Willow Geer News

Summer is the best time of year to get out and see a Shakespeare play, especially in Southern California. Whether it's under the stars, staged in a unique performance space, or revived in a traditional theater, you can't go wrong when it comes to the world's greatest writer. Here's what we've currently got on our radar. Go see a show!

The Skin of Our Teeth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning tribute to the indestructibility of the human race by Thornton Wilder, opens on the beautiful outdoor stage at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum on Saturday,July 13, where performances continue through Sept. 29. 

Actor Will Holbrook made a big splash as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet when he first arrived in Los Angeles in 2016 at the Archway Theatre Co. The grandson of Hal Holbrook, Will is ambitious with two plays scheduled to perform this summer and the presentation of his new production company dedicated to film. In our conversation, Will talks with candor and enthusiasm about his plans for this summer and beyond.

Mischief, madness and romance are in the air this summer when Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum presents William Shakespeare's rollicking comedy, Twelfth Night, in its magical, outdoor Topanga amphitheater. Twelfth Night opens Theatricum's summer repertory season onSaturday, June 1 at 8 p.m., where performances will continue through Sept. 28.

Mischief, madness and romance are in the air this summer when Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum presents William Shakespeare's rollicking comedy, Twelfth Night, in its magical, outdoor Topanga amphitheater. Twelfth Night opens Theatricum's summer repertory season on Saturday, June 1 at 8 p.m., where performances will continue through Sept. 28.

 A mystery of hidden pasts, lost loves and false identities in a world where living things cannot grow. Members of the Geer family star in a revival ofThe Chalk Garden by Enid Bagnold, a unique comedy that blends witty humor with insightful truths. Susan Angelo directs Bagnold's captivating psychological chamber piece for a June 30 opening at Theatricum Botanicum's outdoor amphitheater in Topanga.

A parable of mass hysteria that draws a chilling parallel between the Salem witch hunts of 1692 and McCarthyism, which gripped America in the 1950s, The Crucible by Arthur Miller remains eerily timely in today's climate of fake news. Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum, its own history firmly rooted in the McCarthy-era Hollywood blacklist - when actor Will Geer and his wife, Herta Ware, created the theater as a haven for blacklisted actors - opens a new production of Miller's modern classic onJune 30. Theatricum artistic director Ellen Geer, Will's daughter, is at the helm, with family members Thad Geer,Willow Geer and Melora Marshall featured in the cast.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Theatricum brings back its signature production, an audience favorite with a set design unrivaled by any other theater - because it's the real thing. The most magical outdoor setting in Los Angeles is once again transformed into an enchanted forest inhabited by lovers both fairy and human.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum is back with an exciting summer line-up of socially conscious theater, music and performance. The Summer 2018 Season, including five plays set to open in rapid succession and perform in repertory throughout the summer together with a host of satellite events, will open June 2 and continue through mid-October in the company's breathtakingly beautiful outdoor Topanga setting.

The manicured life of a conservative actor-turned-politician and his impeccable wife is upset when relatives arrive at their Palm Springs home for the holidays - including politically liberal daughter Brooke, who's about to publish a tell-all memoir. Mary Jo DuPrey directs Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities, opening July 8 at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum.

The manicured life of a conservative actor-turned-politician and his impeccable wife is upset when relatives arrive at their Palm Springs home for the holidays - including politically liberal daughter Brooke, who's about to publish a tell-all memoir. Mary Jo DuPrey directs Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities, opening July 8 at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum.

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice opens the summer season at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum on June 3.

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice opens the summer season at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum on June 3.

???????Elephant Theatre Company Artistic Director David Fofi directs James McClure's American classic bender Lone Star starring Christopher Jordan, Christopher Parker and Brian Foyster

How should a nation choose its leaders? What happens when a government insulates itself from the citizens it once served? These are some of the questions Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum explores with its staging of Shakespeare's earliest tragedy, a sensational and brutally shocking revenge drama. Ellen Geer directs Titus Andronicus, opening July 30 on Theatricum's outdoor stage in Topanga.

Proving that laughter really is the best medicine, Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum presents a fresh and hilarious new adaptation of The Imaginary Invalid - Moliere's skewering of the health care crisis from an entirely different century - by Constance Congdon. The Imaginary Invalid joins the summer repertory season at Theatricum's spectacular outdoor amphitheater in Topanga on July 9.

In Scene Two of Lynn Riggs' play, Green Grow the Lilacs, farm girl Laurey Williams speaks passionately to her Aunt Eller about the ranch where she grew up:

The final entry in Theatricum Botanicum's 2015 "Americana" repertory season, Green Grow the Lilacs by Native American playwrightLynn Riggs is the rarely produced 1931 play that vied for the Pulitzer Prize and inspired the first mega-musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!. A rough-and-tumble love story with singing cowboys and classic folk music of the pioneering era, Green Grow the Lilacs will be directed byEllen Geer for a July 11 opening. Check out photos from the show below!

The final entry in Theatricum Botanicum's 2015 'Americana' repertory season, Green Grow the Lilacs by Native American playwright Lynn Riggs is the rarely produced 1931 play that vied for the Pulitzer Prize and inspired the first mega-musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!. A rough-and-tumble love story with singing cowboys and classic folk music of the pioneering era, Green Grow the Lilacs will be directed by Ellen Geer for tonight's (July 11) opening.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Washington, DC, Chicago, St. Louis, Vancouver, and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include DEAR EVAN HANSEN in DC, VANYA AND SONIA in Chicago, and The Muny's HOLIDAY INN, just to name a few.