THE GIRL WHO MADE THE MILKY WAY

Written by June Carryl

Directed by Armina LaManna

Presented by Imagine Theatre in partnership with The Colony Theatre.

A magical journey to a time long ago to a place far away where a young girl braves the dangers of the South African savanna to find the lost things. Not only does she find her lost father, but she also invents the stars of the Milky Way. This play is inspired by a remarkable heroine from Khoisan folklore.

NOVEMBER 2024 | THE COLONY THEATRE, BURBANK, CA

Regular Performances: $20 (Kids 12 & Under), $30 General Admission

Opening Night: $30 (Kids 12 & Under), $50 General Admission

NOTE: Children under the age of 5 are not admitted to our productions. We carefully create, produce, and curate work for kids in elementary school. To ensure that our school-age audience has the intended experience free of disruption, we have established an environment protective of that tailor-made experience.

Marsian De Lellis will perform a work-in-progress of Model Killer: Giant Crimes + Cover-Ups at Automata. A disgruntled dollhouse maker turned investigator transforms herself from lonely crafter to blood thirsty serial killer in this noir walk-through puppetry experience that uses fragments of dollhouses as staging areas.

Model Killer: Giant Crimes + Cover-Ups has been made possible in part through funding from the Jim Henson Foundation, with development support from The Ucross Foundation, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Automata, LAPP, and Santa Monica Cultural Affairs.

While under anesthetic euphoria, a Black gay artist named Les is visited by the effervescent spirit of William Dorsey Swann, AKA “The Queen”. Surviving antebellum enslavement, Swann rises from the ashes of racial oppression to become the first Queen of Drag and queer activist on record. During their journey, Swann guides a complacent Les through time, popping his Glinda-esque pink bubble of self-preservation, and provokes him to challenge all too familiar modern-day monsters.

70 minutes, no intermission.
Appropriate for all ages.

When life goes off the rails, we discover what really matters.

Strap yourself in for a bracingly funny, supremely inventive musical journey with more twists and turns than the rickety rollercoaster that sends six teenagers prematurely into the afterlife. Now trapped in a fantastical carnival-like purgatory, a mechanical fortune teller invites the teens to tell their stories of life interrupted with the promise of a prize like no other – the chance to return to life. Already being lauded as a contemporary musical masterpiece, this quirky, smart, and darkly hilarious show reveals the resilience of the human spirit with a riveting score that skillfully mixes cabaret, hip-hop, and Broadway.

NOTE: This show contains strong language and mature themes.

When a whip-smart, deeply imaginative teenager agress to take a road trip with her free-spirited Latina mother, neither can imagine where it will take them. Chance encounters with a medley of characters along the way brings them closer to understanding what sets them apart - and what connects them forever. A new musical with vast heart and fierce humor that exudes joy, frustration, and love of being a family in a changing America.

Thomas, a beleaguered playwright/director, is desperate to find an actress to play Vanda, the female lead in his adaptation of the classic sadomasochistic tale Venus in Fur. Into his empty audition room walks a vulgar and equally desperate actress—oddly enough, named Vanda. Though utterly wrong for the sophisticated part, Vanda exhibits a strange command of the material, piquing Thomas’ interest with her seductive talents and secretive manner. As the two work through the script, they blur the line between play and reality, entering into an increasingly serious game of submission and domination that only one of them can win. A mysterious, funny, erotic drama that represents yet another departure for the multifaceted David Ives.

Becca is delighted to reunite with favorite collaborator Marsian De Lellis as Object of Her Affection performs at the Chicago International Puppet Festival!

Created and performed by Marsian De Lellis and developed with director Michele Spears, Object of Her Affection is an unconventional love story that follows the emotional journey of one Andrea Lowe, after she has fallen, mysteriously, from a building. De Lellis endearingly demonstrates their artistic passion for animating the inanimate, as they craft the story of a heroine whose Object Sexuality reveals the way that objects quietly hold multiple personalities, and sometimes multiple hearts.

Story, songs and projections combine in this powerful solo performance - which celebrates the creation of a song that changed the course of Rock & Roll history. The show is exciting, tragic and relevant, highly uplifting and moving.

In this big-hearted comedy with live music, Lucha spends her days caring for her mother and yearning for more. But it’s the 1970s and women can’t be mariachis…or can they? Defying tradition, Lucha and her spunky cousin hunt for bandmates and take up instruments. A loving gesture for a mother becomes much more as the young women dream big and embrace the transcendent power of music. “A tug at the heartstrings that will echo for days” (​The Denver Post).

