Press Release: Sherlock's Last Case

May 9, 2005...Burbank, CA...The Colony Theatre Company announces the first production of its celebratory 30th anniversary year with the wickedly funny thriller, SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE, written by Charles Marowitz and directed by David Rose. SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE will preview Wednesday, June 8; Thursday, June 9 and Friday, June 10 and will open on Saturday, June 11 and continue through Sunday, July 10 at the Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.  

Someone is trying to kill Sherlock Holmes. Now the greatest detective on earth must solve the case of his life. Come travel back to Arthur Conan Doyle's foggy Victorian London to witness hair-raising twists and turns, scenes of odd happenstance and outbursts of comic brilliance. As the sinister plot unravels, you'll be drawn inexorably to a stunning climax that will take your breath away. But will it also take our hero's...forever? Come guess who's who and what's what in the return of this fiendishly clev er thriller that began its life as a much acclaimed play here in Los Angeles in 1984!

Comments Colony Artistic Director Barbara Beckley: "It feels like it was meant to be that the first production of our 30th Anniversary Season is a play that began its life here in Los Angeles in 1984 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center! This is a wonderful thriller and very funny comedy which re-imagines Arthur Conan Doyle's characters in the most fiendishly clever of ways! Our subscribers, audiences and fans of Sherlock Holmes and mysteries are going to have a terrifically good time trying to figure out t he who's who and what's what of Charles Marowitz's brilliant play."

Director David Rose has 20 productions to his credit since he became a company member in1990. He staged recent Colony productions of The Drawer Boy, Fuddy Meers, The Nerd (with French Stewart), The Man Who Came to Dinner, and the World Premiere of Bea[u]tiful in the Extreme. He also directed Our Country's Good (six L.A. Ovation award nominations, Drama-Logue award), The L.A. Premiere of The Living, The Front Page (L.A. Weekly award - Revival Production of the Year), You Can't Take it With You (Drama-Logue award), June Moon, and the West Coast Premiere of Peccadillo. He has also directed Second Stage productions of True West, Baby With the Bathwater and I Can Fit My Fist in My Mouth. As an actor, he has appeared at the Colony in Mornings at Seven, The Clearing, Incident at Vichy, Einstein and the Polar Bear, Pastoral, and Bedroom Farce (Drama-Logue award.) Elsewhere in Los Angeles, he has directed productions of Geniuses (Drama-Logue award), Justin Tanner's Big Bear, and the smash hit Road to Nirvana (Drama -Logue award) - all at Third Stage, as well as The Dining Room at Theatre 40, Inspecting Carol at the Ivy Substation (Drama-Logue award) and Chased From Paradise and The Blues are Running at the Lost Studio. He is the former Artistic Director of The New York Comedy Repertory Ensemble and a founding member of Washington D.C's acclaimed Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

Playwright Charles Marowitz is a writer whose work has appeared in The NY Village Voice, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Sunday Telegraph (UK), London Times (UK). He is the author of over two dozen books, the most recent being The Other Chekhov: a biography of the legendary actor & theorist Michael Chekhov. He was the lead critic on the L.A. Herald Examiner until that paper's demise.

Marowitz is also a director and playwright. He is the author The Marowitz Shakespeare, an anthology which contains seven free adaptations of Shakespeare's works. His latest play Murdering Marlowe was recently premiered in Los Angeles and is being published by Dramatists Play Service in the spring of 2005. His black comedy Sherlock's Last Case was presented on Broadway with Frank Langella in the lead role. His most recent directorial credit is Temptation by Vaclav Havel which he directed at The National The atre of the Czech Republic in Prague. He was the founding Artistic Director of the Malibu Stage Company and is a member of the Association of Literary Scholars & Critics.

The cast of SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE includes: Time Winters as Sherlock Holmes; Louis Lotorto as Dr. Watson; Lisa Beezley as Mrs. Hudson; Brett Elliott as Lestrade, Pat Campbell as Liza, Tom Zurich as An Imposter and Carter Yepsen as Damion.

SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE has assembled an award-winning design team. The set design is by David Potts (Grand Hotel, The Drawer Boy). The costume design is by A. Jeffrey Schoenberg (The Ladies of the Camellias, Side Show). The sound design is by Drew Dalzell (Grand Hotel, Around the World in 80 Days). The lighting design is by Jeremy Pivnick (Toys in the Attic, The Ladies of the Camellias).

SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE will open on Saturday, June 11 and perform through Sunday, July 10, 2005. Performances for SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE will be Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. Additionally there will be performances on Saturday, June 18 and Saturday, June 25 at 3:00pm; and also Thursday, June 30 and Thursday, July 7 at 8:00pm. There will be no 7:00pm performance on Sunday, June 12. Ticket prices range from $30.00 - $40.00 (student, senior and group discounts are availabl e). Preview performances will be Wednesday, June 8, Thursday, June 9 and Friday, June 10 at 8:00pm - all tickets $20.00. Opening night performance with reception - all tickets $65.00. There will be two Talk-Back performances with the cast on Friday, June 17 and Thursday, June 30 immediately following the performance. For tickets, call the Colony Theatre Box Office at 818/558-7000 ext. 15.  

For more information or for press comps, please contact David Elzer/DEMAND PR at 818/508-1754 or at ELZERD@aol.com.

The Colony Theatre Company is a 29 year old organization dedicated to bringing the finest quality theatrical productions to Los Angeles. The theatre is located at 555 North Third Street, at the corner of Cypress, in the heart of the Burbank Media Center. For further information, call (818) 558-7000. Fax number: (818) 558-7110. E-mail: colonytheatre@colonytheatre.org. Or visit our website at www.colonytheatre.ORG.