January 2023

The holidays are behind us and most theaters have returned to normal operations. COVID protocols are dictated by each individual venue, so be prepared to show proof of vaccination and bring a facemask to wear during the show in case the venue requires it. Theatre-goers should check with the theater before attending an event to find out what is their current policy.

The information presented in this column is the latest available at the time of printing; however, it should be verified with the theater to confirm before making definite plans.

Here are the shows that have announced opening dates for this month or are already running:

Opening

“Chopin In Paris” In this stunning solo show, the “Poet of the Piano” tells his romantic story – a love affair with the most famous woman and authoress in France, George Sand, while sharing intimate details and live performances of some of his most beloved waltzes, polonaises, mazurkas and more.

Written by Hershey Felder, with music by Fryderyk Chopin, and directed by Joel Zwick, it runs through Jan. 15 at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. For tickets, call (949) 497-2787 or visit www.lagunaplayhouse.com.

“EISENHOWER: This Piece of Ground” Tony-winning theatre, television and film star John Rubinstein will portray General Eisenhower. Rubinstein had the honor of meeting “Ike” at the White House when he was a boy. Rubinstein, a lifelong Ike aficionado, has a deep commitment to the material and brings strength, humanity and humor to the role. This play is fiction, a piece of history. It is adapted from a range of General Eisenhower’s memoirs, speeches and letters. The author is grateful to David Eisenhower and the Eisenhower family for permission to quote as needed.

Written by Richard Hellesen and directed by Peter Ellenstein, it runs Jan. 6 through Jan. 22 at the Hudson MainStage Theatre in Los Angeles. For tickets, visit www.onstage411.com/eisenhower.

“Billie! Backstage with Lady Day” Billie Holiday (1915-1959) was a trail-blazing musical artist, known as perhaps the first female vocalist to use her voice in the style of jazz improvisation. Recording first with Benny Goodman, she became the first Black female vocalist to front a White band, that of Artie Shaw. She also performed with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. She had long professional associations with saxophonist Lester Young (who named her Lady Day; she called him Prez) and pianist Teddy Wilson. Born to poverty in Philadelphia, she was a victim of sexual assault while still a child and sentenced by the court to a Catholic correctional institution. It was only her first experience with the court, however. She was convicted at age 13 (along with her mother) of prostitution. Subsequent arrests involved possession of narcotics and substance abuse. Despite a turbulent life, abusive relationships and racism, she prevailed to become one of the greatest jazz and blues artists of her time before her untimely demise at age 44 from cirrhosis of the liver. In addition to multiple hit recordings, she sold out Carnegie Hall three times.

Written by Synthia L. Hardy and directed by Bryan Rasmussen, it runs Jan. 13 through Jan. 22 at the Sierra Madre Playhouse in Sierra Madre. For tickets, call (626) 355-4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org.

“Final Interview” The stress of a job interview is cranked up to 10 when a gun is thrown in the mix. If the interview goes poorly, someone dies. In a claustrophobic game of cat and mouse, both interviewer and interviewee desperately try to escape a high-rise office with their lives. “Final Interview” exposes the corruption behind corporate greed and the ability to right the wrongs of one’s past.

Written by Gabriel Oliva and directed by Katierose Donahue-Enriquez, it runs Jan. 13 through Jan. 29 at the Pico Playhouse in Los Angeles. For tickets, visit www.finalinterview.brownpapertickets,.com.

“Home Front” VJ Night, 1945. On a night like this, anything can happen – the world is never going to be the way it was. Austin Highsmith Garces (seen at the Victory in “Resolving Hedda” and “The End of Sex”) and C.J. Lindsey (“The Men in My Life,” “True Story” on Netflix) star as a White woman and an African American soldier who fall in love the night World War II ends – a time of euphoria for Americans after years of devastating conflict. But can that sense of goodwill and new beginnings wipe away the racial mistrust and discrimination in a country still deeply mired in the Jim Crow Era?

Written by Warren Leight and directed by Maria Gobetti, it runs Jan. 13 through Feb. 19 at the Victory Theatre Center in Burbank. For tickets, call (818) 841-5421 or visit www.thevictorytheatrecenter.org.

“Brothers Play” Youngest brother Thomas has just been bailed out of jail having thrown a rock through the stained-glass rose window at the local Catholic church, shattering his family’s code of silence mere days before Christmas. This event upsets middle brother Francis’ plans to marry a stripper and eldest brother Jude’s commitment to honor the tradition of going to the gambling boats for the holidays like they always do. But Thomas has been sleep-walking and his stammer has returned along with memories he can no longer ignore, forcing everyone to unwrap their shared trauma just in time for Christmas.

