L.A. Theatre Works will present 7 plays as part of its "The Play's The Thing" Radio Theatre Series. Running March 19-July 12 at Doubletree Guest Suites in Santa Monica, CA, the dramas, comedies and one musical will be recorded for future broadcast on KCRW 89.9 FM.
Here is the roster:
Nora, adapted by Ingmar Bergman from Henrik Ibsen's drama, A Doll's House. This West Coast premiere will feature Robert Foxworth, Dakin Matthews and Linda Purl. (March 19-22).
Round And Round The Garden, part 3 of Alan Ayckbourn's Norman Conquests trilogy (the first parts of which have been staged previously at L.A. Theatre Works. Featured are Carolyn Seymour (Present Laughter), Ken Danziger, Jane Leeves, Christopher Neame, Rosalind Ayres, and Martin Jarvis. (April 9-April 12).
Forty Two Stories by Chicago playwright Doug Post. The cast of this comedy about misfit workers at a high-rise includes Ed Begley Jr. (TV's "St. Elsewhere", Off-Broadway's Cryptogram), Hank Azaria ("The Simpsons"), Dan Butler (Off-Broadway's The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me), Richard Kind and Charlie Robinson. (April 30-May 3).
Quartermaine's Terms, the Obie-winning comedy/drama by Simon Gray, about a kindhearted English teacher at Cambridge. Starring are Alfred Molina (Molly Sweeney), RSC veteran David Warner, Keene Curtis and Holland Taylor. (May 14-May 17). Counsellor-At-Law, Elmer Rice's depression-era drama about moral and political behavior. John Rubinstein (Getting Away With Murder) and rest of the original cast of the award-winning 1995 L.A. revival of the show will star. (June 18-21).
Wild America, a two-hander for Erika Schickel and Paul Mercier on mating, monogamy and motherhood. (July 9-July 12).
Still to be announced is a classic Broadway musical, set to star Edward Asner (TV's "Mary Tyler Moore" and "Lou Grant" shows), Tyne Daly (Gypsy), Hector Elizondo (TV's "Chicago Hope," Film: The Flamingo Kid), Judith Ivey (Steaming), Joe Mantegna (Glengarry Glen Ross), and Kaitlin Hopkins. (June 4-7).
"The Play's The Thing," begun in 1990, is produced in association with Santa Monica College's National Public Radio station KCRW. Winner of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Gold & Silver Awards, the series is devoted "to the discovery and presentation of new plays and new interpretations of classic works."
For tickets ($23-$26) and information on these 8 PM performances at Doubletree Guest Suites in Santa Monica, call L.A. Theatre Works at (310) 827-0889.
--By David Lefkowitz
