Has two grown children from a previous marriage and went through a rough divorce when she came out. Rae struggles with feminism and her love of hosting. Married to Annie for 9 years. Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, hand holding, physical closeness.

RITA SANDERSON – 30s, any ethnicity, woman. Trained as a teacher but was outed by her father. She’s punctual, levelheaded and to the point. She’s Kitty’s secretary and lover. Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, hand holding, physical closeness.

DONNA ATTERLY – 20s, any ethnicity, bisexual, woman. Donna’s newer to the group. She’s high femme and Sue’s sugar baby. She likes to gossip, is driven by her insecurity and feels like she has something to prove to the group. Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, hand holding, physical closeness.

SUE MCMILLAN – 50s, any ethnicity, woman. She’s the eldest of the group and remembers that in every minute. She’s insecure about the age gap, her body and herself. Sue comes from old money, she spends most of her time traveling and has never worked. She’s working through her relationship/dependence on Donna. Seeking queer and lesbian women+ performers of any ethnicity to play a group of old friends. Performers must be comfortable with same gender intimacy (there will be an intimacy director), smoking, wearing bathing suits and swearing. Role contains kissing, hand holding, physical closeness.

Producer/Theatre Company: The Fountain Theatre
Artistic Director: Stephen Sachs
Managing Director: Simon Levy
Director: Hannah Wolf
Writer: Jane Chambers
Casting Director: Stephen Sachs, The Fountain Theatre
Audition Date(s): April 7 – 10, 2023
Callback Date(s): April 14 – 15, 2023
Rehearsal Date(s): May 8 – June 13, 2023
Preview Date(s): June 14 – 16, 2023
Opening Date(s): June 17, 2023
Closing Date(s): August 27, 2023
Rate of Pay: AEA 99-Seat Contract

Submit to: Actors Access, Breakdown Express, or email casting@fountaintheatre.com

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Posted in actors, audition, Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles, Queer

Tagged 40th Anniversary, actors, audition, casting, Fountain Theatre, gay, Hannah Wolf, Jane Chambers, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, lesbian, Los Angeles, queer, Simon Levy, Stephen Sachs, theater, theatre

Playwright Larry Powell reflects on ‘The Gaze’, the Fountain, and the impact of 2020

Posted on December 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

By Terri Roberts

It was just last month that the Fountain Theatre announced it had joined forces with playwright Larry Powell, his producing partner Angelica Robinson, and their Tell Me a Story Productions to bring Powell’s exciting 12-part tragicomedy, The Gaze…No Homo to Fountain audiences. Presented via the theatre’s new digital platform, Fountain Stream, this episodic version of Powell’s live stage play has been reinvented for the digital age.

A set of three short-form episodes has premiered each Friday for the past three weeks. Now, The Gaze…No Homo comes full circle as the final set of episodes have been released. All episodes remain available for viewing on the Fountain Stream page until Dec 31.

To recap: The Gaze…No Homo centers around a young actor, Jerome Price (Galen J. Williams), as he tries to navigate his way through the increasingly uncomfortable rehearsal process of No Homo, a new play by emerging Black queer playwright Shaun Korey (Devere Rogers.) Korey is championed by Miranda Cryer (Sharon Lawrence), the straight White interim artistic director of the esteemed Evergreen Theatre Festival (“where the brightest and boldest new American voices are watered with wisdom, fed with fodder and nurtured with nourishment.”) Cryer is also the director of the world premiere of Korey’s new play.

This year, the festival has been consigned to a digital Zoomscape instead of the traditional seats-and-stage live theatre experience thanks to the COVID pandemic. In addition to the neophyte Price, No Homo features far more seasoned actors Kendrell Thompson (Eugene Byrd) and Buddy DuPois (TC Carson), and is stage managed by the experienced team of no-nosense PSM Sherry Grosse (Yvette Cason) and gender-fluid ASM Tee (Jason “Freckle” Greene.) There is much at stake here for everyone, and complicating matters is the growing dissent between Price and Cryer. As their abrasive relationship grows ever-more heated, the fate of the entire production becomes jeopardized.

