LADC’s Shakespeare Youth Festival L.A. Kicks Off with VIP Party April 15

21 Mar 2016 1 Comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Educational, Fundraiser Tags: , , , ,

LADC stars and celebrities at their "A Mid-City Night's Dream" gala at Studio 11, November 9, 2014 Los Angeles, CA Photo credit: Paul Smith / Featureflash

LADC stars and celebrities at A Mid-City Night’s Dream gala at Studio 11, Nov 9, 2014 Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Drama Club launches its 10th Anniversary Season on April 15 with a VIP Party at Lyric Theatre & Voila on La Brea. As part of the event, children ages 7-17 from both South L.A and Hollywood will perform opposite Alex Kingston (Dr. Who) and Diedrich Bader (Veep) in comedic excerpts from Shakespeare’s plays. Following the performance, you’ll enjoy music, food, wine and visits from LADC’s young Players for some table-side Shakespeare.

You’ll also be invited to participate in the company’s 10 Seconds of Shakespeare campaign, where you’re given a line of Shakespeare’s text to speak into your phone and post online on their Wall of Fame.

This season of the Los Angeles Drama Club’s bi-annual Shakespeare Youth Festival L.A. runs April 16 – May 5 and coincides with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The four plays presented during the festival feature families disrupted by internal and external storms and re-united by time and forgiveness. The first to open is The Comedy of Errors on April 16 & 17 at Club Fais Do Do.  More

Los Angeles Drama Club Invites Students into The World of Shakespeare

13 Sep 2015 Leave a comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Educational, Los Angeles Tags: ,

LA Drama Club world of shakespeare

Students are invited to join Los Angeles Drama Club this fall to study the foundation of the club’s classic Improv classes with characters, stories, and language of William Shakespeare.
In these after school classes (Sept 30 – Nov 18), students will explore Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Macbeth, and create an original piece telling the story through movement and Shakespeare’s test.

The Los Angeles Drama Club has successfully built an ongoing artistic community of children and youth who, through the creative process of “putting on a play” have found a passion, a purpose, and a safe place to express themselves and gain self-worth from their collective accomplishments. Class participants tell stories, decode the language, improvise, role play, and rehearse. All this culminates in a public performance on November 22. Through these practices, the students organically develop a personal relationship with the play and its characters while building literacy, communication skills, self-esteem and a strong community spirit.

WORLD OF SHAKESPEARE
September 30 – November 18, 2015 (Classes)
Wednesdays (4:00 – 5:30 pm)
Sunday, November 22, 2015 (Performance)
Fais Do Do – 5253 W. Adams Blvd
Pay-what-you-can (suggested donation – $100.00)
Click Here for more information and to register.

New Play, Outspoken: Shakespeare in Shackles, Premieres in Hollywood

07 Sep 2015 Leave a comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Los Angeles Tags: ,

Outspoken Shakespeare in Shackles

Outspoken: Shakespeare in Shackles will premiere at Studio C Artists on Hollywood’s Theatre Row September 25, 2015. Written by Blaire Baron Larsen, Outspoken was workshopped in 2014 at the Los Angeles Drama Club, where Larsen serves as Artistic Director. From there, Michael Sonntag of Studio C invited a partnership so the play could be further developed under director Esdras Toussaint.

The play was inspired by one of London’s notorious medieval prisons, one which was situated around the corner from the original Globe Theatre. In Medieval London, mothers were tossed in the Clink alongside murderers, their children sent out to beg for money to pay the Jailor. In the mix were drunks, debtors, priests, political dissidents – anyone caught speaking against the Powers that Be.

Characters from Shakespeare’s canon (crossing the time/space continuum) come together in Outspoken as the play explores themes of classism and oppression using humor, compassion and camaraderie. Each character grows to understand their fellow prisoners as they re-enact the defining moment (in the actual Shakespeare play) that put them here – usually because they were too… outspoken.

Falstaff, Doll Tearsheet, Joan of Arc, the ghosts of Juliet and Hamlet, and less celebrated characters such as Kent (King Lear) and Paulina (Winter’s Tale) and Jack Cade (Henry VI) attempt to stay alive in the story. If a prisoner cannot pay the Jailor, they are thrown in the “Hole” to die unless and until their fee is covered.

The international cast includes Anniwaa Buachie, J. Bailey Burcham, Michael Edelstein, Will Gressman, Juliette Millar (age 13 as Juliet), Brandon Nagle, Kila Packett, Julia Walker-Wyson, Edmund Wyson, and the author, Blaire Baron Larsen.

