Tag Archives: Peter Pasco

Fountain Theatre earns 7 Stage Raw Theatre Award nominations

MY MAÑANA COMES

Lawrence Stallings, Pablo Castelblanco, Richard Azurdia, Peter Pasco

It was announced today that the Fountain Theatre has been nominated for seven Stage Raw Theatre Awards for two productions in the 2016 season. Our Los Angeles premiere of My Manana Comes by Elizabeth Irwin and the world premiere of Stephen Sachs’ Dream Catcher were acknowledged with the following nominations:

  • Leading Male Performance – Lawrence Stallings, MY MAÑANA COMES 
  • Supporting Male Performance – Peter Pasco, MY MAÑANA COMES
  • Playwriting  – Elizabeth Irwin, MY MANANA COMES
  • Two Person Performance – Elizabeth Frances & Brian Tichnell, DREAM CATCHER
  • Lighting Design – Jennifer Edwards, MY MAÑANA COMES 
  • Set Design – Michael Navarro, MY MAÑANA COMES 
  • Production Design – Dillon Nelson,  MY MAÑANA COMES

 Full list of nominees.

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Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell in Dream Catcher. 

The Third Annual Stage Raw Theater Awards are May 15 at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street, Downtown. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m. 

Tickets: General Admission $25, VIP reception (post-show) $100. VIP Includes: Hosted bar, passed food, trial membership to Stage Raw “Insiders Club” More Info

 

Fountain Theatre honored with 3 Ovation Award nominations for ‘My Mañana Comes’

MY MAÑANA COMES

Lawrence Stallings, Pablo Castelblanco, Richard Azurdia, Peter Pasco

The Fountain Theatre has been honored with three Ovation Award nominations for its Los Angeles Premiere of My Mañana Comes by Elizabeth Irwin. Directed by Armando Molina, the fast-paced comedy/drama about four busboys in the kitchen of an upscale restaurant drew rave reviews. The talented cast featured Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter Pasco and Lawrence Stallings.

The Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles, created to recognize excellence in theatrical performance, production and design in the Greater Los Angeles area.

The Fountain Theatre production of My Mañana Comes has received the following nominations:

  • Best Production of a Play 
  • Best Acting Ensemble of a Play – Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter Pasco and Lawrence Stallings
  • Best Scenic Design – Michael Navarro 

For the 2015/16 Ovation Awards voting season, there were 280 productions registered from 116 different organizations, resulting in nominations for 70 productions from 45 organizations. These productions were voted on by 233 Ovation Awards voters — vetted individuals from the Greater Los Angeles area who are working theatre professionals.

The 27th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards will occur on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at The Ahmanson Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. More info

Full list of nominees

Fountain Theatre honored with 21 StageSceneLA Awards

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Philip Solomon, Thomas Silcott “The Painted Rocks at revolver Creek”

The Fountain Theatre has been honored with 23 awards of excellence from StageSceneLA for productions in its 2015-16 season. Fountain productions awarded were the west coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, the world premiere of Dream Catcher by Stephen Sachs, the Los Angeles premiere of My Mañana Comes by Elizabeth Irwin, and the west coast premiere of Tennessee Williams’ Baby Doll.   

Since 2007, Steven Stanley’s StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Awards. 

The Fountain has been honored with the following awards this 2015-16 season:

YEAR’S BEST INTIMATE THEATERS
The Fountain Theatre

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION, DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek 

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION, COMEDY-DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
My Mañana Comes 

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION, COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
Baby Doll 

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Daniel Bess, Lindsay LaVanchy, John Prosky in “Baby Doll”

STAR-MAKING PERFORMANCE (Play)
Lindsay LaVanchy in Baby Doll

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE—DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Gilbert Glenn Brown, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
Thomas Silcott, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE—DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE—COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
John Prosky, Baby Doll

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN A TWO-HANDER (INTIMATE THEATER)
Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell, Dream Catcher

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Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell in “Dream Catcher”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CHILD ACTOR
Philip Solomon, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE—COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
Daniel Bess, Baby Doll

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE—COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
Karen Kondazian, Baby Doll

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE CAST PERFORMANCE—COMEDY-DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter Pasco, and Lawrence Stallings, My Mañana Comes

MY MAÑANA COMES

Lawrence Stallings, Pablo Castelblanco,  Richard Azurdia, Peter Pasco, “My Manana Comes”

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION (MULTIPLE PRODUCTIONS)
Simon Levy—Baby Doll, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek

OUTSTANDING DIRECTION, COMEDY-DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Armando Molina—My Mañana Comes

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN (INTIMATE THEATER)
Baby Doll , My Mañana Comes, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek 

OUTSTANDING FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY
Mike Mahaffey,  Baby Doll

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGNER
Luke Moyer

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR                                                                                                                    Peter Bayne, Dream Catcher 

SCENIC DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
Jeff McLaughlin

SOUND DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
Peter Bayne

Congratulations to all the winners. Full list here

Still feeling the power of ‘My Mañana Comes’ at Fountain Theatre

MY MAÑANA COMES

Lawrence Stallings, Pablo Castelblanco, Richard Azurdia, Peter Pasco

by Victoria Montecillo

Last weekend, I got to watch our production of My Mañana Comes on its closing weekend. It’s three days later, and I’m still thinking about it. After hearing about the show and the kind of work that the Fountain produces from Stephen Sachs and Barbara Goodhill, I was eager to see the work in action. I knew that the show was about four busboys in a high-end restaurant, and that the show would touch on issues surrounding immigration and fair pay, but I was otherwise walking in with no expectations of what I was about to see. 