The Gaze…No Homo was selected as a finalist in the prestigious 2020/2021 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. It is the first in Powell’s The Gaze cycle of plays that examines the process of building culturally specific and queer works of color in certain historically white spaces. The Gaze tackles difficult topics like racism and microagressions, and wrestles with the question, “Why strain to be free under a gaze fixed on your imprisonment, when it’s you who is holding the key?”

As we wrap up our exclusive showing of The Gaze…No Homo on the Fountain’s digital stage this month, Powell reflected back on the journey his show has taken over this past tumultuous year, and ponders the future and what he hopes it will bring.

TR: What was it like working with the Fountain Theatre this past month to present this digital reinvention of your play?

LP: If this piece can bring awareness to theatres that have been serving communities across the globe for years and who have had to close their doors due to the pandemic, I am pleased. I feel like we’ve done that at The Fountain, and that makes me proud.

TR. Would you consider another collaboration with the Fountain in the future?

LP: Of course! I would love one of my plays to be on the Fountain stage!

TR: No Homo is the first play in The Gaze cycle of plays. What is your vision for the entire cycle? How many plays are included in The Gaze? Are any of them written yet and what themes do they explore?

LP: Right now, I know there are three plays. They chart Jerome, the protagonist, as he grows older and older. I am going to start working on a new version of the second play next year. This play will focus on how we hold on to new awareness of ourselves in our art and life once we make the initial reclamation of our time and imagination. What challenges do we face? What questions do we have in that space of new consciousness?

TR: Will No Homo be presented on stage again when we return to live performances? Or will it live now as a digital presentation? What about future installments in The Gaze cycle? What form will they take?

LP: Yes. It is important to me that I continue to diversify how an audience can experience my stories. So, in every way a play can be experienced, I will lean into. A stage play, Screenplay, Teleplay, #Digiplay, Audioplay, VR play, Animated Play…. to me, it all starts with “the play.” All different structures, skill sets, and audiences but definitely all sourced in telling a story around a fire in the village.

TR. Has the success of this digital adaptation of The Gaze…No Homo encouraged you to adapt any of your previous works for digital platforms? If so, what ones?

LP: Yes and All.

TR. Was the choice of the cycle name The Gaze a conscious choice, to play on The Gays, or was it a happy coincidence?

LP: The best titles have double, triple meanings. The first play was always called “No Homo” because of the play within the play. Once I started to see the story as a cycle of works, I needed a title that spoke to a larger, more general container. The reason The Gaze sticks is because it still specifies the queer black experience as it pertains to its relationship to an oppressive gaze.

TR: You said in your Theatre Talk interview with Stephen Sachs that 2020 was a “profound year,” and you talked about “collective grief.” How have the events of 2020 shaped you as an artist? How do we, as theatre artists, as citizens, as a country, grieve our many losses this year and use them for a higher purpose?

LP: I have learned it’s important to give those loved ones, and the things we have lost, space. What I mean by that is silence and the stopping of this abusive obsession with “gotta keep going!!” Grief is a love language. We must take the time to learn it and to speak well and often. That means something different for each of us, and that’s important. We become more courageous in grief because it usually takes us to a place of surrender that opens us up to higher visions of our purpose in the world. It can, at least …if we let it. So, if you work to make firm boundaries around the space you carve out for grief … the gifts you find there are life-enhancing and heart-strengthening.

TR. What form do you prefer? Live stage or the digital small screen? Why?

LP: Well, I love the stage first. Always. That said, a story told is a story told. There are people who will run to the digital screen quicker than they would to the live stage. I want to meet both of these groups of people where they are — and I believe it is my calling to love as many forms of storytelling as possible.

TR: What’s next for you?

