Stephen Sachs News

Today's top stories: a flood at The Lion King results in costume adjustments, and more!

Visible Ink and the Beverly Hills Playhouse have announced a new production of Stephen Sachs's critically-acclaimed comedy/drama Bakersfield Mist, set for a limited nine-performance run at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Under the direction of Amir Korangy, the cast will feature Diane Cary and John Mawson. Opening is set for Friday, July 12, at 8pm. The regular running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 4pm through July 28.

Sound Theatre Company, with their season theme of "Un-Erasable" focusing on diversity and "hyper invisibility" of some in America, have started off their season with a stunning piece, "Citizen: An American Lyric" based on the poetry of Claudia Rankine and adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs. But beyond keying in perfectly to their theme and kicking off the season with a bang, they've coincidentally presented a piece that has tremendous resonance to what's happening in the news today, with the incidents between Serena Williams and Billie Jean King as well as Hurricane Barry in New Orleans giving an all too harrowing reminder of the events of Hurricane Katrina.

Visible Ink and the Beverly Hills Playhouse have announced a new production of Stephen Sachs's critically-acclaimed comedydrama Bakersfield Mist, set for a limited nine-performance run at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Under the direction of Amir Korangy, the cast will feature Diane Cary and John Mawson. Opening is set for Friday, July 12, at 8pm. The regular running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 4pm through July 28.

Two venerable Los Angeles intimate theaters will each host a Mueller Report Read-A-Thon, offering Angelenos the opportunity to hear the Mueller Report read aloud, in its entirety, on either side of the City. The Fountain Theatre in East Hollywood will host a single, 15-hour event on Thursday, July 18 from 9 a.m. to midnight. The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in West L.A. will hold a separate marathon reading, breaking it up into two 8-hour sessions on Monday, July 22 and Tuesday, July 23, each from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission to both Read-A-thons is free and open to the public.

Creation myths and family histories meld in a wildly theatrical, startling new comedy that explores what it means to walk the edge between cultures. 

Walking the Beat, a pioneering arts education program for inner city high school youth and police officers, is coming to Hollywood this summer, courtesy of the Fountain Theatre.

Sound Theatre continues to prioritize the diversity of the human experience. This season, titled UN-ERASABLE: From the Eyes of the Watched, is no exception. Associate Artistic Director Jay O'Leary will direct season opener CITIZEN: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, adapted for stage by Stephen Sachs.

Sound Theatre continues to prioritize the diversity of the human experience. This season, titled UN-ERASABLE: From the Eyes of the Watched, is no exception. Associate Artistic Director Jay O'Leary will direct season opener CITIZEN: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, adapted for stage by Stephen Sachs. 

"I am drawn to this play because I believe in doing the kind of work that seeps into the psyche and uproots the ignorance that festers there. I am interested in the root of things - and once I get there, I gut the soil of as many poisoned seeds as possible. I have a cast of fiercely brave artists who are ready to irritate and castigate as we navigate Claudia Rankine's words together." - CITIZEN director Jay O'Leary

Sound Theatre continues to prioritize the diversity of the human experience. This season, titled UN-ERASABLE: From the Eyes of the Watched, is no exception. Associate Artistic Director Jay O'Leary will direct season opener CITIZEN: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, adapted for stage by Stephen Sachs. 

The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival is pleased to announce that Kathleen Turner, a living legend of the stage and screen, will be the guest of honor at this year's Performance Gala, the festival's annual fundraising dinner.

Off Broadway West Theatre Company ("OBW"), a San Francisco non-profit 501(c)(3) theatre company, is celebrating its 12th Theatre Season by producing Stephen Sachs' play, Bakersfield Mist.  Based on actual events, this play questions appraisals of authenticity in art, and by extension, our relationship to one another.  The play premiered in 2011 at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and enjoyed a three-month run (2014) on London's West End, starring Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid.  

There is the rule of law, and there are the laws of the heart. Which do we follow and when? The Fountain Theatre presents the funny, passionate and poignantSouthern California premiere of Daniel's Husband, the 2018 off-Broadway hit play byMichael McKeever that was hailed as "compelling" by The New York Times, "emotionally charged" by the Huffington Post and "beautiful and powerful" by the Daily Beast. Opening night is set for May 4, with performances continuing through June 23. Pay-what-you-want previews begin May 1.

Provocative and gut-wrenching, Citizen: An American Lyric - Stephen Sachs' dramatization of Claudia Rankine's acclaimed book of poetry and prose that focuses unflinchingly on the subject of race in America - holds up a mirror to every person in the audience at Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel, compelling them to look deep into their own selves, their own lives, to identify their own prejudices and biases. The takeaway? We must do so much better.

Four members of Jon Royal's ensemble of actors - Breanna Booker, Alicia Haymer, DeYonte Jenkins and Shawn Whitsell - made time this week, amid the hustle and bustle and general bedlam of technical rehearsals to give us some insight into the factors and events that led them to the theater and to share with readers the reasons why they think you should see Citizen: An American Lyric.

Riverside Theatre, led by Producing Artistic Director/CEO Allen D. Cornell and Managing Director/COO Jon R. Moses, is delighted to announce its 46th Anniversary Season for 2019-2020. Building on the success and acclaim the theatre has attained nationwide over the last few years, Riverside is proud to present a magnificent season of music, comedy, and drama.

Actors Bridge Ensemble presents the Nashville premiere of Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs and directed by Jon Royal, March 22-31, at the Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel.

Sound Theatre Company, the three-time Theatre of the Year Gregory Award winning theatre company, announces their 2019 Season focusing on a theme of Erasure. Sound Theatre continues to prioritize the diversity of the human experience, and this season, titled UN-ERASABLE: From the Eyes of the Watched, is no exception. Two groundbreaking, Seattle premiere productions and a year-long reading series bring attention to the untold stories of our community. This July at the Center Theatre at the Armory, CITIZEN: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine will take stage, followed in August by as U.S. Premiere of PEELING by Kaite O'Reilly. A year-long reading series of plays by Native and Indigenous Playwrights centers our Making Waves program of experimental and new works.

The Fountain Theatre opens its 2019 season of fresh, funny and meaningful new work with the West Coast premiereof an award-winning "break beat play" by Idris Goodwin. Social injustice, racial identity, gender inequity, career ambition and friendship converge - and collide - in Hype Man, directed by Deena Selenow. Opening night is set for a Feb. 23, with performances continuing through April 14.