Shizuka

“Shizuka –静” – The Love Story in the Time of 12th Century Japanese Civil War

Produced by LoBeauH Entertainment and Alix Yumi Cho

“Shizuka”, written & directed by Tomoko Karina (“Camellia- Kerria- Pink” – Winner of the Best Foreign Mini-Movie at Brentwood and Pacific Palisades International Film Festival) will opens in Los Angeles, CA on Sep 16th, 2022, at the Zephyr Theatre


“Shizuka” is a drama based upon a true beloved historical tale in Japan. This tragic love story is both unapologetically romantic and epic. Introducing swirling flamy fate of bigger than life legendary historic characters in 12th century Japan to the audience in Los Angeles.


“Shizuka” will attract you with the aesthetic charm of traditional Japanese costumes, mannerisms, Japanese classical dance, and fierce combat scenes with innovative modern virtual reality theatrical design. It will be delivered with English dialogue by trained actors with diverse backgrounds in order for an American audience to feel the story viscerally. The perfect combination of glamorous exotism and emotionally heightened authentic storytelling. The origin of “Shizuka” was showcased in the summer of 2021 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, earning the Best Play and Best Direction nomination at the Broadway World Regional Award. The play stars Yukari Black (“Letters from Iwo Jima”, “Flags of Our Fathers”), Alexander Collins, Tomoko Karina (“Cobra Kai”,” Hail, Caesar!” and “Balm in Gilead”), Tony Kim, and Jon Vasquez and others.


“Shizuka” takes you to the civil war era in 12th Century Japan. Shizuka-Gozen is the most popular Shirabyoshi dancer (entertainer who serves to the god.) in the capital of Japan, Kyoto, where the gorgeous court aristocratic culture is flourishing. Shizuka meets Yoshitsune of Minamoto, the younger brother of the supreme leader of Genji Samurai clan. Yoshitsune, a dashing war-hero who is taking Kyoto by storm. Shizuka, Kyoto’s No.1 dancer of reputed beauty. They fall fatally in love. Winter of 1185, their love story follows a tragic path.


Tickets are currently on sale available at Eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shizuka–tickets-390712992077

“Shizuka–静” (2 Hours with an Intermission)

Date: Sep 16th – Oct 9th, 2022
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm, Sundays 2:30pm & 7:30pm
Live Streaming: 10/1(Sat) @ 8pmPST, 11pmEST, (10/2, Sun)12pm Japan, 4:00am EU
Ticket: $20-80
Venue: The Zephyr Theatre 7456 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

First Responders Live- Fox


First Responders Live- Dan Reed Lighting Design

Sunday in the Park with Friends- Hollywood Central Park Gala 2019

Sundays in the Park w/ Friends- Hollywood Central Park Gala 2019

Deck over and build a park on the 101 Freeway?   Yes please!

So proud to join Martha Dempson and the Open Fist Theatre Company for the Sunday in the Park with Friends performance at this years Hollywood Central Park Gala.    Donate @ https://hollywoodcentralpark.org/get-involved/donate for a better vision of the future!

 

Hollywood Central Park

 

 

 

Benefit for the Equal Rights Amendment: Harold Pinter’s The Lover

As of May 30th of 2018, when Illinois became the 37th state to ratify, the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is only one state away from ratification!  The ERA would provide basic civil and human rights to all Americans equally under Federal law, regardless of sex.

Equal Means Equal & the Heroica Foundation present five performances of Harold Pinter’s one-act play “The Lover” starring Kamala Lopez and Joel Marshall. Directed by Martha Demson.

Equal Means Equal is the only national organization focused on completing ratification of the original Equal Rights Amendment.  Please join us and support our work at www.equalmeansequal.org

All proceeds from the play will go to support Equal Los Angeles, CA Means Equal’s programs and campaigns to ratify the ERA and are 100% tax deductible.  Suggested donation: $100/person

Rita House is a private club; seating is limited and by invitation only.  Refreshments will be served. Special guests to be announced…

Where: Rita House 5971 W 3rd St, 90036

Illumination Advocates Inc.