LP: More joy. More understanding. More peace. More love. More opportunity. More creation. More surrender. More gratitude. And always, more learning.

Terri Roberts is a freelance writer and the Coordinator of Fountain Friends, the Fountain Theatre’s new volunteer program. She also manages the Fountain Theatre Café.

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Posted in African American, arts organizations, Black Lives Matter, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Gay, Los Angeles, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, playwright, racism, Theater, theatre

Tagged Angelica Robinson, black, Devere Rogers, Eugene Byrd, Fountain Stream, Fountain Theatre, Galen J. Williams, gay, Jason "Freckle" Greene, Larry Powell, playwright, Sharon Lawrence, Stephen Sachs, TC Carson, Tell Me a Story Productions, Terri Roberts, The Gaze, Yvette Cason

Join the party! Daniel’s Husband & The Normal Heart company reunion today @ 4pm

Posted on June 30, 2020 | Leave a comment

By Terri Roberts

June is Pride month, a time of Mardi Gras-like celebration for the LGBTQ+ community that’s highlighted locally by the annual L.A. Pride Festival and Parade. The first Pride march, held June 28, 1970, was established to mark the one-year anniversary of the now infamous Stonewall uprising – an event widely seen as the launch pad for the modern gay rights movement. Fifty years later, it has become an annual, exuberant, not-to-be-missed event. (Note: The highly anticipated 50th anniversary celebration has been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. More info)

The trouble that ignited a revolution started at 1:20am on June 28, 1969, when NYPD officers raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Such raids were all too common at the Mafia-owned bar. But this night was different. On this night, the chronically marginalized, too-often dehumanized gay population who were drinking inside had had enough. On this night, they stood up and fought back. On this night, and in the nights and days and years that followed, gay men and women not only found their pride, they wore it boldly and shouted it out loudly for all the world to hear.

Today at 4pm, the Fountain is gathering together the casts of two of its most highly acclaimed productions – Daniel’s Husband (2018) and The Normal Heart (2013) – for a celebration not only of Pride month, but of the recent historic Supreme Court ruling that protects the civil rights of gay and transgender workers, and to honor the life of writer/activist/Normal Heart playwright Larry Kramer. Viewers can watch live on Zoom, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and on our website at http://www.fountaintheatre.com. The recording will also be posted and can be watched at a later date.

Fountain producing director Simon Levy directed both productions, and cast veteran actors Tim Cummings and Bill Brochtrup as lovers in both stories, each of which was centered on a different pivotal moment in the gay rights movement. The Normal Heart is Kramer’s clarion call to action against the emerging AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s. In it, Ned Weeks (Cummings) is a gay journalist and activist whose fight against the mysterious unnamed scourge running rampant through the gay community turns deeply personal when his lover, Felix (Brochtrup), a New York Times fashion writer, contracts the deadly disease. In Daniel’s Husband, Brochtrup is the eponymous Daniel, a successful architect who longs to be married to his partner of seven years, Mitchell, a marriage-phobic writer of gay romance novels that make him, as he says, “the 21st century gay equivalent of Barbara Cartland.”

Said Levy of the two actors, “After working with, and loving the work of, Bill Brochtrup and Tim Cummings in The Normal Heart, I consciously searched for another project for us. And when I read Daniel’s Husband, I knew I’d found our play and that they would be perfect for it.”

Both shows held a personal appeal to Levy, who spent many years living in San Francisco and working on the long-running, kitschy musical revue, Beach Blanket Babylon.

“When I had the opportunity to get the rights to The Normal Heart I grabbed them,” he explained, “because I wanted to pay a personal tribute to all the friends and colleagues I lost in San Francisco during the heyday of the AIDS crisis. Especially (performer) Bill Kendall of Beach Blanket Babylon, who was a good friend and co-worker, and someone I took the entire journey with. The show was a dedication to his memory, as well as (creator) Steve Silver, and so many others.

