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!
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…
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.
Thru May 24, 2015, Thurs- Sat 8pm, Sun 7PM @ the Matrix Theatre
7657 Melrose Ave. LA, CA 90046- tix at www.piedpipersla.com
Reviews-
REVIEWS
Once again, a big thanks to Matt Ford at Magic Lantern Creations Inc. for having me prepare the plot and come in and as gaffer for the launch of Revolt TV, Sean Diddy Combs new music network at Hollywood and Highland…
DIRECTED BY SCOTT PAULIN
Produced by Martha Demson
Nov. 2 – Dec. 15, 2012
Reviews
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
Ah, to be back in a tent! This was worth getting up at 2:00am for…
It’s not often you get a chance to help light a genuine Ball O’ Death!
Thanks yet again to Frank Olivas for a having me aboard.
KTLA’s weather man Mark Kriski walked in and said- “I love the smell of new Kinos in the morning!” Bravo, Mr Kriski.
Thanks again to Frank Olivas for bringing me in to help wrangle this new endeavor.
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…
A tale of two sisters who find each other again after the death of the beloved couch.
Director Benjamin Berdick Producer Laetitia Leon
Performances: Preview: August 3, 4 Opening: August 5 at 8pm Closes: September 10 at 2pm
Performance Dates: July 13- Aug 21
Theater review: ‘Quake’ at Open Fist Theatre Company – latimes.com
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
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
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
I am very pleased to announce that I am joining Tribune Production and Frank Olivas and the boys @ KTLA Channel 5 news as a per diem Lighting Director. Duties should include the occasional calls on the morning and evening news and helping Mr. Olivas w/ his CAD & instrument schedules.
Presented by Padua Playwrights Productions at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, 5636 Melrose Ave., L.A. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Apr. 14-May 12. (213) 625-1766. http://www.paduaplaywrights.net.
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
Presented by Rose Marcario and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center’s Lily Tomlin Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center at the Hudson Backstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. (Dark Dec. 23-25.) Dec. 10-Jan. 15, 2006. (323) 960-5563.
“The Time of Your Life” Open Fist Theatre Company, 6209 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 1. $15-20. (323) 882-6912. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.
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
From Play7.com
“A production of considerable beauty. . . . [Director] Smith sustains a gripping harmony of majesty and sardonic wit.” — LA Weekly Recommended!
“Compelling [and] entertaining” — LA Times Recommended!
“incredibly gripping story. . . . This is a powerful play with some very effective scenes–kudos to everyone in the cast for a fine performance.” reviewplays.com
Open Fist Theatre Company is proud to present the West Coast premiere of John Guare’s astonishing tale of the painful yet enduring power of American idealism, LYDIE BREEZE. Hurtling from comedy to tragedy, to satire to melodrama and back again, LYDIE BREEZE tells the gripping story of a disastrously failed utopian commune in late 19th century Nantucket and its aftermath. Years after its scandalous end, the children return to sift through the ashes of their tumultuous past. Aiming to heal the confusion in their lives, they find themselves enmeshed, yet again, in age-old rivalries and buried desires — all the while haunted by memories of the commune’s amorous founder and dominating spirit, Lydie Breeze. Old passions are rekindled, revenges taken and tragedies repeated – never in a way that one expects. (This version of Lydie Breeze is the original play — not the subsequent two-play cycle.)
“Lydie Breeze,” the Open Fist Theatre, 1625 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays through Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 4. $18, Sundays pay what you can. (323) 882-6912. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.
L.A. Weekly Nomination – Best Revival Production
A previously anonymous man escapes from prison, kills his parents and embarks on a murderous quest through a labyrinthine metropolis. Who is Roberto Zucco, and why does he kill? While a dysfunctional community tries to ward off the trail of darkness as some demonic external force, the murderer himself, Roberto Zucco, appears to be the least callous, and most honest of them all. Based on the true story of a young Italian man, Roberto Succo, who went on a crime spree while on limited release from a psychiatric hospital.
The playwright, Bernard-Marie Koltes was born in 1948 in eastern France and died of AIDS at the age of 41. Bernard-Marie Koltes, through almost unknown in the U.S., outside of New York, is one of the most frequently produced playwrights in Europe, and considered the heir of Genet and Beckett. The London Times wrote that he was, “a creator of mythology of the underworld, a champion of the underdog and the lone wolf, and a pioneer of a wholly new style of dramatic writing.”
Open Fist Theater Company, 1625 N. La Brea Ave., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru July 17. (323) 882-6912
