The Production Company’s Artistic Directors August Viverito and T L Kolman announced two productions added to their Season 5 line-up which began December 2, 2011 with Jeff Goode’s THE EIGHT: Reindeer Monologues.
THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, Martin McDonough’s tale of family struggles in rural Ireland ushers in 2012 with a mix of wit, black comedy, and psychological drama. Opening January 13, 2012, BEAUTY QUEEN runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 3 PM through February 18.
Simply saying what the play is about, at least on the surface, is inadequate. A plain middle-aged woman, trapped in a life as a caretaker to her infirm but iron-willed mother in rural Ireland, is offered a last chance at love. But wait. If BEAUTY QUEEN is a bucolic cousin to The Heiress' it also has the more toxic elements found in Grand Guignol films like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. And Mr. McDonagh has a master's hand at building up and subverting expectations in a cat-and-mouse game with the audience. The play offers the satisfactions of a tautly drawn mystery, yet it is by no means airless. There's plenty of room for ambiguity and for the intricacy of character that actors live for. And the cast of BEAUTY QUEEN is a powerhouse foursome from The Production Company: Judy Nazemetz, who dazzled in last year’s Fifth of July, and Ferrell Marshall, who was revelatory in TheProdCo’s To Kill a Mockingbird, play mother and daughter Mag and Maureen, caught in an ever twisting dance of victim and torturer. Ovation nominated actor Rob Herring returns to our stage as Ray after starring in The Diviners and Sweeney Todd. The cast is complete with the subtle and intricate performance of Alex Egan as Maureen’s last hope, Pato; last seen in The Diviners alongside Mr. Herring.
WORKING, the musical by Studz Terkel, Stephen Schwartz, and Nina Faso will open March 16, 2012. A fabled musical, Director August Viverito will infuse his production with a ‘Waiting for Lefty’ sense of urgency and consequence, as we explore the immense effect work has on self worth. WORKING will run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 3 PM. through May 5.
Now, at last, in Viverito’s LA Revival, WORKING' is getting the small-scale handling it was always meant to receive. This new vision, streamlined to 90 minutes, was recently produced at the Signature Theater in Arlington, Va. It's an unpretentious re-imagining that digs out the poignant internal struggles in the bedrock American lives it seeks to explore. And into the individual casualties that the Occupy Wall Street marchers are trying to give voice to. Finally, Viverito believes, …it’s time for WORKING.
LES HANSON joins The Production Company. After the difficult announcement that after 30 years, West Coast Ensemble would dissolve it’s membership going forward, TheProdco’s Artistic Dirctors August Viverito and TL Kolman searched for a way to honor the talent and history of that venerable group. Recently, along with many high-caliber members, Mr. Les Hanson, the Founding Artistic Director of WCE agreed to join The Production Company and its Advisory Board. Les has already been very involved in the play selection process, and we are incredibly grateful and excited to have his genius among us.
The Production Company announced that a team of professional fund-raisers and organizers – who also happen to be stage performers - have officially formed a board for purposes of fund-raising and long-term development. This board includes Alex Egan, Ferrell Marshall, Skip Pipo, and David Youse, and is joined by T L Kolman and August Viverito. Already two major projects have been undertaken to spectacular effect. Check out the ‘Retrospective Video’ at www.theprodco.com to see the result.
THE Production Company is located at 6760 Lexington Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90038. For further information, visit the website, email at mail@theprodco.com, or call at (323) 871-1150.