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Playwright Elizabeth Irwin

One of the first things that captured me within the first couple of scenes was the reality of it all. I knew the playwright was a woman, and I was stunned at her ability to capture the conversations between these young men so well. I could feel each unique voice and personality from the four characters, which only made the story even more riveting. 

I felt like this play really sneaks up on you, in the best way possible. For a while, it’s just four guys working in a kitchen trying to make ends meet, teasing each other, and sharing their lives with one another. And in the next moment, you’re suddenly aware of how much you care about each of these men. They’re each dealing with their own set of challenges, and you can feel yourself rooting for them. And suddenly you’re watching these characters you care about struggling to fight for equal pay, providing for their families, and maintaining their friendships with each other. 

As a theatre geek, I have to say that I have a soft spot for powerful pieces of theatre that don’t have a happy ending. They end, instead, by giving the audience something to think about, and with the gut-wrenching realization that theatre is, in fact, an avenue for real stories about real people. Perhaps after the show that I saw, the actors all came out smiling and ready to answer all of our questions and discuss the piece in an illuminating and inspiring talkback, but stories like that don’t always end that way. This piece, and the incredible actors in the cast, were telling a much bigger story of real struggle. 

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On top of all of that, the audience gets to witness all of this unfold in the Fountain’s cozy, 78-seat theatre. Their space made us feel like we were all apart of this story, and part of the action. Seeing this particular piece in such a small space helped me realize how effective it can be to tell stories in a smaller space, where there seems to be no separation or distance between the performers and the audience. Everything is shared, and that makes the experience all the more powerful. 

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Pablo Castelblanco and Peter Pasco

Another thing I really appreciated about this production was how well it brought to light very specific perspectives within cultural identity. In the talkback with the cast after the show, which was moderated by Stephen Sachs, an audience member praised actor Peter Pasco for his portrayal of Whalid, a young Mexican-American man with no claim to his own heritage. Pasco responded to the audience member, expressing the difficulty that many first-generation and second-generation Americans have with the culture of their families, especially when visiting their “home countries”. As I clearly remember him explaining his own experiences in relation to Whalid’s in the talkback, “When I’m here in the United States, everyone sees me as Peruvian, even though I feel that I’m American. But when I’m in Peru visiting my family, I don’t feel like a Peruvian at all.” His words deeply resonated with me, as a first-generation Filipino-American. Getting to see a character like that onstage, as well as hearing the actor speak about it so eloquently afterwards, was a very special feeling. 

Victoria Montecillo at desk June 2016 cropped

Victoria Montecillo

It was sad to see such a beautiful piece as My Mañana Comes in its closing weekend, but I felt lucky to be apart of one of the many audiences that got to see such a powerful piece at the Fountain, with an unbelievable cast bringing such an important story to life. One of the most inspiring things to see after the show was all of the people in the audience who were clearly so moved by the performance; there was one woman behind me who clearly wanted to express her gratitude to the actors for sharing such an important story, but she was far too overcome with emotion. There were countless people around me who made a point of thanking the actors and the Fountain Theatre for bringing such an important and relevant piece to audiences in this community, and I was again reminded of the magic and power of live theatre, and all it can do to bring communities together through art and storytelling.

Fountain Theatre celebrates triumphant run of hit new play ‘My Mañana Comes’

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The final bow . Standing ovation!

After earning rave reviews, an Ovation Recommendation, recognition from the Fringe Festival and strong audience response, our Los Angeles Premiere of My Mañana Comes completed its glorious 11-week run on Sunday afternoon. The sold-out final performance was followed by a joyous catered reception.

Written by Elizabeth Irwin and directed by Armando Molina, the play brought to life the friendship and conflict between four busboys working in an upscale restaurant. The fabulous cast featured Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter Pasco and Lawrence Stallings.

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The Fountain audience leapt to its feet in a standing ovation for the final performance on Sunday, then joined the company upstairs in our cafe for a post-show party. 

“We’re very proud of this production, ” beamed Co-Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor. “A riveting play about important issues performed brilliantly by a powerful cast. Who could ask for more?”

Next up at the Fountain: the West Coast Premiere of Tennessee Williams’ Baby Doll

New Video: Rave Reviews for ‘My Mañana Comes’ at Fountain Theatre

Now playing to June 26 (323) 663-1525 MORE INFO/GET TIX

PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Playwright Elizabeth Irwin enjoys ‘My Mañana Comes’ and audience Q&A

BG 5Playwright in the house! The Fountain Theatre was pleased to host Elizabeth Irwin at Saturday night’s performance of our acclaimed LA premiere of her play, My Mañana Comes. Irwin enjoyed watching her play and joined director Armando Molina, movement director Sylvia Bluish  and the cast in a Q&A  Talkback with the audience immediately after the performance.

