Celebration's new managing artistic director Michael Matthews announced the change in the California stage's presentations and plans to initiate its own theatre company as the L.A. theatre institution enters its 23rd year.
"I am so honored to have been asked to manage one of Los Angeles’ theatrical treasures, the Celebration Theatre," stated Matthews. "I look forward to bringing a new vitality to the theatre with its first subscription series of shows in over a decade and initiating a company of actors to create a vibrant family of artists at the theatre."
The 2005-2006 season, dubbed "A New Beginning," lines up as follows: (subject to change)
Matthews directs the Los Angeles premiere of the work which follows the stories of a closeted, married black man's encounter with a sixteen-year-old white boy whom he met on the Internet while his own sixteen-year-old daughter goes out with a twenty year-old, low-level drug dealer.
Former Celebration managing director Derek Charles Livingston stages this Los Angeles premiere where the "world's worst Judy" Garland drag queen and the ghost of the real Judy meet at her funeral in New York.
Matt Bankston directs the classic drama which looks at the politics of sexuality and scandal when two women, who run a girls' school, are accused of an unfounded rumor.
Sharon Rosen (Always Patsy Cline) directs the world premiere musical featuring music and lyrics by Winkler (Naked Boys Singing) and Harris (Bible Stories). Set in a 1953 Hollywood jazz club where the music "is hot, the nights are hotter, and passions burn" and "where men dare not dance with men, and everything is paid for under the table." The new work was developed at the Playwrights 6 workshop at Celebration Theatre. Subscriptions to the new season at Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd. (east of LaBrea) in Hollywood, CA, are available by calling (323) 957-1884. For more information, visit them online www.celebrationtheatre.com.
