May 25, 2018 — “Theatre 40, the award-winning professional theatre company in Beverly Hills, announces its fifty-third season. The schedule is as follows:
July 19- August 19, 2018: Screwball Comedy. USA Premiere. Written by Norm Foster. Directed by Howard Storm. The year is 1938 and aspiring reporter Mary Hayes is struggling to break into the male-dominated world of journalism. Jeff Kincaid may be the hottest reporter in the city, but his job is on the line and Mary could well be the one to replace him. Reminiscent of the zany cinematic screwball comedies of Gable and Colbert or Hepburn and Grant, this delightful play from Canada’s most popular playwright crackles with wit and humor.
September 20- October 14, 2018. 26 Pebbles. Written by Eric Ulloa. Directed by Jules Aaron. On December 24, 2012, Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed twenty-six innocent souls before taking his own life. These twenty-six innocent deaths, like pebbles thrown into a pool, created ripples and vibrations that were felt far beyond the initial rings. This is the story of those vibrations. Playwright Eric Ulloa conducted interviews with members of the community in Newtown and crafted them into an exploration of gun violence and a small town shaken by a horrific event,
November 15- December 16, 2018. Bus Stop. Written by William Inge. Directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky. About 25 miles west of Kansas City, a freak snowstorm has halted the progress of a bus, and travelers have a late-night, weather-enforced layover in a local diner. Romantic or quasi-romantic relationships ensue. Inge’s classic comedy manages to continually charm modern audiences, if only due to our inherent longing for a simpler, more innocent past.
January 17- February 17, 2019. It Is Done. Written by Alex Goldberg. Directed by Jeff G. Rack. Inside a desolate bar in the middle of nowhere, bartender Jonas and his only customers, Jonas, a man on the run, and Ruby, a mysterious woman on a mission, settle in for a long evening to ride out a windstorm. The three are trapped together, and engage in seemingly innocent conversation, until the evening escalates into life or death struggles as past secrets are shockingly revealed.
March 14- April 14, 2019. The Sound of Murder. Written by William Fairchild. Charles Norbury, a successful writer of children’s stories, is popular in his field but not at home, where he is arrogant, calculating and a cruel tormentor. His wife, starved for love and denied children of her own, turns to another man for affection, and eventually the two of them devise a fool-proof plan to do away with the husband. Unfortunately, however, a tape recorder has been left on and the writer’s frustrated secretary learns of the plan and uses the information to trap the other man into marriage after he has killed the husband. They go away together and the police believe that the husband drowned accidentally, chasing a prowler. But some weeks later, there is a surprise in store….
May 16- June 16, 2019. A Bad Year for Tomatoes. Written by John Patrick. Fed up with the pressures and demands of her acting career, the famous Myra Marlowe leases a house in the tiny New England hamlet of Beaver Haven and settles down to write her autobiography. Soon, she discovers that dealing with her nosy, omnipresent neighbors is a never-ending struggle. In an attempt to shoo them away and gain some privacy, Myra invents a mad, homicidal sister who is kept locked in an upstairs room, but who occasionally escapes long enough to scare off uninvited visitors. The ruse works well, at first, but complications result when the local handyman develops an affection for the “crazy” sister and some of the neighbor ladies decide it is their duty to save the poor, demented soul. A charming comedy about the best-laid plans.
Theatre 40 stages its productions at the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. This is on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. There is free parking underneath the building. Performances are Thursdays through Sundays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are usually $35. A money-saving subscription can be purchased for $180. Reservations can be made online at www.theatre40.org or by calling (310) 364-0535.” [ps]
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