THE COLONY THEATRE PRESENTS THE THIRD PRODUCTION OF ITS 40th
ANNIVERSARY SEASON...
THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
HANDLE WITH CARE
Written by Jason Odell Williams
Directed by Karen Carpenter
Limited
Engagement opens Saturday, November 8 at The Colony Theatre in Burbank!
October 13,
2014...Burbank...The Colony Theatre is thrilled to present the third
production of
its historic 40th Anniversary season, the West
Coast Premiere of
HANDLE WITH
CARE by Jason Odell Williams, directed by Karen
Carpenter. HANDLE
WITH CARE will preview on
Wednesday, November 5; Thursday, November 6; and Friday, November 7 at
8:00pm.
It will open on Saturday, November 8 at 8:00pm and continue through
Sunday, December
14, with no performances Thanksgiving week.
"A hilarious and
heartwarming romantic comedy... exudes gobs of comic
energy and insight.... Mr.
Williams has achieved something special: He has
written a Jewish
Christmas story." - The New York Times
"Miraculous... the story
of the beauty in tragedy, the rekindling of faith, and realizing that
you're
found in translation... leaves the audience delighted." - Jewish
Week
Magic can happen in the
unlikeliest places - like Christmas Eve in a seedy motel, where fate
and
bizarre circumstances bring together a young Israeli woman who has
little
command of English, and a young American man with little command of romance. Is their love
an accident? Pure coincidence? Or is it destiny
that's been generations in
the making? It's a wonderful new play about love,
communication, fate, and the
importance of GPS-enabled tracking devices.
A WEST COAST
PREMIERE.
ABOUT
THE CREATIVE TEAMJASON
ODELL WILLIAMS (Playwright) is
an
Emmy-nominated writer and producer whose plays have been produced at
the DR2,
the cell, the Kitchen Theatre Company, Gulfshore Playhouse, JCC
Centerstage,
the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Theatre Jacksonville, Actors'
Summit, and
Teatron Toronto. His work has been developed at Primary Stages, The
Lark, The
Blank Theatre (L.A.), and the Hudson Valley Writers Workshop where he
won first
prize in their 2012 new play competition. Previous plays have starred
Vincent
Piazza and Anatol Yusef from HBO's
Boardwalk Empire;
readings have
starred Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz, Tony nominee Tovah
Feldshuh, and
film and TV star Matthew Lillard. In addition to having its West Coast
Premiere
at the Colony,
Handle With Care recently premiered
Off-Broadway at The
Westside Theatre and ran for 112 performances starring Carol Lawrence,
Charlotte Cohn and was directed by Karen Carpenter. The play will be
produced
at 4 other regional theatres this season and will soon be published by
Dramatists Play Service. Jason is currently a writer and
producer on the
National Geographic Channel's hit TV series
Brain Games.
His first
novel,
Personal Statement, was published in August
2013 and has been
optioned for a three-picture deal. Jason would like to thank the cast,
Karen,
Barbara and everyone at the Colony, for this production and especially
his
"girls" Charlotte & Immy for their love and support. This play
is dedicated
to Norma Fire, the original "Safta."
KAREN
CARPENTER (Director)
directed the smash hit,
Love
Loss and What I Wore, by Delia and Nora Ephron (Drama Desk
Award, Best
Unique Theatrical Experience,) which ran a record 3 years in New
York. Karen
has directed hundreds of our most
celebrated comediennes in the show to date;
additional companies have played all over the world, and a new
production tours
the U.S. in 2015. Recently, NYTimes critics' pick
Handle
With Care;
Michael Keaton in Lauren Yee's
Countville, Festival
de Sole; premieres
of Wendy Yondorf's
Admit One in a sold-out run at
New Jersey Rep, now
B'way-bound; Rosemary Loar's
Spoolie Girl, Midtown
International Theater
Festival (Best of the Fest); and Mary Walsh's
Dancing With
Rage, which
toured Canada. Karen is Artistic Director of the William Inge Center
for the
Arts, where she directed Lifetime Achievement Tributes to David Henry
Hwang,
Arthur Kopit, and the 100th Birthday of William Inge for the Inge
Festival. Five seasons as Associate Artistic Director of the Old Globe: produced
over 60
plays and musicals, directed American premiere of Abi Morgan's
Splendour
(Critic's Choice, L.A. Times), Nilo Cruz's
Two Sisters and a
Piano
(Critic's Choice, L.A. Times), Jeffrey
Hatcher's
Smash (Patté Award), Harold Pinter's
Betrayal
(Craig Noel Award, The
Reader's "Best Bet"),
As You Like It
(Best of the Year, San Diego Magazine). As Production Stage Manager,
Broadway
premieres of August Wilson's
Joe Turner's Come and Gone,
The Piano
Lesson, and
Two Trains Running. Boston
University's Alumni Award and
Karen Carpenter Award for Excellence in Theater Arts; Faculty, Yale
Drama. kcdirector.com For Nora.
