LA Theatre Works

In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s  End Days,  a suburban family is undergoing a spiritual crisis following the September 11th attacks. Sylvia Stein has turned to Christianity to save her disaffected husband Arthur and her rebellious teenage daughter Rachel. And as Sylvia races around preparing for the Rapture, Rachel is learning that there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in...

David Schwimmer stars in Andrew White’s poignant and disturbing play about the infamous murder of three civil rights workers―James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner―in Mississippi in 1964. Originally produced by the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago. Directed by Andrew White Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg Lee Arenberg as Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price/Governor Johns...

The threat of a "radical leftist agenda" is nothing new in American politics; in the McCarthy-era 1950s, the House Un-American Activities Committee began investigating the communist influence in the entertainment industry. Based on the hearings' original transcripts, playwright Eric Bentley and a distinguished cast bring to life one of America's most unsavory chapters - in a docudrama that is stil...

The threat of a "radical leftist agenda" is nothing new in American politics; in the McCarthy-era 1950s, the House Un-American Activities Committee began investigating the communist influence in the entertainment industry. Based on the hearings' original transcripts, playwright Eric Bentley and a distinguished cast bring to life one of America's most unsavory chapters - in a docudrama that is stil...

Oscar-winning and Tony-nominated writer and director Eric Simonson explores the most famous archeological hoax in history. Alternating between 1914 and 1953, journalists and scientists set out to uncover who planted the Piltdown Man skull. Everyone’s a suspect, including legendary Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced at Steppenwolf Theatre 2009 with Martha Lavey as Ar...

Oscar-winning and Tony-nominated writer and director Eric Simonson explores the most famous archeological hoax in history. Alternating between 1914 and 1953, journalists and scientists set out to uncover who planted the Piltdown Man skull. Everyone’s a suspect, including legendary Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced at Steppenwolf Theatre 2009 with Martha Lavey as Ar...

It’s London, 1879, and the hapless members of the Explorers Club must confront their most lethal threat yet: the admission of a woman into their hermetically-sealed ranks. But the intrepid Phyllida Spotte-Hume turns out to be the least of their troubles, in this hilarious farce starring members of the original Broadway cast. The Explorers Club by Nell Benjamin. Directed by Kate McAll. Producing Di...

It’s London, 1879, and the hapless members of the Explorers Club must confront their most lethal threat yet: the admission of a woman into their hermetically-sealed ranks. But the intrepid Phyllida Spotte-Hume turns out to be the least of their troubles, in this hilarious farce starring members of the original Broadway cast. The Explorers Club by Nell Benjamin. Directed by Kate McAll. Producing Di...

In 1840’s Alabama, a slave-owning doctor performs medical experiments on involuntary subjects – his slaves. As the experiments proceed, the enslaved women realize their survival will depend on learning to trust each other.  Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson was directed by Rosalind Ayres and Inger Tudor, and stars Monica McSwain, Matthew Floyd Miller, Dominique Morriseau, Larry Powell,...

In 1840’s Alabama, a slave-owning doctor performs medical experiments on involuntary subjects – his slaves. As the experiments proceed, the enslaved women realize their survival will depend on learning to trust each other.  Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson was directed by Rosalind Ayres and Inger Tudor, and stars Monica McSwain, Matthew Floyd Miller, Dominique Morriseau, Larry Powell,...

Listen to our interivew with Cal Tech's Pamela Bjorkman Photograph 51 is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Serie s featuring science-themed plays. Lead funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n...

Listen to our interview with Rosalind Franklin biographer Brenda Maddox. Photograph 51 is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Lead funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19....

Rosalind Franklin's more famous contemporaries Watson and Krick took all the kudos for the discovery of the molecule’s double helix structure - yet it was Franklin’s skill with X-ray diffraction that first uncovered what’s called “the secret of life.” Photograph 51 is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Lead funding for the Relativity Series is provided by...