Since 2013, Dan has been an associate Lighting Director with Illumination Advocates Inc. providing production rendering and CAD services for multi camera television and live events.  Recent productions with Lighting Designer Josh Hutchings include All in- Ricky Martin at the Park Theatre, Las Vegas, games shows such as Lets Make a Deal, $100,000 Pyramid, and Beat the Clock, and live productions such as America’s Got Talent at Radio City Music Hall, AGT Judgment Week NYC 2014, and iL Divo- A Musical Affair at the Marquis Theatre, NYC.

The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side

Thru May 24, 2015, Thurs- Sat 8pm, Sun 7PM @ the Matrix Theatre

7657 Melrose Ave. LA, CA 90046- tix at www.piedpipersla.com  

Reviews-

James Joyce’s The Dead- The Open Fist at the Greenway Court Theatre

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Lighting Design by Terry Enroth & Dan Reed
Limited Return Engagement! Six Weeks Only! Jan 18 – Feb 22 at the GREENWAY COURT THEATER 544 N Fairfax Hollywood, CA  (Just South of Melrose)  
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS  $25 | $20 Students/Seniors (WITH ID ONLY)

 REVIEWS

Foote Notes- Two Plays About Harrison, Texas at the Open Fist Theatre

DIRECTED BY SCOTT PAULIN

Produced by Martha Demson

Nov. 2 – Dec. 15, 2012

Reviews

The Black Glass- Padua Playwrights and the Open Fist at the Hollywood Fringe Central Mainstage

A blistering and darkly comedic deconstruction of corporate power in the age of Occupy Wall Street and internet porn by the award-winning playwright and director Guy Zimmerman. One of Los Angeles’ leading theatrical voices, Zimmerman delivers a searing indictment of the current neo-liberal mores in a story involving intrigue after hours in an office in downtown Los Angeles. In return for the CEO position at his LA-based corporation, Bentham offers his daughter to the sinister McGivern. McGivern’s two female cohorts have very different ideas, and the play takes unexpected twists and turns on the way to an explosive denoument.

Schedule- Sunday June 17 2012, 3:30 PM, Tuesday June 19 2012, 6:30 PM, Sunday June 24 2012, 3:30 PM

6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038 (map) Box Office 323 – 818-823-1008

Reviews

Dancing with the Stars: Schnick Schnack LED

I had the unique opportunity to oversee the installation of over 1900 Schnick Schnack B-250 and C-250 LED units provided by VER and distributed by TMB into the precarious new main staircase and lovely new 360˚ balcony rails on Dancing with the Stars.   Many thanks to Lighting Designer Simon Miles at VX Inc and Susan Tesh at VER for bringing me on and having me wrap my head around this project, to Jolynn Schmitt, Victor Cruz, Matt Cotter and Mo Duleasis for the smooth install process onsite, and to Melanie Lekaj, Tommy Stephanson and Stephanie Kilburg at TMB for walking the fine line between customs and customer service to pull this off.

And congratulations to James Yarnell on an truly incredible set design…

The Existents at The Open Fist Theatre Company

THE EXISTENTS

Book by Douglas Crawford and Jason Wooten, Music and Lyrics by Ty Taylor,  Directed by Martha Demson

A new rock musical at the Open Fist as part of the First Look Festival Of New Plays

Performances:  Saturday July 31at 8pm, Sunday, August 1 at 7pm, Saturday August 14 at 8pm, Thursday August 19 at 8pm, Friday August 20 at 8pm.  Sunday, August 1 and August 22 @ 7pm.  Matinee performances;  Sunday August 15th @ 2pm & Sunday August 22 @ 2pm

Full Photo Gallery @ Existents at Open Fist
Backstage.com Review- The Existents
StageSceneLA Review- The Existents

StageSceneLA Best of 2009-2010 Outstanding Lighting Design

Getting Frankie Married, and Afterwards at the Open Fist Theatre Company

Directed by Scott Paulin


Produced by Ina Russell, Stephanie Terronez, and Martha Demson, Scenic Design • James Spencer, Costume Design • Christina Wright, Lighting Design • Dan Reed, Sound Design • Peter Carlstedt, Props • Ina Russell & Bruce Dickinson