ABOUT
THE CAST AND DESIGN TEAMCHARLOTTE
COHN (Ayelet) is
delighted to be working at the Colony
Theatre. Performing highlights include Broadway's
La
Boheme (Baz
Luhrmann, director) and
Coram Boy,
Happy
End at
A.C.T. (Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards Best Actress
nominee),
La
Boheme at The Ahmanson in L.A. (Ovation Award
Winner),
The
Murder of Isaac and
The Boys from
Syracuse, both at
Baltimore's Centerstage,
Handle With Care (written
by her husband
Jason Odell Williams) and David Gordon's
Uncivil
Wars- Moving with
Brecht and Eisler. She is a founding producer of
both NYMF and Mainstreet
Musicals. Other producing credits include:
Rated P
for Parenthood and
the recent NY Times Critics' Pick
Handle With Care (both
at the Westside theater Off-Broadway). Charlotte
was born in Denmark and raised in Israel where she served in the
Israeli Army,
rising to the rank of Lieutenant. She lives in Manhattan with
her husband,
playwright Jason Odell Williams and her daughter, Imogen.
JEFF
MARLOW (Terrence) is
thrilled to be back at The Colony, where
he previously appeared in
Indoor/Outdoor and
Around
the World in 80
Days (Ovation Award nomination). Other theatre
credits include
Sideways
and
Glengarry Glen Ross at the La Jolla Playhouse;
Hamlet
and
Nothing
Sacred at South Coast Repertory;
You Can't Take It
With You, and
Extraordinary
Chambers at the Geffen Playhouse;
Moonlight and
Magnolias,
An
Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf,
And The
Winner Is, and
The Sleeper at the Laguna Playhouse;
How to
Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying at Reprise;
Sheldon & Mrs.
Levine, Surviving Sex,
and
Where's Poppa at the Falcon Theatre; and
Medea
at the Theatre
@ Boston Court (Drama Critics Circle Award nomination). As a
member of the
sketch comedy troupe the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Jeff has toured
the U.S.,
Europe, and Asia in
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
(abridged)
[revised],
The Complete History of America
(abridged),
The Bible:
The Complete Word of God (abridged), and
Completely
Hollywood (abridged). Jeff's film credits include the upcoming
Stevie D as
well as
Akeelah
and the Bee and
The Hebrew Hammer. TV credits
include
Mistresses, Rizzoli & Isles, Rake, The
Thundermans, NCIS, Grey's
Anatomy, The Young and the Restless, Pushing Daisies, Without a Trace,
The
Bernie Mac Show, Strong Medicine, and
Judging Amy.TYLER
PIERCE (Josh)
is happy to be back at the Colony Theatre. He was most
recently seen on stage
in Los Angeles in the world premiere of Sheila Callaghan's
Everything
You
Touch at The Theatre @ Boston Court. He has
appeared in tours of
Legends
with Joan Collins and Linda Evans,
Barriers, and
A
Midsummer Night's
Dream. Selected regional theatre credits include:
How
to write a New
Book for the Bible, Death of a Salesman, and
Death
of the Author
(South Coast Rep),
Hasty Pudding
(Ojai Playwrights),
Venus
in Fur (B Street),
I'll be Back Before Midnight
(Colony Theatre);
How
to Write a New Book for the Bible (Berkeley Rep and Seattle
Repertory Theatre);
Good People (Geffen Playhouse);
Gronholm
Method (Falcon Theatre);
Death of a Salesman (The Old Globe);
A
Streetcar Named Desire
(Guthrie Theater);
The Night Is a Child (Milwaukee
Repertory Theater and
Pasadena Playhouse);
Crime and Punishment (Berkeley
Repertory);
Dracula,
A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville);
Macbeth,
Pericles, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, Lorenzaccio, The Tempest (The
Shakespeare Theatre
Company);
Youth Inc. (McCarter Theatre Center);
Fat
Pig, The
Internationalist (The Studio Theatre). New York theatre
includes work at
Theatre at St. Clement's, Circle East, New York Classical Theatre, HERE
Arts
Center, Atlantic Theater Company, Atlantic Theatre Studio, Theatre for
a New
Audience, Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, and New
Georges. Tyler
is a proud member of Actors' Equity. www.tylerpierce.wix.com/actorsite
MARCIA
RODD (Edna)
made
her Broadway debut in
Oh What a Lovely
War!,
created the role of Olivia in
Your Own Thing,
originated the role of Bobbi Michelle in Neil Simon's hit
Last of the Red
Hot Lovers,
and received a Tony nomination for her starring role in the
Cryer/Ford
musical
Shelter. In
LA, she received kudos playing the title role in
Driving Miss
Daisy, the
psychiatrist is
Agnes of God , Mary Todd
Lincoln in
The Last of Mrs.