Written by Matthew Doherty and directed by James Eckhouse, it runs Jan. 14 through Feb. 5 at the Legacy LA in Los Angeles. For tickets, visit www.brothersplay23.com.

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” A progressive White couple’s proud liberal sensibilities are put to the test when their daughter brings her Black fiancé home to meet them in this fresh and relevant stage adaptation of the iconic film “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Blindsided by their daughter’s whirlwind romance and fearful for her future, Matt and Christina Drayton quickly come to realize the difference between supporting a mixed-race couple in your newspaper and welcoming one into your family – especially in 1967. But they’re surprised to find they aren’t the only ones with concerns about the match, and it’s not long before a multi-family clash of racial and generational difference sweeps across the Draytons’ idyllic San Francisco terrace. At the end of the day, will the love between young Joanna and John prevail? With humor and insight, the play begins a conversation sure to continue at dinner tables long after the curtain comes down.

Written by Todd Kreidler, adapted from the screenplay by William Rose, and directed by Cate Caplin, it runs Jan. 14 through Jan. 22 at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. For tickets, call (310) 364-3606 or visit www.theatre40.org.

“Twelve O’Clock Tales with Ava Gardner” Hollywood, California … 1974. On the set of the blockbuster disaster film “Earthquake,” Oscar nominated screen siren Ava Gardner is focusing on her first big budget starring role in over a decade. Tucked away in her dressing room bungalow, the “queen of the scandal sheets” does battle with her past. But only a fool would bet against Ava.

Written by Alessandra Assaf and Michael Lorre, it runs Jan. 15 through March 5 at the Whitefire Theatre in Michael A. Shepperd. For tickets, call (818) 687-8559 or visit www.whitefiretheatre.com.

“Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help” The play tells the story of the O’Sheas, a cash-challenged, Irish-Catholic family just trying to get through 1973. Linda O’Shea, the 19-year-old narrator, is attempting to re-enact for the audience the most turbulent day of her life but her family keeps interrupting, insisting on telling their side of the story. The 1970s was a time of old school living … no Facebook, no tweets, no texting, no Skype … a time when public ridicule in a close-knit, hermetically sealed Catholic parish was the ultimate nightmare. When Linda’s mother leaves it to Linda to tell her younger sister about the birds and the bees, the bawdy conversation is somehow overheard by the parish priest … and Father Lovett is not amused. He sets out to confront the family about “the corruption of their eldest daughter’s soul.”

Written by Katie Forgette and directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, it runs Jan. 19 through Feb. 19 at the Theatre 40, in the Reuben Cordova Theatre in Beverly Hills. For tickets, call (310) 364-3606 or visit www.theatre40.org.

“All My Sons” The play centers around Joe Keller, a successful manufacturer of WWII essential military supplies who lives comfortably with his wife Kate and son Chris in a suburban American neighborhood. They only have one sadness in their lives – the loss of their son Larry, an American fighter pilot, who went missing in World War II. After three years, Kate still clings to the hope that her son is alive. But Chris would like her to give up that hope because he wants to marry Ann, a long-time neighbor and Larry’s former fiancée. And so, it begins … to not only unravel the family but the entire neighborhood as well when secrets are revealed.

Written by Arthur Miller and directed by Ben Lupejkis, it runs Jan. 20 through Feb. 11 at the Westchester Playhouse in Westchester. For tickets, call (310) 645-5156 or visit www.kentwoodplayers.org.

“BLOOD SUPPLY: A Zombie Apocalypse Love Story” is a post-apocalyptic rock musical set one year after the zombie virus. Raw and authentic, hilarious and poignant, writer Holly Anne Mitchell debuts in this powerhouse piece on loss, hope, love, resilience and redemption.

Written by Holly Anne Mitchell, with music by Holly Anne Mitchell and Grady Land, with special contributions from Ian Michaels and Mike Fowler, and directed by David Dickens, it runs Jan. 20 through Feb. 11 at the Theatre 68 Arts Complex-The Emerson in North Hollywood. For tickets, visit www.onstage411.com/bloodsupply.

“Do You Feel Anger?” What is the absurdity – and danger – of a world where the feelings of some people matter more than those of others? When Sofia is hired as an empathy coach at a debt collection agency, she finds she has her work cut out for her. These employees can barely identify what an emotion is much less practice deep, radical compassion for others. As they painstakingly stumble towards enlightenment, someone keeps mugging Eva in the kitchen, and the unspoken dynamics of their seemingly blithe workplace culture become increasingly unsettling.

