The (half-price) play’s the thing with LA Stage Alliance

It’s a common complaint: Where’s the live theater in L.A.? Everything is movies and television. It’s true that we’re not New York and there’s no Broadway, off-Broadway or even off-off-Broadway. But L.A.’s best-kept performing arts secret is a vibrant and flourishing small-venue theater scene that dwarfs most of its competition elsewhere in the nation – including the Big Apple.

Since 1988, the non-profit LA Stage Alliance (LASA) has functioned as a kind of one-stop shop for live-theater aficionados, dedicating itself to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles. Today, LASA (with financial support from the County of Los Angeles, among others) serves and supports more than 325 local producing and presenting performing arts organizations in Los Angeles and five surrounding Southern California counties.

And since 1999, LASA has operated the region’s leading online half-price ticketing service, LAStageTIX – a win-win enterprise that offers avid theatergoers substantial half-price discounts on a wide range of presentations, and gives LASA’s member companies choice opportunities to boost their box office and generate some buzz around their productions.

Here’s a sampling of just a few of the shows on offer this week in North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts District venues:

ALL MY SONS, by Arthur Miller

The Raven Playhouse at 5233 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood revives the classic debut work by playwright Arthur Miller, which earned a Tony Award for Best Play of the Year in its 1947 premiere run. A dark study of the stress and conflict shadowing the American dream in post-war America, Miller’s scathing exploration immediately announced the arrival of a major new talent in the theatrical world. The intervening decades have dulled none of its dramatic power or political and social relevance.

AMADEUS, by Peter Shaffer

The Chandler Studio Theatre Center at 12443 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood brings to life a dynamic new production of Peter Shaffer’s celebrated Tony-winning tale of the lethal rivalry between the brilliant but fragile Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his jealous and scheming competitor, Antonio Salieri.

BEYOND

Beyond is a unique production, billed as the first of its kind in Los Angeles, that conjures of up visions of classic French cabaret variety shows, featuring exotic world-class performers including dancers, aerialists, acrobats, and of course a sultry chanteuse. The venue is the celebrated El Portal Theatre at 267 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood.

Posted 7/15/10