Black History Month will come alive for your listeners with compelling offerings that chronicle the African American experience — from L.A. Theatre Works.

A Raisin in the Sun – One of the great seminal works of American theatre, Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking play chronicles the Younger family on the south side of Chicago. Her compelling portrait of competing dreams earned Hansberry the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play at the age of 29. She became the youngest playwright and the first African-American to win that honor.
Starring Judyann Elder, Corey Hawkins, Deidire Henry, and Rutina Wesley (Tara in HBO’s True Blood).
Available: PRX, FTP (email for info)
Cost: PRX 590 points FTP – $60
Length: 01:57:58 (Can be played as two one-hour programs)

Unquestioned Integrity: The Hill-Thomas Hearings 20th Anniversary Special – (One-hour)”A national disgrace…a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves” as described by Clarence Thomas, or a public referendum on sexual harassment and other gender inequities in late twentieth-century America? Compiled from the official transcripts of the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings.
Starring Edward Asner, Ella Joyce, and Paul Winfield
Available: PRX, FTP (email for info)
Cost: FREE
Length: 59:00

Also Available:

A Huey P. Newton Story – In this Obie Award-winning show by Roger Guenveur Smith, the life of the controversial Black Panther leader is brilliantly imagined through a series of improvisations based on Newton’s own words and writings.
Written, performed, and directed by Roger Guenveur Smith.
Available: PRX, FTP (email for info)
Cost: FREE
Length: 01:57:54 (Can be played as two one-hour programs)

Ruby McCollum – In 1952, in a small town in Florida, a wealthy African-American woman named Ruby McCollum shot and killed a respected white physician, ostensibly over a bill. Her true motives came to light during her murder trial, which made national headlines. The story is a true-life case, and the stuff of a Southern Gothic novel, complete with interracial romance, drug abuse, mental illness, and the racist attitudes of the Jim Crow South. Starring Paul Winfield and Loretta Devine
Available: PRX, FTP (email for info)
Cost: FREE
Length: 01:57:58 (Can be played as two one-hour programs)

Calista Flockhart, star of the LA Theatre Works production of A Doll House, talked to KPCC’s Steve Julian about the launch of LA Theatre Works new season.

To listen to the interview, click HERE.

SEE A Doll House, Live in Los Angeles!

Check out the Specials that are available for Labor Day!

DREAM JOBS: OUTSIDE THE CUBICLE – Hear the stories of three very determined people who struggled to find the career path outside conventional workplaces in this one-hour special report from IEEE Spectrum.  Training astronauts in robotics, pioneering a four-year engineering academy, and a globe-trotting career as a cable-laying technician and a coastal waters scientist are very diverse careers that for the individuals involved, dreams jobs. When the economy’s bad and the job market’s worse, you have to think outside the cubicle to find your bliss! Perfect for LABOR DAY!
LENGTH: 1 Hour
COST: FREE
AVAILABLE: PRX, Content Depot, Downloads (email for info)

L.A. THEATRE WORKS LABOR DAY SPECIALS
WORKING
From the book by Studs Terkel
Adapted by Stephen Schwartz & Nina Faso
Studs Terkel’s Working is for anyone who has ever punched a clock, a cow, or a supervisor — or wanted to. This rousing musical is based on Terkel’s interviews with American workers, which was first published in 1974. It is an exploration of what makes work meaningful to people in all walks of life, with songs and stories about real experiences, bringing to life the soul of the American worker.

CAST: Eileen Barnett, Orson Bean, Harry Groener, Kaitlin Hopkins, Michael Kostroff, Kenna Ramsey, Vickilyn Reynolds, Vincent Tumeo, B.J. Ward
LENGTH: 1hour 30min
COST: FREE
AVAILABLE:  PRX, Download

FIRED
Created by Annabelle Gurwitch
Rejection has never been so hilarious! After her role in a much-anticipated Woody Allen play was recast, actress Annabelle Gurwitch was devastated. Then she began collecting tales from fellow performers who at one time had also been canned, canceled or dismissed. In a series of monologues, Gurwitch and a cast of show-biz veterans share their stories of hilarious mistakes and misadventures that happen on the job.
LENGTH: 59min
COST: FREE
AVAILABLE: PRX, Download

Schedule them today!

In keeping with their mission of presenting and preserving classic and contemporary plays with world class actors, L.A. Theatre Works has partnered with New York’s Roundabout Theatre to film live, in HD, their acclaimed Broadway production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest for showings in local cinemas.

To find the dates, times and locations that The Importance of Being Earnest will be playing in your area, please click here.

Roundabout Theatre Company’s (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) critically acclaimed Broadway production of Oscar Wilde’s comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by and starring Brian Bedford, was  filmed live with multiple high definition cameras during public performances in March.

L.A. Theatre Works program schedule for
February through April
is now available.

To see the details, click here (more…)