A socially awkward young man asks his neighbor, a Broadway dancer whose career has been sidelined by an injury, to teach him enough dance moves so he can survive an appearance at an awards dinner. What follows is a bumpy road of self-discovery in this sweetly witty and touching romantic comedy.

This deliciously dark comedy centers around the infinitely-(trying-to-be-) optimistic Sherry Wickman. Despite having to move back in with her family after college, things take a turn for the better when she’s hired as an art teacher. Now, if only her mother would come downstairs, her sister would stop watching Top Gun from the couch, her first patient would do one assignment, her boss would leave his gun at home, and someone would catch the actual tiger that escaped from the local zoo, everything would be just perfect!

Welcome to Southie, a Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo, where this month’s paycheck covers last month’s bills, and where Margie Walsh has just been let go from yet another job. Facing eviction and scrambling to catch a break, Margie thinks an old fling who’s made it out of Southie might be her ticket to a fresh new start. But is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out. With his signature humorous glow, Lindsay-Abaire explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.

Who killed beloved stage stars Ruby Moss and Andrea Hammond?! Find out as this world premiere backstage murder mystery unfolds. Featuring: Adam Huss, Sirena Irwin, Tim McKernin, Kendra Munger, Afton Quast and Mary Ann Welshans. Directed by Ryann Bergmann and written by Gina Torrecilla.

Drew Droege and Matt Wilkas star in this Los Angeles premiere! Pinky Corningfield has always dreamed of her daughter winning the “Supreme Queen”. So when Marge, a newcomer to the child pageant circuit, shows up with her daughter and starts grabbing all the glory, Pinky will stop at nothing to get the crown.

Object of Her Affection follows the emotional journey of protagonist, Andrea Lowe, after she has mysteriously fallen from a building. In her last moments, she reflects on her meaningful relationships starting with her first love, a baby’s blanket. As an adolescent, she loses her virginity to a bad-boy hunting rifle and subsequently becomes infatuated with the Berlin Wall.  As Andrea evolves, so do her desires. In adulthood, she forms doomed relationships with monumental structures: a high-profile statue, tragic twin skyscrapers, and a bridge who cheats. Each of these relationships has a profound effect, shaping Andrea’s views on life and love. Finally, she finds solace in Roy, a crumbling tenement who ultimately fails her.

ANTISCIANS: (n). One of the inhabitants of the Earth, living on different sides of the equator, whose shadows at noon are cast in opposite directions.

Our story begins as every fine story should
at the brink of a break of all that is good...

A Greek tragedy on acid with a gay Hollywood twist!

Trapped in a hateful marriage with sleazy film producer Sol and desperate to find happiness with her gorgeous young lover Tony, aging Hollywood star Angela Arden (Drew Droege) murders her husband. But when her children discover what she's done, they decide to take revenge!

Celebrating Los Angeles Theatre

Block Party is a Center Theatre Group initiative focused on supporting and highlighting Los Angeles area theatres through the sharing of audiences, ideas, and resources. Los Angeles is home to over 250 theatre companies—including more small theatres than New York—featuring an abundance of talent, diversity, and ingenuity. To celebrate the vibrant theatre of our city, Block Party presents three recently produced productions from local theatre companies as part of the Kirk Douglas Theatre season. We’re proud to be entering our second year of highlighting some of the best work our region has to offer for our audiences, sharing our resources and reach with companies that are new to us, and encouraging collaboration and stronger relationships among the Los Angeles theatre community.

Each Block Party production appears at the Douglas for a two-week run; Season Ticket Members receive tickets to one show with the option of adding additional shows.

Block Party was designed to strengthen relationships within our community, create additional avenues for Center Theatre Group to become familiar with local playwrights, actors, directors, and designers, and create conversation and collaboration between Center Theatre Group staff and the staff at companies throughout Los Angeles.

Be whisked back to the golden age of television in Neil Simon’s “love letter” to his early career as a TV writer alongside the likes of comedy legends Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. It’s a rollercoaster ride, catapulting a not-your-average 1950’s writers’ room into the comedy fray, as they frantically attempt to please their larger-than-life boss, in one of Simon’s funniest comedies.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - Based on the Oscar-winning hit film, PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT is a hilarious, outrageous and fabulous musical road trip featuring some of the most classic dance songs of all time including “It’s Raining Men,” “I Will Survive,” and "I Love the Nightlife." Set in Australia, PRISCILLA follows three drag queens as they road trip across the outback in a run down old bus searching for love and fulfillment and end up discovering what true friendship really means.