Written by Mara Nelson-Greenberg and directed by Halena Kays, it runs Jan. 21 through Feb. 25 at the Circle X Theater Company Atwater Village Theatre in Atwater. For tickets, call (323) 644-1929 or visit www.onstage411.com/bloodsupply.

“Grease” After a whirlwind summer romance, leather-clad greaser Danny and girl-next-door Sandy are unexpectedly reunited when she transfers to Rydell High for senior year. But can they survive the trials and tribulations of teenage life and find true love once more? Bursting with hits including “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One That I Want,” this thrilling new production reignites the energy and joy of the show for a new generation.

Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, with music by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, and directed by Kari Hayter, it runs Jan. 21 through Feb. 12 at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in La Mirada. For tickets, call (562) 944-9801 or visit www.LaMiradaTheatre.com.

“Southern Girls” Set in a small town in Alabama, “Southern Girls” follows the lives of six women from childhood in 1952 through middle age in 1992. Three of the women are White, two are Black, and one is biracial. Their stories span the Jim Crow years, the Civil Rights Era and what came after. Race impacts the trajectory of their lives to a significant degree, but they also confront class snobbery, sexism, rape and the need to establish autonomy over their own bodies. There are friendships, romances, betrayals and careers. Some will remain in their small Alabama town; others will get away. Some will encounter defeat, while others will live their lives in hope.

Written by Sheri Bailey and Dura Temple, and directed by Zadia Ife, it runs Jan. 21 through Feb. 26 at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Hollywood. For tickets, visit www.onstage411.com/southerngirls.

“Mr. Yunioshi” The title “Mr. Yunioshi” refers to the name of the character portrayed by Mickey Rooney in the 1961 film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” directed by Blake Edwards (Rooney’s former roommate). Rooney portrays Audrey Hepburn’s neighbor. It is a cringe-inducing characterization in which Rooney dons yellowface and wears appliances to “play Asian.” Our play Mr. Yunioshi reverses the real-life event by casting Asian American actor J. Elijah Cho to play Mickey Rooney. Rooney is depicted here as something of a narcissist, at first believing he is being cast as the romantic lead opposite Ms. Hepburn. When it becomes apparent that he is being tapped to play the role of Mr. Yunioshi, Rooney must deal with the question: Should he play the Asian character? We know from the cinematic record what he ultimately did but our play shows how he arrived there.

         Written and directed by J. Elijah Cho, it runs Jan. 27 through Feb. 5 at the Sierra Madre Playhouse in Sierra Madre. For tickets, call (626) 355-4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org.

“Appropriate” Appropriate is set in present-day Arkansas where the estranged members of the Lafayette family gather at their late father’s crumbling plantation to prepare for the estate sale. But decades of resentment have a way of bubbling to the surface and a shocking discovery in the piles of clutter sends them spiraling as they confront repressed histories, regrets and each other.

Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, it runs Jan. 28 through Feb. 26 at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. For tickets, call (714) 708-5555 or visit www.scr.org.

“The Little Foxes” The Little Foxes is set in 1900 Alabama where Ben and Oscar Hubbard stand to earn millions by funding an industrialized cotton mill. But first they’ll need their calculating sister Regina to secure the seed money from her dying husband. When he refuses, the siblings stop at nothing to satisfy their own ambitions and keep the wealth in the family. It is Regina, however, with razor-sharp intellect and diabolical gentility who is the most ruthless. Ferocious and funny, this celebrated classic takes an absorbing look at all sides of the American Dream.

Written by Lillian Hellman and directed by Lisa Peterson, it runs Jan. 28 through Feb. 26 at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. For tickets, call (714) 708-5555 or visit www.scr.org.

Continuing

“Piece of Mind” When Gwen and Allie open a daring business venture to shore up their meagre retirement savings, it seems like a stroke of brilliance. Offering an alternative to traditional counselling, they provide a room with a coffin on rent-by-the-hour basis. Clients are offered the opportunity to take turns playing dead while one airs their grievances and is heard in full. Peace of mind is expected to follow. While the concept is unique and interest in it is huge, when they launch they unwittingly open a Pandora’s box along with the business concept, threatening their investment, their reputations and even their friendship. A darkly comic series of events involving a series of clients, Allie’s daughter Tess and Gwen’s Aunt Rowena take them on a rollercoaster ride from hope to desperation. Along the way, all are forced to face their own demons. Just as the business seems doomed, they discover the concept is not as mad as it sounds and each of them has been helped by it in unexpected ways.

Written by Emma Wood and directed by Susan C. Hunter, it runs through Jan. 29 at the Brickhouse Theatre in North Hollywood. For tickets, call (800) 838-3006 or visit www.pieceofmind.bpt.me.