ALONG COMES MARY

One of Los Angeles’ most beloved Theatres, A Noise Within, is gearing up for their 2014-15 season. With a recent move from Glendale to Pasadena, I am so happy they are in my hometown & thrilled that one of my most favorite comedies ever, The Importance of Being Earnest, will hit the stage next month!

Informed by the climate of social and economic upheaval in which we live, the season’s theme—reflected in a kaleidoscopic palette of plays—is REVOLUTION.

(Great Expectations. Photo By Craig Schwartz)

“We have always crafted overarching themes for our repertory seasons,” says Artistic Director, Geoff Elliott, “but none has presented itself as organically and viscerally as this year’s.”  Co-Artistic Director, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, reinforces this notion, adding, “In many ways, the idea of REVOLUTION had entered our collective consciousness in ways that all but dared us not to embrace it.  As a director, I am especially energized by the concept of ‘disorderly conduct’—both because it appears as a theme in every one of these plays, and because wherever we look, it is rearing its head in the forms of civic, social, and political unrest.”

The company’s revolutionary season unfurls this fall with Shakespeare’s The Tempest, followed by The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, and The Dance of Death (Part 1) by August Strindberg.  Spring 2015 includes The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Figaro by Beaumarchais (adapted by Charles Morey), and concludes with Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.  The season once again includes A Noise Within’s annual holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, adapted for the stage by Geoff Elliott.

“Throughout history, the very best plays have stirred rebellious ideas and demanded discussion —hushed in back alleys, contemptuously in the halls of power, and out loud in the streets as in Julius Caesar.  But we can’t discount the fact that personal revolutions, like those in The Dance of Death and The Tempest, often laid the groundwork for revolt of a wider sort,” said ANW’s Co-Producing Artistic Director, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott.  “The great dramatic disruptors understood the disarming power of humor—so The Importance of Being Earnest and Figaro (in a provocative and rarely produced adaptation) are also among the season’s plays.   And of course, The Threepenny Opera is revolutionary in style as well as subject matter; in many ways, it introduced a revolutionary coalescence of music and drama—and augured even more avant-garde theatrical styles to come.”

(Ubu Roi. Photo By Craig Schwartz)

The theme inspires the new season’s staging as well:  for the first time ever, A Noise Within unveils REVOLUTIONRep.   On three spring dates, audiences will have the option to experience a heady day of theatre when The Threepenny Opera and Julius Caesar are presented on the same set sequentially.  This is an event that brims with talks by noted experts, chats with cast and crew, a deckside dinner, and lively social interaction with other theatergoers.
Julia Rodriguez-Elliott says, “REVOLUTIONRep is the kind of event I dreamed about from the first time I saw our new home (the former Stuart Pharmaceutical Building in East Pasadena). It promises a completely new theatrical experience, one where we forge alliances among our patrons, company, and cast—and also celebrate the magnificently diverse communities we serve.”

The co-producing artistic directors also proudly announce A Noise Within’s inaugural collaboration with LA Opera on Figaro Unbound: Culture, Power and Revolution at Play. The two companies’ offerings in 2015 celebrate Figaro, one of the most glorious and influential of fictional creations, with ANW’s performances of this adaptation of Beaumarchais’ classic play The Marriage of Figaro presented in close concurrence with LA Opera’s performances of operatic adaptations of the Beaumarchais trilogy: Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles—based on La Mere Coupable (The Guilty Mother). For more information, please visit www.LAOpera.org/FigaroUnbound.

A Noise Within’s 2014-2015 Season: The Seven Plays

The Tempest  by William Shakespeare (Sept 7- Nov 22, 2014)

The Importance of Being Earnest  by Oscar Wilde (Sept 21 – Nov 22, 2014)

A Christmas Carol  by Charles Dickens (December 5-23, 2014)

The Threepenny Opera  by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (Feingold version) (Feb 15 –May 9, 2015)

Figaro  by Pierre Beaumarchais (freely adapted by Charles Morey) (March 1- May 10, 2015)

Julius Caesar  by William Shakespeare (March 22 – May 8, 2015)

2014-15 subscription tickets are available by calling 626.356.3100 ext. 1, visiting anoisewithin.org, or by emailing [email protected]. I hope to see you there!

(*Disclosure: I am working with A Noise Within on behalf of Along Comes Mary.)