“When I read Daniel’s Husband I fell in love with it and knew it was right for the Fountain and L.A.’s gay community. Not only because it dealt with gay marriage, but because of its universal theme of loving and caring for one another. I wanted the production to be a reminder to hold on tight to each other, especially in these toxic political times, because we never know how long someone will be in our life. To live with regret is horrible, so love NOW!”

Both productions received passionate, widespread critical acclaim and extended runs. Audience reaction to both shows was deep and visceral. Many patrons saw both, and there were many who saw each play multiple times. It was also not uncommon for them to come back with friends and family members who they felt compelled to have experience the show.

The teeming post-show gatherings are something Levy remembers fondly.

“(I loved) seeing how deeply moved audiences were by both shows, and how they would congregate outside on the sidewalk afterwards to talk with the actors and share their stories of losing loved ones, or fighting to make gay marriage legal. I also loved the ‘love board’ that allowed people to pay tribute to the memory of loved ones and those they love now.”

The ‘love board’ was a giant, paper-covered plywood board that stood at the theatre’s double doors during The Normal Heart. On it, people would write love notes to, and about, the men and women who were no longer here with them. There were also expressions of gratitude and love for those who were still by their side. It was a powerful, cathartic act, and the paper was oft replaced during the extended run of the show.

In a LA Times interview from October 2, 2013, Levy made a comment about The Normal Heart and the AIDS crisis that now seems prophetic when taken in context of today’s COVID pandemic.

“People have fallen asleep again…Millions of people are dying from AIDS every year. But no one’s talking about it anymore. We’re all pretending that it’s yesterday’s illness.”

His resulting message to the public? “Don’t politicize pandemics! Be kind to each other. Love each other. We’re all in this together.”

Celebrate Pride with us and join us for the cast reunions of Daniel’s Husband and The Normal Heart today at 4pm. Watch on Zoom, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or on our website.

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Posted in actors, Arts, arts organizations, director, Fountain Theatre, Gay, Los Angeles, love, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, Theater, theatre

Tagged actors, Bill Brochtrup, Daniel's Husband, director, gay, gay pride, Michael McKeever, Reunion, Simon Levy, Stonewall Inn, Terri Roberts, The Normal Heart, theater, theatre, Tim Cummings

“Hope you close your faggot show.”

Posted on July 5, 2019 | 2 comments

The Pride flag flies over the Fountain Theatre.

by Stephen Sachs

Some days, our building is tagged by graffiti. That’s life in East Hollywood. Some mornings, I arrive at the Fountain front door and discover a freshly sprayed scribbling on our beige stucco facade. It happens. The scrawling is usually small and, most often, gang related. A badass in the hood staking territory. A banger bearing witness. Once inside my office, I let my Technical Director know we’ve been hit. Then I make myself coffee. The graffiti is soon wiped away. No big deal.

I rarely decipher the message. Gang slogans are a code I can’t break. And though the phrase is sometimes personal, about “Diablo” or “Beast”, it never directly targets the Fountain. The statement could have been sprayed anywhere, anytime. It has nothing to do with us.

This time, it did. This time, the message was personal. And it wasn’t graffiti.

Last weekend, we were forced to reschedule a performance of our hit play, Daniel’s Husband. A cast member had booked a TV gig and needed to fly up to Vancouver. This is Tinseltown, right? We’ve been to this rodeo before, many times. We know what to do. Our box office staff contacted our audience for that night and set them up for other performances. As a precaution, we posted a sign on our front door stating that the night’s show had been cancelled. In case someone walked up.

Someone did.

The next morning, we found that a person had scrawled on our sign in black ink: “Hope you close your faggot show.”

Daniel’s Husband is a play about gay marriage. The men in the cast are gay. This hate-note was inscribed on our front wall the final weekend of Pride month, when our city and our nation celebrate equality and inclusion.