Lincoln,
starred in
Once in a
Lifetime (Mark Taper),
The Supporting
Cast
(Doolittle),
On Golden Pond (with Julie
Harris and Charles
Durning at the Ahmanson) and as Golde in
Fiddler On The
Roof at
the Dorothy Chandler and in both its 25th and 30th Anniversary Tours.
She sang
the lead role in Kander & Ebb's
The World Goes
‘Round
(Actor's Alley) and received the ADA Best Actress award for
Everyone's Friend at
the Whitefire. She has guest-starred in countless TV shows
and has had
recurring roles in several, including a 4-year stint as the
candy-eating
dentist on
Trapper John M.D, Johnny Depp's
mother on
21 Jump Street,
Judge Scott on
Family Law, and the lead in
13 Queens Blvd
opposite Eileen Brennan. Films include
Little Murders,
T.R. Baskin, and
Jonathan Demme's
Citizens Band. She
portrayed the legendary
Diana Vreeland in the one-woman play
Full Gallop
(Actors' Theatre of Louisville), played the title role in Lorca's
House of
Bernarda Alba (Santa Fe Rep), starred opposite Tom Posten in Sam Bobrick's
Remember Me? in
Kansas City, and fulfilled a childhood dream of playing Anna in
The King
& I in
New London, NH. Most recently, she completed a run in
The Beat Goes On, a
musical revue in Hollywood and earlier this year played Mary McCarthy
in
Hellman v.
McCarthy in
NYC. She has directed innumerable plays, both new and old, has an 8
year-old
Yorkie named Rocky and lives with a guy named Bill.
HANDLE
WITH CARE features an
award-winning design
team. The Scenic Design is by David Potts (Emmy Award – HBO's
Deadwood). The Costume Design is by Dianne
K. Graebner (Ovation
nominations
– The Brothers Karamazov and
Battle Hymn). The Lighting Design is by Jared A. Sayeg (Ovation nominations –
Trying
and
Kiss Me, Kate). The Sound Design is by
Drew Dalzell (Ovation Award,
Songs
for a New World). Props Design and Set Dressing is
by Colony Theatre
resident propmaster John M. McElveney and Scenic Art is by resident
artist
Orlando de la Paz.
ABOUT
THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING
HANDLE WITH
CARE will open on Saturday, November
8 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, December 14. Performances for HANDLE WITH
CARE are Thursdays & Fridays at 8:00pm;
Saturdays at 3:00pm & 8:00pm; and Sundays at 2:00pm.
(There are NO
performances Thanksgiving week.) Ticket prices range from
$20.00 - $49.00
(group discounts are available). HANDLE
WITH CARE will
preview on Wednesday, November 5; Thursday, November 6; and Friday,
November 7 at
8:00pm at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress)
adjacent to
the Burbank Town Center Mall.
Opening
night performance with reception - all tickets $55.00. There
are
question-and-answer talkbacks after the performances on Friday,
November 14 and
Thursday, December 4. For tickets, call the Colony Theatre
Box Office at
818/558-7000 ext. 15 or online at www.ColonyTheatre.org.
For more information,
press interviews, photos, or for press comps, please contact David
Elzer/DEMAND
PR at 818/508-1754 or at DavidElzer@me.com or visit www.demandpr.com.
The
Colony Theatre has
long been a vibrant center of L.A.'s theatre life. Its
subscribers renew
at an astounding rate of 90%, and in 2012 the theatre received nine
Ovation
Award nominations, including the coveted one for Best Season. From its
beginnings in 1975 as a 99-seat Equity-waiver theatre in Silver Lake,
the
company became so successful artistically, and built such a large
subscriber
base, that in 2000 it was able to move into a 270-seat state-of-the-art
theatre
created for it by the City of Burbank. As such, it became one of only a
handful
of mid-sized professional theatres in the L.A. area that produce a
year-round
season of plays and musicals, and that employ actors under contract
with
Actors' Equity Association. The
theatre is located at 555 North Third Street, at the corner of Cypress,
in the
heart of Downtown Burbank. For further information, call
(818) 558-7000. Fax
number: (818) 558-7110. E-mail: boxoffice@colonytheatre.org. Or visit our website at www.colonytheatre.org.