April 2 – May 15, 2010 Fridays & Saturdays @ 8 pm, Sundays @ 2 pm   call (323) 882-6912

Stage Door at The Open Fist Theatre Company

by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber Directed by Barbara Schofield
Jan. 22 – March 13
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8 pm, Sundays @ 2 pm
Special Performances:
Preview Showings Jan. 14, 15, 16 and 17 • $15
Opening Night Friday Jan. 22 • $35 w/ Reception
Pay-What-You-Can Performances Jan. 17, 24 and 31
Tickets Adults $25 | Students & Seniors $20
call (323) 882-6912

LA TImes Review- Theater review: ‘Stage Door’ at Open Fist Theatre | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times
LA Weekly Review- Stage Raw: Stage Door – Los Angeles Art – Style Council
Backstage.com Review- Stage Door
StageSceneLA Review- Stage Door
StageSceneLA Best of 2009-2010 Outstanding Lighting Design

Karbala Sol- Ziggurat Theatre Company @ Inside the Ford Theatre

Photos by Ed Krieger

Inside the Ford Theatre January 18 – February 11, 2007

Written and Directed by Stephen Legawiec
Dance Choreography by Dana Wieluns, Set and Costume by Stephen Legawiec, Lighting Design by Dan Reed, Masks Designed by Beckie Kravetz, Stage Manager: T Keaton-Woods

Papa at the Open Fist Theatre Company

BACK STAGE WEST’s Wenzel Jones raves!

“Had John deGroot not written this engaging peek into a vodka-soaked afternoon in the life of Ernest Hemingway, then actor Adrian Sparks would have had to commission this one-man show elsewhere. Rarely does one witness a performer so completely inhabiting the skin of an historical figure. Hemingway prowls around the living room of his Cuban home railing against emasculating women and spinning out his ongoing romance with death while pouring ever pinker Bloody Marys. Unlike real people, this character becomes more captivating the drunker he gets. The script, constructed from interviews with many who knew the famed author, has both the ring of truth and the thrill of eavesdropping, as the portrait is not altogether flattering. It is never, however, unbelievable.

Sparks is a consummate raconteur as he draws the audience in. . . . The directorial hand is so deftly employed as to be invisible. Martha Demson has obviously not let her actor run wild–that kind of show has a special look all its own–but her vision and that of her actor meld so seamlessly as to cause the audience members to forget we’re watching a performance. By the time the show builds to an almost Homeric conclusion, with thunder crashing and Hemingway letting loose a few lighting bolts of his own, we are utterly in its thrall.”

LA WEEKLY’s Steve Mikulan Recommends!

“Playwright John deGroot’s one-man show, starring Adrian Sparks, displays a Papa Hemingway in full sunset glory as self-mythologist, raconteur and critic of American small-mindedness. . . . Under Martha Demson’s relaxed direction, Sparks’ Hemingway is a brawling, profane and surprisingly likable Hemingway who guides us along an anecdotal safari of his life. Sparks also bears an uncanny resemblance to the novelist, which doesn’t hurt. DeGroot may err a little on the side of laughter (Kenneth Rexroth once said a sure way to earn Hemingway’s lasting spite was “to loan him two bits,” a side of Hemingway that remains unexplored here), but his two-act, 90-minute monologue is a pleasant way to reacquaint ourselves with an American legend – and a hard-drinking male American obsessed with sexual swagger and fears of castration.”

Open Fist, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood
: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays
Ends: Feb. 18
Price: $15 to $20
Contact: (323) 882-6912, http://www.openfist.org
Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

LA Times Review- Hemingway captured, in looks and in form – Los Angeles Times

Play7.com- PAPA | PLAY7

Ovation Award – Best Set Design, Jeff Rack
Ovation Award Nomination – Best Production, PAPA
Ovation Award Nomination – Best Performance by a Leading Actor, Adrian Sparks
Ovation Award Nomination – Best Sound Design, Tim Labor
Ovation Award Nomination – Best Lighting Design, Dan Reed