Rosalind Franklin's more famous contemporaries Watson and Krick took all the kudos for the discovery of the molecule’s double helix structure - yet it was Franklin’s skill with X-ray diffraction that first uncovered what’s called “the secret of life.” Photograph 51 is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Lead funding for the Relativity Series is provided by...

Based on the true story of renowned social psychologist Stanley Milgram, Frank Basloe's "Please Continue" recounts the infamous obedience experiments at Yale in the 1960s. In that study, participants were asked to administer strong electric shocks to a subject who gave the wrong answer to a question, not knowing that the shocks were fake, and they were the real subject of the study. "Please Contin...

Based on the true story of renowned social psychologist Stanley Milgram, Frank Basloe's "Please Continue" recounts the infamous obedience experiments at Yale in the 1960s. In that study, participants were asked to administer strong electric shocks to a subject who gave the wrong answer to a question, not knowing that the shocks were fake, and they were the real subject of the study. "Please Contin...

From his role in the development of the atomic bomb to his controversial testimony at the Challenger disaster hearings, Richard Feynman casts a long shadow across the worlds of physics and math. He was also fond of pulling practical jokes and playing the bongos. Through playwright Arthur Giron's eyes, we see how Feynman became one of the most important scientists of our time. Moving Bodies  b...

From his role in the development of the atomic bomb to his controversial testimony at the Challenger disaster hearings, Richard Feynman casts a long shadow across the worlds of physics and math. He was also fond of pulling practical jokes and playing the bongos. Through playwright Arthur Giron's eyes, we see how Feynman became one of the most important scientists of our time. Moving Bodies by Arth...

A conversation with Dava Sobel, author of And the Sun Stood Still . Her books include The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars, and The Planets, among many others. Read more about her life and work on her website . And the Sun Stood Still is part of L.A. Theatre Works’  Relativity Series  featuring science-themed plays. Lead funding for...

Dava Sobel’s thoughtful play brings to life the story of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance astronomer and mathematician who proposed the heliocentric model of the universe in which the Sun stands at the center. Plagued by self-doubt and threatened by religious censure, Copernicus resisted the publication of his work until just before his death in 1543. Starring Robert Foxworth as Copernicu...

Dava Sobel’s thoughtful play brings to life the story of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Renaissance astronomer and mathematician who proposed the heliocentric model of the universe in which the Sun stands at the center. Plagued by self-doubt and threatened by religious censure, Copernicus resisted the publication of his work until just before his death in 1543. Starring Robert Foxworth as Copernicu...

Damien Atkins' play "Lucy" presents a challenging portrait of how a family deals with autism. To gain more insight, we interviewed noted autism researcher Dr. Daniel Geschwind. He holds the Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Chair in Human Genetics and is a professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is director of the Neurogenetics Program and the Center for...

Vivian has spent her adult life traveling the world as an anthropologist. When her estranged husband gives up custody of their autistic daughter Lucy, Vivan faces a daunting challenge to become a responsible parent while dealing with her daughter's condition. "Lucy" by Damien Atkins stars Roxanne Hart as Vivian, Lucy DeVito as Lucy, Geoffrey Lower as Gavin, Sarah Rafferty as Julia, and Rafael Sbar...

Vivian has spent her adult life traveling the world as an anthropologist. When her estranged husband gives up custody of their autistic daughter Lucy, Vivan faces a daunting challenge to become a responsible parent while dealing with her daughter's condition. "Lucy" by Damien Atkins stars Roxanne Hart as Vivian, Lucy DeVito as Lucy, Geoffrey Lower as Gavin, Sarah Rafferty as Julia, and Rafael Sbar...

Deep in a salt mine, a prisoner of war creates a world-changing device. During World War II, a young Austrian engineer named Curt Herzstark was in the midst of perfecting his invention – the Curta calculator – when he was taken into custody by the Nazis. Somehow – some way – he never gave up. And the protoype of what became the hand held calculator was born. "Intelligence-Slave" by Kenneth Lin sta...