The 75-minute play runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm. For more about Los Angeles Drama Club go www.losangelesdramaclub.com

OUTSPOKEN: SHAKESPEARE IN SHACKLES
September 25 – October 17, 2015
Studio C Artists/Los Angeles Drama Club
6448 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Tickets: outspoken.studiocartists.com

Shakespeare in the City Players Present Antony and Cleopatra

12 May 2015 Leave a comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Los Angeles Tags: , ,

LA Drama Club - Cleopatra

Los Angeles Drama Club’s Shakespeare in the City Players will present Antony and Cleopatra on May 16 & 17 at Fais Do Do. The production combines elements of history, comedy, romance and tragedy, and will incorporate music and movement. As they have done with past productions Hamlet, Macbeth and Richard III, the roles of Antony and Cleopatra will be divided among two Players, to explore the different aspects of the characters. By reserving your “pay what you can” ticket online ahead of time, you’ll receive a free welcome kit and are guaranteed a seat. Tickets will sell out to standing room capacity.

Shakespeare in the City is continuing to develop its ongoing Performing Arts Troupe in the West Adams/Mid-City area. Through free and low-cost classes and workshops, they identify and nurture young motivated performers and provide them with the space to experience the camaraderie of an arts community, the skills to meet the challenges of the creative process, and the opportunity to develop a new sense of assurance, autonomy and self-motivation. These opportunities are geared to children and youth, ages 7 – 16, and involve them in all aspects of acting, theater, and Shakespeare, culminating in periodic performances for the community.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
May 16 & 17, 2015 at 2:00 pm
Los Angeles Drama Club at Fais Do Do
5253 W. Adams Blvd.
www.losangelesdramaclub.com

Shakespeare Youth Festival Begins April 25

22 Apr 2015 Leave a comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Los Angeles Tags: , , ,

Los Angeles Drama Club - Much Ado

Los Angeles Drama Club announces its annual Shakespeare Youth Festival Los Angeles, just in time for Shakespeare’s 451st birthday. The Season kicks off with Much Ado About Nothing and Troilus and Cressida, and closes with the epic, Antony and Cleopatra. Each production features a creative take on Shakesepeare’s original play with a cast consisting of children and youth of Los Angeles.

Troilus and Cressida is Shakespeare’s most experimental and sophisticated play about the “heroes” of the Trojan War and will swing wildly between acidic, bawdy comedy and dystopian desperation. The company has set Much Ado About Nothing, a popular comedy with unsettling overtones, in 18th Century California, early Mission Era. Antony and Cleopatra stars the children from Shakespeare in the City — in Mid-City. Click Here for reservations.

Performance Schedule
Troilus and Cressida: April 25, 26, May 2, 3 at 3:30 pm
The Lyric Theatre, 520 N. La Brea. Tickets are $10.

Much Ado About Nothing: April 25, 26, May 2, 3 at12:30pm
The Lyric Theatre, 529 N. La Brea. Tickets are $10.

Antony and Cleopatra: May 16, 17 at 2:00 pm
Club Fais Do Do, 5253 W. Adams 90016. Free for the public.

For more information, visit www.losangelesdramaclub.com.

* * * * * * * * * *

Noted as the “youngest Shakespeare Troupe in the United States,” Los Angeles Drama Club has been mounting full productions of the Bard’s plays since 2004, where it began in the garden of L.A’s “Brookledge” – the private theatre in Mid-Wilshire that later became The Magic Castle. Drama Club’s founder, Blaire Baron Larsen, is part of the Founding Family of the renowned Hollywood Landmark. The youth-centric arts & literacy program was recently honored as local Community Champions by PBS and is part of a documentary that aired on the same network.

Los Angeles Drama Club’s Mid-City Night’s Dream

08 Oct 2014 3 Comments

by Shakespeare in LA in Fundraiser, Los Angeles Tags:

LADC Gala 2014

Los Angeles Drama Club’s Annual Gala will celebrate Shakespeare in the City in the heart of Los Angeles’ Mid-City on November 9, 2014. Guests will experience LADC’s young Players (ages 7-16) performing Shakespeare opposite a select group of distinguished and celebrated actors. Encounter Shakespeare’s favorite characters, in a magical setting, tucked behind an ivy-covered wall in a dynamic neighborhood in our beautiful city. Here’s the rundown.

3:00: Doors Open  – “Good Company, Good Wine, Good Welcome …”

3:30: The Show –  featuring Company Members and Guest Artists, including Khandi Alexander, Ed Asner, Keith David, John Michael Higgins, Amy Hill, Alex Kingston, Yara Martinez, Laraine Newman, Mel Rodriguez, and Dylan Walsh.

5:00 The Feast – “Eight Wild Boars Roasted Whole.” Food, Drinks, and Joyful Noises with many surprises in store.

Location: Studio 11, 4621 W. Washington Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90016
Click Here for tickets and more information.

Los Angeles Drama Club’s Young Actors Present RICHARD III and TWO GENTS

08 May 2014 Leave a comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Los Angeles Tags: , , ,

LA Drama Club RIII

Los Angeles Drama Club’s young Shakespearean actors will present their closing weekend of shows this Saturday and Sunday during Shakespeare Youth Festival, L.A. This is the country’s youngest Shakespeare Troupe doing sophisticated work. Go be inspired! You can even see them both in one day.

