"As Jews tried to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s, they faced unthinkable roadblocks in obtaining exit visas. And while they were denied entry in one country after another, a bureaucratic oddity enabled some of them to flee to an unlikely destination: Shanghai, China.
In this LATW original commission, playwright Kate McAll used the survivors' own words to create a narrative of people starting their lives over in a completely new land.
Funding for this presentation is provided in part by The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, and The I. Michael Kasser Trust: Michael and Beth Kasser.
Special thanks to Prof. Steve Hochstadt for his generosity in sharing his research and recordings to help create this work.
Recorded at the UCLA James Bridges Theater in June 2023.
Directed by Anna Lyse Erikson
Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, starring:
Edyta Brychta as Lisbeth Loewenberg
Michael Canavan as Herbert Greening
Shannon Cochran as Ilse Greening
Arye Gross as Gerard Kohbieter
Anna Mathias as Trude Reisman
Alan Shearman as Paul Reisman
André Sogliuzzo as Ernest Culman
Joanne Whalley as Melitta Colland.
Senior Producer: Anna Lyse Erikson
Recording Engineers: Mark Holden and Charles Carroll
Sound Design: Mark Holden
Editing and Mixing Engineer: Charles Carroll
Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin"
"A group of friends decamps from 1920’s Paris for the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain. Jake is in love with the aristocratic Bret Ashley, but Bret’s wandering eye lands on a young matador. In the week of drinking, bullfighting, and jealousy that follows, friendships will be upended and hopes for love dashed.
Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood in April 2022.
Directed by Anna Lyse Erikson
Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording starring:
Geoffrey Arend as Robert Cohn
Seamus Dever as Bill Gorton
Patrick Heusinger as Jake Barnes
Derrick Kemp as Pedro Romero
Rhian Rees as Lady Brett Ashley
Herbert Sigüenza as Montoya and others
André Sogliuzzo as Mike Campbell and the Count
Devon Sorvari as Frances and Georgette
Senior Producer: Anna Lyse Erikson
Prepared for Audio by Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood
Sound Design by Charles Carroll with Austin Halterman
Recording Engineer and Mixer: Charles Carroll
Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin
Foley Artist: Jeff Gardner"
"An L.A. Theatre Works commissioned adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie “whodunit.” Adapted from the novel by Kate McAll. In Christie’s clever and beautifully crafted tale, Detective Hercule Poirot receives an urgent letter from Paul Renauld summoning him to France. Upon their arrival, Poirot and his companion, Arthur Hastings, find they are too late. Plus, to complicate things further, certain facts just don’t add up.
Original Music by John Biddle.
Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood, in April 2021.
Director: Anna Lyse Erikson
Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg
An L.A. Theatre Works Full-Cast Performance Featuring:
Edita Brychta as Madame Renauld and Francoise
Kevin Daniels as Detective Giraud
Anna Lyse Erikson as Leonie
Simon Helberg as Captain Hastings
Adhir Kalyan as Jack Renauld
Alfred Molina as Hercule Poirot
Darren Richardson as Sergeant, Doctor, and others
Jocelyn Towne as Cinderella and Marthe Daubreuil
Joanne Whalley as Madame Daubreuil
Matthew Wolf as Monsieur Hautet
Senior Producer: Anna Lyse Erikson
Prepared for Audio by: Mark Holden
Sound Designers: Andrea Allmond, Charles Carroll
Recording Engineer: Neil Wogensen
Editor and Mixer: Charles Carroll for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood
Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin
Foley Artist: Jeff Gardner"
"Scornful of men and the love they profess for her, Gwendolen Harleth is a beautiful but spoiled young woman, frustrated by her limited options in Victorian England. Daniel Deronda is an intelligent, handsome young man who has been raised by his guardian, Sir Hugo Mallinger, but knows nothing of his true origins. Deronda's search leads him into the world of 19th-century Zionism, a discovery that will alter the course of his life. An original L.A. Theatre Works commission, adapted and directed by Kate McAll.
Includes an audience talkback about George Eliot with Hilary Schor, Professor of English, Comparative Literature and Law at USC.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, starring:
Edita Brychta as Mother, Madame von Langen and others
Barry Creyton as Sir Hugo Mallinger and Lord Brackenshaw
Ifan Meredith as Daniel Deronda
Cerris Morgan-Moyer as Aunt Nancy and others
Kimberley Nixon as Gwendolen Harleth
Darren Richardson as Mordecai, Hans, and others
Helen Sadler as Mirah Lapidoth
Julian Sands as Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt
André Sogliuzzo as Uncle Henry and others
With Kate Burton as George Eliot/Narrator
Recorded live in performance at UCLA's James Bridges Theater in March 2018."
