Joanna Churgin

It's going to be a very busy weekend on December 19 and 20 for Kentwood Players with our 8th Annual Coat Drive, Auditions for 'Surf's Up,' Virtual Theater Series plays 'Recipe' and 'Together, Apart' along with our KP Live interview series on the Kentwood Players You Tube channel. Join us at youtube.com/kentwoodplayers

The Kentwood Players Virtual Theater Series, offering new plays free of charge on its You Tube channel at https://youtube.com/c/kentwoodplayers, announces upcoming new plays presented November 2020 through April 2021.

Kentwood Players presented their annual Marcom Masque Awards during this year's ceremony held on Zoom on Saturday, August 15, 2020, honoring the shortened 2019-2020 season of five productions: Pippin, Blithe Spirit, Dial M for Murder, Little Women, and The Giver. 

Kentwood Players presented their annual Marcom Masque Awards during this yeara??s ceremony held on Zoom on Saturday, August 15, 2020, honoring the shortened 2019-2020 season of five productions: Pippin, Blithe Spirit, Dial M for Murder, Little Women, and The Giver. It was a wonderful evening of entertainment, filled with the community theater spirit which has fueled Kentwood Players during its 70 years of presenting quality live theatre in Westchester. Here is the complete list of winners.

The playwright nervously awaiting the make-or-break review on opening night has been the setting of many stage and movie scenes. But in this play, McNally runs with the idea, taking no prisoners across two acts boasting almost as many Broadway name-drops as punch lines, all delivered with perfect comic timing by a cast of talented actors who know how important it is to both give and take with each other as the wide range of human emotions overcomes the a?oestarsa?? who hope and pray this play will revive their struggling careers. And all the while, the laughs abound non-stop.

The Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica will present Terrence McNally's barb-filled love letter to the madness of high-stakes New York theater, It's Only a Play, playing now through Feb. 9, 2020, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The production is directed by Aric Martin, produced by Kalila Horwitz, and stage managed by Ashley DeFrancesco, with costume design by Kristie Mattsson and set and lighting design by William Wilday. The cast features (in alphabetical order) Chris Aruffo, Michael Bernstein, David Callander, Joanna Churgin, Justin Heller, Kelly McReynolds, and Kent Navarette.

Kentwood Players proudly presents BLITHE SPIRIT, the smash hit comedy by Noel Coward, from Friday, July 26 through Saturday, August 24 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045. There will be a champagne and dessert reception between 7:00-7:30pm for subscribers and members attending the Saturday, July 27 performance.

Kentwood Players proudly presents BLITHE SPIRIT, the smash hit comedy by Noel Coward, from Friday, July 19 through Saturday, August 24 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045. There will be a champagne and dessert reception between 7:00-7:30pm for subscribers and members attending the Saturday, July 20 performance.

'Pippin' is a musical written by Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson and originally directed by Bob Fosse. It tells the story of the young son of Charlemagne desperately looking for a place to belong.

Kentwood Players proudly presents the musical PIPPIN, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Roger O. Hirson. Performances take place at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045. There will be a complimentary pre-show champagne and dessert reception between 7:00-7:30pm for season subscribers and their guests attending the Saturday, May 18th performance. Performance dates are May 17th through June 22nd on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm.

The Sacred Fools Theater Company is excited to invite audiences to the West Coast Premiere of Denim Doves by Adrienne Dawes, lyrics by Cyndi Williams, original music and arrangements by Ellen Warkentine (including adaptations of music by Erik Seacrest) and directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert.

The Sacred Fools Theater Company is excited to invite audiences to the West Coast Premiere of Denim Doves by Adrienne Dawes, lyrics by Cyndi Williams, original music and arrangements by Ellen Warkentine (including adaptations of music by Erik Seacrest) and directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert.

Santa Monica's Morgan-Wixson Theatre is sharing the comedy so prevalent in Florence Foster Jenkins performances by presenting "GLORIOUS! the True Story of Florence Foster Jenkins, the Worst Singer in The World" written by Peter Quilter through February 5, 2017. It is a hilarious and heart-warming comedy, somewhat similar to the 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins starring Meryl Streep. As directed by Anne Gesling, and thanks to the brilliant performance of AnnaLisa Erickson as Florence, we get to know the real woman who truly believes she is the best opera singer in the world - with a remarkable ability to ignore the taunts and laughter from her critics and audiences in the pursuit of her dream. Erickson's ability to overplay Florence's brutally imperfect singing and flamboyant physical style to perfection is captivating.

Each of us has our own vision of what paradise looks like. It could be a city of skyscrapers or a tropical island, or perhaps a lovely wooded area as it changes colors with the seasons. Our search may take us to the far reaches of the globe, or perhaps to the small town where we were raised that now seems to be the perfect place for us to settle down and make a great life. Of course, there is no guarantee the place you select will contain all the colors of paradise you imagine, given how tough it is for small towns everywhere to survive when people move on after local businesses start shutting down. Such is the case at THE SPITFIRE GRILL in Gilead, Wisconsin.

In 1970, Michael Frayn, the English playwright who would go on to write NOISES OFF, was standing backstage in the wings watching a performance of another farce he had written, "The Two of Us." Of this performance, he said, 'It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind.' By the late 70s, Frayn had taken a crack at the concept with a short-lived one-act play called "Exits" before fleshing out and expanding the piece into the hilarious three-act NOISES OFF, now brilliantly staged at the Morgan-Wixson in Santa Monica.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF was always the playwright's favorite among all his plays. Theatre Palisades is presenting the original version of the script as written by Tennessee Williams before Eli Kazan, who was already hired to direct both Broadway and the film version, forced him to re-write the script to conform to the mores in McCarthy era 1955. This compelling original version has been professionally produced only two times, in 1958 in London and in 1974 on Broadway with Elizabeth Ashley, Keir Dullea and Fred Gwynne.

Theatre Palisades is presenting Tennessee Williams' original script of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF opening June 6. Since this script is rarely produced and differs from the well-known movie version featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman, I decided to speak with the show's director, Michael-Anthony Nozzi, for more information about the production, the first time the original script is being presented in Los Angeles.

SPRING AWAKENING is the 2007 Tony Award winning rock musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind's 1891 expressionist play about the trials and tribulations as well as the exhilaration of the teen years, exploring the confusion and desperation that ensue when the onrushing tide of hormones meets the ignorance of children.

For the 2012-2013 season, every cast member and technical designer for each show of the season (The Miracle Worker - Doubt, a Parable - Scream Queens, The Musical - Fortinbras - The 39 Steps - Ragtime) was nominated for a Marcom Masque Award in appropriate categories. This year's Marcom Masque Awards Ceremony was held on Saturday, June 29 at the Westchester Playhouse, home of the Kentwood Players.

Kentwood Players presents RAGTIME - the quintessential American musical - through Saturday, April 20 on Fri/Sat at 8pm, Sun at 2pm at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue, Westchester, CA 90045.The production is directed by Susan Goldman Weisbarth, with Musical Director Bill Wolfe, Choreographer Victoria Miller, and produced by Margie Bates and Gail Bernardi.