Let’s be real. This written slur from an anonymous homophobe is insignificant compared to the gay men and women beaten and killed in this country. I know that. Our nation has a savage history of discriminating “others.” Ask Native Americans. Blacks. Mexicans. Asians. Jews. Women. Compared to the systemic prejudice our nation has inflicted on these groups, the note is a small thing, a trifle. No question. Still, it hurts, is upsetting. More so because though tiny, what larger truth does it tell? Like in a well-written play, the more specific a thing is the more universal it becomes.

In thirty years, I can’t remember the Fountain Theatre ever being hit with a message of hate like this. Sure, every so often we’ll get a heated email of complaint from an unhappy theatergoer. The political and socially conscious nature of the plays we produce often trigger passionate responses from our patrons. That’s the point. Our artistic goal is to engage our audiences in the difficult issues of our time. A free exchange of conflicting ideas is what makes a good play and a free democracy.

This is different. In today’s incendiary political and cultural climate, it’s not too far a leap to imagine that the individual who scrawled that vile message with a pen next time might bring a bomb or a gun.

“Something rotten is afoot in America,” posts a gay friend of mine on his Facebook page. In the last month alone, the word “faggot” has been hurled at him three times. “The word no longer has the power to make me want to erase myself, to spare those associated with me embarrassment. But I can’t help worrying how this climate must be affecting those who are younger and more vulnerable, especially transgender Americans who face far more dangerous threats than a nasty cliché. Is this the America we want?”

No, it is not. But this is who we are.

Others on my friend’s Facebook page chimed in. “This happened to my son,’ says one. “It’s unbelievable what is going on. A disgrace and a return to ignorance and vile barbarism.” Another states simply, “I literally get called a faggot on the streets of LA at least once or twice a week.”

The mournful words of Paul Simon call to me in his achingly beautiful “American Tune.”

“When I think of the
Road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what has gone wrong.”

The number of hate crimes in this country are on the rise. Los Angeles, in particular, reported a decade-high increase in hate crime from 2017 to 2018. Hate crimes targeting Jews and Latinos increased in California in 2018. The trigger for this bigoted hostility is no mystery. Our country’s moral leadership comes from the top.

“Things are polarized in ways we haven’t seen in recent memory,” says Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League’s national director and chief executive. “People are on edge in part because they are following their leaders. When leaders at the highest levels use incredibly intemperate language and repeat the rhetoric of extremists, we shouldn’t be surprised when young people — let alone others — imitate what they see.”

Hate crimes are defined as “crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, gender or gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity,” according to the Hate Crime Statistics Act passed by Congress in 1990. Hate crimes can be committed against people, property or society, and can include vandalism. Minor as it may be, is this gay-slurring note scrawled on our Fountain sign a hate crime? Before scoffing: What if it were a swastika?

For three decades, The Fountain Theatre has produced new plays about racism, women’s rights, gay rights, anti-Semitism, immigration. Whatever the issue, it has sometimes been lamented to us that we’re preaching to the choir. The claim is that issue-driven plays are produced for like-minded people, and those who most need to be changed by our work never see it at all. Clearly, the perpetrator of that homophobic hate-note will never step inside our theatre walls. But beyond our walls, he is out there. Somewhere. In our world, on the street, in our city, he exists. With thousands, maybe millions, like him. We, as artists, must see the world as it is before we can dream of what it can be.

In the theater, we know what our job is. Our job “… is to hold up, as ’twere, a mirror to nature; to show scorn her image, to show virtue her appearance, and the very age its form and pressure.” Our job is to hold up a vision to America of who we are as a country. The good, the bad, and – yes – the ugly. That’s what theater is supposed to do. That’s what the Fountain Theatre will continue to do for another thirty years.

And the Pride flag still flies over the Fountain.

Stephen Sachs is the Co-Artistic Director of the Fountain Theatre.