Sat/Sun, May 10 and 11
12:30 pm: TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
3:30 pm: RICHARD III

All performances take place at The Lyric Theatre, 520 N. La Brea Ave.
For $2 off the $10 ticket price, mention Shakespeare in LA when you reserve your tickets HERE, For more about the company, visit www.losangelesdramaclub.com.

Shakespeare Youth Festival, L.A. Launches its Season on April 5

26 Mar 2014 1 Comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Los Angeles Tags: , , , , ,

The country’s youngest Shakespeare Troupe, Los Angeles Drama Club, expands its season to include four plays this spring, including FREE performances of The Tempest at Club Fais Do Do (5253 W. Adams Blvd). In addition, the company will present A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Richard III at the Lyric Theatre (520 N. La Brea Ave). The Drama Club has been presenting full productions of the Bard’s plays since 2004. Now, ten years later, the group is a thriving non-profit organization, with more than 100 young people, ages 6 to 18, from across the city, “growing up with the Bard.” Here’s a look at their upcoming schedule.

April 5 – 6: The Tempest
A deposed nobleman creates a magical life on an island for himself and his exiled daughter – what should he do when the opportunity for revenge arises? From betrayal and oppression to forgiveness and freedom, get ready for an afternoon filled with drama, music, humor, adventure and magic. Fais Do Do.

April 12 – 13: Midsummer Night’s Dream
A mysterious forest, ruled over by a Fairy King and Queen, a bunch of “civilians” rehearsing a play, and four young runaways who get caught up in it all. Imagine this commonly performed play, performed in an uncommon way, early “silent film era” style in the days when the expression on an actor’s face told everything and more! The Lyric Theatre.

May 3 – 4: Richard III
Come discover why and how Richard III continues to fascinate generations of audiences. As is our culture, multiple Players will divide up the title role – representing his splintered self. The Lyric Theatre.

May 10 – 11: Two Gentlemen of Verona
One of Shakespeare’s “romantic” (yet not so romantic) comedies, this play uncovers the possible disasters when one has to choose between loyalty to a friend and one’s own desires and agenda when the two are at cross-purposes. Full of iconic, large and colorful characters and lots of music, it includes one of Shakespeare’s first cross-dressing heroines, and a couple of scene-stealing clowns. The Lyric Theatre.

For more information about the season, visit www.losangelesdramaclub.com.

December Shakespeare Update

06 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by Shakespeare in LA in Auditions/Employment, Los Angeles Tags: , , ,

Romeo and JulietHere’s a last minute notice for Independent Shakespeare Co.’s non-union auditions for Romeo and Juliet. You must submit online by Friday, December 6. The 7-person cast will play ISC’s indoor studio venue and have a limited tour of the Los Angeles area. Actors should be athletic, and have significant classical theater experience. All will play multiple roles in this new adaptation, including, but not limited to, Romeo, Mercutio, Friar Lawrence, and the Nurse. All roles are open except for Juliet. Musical ability is a plus. They are looking for 2 women (20-45) and 3 men (20-45). Romeo and Juliet will be directed by Melissa Chalsma. Interview Dates are December 10 & 11, with callbacks on December 17. For more information and to submit, go to www.actorsaccess.com. [Note: interviews for this production have been moved to January 2014].

Salty Shakespeare will be performing flash mob Shakespeare at Peach Tree Pottery’s 8th annual holiday show on Saturday, December 7th. The company will be flashing between 11 and 4. www.peachtreepottery.net/events

LA Drama Club Shrew

The country’s youngest Shakespeare troupe, Los Angeles Drama Club, gets subversive on December 7 and 8 when they present The Taming of the Shrew Cur at their new home, the Lyric Theatre on La Brea. In this production all the genders are flipped. Kate the Shrew becomes Jake the Cur and her sister Bianca is now Bianco, the boy who all the girls are after. For tickets go to www.losangelesdramaclub.com.

Trip City has announced the launch of The Adventures of Shakespeare & Watson: Detectives of Mystery, a new web series from Chris Miskiewicz and Christopher Piazza. The series pairs William Shakespeare (David Blatt) and Dr. John Watson (Chris Miskiewicz ) as time traveling detectives who are trapped in the present after an accident with their time cane.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have traveled to William Shakespeare’s era to solve “The Riddle of a Thousand Faces,” but Professor Moriarty has sprung a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present. Together, the unorthodox partners have formed the premier detective agency in all of north Brooklyn to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras. The cast also includes award-winning British graphic novelist Nick Abadzis as Sherlock Holmes, and rock & roll drumming legend Ozzie Martinez as the loveable Cracky. Directed by Christopher Piazza. You can view the first four (of thirteen) episodes on YouTube now.