Stage Raw: Hanks a Lot

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, THIS WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS

HANKS A LOT

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson piggy backing with The Comedy Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Festival/L.A.

On Monday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Geffen Playhouse, Shakespeare Festival/L.A. presents it's annual fundraiser with a reading of The Comedy of Errors, featuring the fundraising program's co-chairs Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson.

In the latest incarnation of “pay to play,” The company is auctioning off a speaking role alongside Wilson and Hanks for the reading (directed by Ben Donenberg). The winner will participate in rehearsal, gain admission to the VIP post-show party and take a group photo with the cast, which the cast will all sign. The auction began May 1 and will end at 7pm PDT on May 11, 2009. Start bidding here.

For more stage happenings about town, press the Continue Reading tab directly below.

LAPD RECEIVES CASTILLO AWARD

The Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) is being honored at the eleventh annual Otto René Castillo Awards for Political Theatre at the Castillo Theatre on Sunday, May 17, 2009, in New York City.

“It's astounding to receive this award, astounding that it even

exists,” said LAPD director John Malpede. “The previous recipients are

great company to keep, and the best news is receiving it in 2009, and

not having to worry about being water-boarded.”

BOGART AT THE GETTY VILLA

Director Anne Bogart and the members of her New York City-based ensemble SITI are bringing the first public presentations of their latest project, an adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone by Irish dramaturge and translator Jocelyn Clarke, to the Getty Villa Theater
Lab during the weekend of May 15-17, 2009. 17985 Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Palisades.
Admission free. RSVP required. (310) 440-7300.

Check back on Monday after noon for NEW THEATER REVIEWS of Crowns, presented by Ebony Repertory Theatre/Pasadena Playhouse at the Nate Holden Performing Arts center; The Fantasticks presented by Reprise Theatre Company at Freud Hall, UCLA; The world premiere of Kevin King's The Idea Man at the Elephant Thater; Mark Twain's farce Is He Dead?, adapted by David Ives, at International City Theatre in Long Beach; Big, The Musical, presented by West Coast Ensemble at the El Centro Theater;  Arthur Miller's The Crucible at Actors' Co-op;  Richard III Redux: Our Radical Adaptation at Veterans Center for the Performing Arts; Courting Vampires at Theater @ Boston Court; Caryl Churchill's A Number at the Odyssey and Thornton Wilder's Our Town, presented by the Actors' Gang. 

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