The Colony Theater Presents TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT

The Colony Theatre is thrilled to present the fourth production of its 37th season of shows - the Los Angeles Premiere of TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT, written by Graham Greene, adapted for the stage by Giles Havergal, and directed by David Dean Bottrell. TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT will preview on Wednesday, November 9; Thursday, November 10; and Friday, November 11 at 8:00pm and will open on Saturday, November 12 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, December 18 at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.

The adventure of a lifetime! Mild-mannered Henry Pulling leads a quiet life, but when his vigorous and eccentric Aunt Augusta suddenly appears with mysterious information about his past, Henry is drawn into an exotic international adventure. Four actors play more than 20 roles, including secret agents, thieves, and art smugglers in this exciting theatrical escapade. Adapted from the celebrated novel by Graham Greene, Travels With My Aunt is an irreverent, captivating, and unforgettable journey.

The award-winning Colony Theatre was founded in 1975 as a 99-seat Equity-waiver theatre in Silver Lake. Over the years the company was so successful artistically, and built such a large subscriber base, that in 2000 it was able to move into a 270-seat theatre created for it by the City of Burbank, becoming one of only 5 mid-size professional theatres in the LA area that produces a year-round season of plays and musicals, and that employs actors under contract with Actors' Equity Association. Since the move to Burbank, The Colony was named one of "25 Notable U.S. Theatre Companies" by the Encyclopedia Britannica Almanac for 8 years in a row and voted "Best Live Theatre in LA" in The Daily News Readers' Choice poll. The company's audience is so loyal that in an era when subscription is declining dramatically, and when the industry-wide "gold standard" renewal rate of 80% is considered unattainable, for the past two seasons The Colony has achieved a subscription renewal rate over 90%. This season, at a time when many theatres are shortening their seasons and canceling performances, The Colony is expanding, for the first time in its history presenting six shows instead of the usual five.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Graham Greene (Author) was one of the most widely read and praised British novelists of the 20th century. He wrote a number of short stories along with a handful of plays and screenplays, but he is best known for writing more than 25 novels, many of which have been adapted for film or television. Greene originally divided his fiction into two genres: "entertainments" were mystery or suspense books such as A Gun for Sale (1936, also entitled This Gun For Hire, filmed in 1942), The Confidential Agent (1939, filmed in 1945), and The Ministry of Fear (1943, filmed in 1945), that were very popular with the reading public; and "novels" were more serious literary works which he thought would shape his literary reputation. Catholic religious themes are at the root of four of his acclaimed novels: Brighton Rock (1938, filmed in 1948), The Power and the Glory (considered by some to be his finest novel, written in 1940, filmed in 1962), The Heart of the Matter (1948, filmed in 1953), and The End of the Affair (1951, filmed in 1955 and 1999). Other writings focused more on international politics and espionage, like the screenplay for The Third Man featuring Orson Welles (1949), and the books The Confidential Agent (1939), The Quiet American (1956, filmed in 1958 and 2002), Our Man in Havana (1958, filmed in 1959), The Comedians (1966, filmed in 1967) and The Human Factor (1978, filmed in 1979). Late in his career, both Greene and his readers found the distinction between "entertainments" and "novels" increasingly problematic.

When Travels with My Aunt was published in 1969, Greene designated it a "novel," even though the tone more closely resembled his "entertainments." Eventually, he referred to all of his writings as "novels." Greene left Great Britain in 1966, moving to Antibes, and he lived the last years of his life in Switzerland. He died at age 86 of leukemia in 1991.

Giles Havergal (Adapter) was Director of Watford Palace Theatre from 1965-1969 where his directing work included the British premiere of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. From 1969 to 2003, he was co-Artistic Director of Glasgow's Citizens Theatre. In Glasgow, he directed over 80 plays including works by Shakespeare, Brecht, Orton, Shaw, and Arthur Miller. Havergal's production of Travels with My Aunt, adapted from the Graham Greene novel, was first produced in Glasgow in 1989, played in the West End in 1993 (where it won an Olivier Award), and was presented Off-Broadway in 1995. More recently, he co-adapted Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, first presented in Glasgow in 2000 and later at the New York's Manhattan Ensemble Theater in 2002. He has directed numerous opera productions throughout Europe and the U.S. and has taught classes as a visiting lecturer at University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh, UCLA, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and many others. He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2002 and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Glasgow, Strathclyde University, and The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

David Dean BOTTRELL (Director) is an acclaimed writer and performer who is now turning his attention to directing. He got his start Off-Broadway in the late 1980s as both a performer and playwright at such theatres as The Second Stage, The Public Theatre, The Manhattan Punch Line, and La MaMa,Etc. Recently, he was an original cast member of both the LA and New York companies of Streep Tease, the long-running hit comedy revue where he performed his acclaimed six-minute rendition of the entire plot of "Out of Africa." He also starred in The Colony's recent production of Wayne Liebman's historical drama Better Angels. He has appeared on numerous TV shows, from HBO's "And the Band Played On" to more recent roles in "Harry's Law," "Castle," "Criminal Minds," "Days of Our Lives," "iCarly," and a recurring role as the psychotic Lincoln Meyer on "Boston Legal." He has written screenplays for Fox Searchlight, MTV Films, Paramount Pictures, and Disney Feature Animation, and he blogs about his experiences in show business for the Huffington Post. His sold out, one-man comedy show, David Dean Bottrell Makes Love, returns to L.A.'s Rogue Machine Theatre for a limited return engagement in November.

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