Part of the radio theater series "The Play’s The Thing," the live performances will be recorded for future radio broadcast. Directed by actor Ron West ("The King of Queens," "3rd Rock from the Sun"), the revolving cast features Scott Carter, Rob Cohen, Jonathan Groff, Eric Gilliand, Annabelle Gurwitch, Wendy Kamenoff, Jeff Kahn, Carol Leifer, Maxine Lapiduss, Cathryn Michon, Tonya Pinkins, John Lehr, Dani Klein Modisett, Matt Price, Glenn Rosenblum, Jessica Vander Valk, Jane Edith Wilson and Roy Zimmerman.
Television personality Annabelle Gurwitch ("Dinner and a Movie," "Not Necessarily the News"), whose stage credits Joe and Betty, Uncommon Women and Others, talks of being fired by her idol Woody Allen during rehearsals of the Off-Broadway staging of Writer's Block. "After writing and performing a piece about the experience, many others were inspired to tell their tales," promotional materials explain.
The original one-night presentation of the work at Second Stage Theatre featured Craig Bierko (The Music Man), Tonya Pinkins (Caroline, or Change), Eric Simonson (The Capeman), Ron Orbach (The Producers) and Fisher Stevens (The Exonerated) all spinning their tales of woe. So popular was the event, that it returned two months later for a week of additional performances.
Gurwitch has turned her misfortune into a lucrative experience with her bestselling book based on the play "Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized and Dismissed." She also made a documentary film on the making of the play which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival and the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Last season's LATW production of Fired! is available on CD.
The 31st season at L.A.T.W. continues with The Real Dr. Strangelove (June 7 11) and another work to be announced (July 12-16). L.A.T.W.'s nationally syndicated radio show "The Play's The Thing" series is performed live at the Skirball Cultural Center. All performances are recorded for future broadcast to cities including Boston, Seattle, Santa Fe as well as on XM Satellite radio. The two-hour radio broadcasts include special backstage features and interviews with actors, playwrights and directors. The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection is available in bookstores, libraries, through their catalog, digitally on audible.com, the L.A. Theatre Works website and iTunes.
For tickets to "The Play's The Thing" productions at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, in L.A., CA, call the L.A. Theatre Works' Box Office at (310) 827-0889. For more information, visit www.latw.org.
