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GILBERT CATES ANNOUNCES
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE’S
2003-2004 SEASON
* * *
WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
“I JUST STOPPED BY
TO SEE THE MAN,”
SANDRA TSING LOH’S
“SUGAR PLUM FAIRY,”
THE AWARD-WINNING “WAR
MUSIC,”
WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
“THE UNDERPANTS”
AND A NEW PLAY
LOS
ANGELES, CA – March 31, 2003
– Gilbert Cates, Geffen Playhouse’s
Producing Director, proudly announces the Geffen’s five-play 2003-2004
subscription season. The Geffen
season opens with the West Coast premiere of Stephen Jeffreys’ I Just
Stopped By to See the Man (September 9 – October 19, 2003), directed by Geffen
Artistic Director Randall Arney, followed by the Los Angeles premiere of Sugar
Plum Fairy (November 11-December 21,
2003), written and performed by Sandra Tsing Loh and directed by David
Schweizer. The third
production of the season is Bryan Davidson’s War Music (January 13-February 22, 2004), directed by Jessica
Kubzansky. The season continues
with the West Coast premiere of The Underpants (March 9-April 18, 2004), by Carl Sternheim, adapted by
Steve Martin. The Geffen season
closes with a new play, directed by Gil Cates, to be announced at a later
date.
[A SCHEDULE OF THE 2003-2004 SUBSCRIPTION SEASON FOLLOWS ON THE LAST PAGE OF THIS RELEASE.]
Gil Cates
comments on the season, “ In continuing our tradition of presenting an eclectic
mix of work, I’m especially proud to announce the Geffen’s 2003-2004 season,
which includes two West Coast premieres, an acclaimed new play with music and a
hilarious one-woman production.”
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Geffen Playhouse Presents 2003-2004 Season
Page 2 of 4
The Geffen’s 2003-2004 season kicks off with Geffen Artistic Director Randall Arney directing the West Coast premiere of I Just Stopped By to See the Man. In a bare, shotgun house in the thick of the Mississippi Delta, the greatest living bluesman, long believed dead, lives out his simple life with his daughter. Stumbling into their solitude is a famous English rocker, living off the legend’s tunes, with a desperate and devilish deal. Set in the mid-1970s, I Just Stopped By to See the Man is a passionate and political ode to the power and truth of the blues. The London Daily Telegraph calls it a “richly human and moving new play.” I Just Stopped By to See the Man runs from September 9 –October 19, 2003, with an official press opening on Wednesday, September 17.
Geffen
Playhouse Artistic Director Randall Arney directed God’s Man in Texas and The
Weir for the Geffen. He is an ensemble member and former
artistic director of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre (1987-1995), where he
directed numerous plays including I Just Stopped By to See the Man, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Death and the Maiden and Curse of the Starving Class. He directed the world premiere of Picasso
at the Lapin Agile at Steppenwolf, as well
as the subsequent Los Angeles, off-Broadway, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.
and Tokyo productions.
Stephen
Jeffreys’ I Just Stopped By to See the Man had its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in 2001
and its American premiere at Steppenwolf in 2002. His play Libertine,
starring John Malkovich, was produced at Steppenwolf in 1996 and is currently
being developed into a screenplay for Smith/Malkovich and Castle Rock
Entertainment. He has been the
recipient of The Sunday Times
Playwrighting Award (1977), the Fringe First (1984) and the Evening Standard and Critics’ Choice Circle Awards for Most Promising
Playwright (1989 and 1990).
* * *
Next in the season is Sugar Plum Fairy, written and performed by Sandra Tsing Loh, the award-winning novelist, NPR commentator and performer. Sugar Plum Fairy is the story of a 12-year old girl who dreams of dancing the lead in The Nutcracker. However, due to “cruel, Darwinian pecking order,” she ends up pushed to the back of the chorus. Ms. Loh has written a hilarious coming-of-age story about the fickle finger of fate and the humbling experience of dreams not realized. Sugar Plum Fairy runs from November 11 –December 21, 2003, with an official press opening on Wednesday, November 19.
Sandra
Tsing Loh is a writer and performer whose off-Broadway solo shows include Bad
Sex with Bud Kemp and Aliens in America. Her books
include A Year in Van Nuys, Depth Becomes Her, Aliens in America
and If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home
by Now. On public radio, she has been a regular contributor to both
NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “This American Life.” Her semi-autobiographical series ‘The Loh Life” is heard
weekly on KCRW 89.9 FM and on PRI’s “Marketplace.”
David
Schweizer recently directed He Hunts at
Geffen Playhouse. His other Los
Angeles directing projects include The Blue Room at Pasadena Playhouse; The Waiting Room and Demonology at
Mark Taper Forum; Salome, Peer Gynt and Broadway for
Actors’ Gang; and Berlin Circle at the
Evidence Room. Schweizer is an
Obie Award-winner for his direction of Rinde Eckert’s opera And God Created
Whales. Nationally, he has directed at Williamstown Theatre
Festival, Arena Stage, Trinity Rep, Yale Rep, Seattle Rep and Magic Theatre.