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Posted in Art, Arts, arts organizations, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Gay, Los Angeles, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, Social justice, Theater, theatre

Tagged Daniel's Husband, equality, faggot, Fountain Theatre, gay, gay pride, hate crime, homophobia, Los Angeles, Pride Flag, theater, theatre

Fountain Theatre shows LA Pride with hit play, workshop, book signing and LGBT new works

Posted on June 4, 2019 | Leave a comment

For many folks throughout Los Angeles, June means the end of school, the pageantry of graduation ceremonies and the long awaited start of summer. For the more than 600,000 LGBT citizens in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, June is LA Pride Month, when the city bursts into rainbow colors and Angelenos everywhere celebrate equality and inclusion with festivals, parades and special events saluting the LGBTQ+ community.

The Fountain Theatre embraces Pride Month with a busy June that highlights several LGBTQ+ events, including the acclaimed run of a hit play about gay marriage, a discussion and book signing by a lesbian author, a workshop production of a new play by a gay playwright centered on a transgender character, and an evening of short dramatic works by women, trans and queer performing artists in the LA community.

LA Pride Events at the Fountain Theatre

Daniel’s Husband – The acclaimed Southern California Premiere of Michael McKeever’s funny and poignant new play on gay marriage is a bonafide smash hit, earning rave reviews everywhere and sold-out houses nightly. Extended to July 28. More

Body Beautiful – A workshop production of Leigh Curran’s new play on love, aging and gender confusion. June 5-6, 12-13 @ 8pm. More

The Essential Guide to Gay and Lesbian Weddings – A Q&A discussion and book signing with author and film producer Tess Ayers. More

Sorority – An evening of new short works by women, trans and queer performing artists in the LA community. June 20, 8pm & 10pm. More

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Posted in actors, Arts, arts organizations, Books, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Gay, Hollywood, Los Angeles, love, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, playwright, Theater, theatre

Tagged Body Beautiful, book, Daniel's Husband, Fountain Theatre, gay, gay pride, LA Pride, Leigh Curran, LGBT, Los Angeles, Michael McKeever, Pride month, queer, Sorority, Tess Ayers, The Essential Guide to Gay and Lesbian Weddings, theater, theatre, women

Smash hit ‘Daniel’s Husband’ extends to July 28 at Fountain Theatre

Posted on May 28, 2019 | Leave a comment

Tim Cummings, Bill Brochtrup and Jenny O’Hara in Daniel;s Husband.

The Fountain Theatre’s acclaimed Southern California Premiere of Daniel’s Husband by Michael McKeever will extend to July 28. Hailed as Critic’s Choice in the LA Times and highlighted as Ovation Award Recommended, the comedy/drama about a gay couple wrestling with the issue of marriage has earned rave reviews and sold-out houses from the night it first opened May 4.

There is the rule of law, and there are the laws of the heart. Which do we follow and when? Daniel and Mitchell are the perfect couple. What isn’t so perfect is that Daniel desperately longs to be married, but Mitchell doesn’t believe in it. Michael McKeever’s funny, passionate and poignant play takes an unflinching look at how we choose to tie the knot — or not.

Daniel’s Husband is directed by Simon Levy, starring Bill Brochtrup, Tim Cummings, Jose Fernando, Ed Martin, and Jenny O’Hara.

“CRITIC’S CHOICE…ABSORBING… THE ACTORS ARE WONDERFUL… [A] CROWD PLEASER” — Los Angeles Times

“A PERFECT 10…WITTY, REALISTIC, HEART-RENDERING” — Broadway World

“GO SEE ‘DANIEL’S HUSBAND’… THESE ARE SOME OF THE FINEST ACTORS IN L.A.” —KCRW 89.9 FM

“AS CLOSE TO PERFECT AS ONE MIGHT ENVISION…. WRENCHING, REAL, FLAWLESSLY STAGED, STIRRINGLY PERFORMED” — Cultural Weekly

“OUTSTANDING… PERFECTLY SCRIPTED. ACTED AND DIRECTED” — Culver City News

“A REMARKABLE SCRIPT… TRUE LIFE, TRUE FRIENDSHIP AND TRUE DESPAIR” —Discover Hollywood