LA native Evangeline Ordaz crafts a rich and complex web of diverse characters from Los Angeles' Latino, African-American, Anglo, and Native American communities, who through triumph and despair discover how deeply they are rooted in the dreams of their ancestors and the land on which they stand.

A fierce and funny new play by Los Angeles’ own Boni Alvarez, Fixed is the story of Miracles Malcañang, a drag queen working in the infamous Malcañang Massage Parlor in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown. When Miracles’ forbidden love affair sparks tensions between the city’s hottest political family, two families must come together to understand the power of desire, identity, and honor.

Well-behaved women rarely make history...and they never save the world.

Seventy-five years in the future, an all-female crew and their male captain depart on what appears to be a routine mission to Mars ... until the captain is murdered and the real mission comes to light.

Part murder mystery, part space thriller, Women of 4G uses a science fiction world to ask questions about power, leadership, responsibility and, ultimately, sacrifice.

About DRIVE THEATRE:
Drive Theatre Company is committed to investigating performative storytelling through exploring new works and reimagining established texts. Drive Theatre demands active participation from our audiences and connects our theatre artists to organizations larger than ourselves. The overall mission of Drive is to promote a sense of personal agency  to remind artists and audience members that they can make a difference in each others lives.

About FIERCE BACKBONE:
Fierce Backbone is a collaborative organization committed to writing, developing and producing new dramatic works. We endeavor to provide opportunities where the skills and artistry of our membership can flourish.

**This production is made possible in part by a grant from The City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.**

WHEN GEOPOLITICS GO TO THE DOGS (AND CATS)

In The Offending Gesture, panicky minions scramble to shield a volatile, thin-skinned despot from a perceived slight. What may not be so funny in real life becomes an absurdist vaudeville in the hands of form-busting playwright Mac Wellman, inspired by actual events: In 1941, the German Foreign Office investigated reports of a Finnish dog, Jackie, trained by his owner to salute at the sound of Hitler’s name. Onstage, the actors play cats playing dogs playing humans, watched over by a Greek chorus of singing Mooncats (i.e., cats living on the moon, natch).

Celebration Theatre and JohnMichael Beck present Charles Busch’s campy noir classic, DIE, MOMMIE, DIE!, starring the hilarious Drew Droege (Bright Colors and Bold Patterns, Chloe, Logo’s Cocktails & Classics) as aging Hollywood star Angela Arden. Trapped in a hateful marriage with sleazy film producer Sol and desperate to find happiness with her gorgeous young lover Tony, Angela murders her husband. But when her children, Edith and Lance, discover what she’s done, they decide to take revenge! Family secrets are revealed and you’ll never see the surprise twist coming. This Greek tragedy on acid is an over-the-top comedy of Gay Hollywood proportions. You won’t want to miss this rollicking good time!

Direct from sold-out runs on the West End and Broadway comes A View From the Bridge in a searing revival from director Ivo van Hove, delivering “the stuff of Broadway legend” (New York Post). Arthur Miller’s tale of a Brooklyn longshoreman obsessed with his 17-year-old niece and his raging jealousy over her love of an immigrant will leave audiences feeling “ridiculously blessed to have been a witness to the events you just saw” (The New York Times).

An all female cast and crew bring the stories of seven American women to the stage. An astronomer. A labor organizer. A minister. A doctor. A woman from the Jewish ghetto. The founder of the women’s suffrage movement. A slave. A schoolgirl. Challenged as they grow up, pressured to marry, and ostracized for wanting careers. America’s story retold by its women.

Burbank is your typical high school student — worried about new haircuts, biology exams, losing one’s virginity, and whether to take the estrogen the doctors keep prescribing. Burbank was born “off the binary,” neither entirely male nor female biologically. “He” and “she” just don’t work to describe who Burbank is. “They” is the only appropriate label — A Singular They. They strike up a rapport with their Biology teacher who offers a sympathetic ear and opens Burbank’s eyes to a world outside their conservative suburban community. But after wrecking their social standing with their classmates, Burbank makes a request of Mr. Mazer that goes far beyond what is considered “normal.”

http://www.theblank.com/a-singular-they/

Poetic and erotic, DREAM BOY tells the story of Nathan and Roy’s unlikely high school romance against the backdrop of repression and religion in 1970s North Carolina. At times haunting and harrowing, Rosen and Grimsley weave the sweet, raw passion and adventure of youth with the stark danger of an abusive and intolerant society to create a transcendent Southern gothic tale of love and redemption.

http://www.celebrationtheatre.com/#!dream-boy/oc744