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Geffen Playhouse Presents 2003-2004 Season
Page 3 of 4
The Geffen’s season continues with Los Angeles playwright Bryan Davidson’s War Music, directed by Jessica Kubzansky. War Music, based upon dramatic events in the lives of composers Frank Bridge, Anton Webern, and Olivier Messiaen, weaves together three musically-driven playlets. Each composer’s story is linked by warfare, madness, redemption, and, ultimately, the resilient spirit of the human condition. War Music was named one of the top ten notable plays of 2002 by the Los Angeles Times. War Music runs from January 13-February 22, 2004, with an official press opening on Wednesday, January 21.
Bryan Davidson's other recent productions include Don in Thailand, a one-man piece seen in Cock Tales at the Zephyr and Elephant Theatre; Travelogue with Elephant, a one-man piece with Viewmaster projections seen at the Edge of the World Festival (2001); and Death's Messengers, a one-act adaptation of the Grimm Brothers story for Grimm (2002) at the Met Theatre (LA Weekly award nomination, One-Act Playwriting).
Jessica
Kubzansky is an award-winning director who was recently singled out by LA
Weekly and Backstage West for her outstanding work in theater. Her recent projects includes Amy’s
View, starring Susan Egan and Carol
Lawrence, Lanford Wilson’s Burn This at
the Odyssey Theatre, the award-winning musical Moscow for Playwrights Arena/Edinburgh Fringe Festival and
several world premieres for the Mark Taper Forum’s New Works Festival.
* * *
The fourth production of the
Geffen’s season is The Underpants, comic genius Steve Martin’s hilarious adaptation of Carl
Sternheim’s 1910 German farce Die Hose. The play introduces a
newly married couple who must cope with the madness that results when the
wife’s underwear falls down at a parade for the king. Into the fray come a nosy upstairs neighbor and a pair of
suitors – a foppish poet and a whiny hypochondriac – who come to
rent a room from the couple. The Underpants
runs from March 9-April 18, 2004, with an official press opening on Wednesday,
March 17.
Steve
Martin is an award-winning writer, actor and humorist. He wrote and starred in L.A. Story, A Simple Twist of Fate and Bowfinger,
co-wrote and starred in The Jerk and,
in addition to starring in Roxanne,
adapted the screenplay from Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac. Mr.
Martin has starred in over 25 movies including The Man with Two Brains, Parenthood, Little
Shop of Horrors and Father of the Bride. His writing
credits also include the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile and the novel Shop Girl.
German
dramatist Carl Sternheim’s other work includes the plays Bürger
Schippel (1913) and Die Marquise
von Arcis (1919, translated The
Mask of Virtue, 1935) and the novel Fairfax (1921, translated 1923).
The
season closes with a new play, directed by Gil Cates, to be announced at a
later date.
* * *
Subscriptions
to the 2003-2004 season are currently on sale. Orders may be placed in person at the Geffen’s box office or
by calling the box office at (310) 208-5454. The five-play subscription price range is $135-$230. Special student subscriptions are
available for $70.
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Geffen Playhouse Presents 2003-2004 Season
Page 4 of 4
Geffen
Playhouse is located at 10886 Le Conte Avenue in Westwood. Single ticket prices range from $28 to
$46. The performance schedule is
Tuesdays - Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 4:00 p.m.
and 8:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. For ticket information, please call the Geffen Playhouse box
office at (310) 208-5454. For group reservations, please call (661)
250-7424. Visit the Geffen
Playhouse website at www.geffenplayhouse.com.
Geffen
Playhouse is headed by Producing Director Gilbert Cates, Artistic Director
Randall Arney and Managing Director Stephen Eich.
# # #
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE 2003-2004 FIVE-PLAY SUBSCRIPTION SEASON
(AS OF 3/31/03)
I Just Stopped by to See the
Man West
Coast Premiere
by Stephen Jeffreys
Directed by Randall Arney
First Preview: Tuesday,
September 9, 2003
Opening Night: Wednesday,
September 17
Closing Performance: Sunday,
October 19
Sugar Plum Fairy Los Angeles Premiere
Written and performed by Sandra
Tsing Loh
Directed by David Schweizer
First Preview: Tuesday,
November 11, 2003
Opening Night: Wednesday,
November 19
Closing Performance: Sunday,
December 21
War Music
by Bryan Davidson
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
First Preview: Tuesday,
January 13, 2004
Opening Night: Wednesday,
January 21
Closing Performance: Sunday,
February 22
The Underpants West Coast Premiere
by Carl Sternheim
Adapted by Steve Martin
Directed by TBA
First Preview: Tuesday,
March 9, 2004
Opening Night: Wednesday,
March 17
Closing Performance: Sunday,
April 18
Final production and dates to be announced
Press Contact: Jenni
Benzaquen, Press Director, (310) 208-6500, ext. 126