“SUPERIOR… AN EXCITING PIECE OF QUALITY THEATRE” — Hollywood Revealed

“WOW!… [A] LAUGH-OUT-LOUD-THEN-GET-OUT-YOUR-HANKIES STUNNER… NOT-TO-BE-MISSED” — Stage Scene LA

“EXQUISITELY WRITTEN, SUPERBLY DIRECTED AND EXCELLENTLY PERFORMED” —Will Call for Theatre

“TREMENDOUSLY ENTERTAINING AND WELL-WRITTEN… A TERRIFIC SHOW” — Los Angeles Post

“RELEVANT AND AFFECTING” — Stage Raw

“ABOUT LOVE… the ABSOLUTE BEAUTY of McKeever’s story rings true” — On Stage Los Angeles

“INSISTENTLY MOVING… CRISP AND TIMELY” — People’s World

“A FINE PLAY WITH SOMETHING TO SAY… EXCELLENTLY PERFORMED” — San Diego Gay & Lesbian News

“TWO THUMBS UP” — Carol’s Reviews

“RESONATED LONG AFTER THE FINAL MOMENTS” — Showmag

“RELEVANT AND UNIVERSAL” — Stage and Cinema

“A VERY FINE PRODUCTION” — Talkin’ Broadway

“GUARANTEED TO LEAVE YOU MOVED AND EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED” — Ticket Holders LA

“BREATHTAKING… A TRULY EXCEPTIONAL CAST… TIMELY AND PROVOCATIVE” — Billy Masters.

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Posted in actors, arts organizations, director, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Gay, Hollywood, Los Angeles, love, new plays, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, playwright, stage, Theater, theatre

Tagged Bill Brochtrup, comedy, Daniel's Husband, drama, Ed Martin, extended, Fountain Theatre, gay, gay marriage, Jenny O'Hara, Jose Fernando, Los Angeles, Michael McKeever, PLAY, theater, theatre, Tim Cummings

Slideshow: Fountain Friends gather at Hollywood Hills home to celebrate ‘Daniel’s Husband’

Posted on May 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

Jane Anderson reads message from Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs

The beautiful hilltop home of playwright/screenwriter Jane Anderson and author/producer Tess Ayers was the lovely location on April 14 of a special gathering of VIP donors and Fountain Friends supporting our Southern California Premiere of Daniel’s Husband. The funny and poignant new play by Michael McKeever on gay marriage is currently playing at the Fountain Theatre to rave reviews, heralded as Critic’s Choice in the Los Angeles Times.

After enjoying wine and hors d’oeuvres prepared by Alligator Pear Catering, the group assembled to hear director Simon Levy speak about his vision for the play.

“There is a commitment to tell these stories on our Fountain stage,” said Jane Anderson, reading a letter from Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs, who was in New York that evening. “Stories of struggle in the gay community as they fight for the most fundamental of all human rights: to be who we are and love whom we choose. In these dark, hateful times, Daniel’s Husband invigorates us with this one simple truth: love is worth fighting for.”

Cast members from Daniel’s Husband then read selections from the play.

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The entertaining event, hosted by Jane Anderson and Tess Ayers, was a delightful success. Attending were Oscar Arslanian, Bill Brochtrup, Diana Buckhantz, Denis Cagna, Carrie Chassin, Deborah Culver, Tim Cummings, Ken Debie, Jose Fernando, Richard Gallegos, Jackie Goldberg, Barbara Goodhill, Ron Guzman, Jochen Haber, Karen Kondazian, Simon Levy, Ed Martin, Carlos Medina, Jenny O’Hara, Nick Ullett, Don and Suzanne Zachary, Jason and Allison Zelin.

Info on Daniel’s Husband