LA Theatre Works

KPBX 91.1fm, Monday, 7pm-9pm

Listeners across the country are discovering L.A. Theatre Works’ which brings you contemporary, edgy and significant radio drama by acclaimed playwrights starring top name talent. During the summer of 2010, we will be broadcasting these plays in place of the Concert of the Week, which will return in the fall.

September 13, 2010
Roaring Trade by Steve Thompson;
The Big Melt by Stuart Hoar
Each year, L.A. Theatre Works joins forces with other international broadcasters - from England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland - to create the World Play series, an opportunity for the world's premier radio drama producers to showcase the work of their peers.

The theme of this year's World Play season is "Money," and first, we'll bring you the BBC's contribution, Roaring Trade. This witty and candid play looks at the personal and professional relationships between day traders … and how rivalry in London's trading system can spiral out of hand.

Then, it's The Big Melt, from Radio New Zealand, a dark comedy about how we try to deal with major world events like global warming and financial meltdowns on a day-to-day level.
Cast: (Roaring Trade) Rhys Thomas, Claudie Blakley, Danny Webb, Joseph Kloska, Annabelle Apsion, Jack O'Connor, David Seddon, and Lloyd Thomas
Cast: (The Big Melt) Jeffrey Thomas, Ete Etuati, Kate Prior, Simon Ferry, Gavin Rutherford, and Ginnette McDonald

September 20, 2010
Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose
The American judicial system guarantees a speedy and fair trial by a jury of one's peers. What happens when some of those peers would rather cast a quick guilty verdict so they could speed their way out of a sweltering jury room? For a young defendant, accused of murder, there's nothing fair about it. Yet despite the heat, and overwhelming evidence to the contrary, one juror refuses to cave in to groupthink.
Cast: Jeffrey Donovan, Dan Castellaneta, Hector Elizondo, Robert Foxworth, Richard Kind, James Gleason, Kevin Kilner, Alan Mandell, Rob Nagle, Armin Shimerman, Joe Spano, Steve Vinovich

After Twelve Angry Men, a special presentation of Tone Clusters by Joyce Carol Oates, a penetrating dark comedy about a seemingly normal suburban couple who can't face a great tragedy that's destroyed their lives. Starring Edward Asner, Joyce Van Patten, and Hector Elizondo.

September 27, 2010
The Credeaux Canvas by Keith Bunin
In The Credeaux Canvas, we enter the lives of three young people struggling to survive their own "quarter-life crisis." Hillary Swank stars as Amanda, an under-employed singer whose boyfriend, Jaime, has been disinherited by his family. But Jaime has a plan to turn their lives around … and when he brings his long-time friend Winston into the picture, the three must weigh their friendship against their fortune.
Cast: Hilary Swank, Chad Lowe, Shirley Knight, Jeremy Sisto

October 4, 2010
The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht
Unrelenting in his search for "simple truth" Galileo Galilei shatters beliefs held sacred for two thousand years. But under threat of torture by the Holy Inquisition, his scientific and personal integrity are put to the test as he argues for his life in a passionate debate over science, religion and ethics that resonates to this day.
Cast: Stacy Keach, Neil Dickson, Roy Dotrice, Jeannie Elias, Jill Gascoine, Peter Lavin, Robert Machray, Christopher Neame, Moira Quirk, Darren Richardson, Alan Shearman, Simon Templeman, Joanne Whalley, Matthew Wolf

October 11, 2010
Tartuffe by Molière
Initially banned in France by King Louis, Molière's celebrated social satire exposes hypocrisy in the Catholic Church. When a pious fraud worms his way into a wealthy family and manipulates the patriarch into giving up his fortune, it's up to his family to expose the truth before they end up in the poorhouse!
Cast: Brian Bedford, JB Blanc, Daniel Blinkoff, Gia Carides, Jane Carr, John de Lancie, Martin Jarvis, Alex Kingston, Matthew Rhys, Sarah Zimmerman

October 18, 2010
The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams' play tells the story of an Italian-American widow in Louisiana who has allowed herself to withdraw from the world after her husband's death, and expects her daughter to do the same.
Cast: Mercedes Ruehl, Emily Bergl, MarieClare Costello, Tim Dekay, Brent Hinkley, Anthony LaPaglia, Carol Locatell, Kate Mulligan, Antonia Rey, Peggy Roeder, Vincent Schiavelli, Claudette Sutherland

October 25, 2010
Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward
This enchanting Coward comedy is set in the charming country home of Charles Condomine, a re-married widower. A witty and convivial evening party among friends is transformed when a séance conjures the ghost of Elvira, Charles' first wife, who delights in wreaking havoc among the living.
Cast: Rosalind Ayres, Alexandra Boyd, Judy Geeson, Shirley Knight, Lynne Marta, Christopher Neame, Ian Ogilvy

November 1, 2010
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, adapted by Howard Koch; The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by John de Lancie
Join actors from Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation as they recreate this classic radio thriller. Originally performed by Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre of the Air, War of The Worlds caused a nationwide panic in 1938 as unwitting listeners believed that hostile Martians had really landed in New Jersey.

Then, a journey to The Lost World, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's rollicking adventure follows a scientific expedition deep into the Amazon jungle - straight back into the time of dinosaurs and cavemen. Before Jurassic Park, before Indiana Jones - there was The Lost World!
Cast: (WOTW) Leonard Nimoy, John de Lancie, Meagan Fay, Jerry Hardin, Gates McFadden, Daryl Schultz, Armin Shimerman, Brent Spiner, Tom Virtue, Wil Wheaton
Cast: (Lost World) Josh Clark, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, Peter Paige, Kirsten Potter, Kate Steele, Tom Virtue, Kenneth Alan Williams