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Elizabeth Irwin

“Watching the Fountain Theatre’s production of my show was being able to see the most beautiful connection of movement, emotion, design and direction one could hope for as a writer,” says Irwin. “It was an honor to have my work staged at the Fountain and a deep pleasure to be able to connect with their very thoughtful and whip-smart audience.” 

Moderated by Fountain producing Director Simon Levy, the post-show discussion included questions to the playwright and actors about the issues of immigration, undocumented workers and fair pay that are dramatized in the play. There was also conversation about the creative process. The chat was lively, insightful, and often lifted with humor.

When the Q&A concluded, Irwin and company gathered in our upstairs cafe for drinks, chat and more laughter. Another wonderful evening at the Fountain.

My Mañana Comes dramatizes four busboys in a fancy New York restaurant as they juggle plates, immigration and their friendship. The Fountain LA premiere has earned rave reviews and runs to June 26th. 

It was a pleasure having New York-based playwright Elizabeth Irwin with us and we look forward to having her back. Perhaps with another new play?

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More Info/Get Tickets

 

PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Opening Night Party for LA Premiere of ‘My Mañana Comes‬’

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Lawrence Stallings, Richard Azurdia, Jossara Jina, Pablo Castelblanco, Armando Molina, Emily Lehrer

The house was packed Saturday night for the opening night of our Los Angeles Premiere of Elizabeth Irwin’s fast, funny and powerful new play, My Mañana Comes‬

The thrilling performance was followed by a lively reception upstairs in our charming cafe. The delicious food was provided by Marouch, a local Lebanese and Armenian restaurant. Fountain Friends and audience members had a wonderful time meeting the cast and company.

Directed by Armando Molina,  My Mañana Comes‬  features Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter pasco and Lawrence Stallings. The play offers an inside look at four busboys in a fancy NY restaurant as they joke wildly with each other and struggle to better their lives and chase the American Dream.

Our Fountain LA Premiere is already earning rave reviews. “This production of My Mañana Comes is an exemplar of ensemble acting, ” hails Theatre Notes.”The players are extraordinary.”  

Enjoy these photos from the Opening Night Party! 

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My Mañana Comes‬ Now playing to June 26 (323) 663-1525 MORE/Get Tickets  

NEW! Production photos from LA Premiere of ‘My Mañana Comes’ at Fountain Theatre

MY MAÑANA COMES

Lawrence Stallings, Pablo Castelblanco, Richard Azurdia, Peter Pasco

Enjoy these new production photos from our LA premiere of My Mañana  Comes by Elizabeth Irwin, directed by Armando Molina. Starring Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter Pasco and Lawrence Stallings. Tonight is our final preview. We officially open tomorrow night, Saturday April 16th.

In My Mañana Comes four busboys in the kitchen of an upscale restaurant learn the hard way how to deal with pay cuts that could jeopardize their dreams for a better life, their dignity and their friendship. Fast-paced, hip and funny, the play brings to colorful life the camaraderie, sharing of dreams, competition and traitorous backstabbing that climaxes with a powerful dramatic turn at the end. Immigration, the minimum wage crisis, rights for undocumented workers, and citizenship lie at the center of this fast-moving, funny and powerful new LA premiere that examines the true meaning of ”home” and how far we’re willing to go to get there.

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Photos by Ed Krieger

My Mañana Comes Now playing to June 26 (323) 663-1525  MORE

PHOTO SLIDESHOW: the magic of donuts and tech weekend for ‘My Mañana Comes’

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Design and production team at work during tech weekend.

There are no two ways about it. Tech rehearsals are a long, incremental process. Light cues are programmed into computers, sound levels are meticulously adjusted, set and prop elements are continuously added, costumes are inspected under actual lighting. Actors work out the timing of cues, all under the eye of the director. It can be a slow, repetitive and exacting undertaking.

 

donutsOver 26 years, we have found the key to a successful Tech Weekend: donuts. Lots of them. Actually, our three sacred virtues of Tech Weekend are Diligence, Patience and a Sense of Humor. The cast, design and production team for My Mañana Comes demonstrated all three last weekend as we began integrating the design elements into our upcoming LA Premiere.  

 

The play takes place in the kitchen of an upscale New York restaurant. Michael Navarro’s red brick and stainless steel set design creates the environment. The seating at the Fountain has been restored to its original configuration (we were in-the-round for Dream Catcher) and the audience is expected to feel like fine diners with theatre programs designed like restaurant menus.

My Mañana Comes is a funny and fast-paced new play about four busboys in a fancy bistro who juggle plates, their friendship and chase the American Dream. Written by Elizabeth Irwin and directed by Armando Molina, our LA premiere stars Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter Pasco and Lawrence Stallings.  It runs April 16 – June 26.

Enjoy these photos from Tech Weekend

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My Mañana Comes April 16 – June 26  MORE/Get Tickets