"Based on John Ball’s novel which inspired the Oscar-winning film and the Emmy-winning television series, In the Heat of the Night pits a visiting black detective from California against a small Alabama town simmering with anger over desegregation. A fitting reflection of America in the 1960s, this Off-Broadway hit is provocative, timely, and uncomfortably relevant.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, featuring Ryan Vincent Anderson, Michael Hammond, Kalen Harriman, Travis Johns, James Morrison, Darren Richardson, and Tom Virtue.
Directed by Brian Kite. Recorded before a live audience by L.A. Theatre Works."
"A sunny day, a quaint antique store, browsing through the artifacts of the past
To some, these are the ingredients for a pleasantly spent afternoon. To Frank, it is the beginning of a journey that will tear his world inside out. Is his amusing and puzzling journey down memory lane an actual journey, or is it a careening descent into madness?
Also included is a special bonus, School Spirit, recorded before a live audience for a Halloween radio broadcast: After a nighttime brush with the supernatural, will Michelle’s first day of high school be her last?"
"The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, brings Julius Caesar to life with this new full-length, full-cast dramatic recording of its definitive Folger Edition.
Shakespeare may have written Julius Caesar as the first of his plays to be performed at the Globe, in 1599. For it, he turned to a key event in Roman history: Caesar’s death at the hands of friends and fellow politicians. Renaissance writers disagreed over the assassination, seeing Brutus, a leading conspirator, as either hero or villain. Shakespeare's play keeps this debate alive.
This new unabridged audio recording of the well-respected edition of Shakespeare’s classic—expertly produced by the Folger Theatre—is perfect for students, teachers, and the everyday listener."
"The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, brings Richard III to life with this new full-length, full-cast dramatic recording of its definitive Folger Edition.
In Richard III, Shakespeare invites us on a moral holiday. The play draws us to identify with Richard and his fantasy of total control of self and domination of others. Not yet king at the start of the play, Richard presents himself as an enterprising villain as he successfully plans to dispose of his brother Clarence. Richard achieves similar success in conquering the woman he chooses to marry. He carves a way to the throne through assassination and executions.
But Richard also meets resistance, most threateningly from Queen Margaret, widow of King Henry VI, whom he killed before the play’s beginning. Margaret issues a stream of curses, including one on Richard.
Gradually, the curses are fulfilled, suggesting the curse on Richard may come true, too. Increasingly, the play directs our sympathies away from Richard. His supporters desert him; his victims pile up. We may begin to share in the desire for vengeance voiced by Margaret.
This new unabridged audio recording of the well-respected edition of Shakespeare’s classic—expertly produced by the Folger Theatre—is perfect for students, teachers, and the everyday listener."
"Academy-Award winner Athol Fugard, one of theatre's most acclaimed playwrights, finds humor and heartbreak in the friendship of Harold, a 17-year old white boy in 1950's South Africa, and the two middle aged black servants who raised him. Racism unexpectedly shatters Harold's childhood and friendships in this absorbing, affecting coming of age play.
The play, initially banned from production in South Africa, is a Drama Desk Award winner for Outstanding New Play.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Leon Addison Brown, Keith David and Bobby Steggert."
"Set in a South African traveling amusement park on New Year’s Eve, Athol Fugard’s “Playland” explores the possibilities for blacks and whites to find understanding in a racially divided world. A volatile dialogue begins when two men - a former soldier and a night watchman - delve into their sordid pasts.
A Steppenwolf Theatre Company production.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording starring Lou Ferguson, Francis Guinan, and Paul Sandberg.
Directed by Nan Withers-Wilson. Recorded before a live audience by L.A. Theatre Works."
"The fateful collision of a lonely Jewish baker and a passionate Palestinian sets in motion a deepening friendship as the two struggle with identity and loyalty to their beliefs and to each other. An act of violence brought them together. Will another tear them apart?
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Omar Metwally, Megan Austin Oberle, Annabelle Gurwitch, Martin Rayner and Andre Sogliuzzo."
"When a group of American professors gathers in London to teach a theatre course, the sparks fly as they squabble over academic politics, with egos, reputations, and careers at stake.
An L.A. Theatre Works full cast production, starring Ken Baltin, William Cain, Tara Callaghan, Lindsay Crouse, Julie Harris, Will Lyman, Kathleen McInerny, Dossy Peabody, Paula Plum, Alan Rachins, Mark Schilling, Wallace Shawn.
Directed by Andreas Teuber. Recorded before a live audience by L.A. Theatre Works."
"A darkly satirical play written at the height of the AIDS crisis. As a young woman is diagnosed with a mysterious new illness, she and her beloved brother flee to Europe in search of a cure … and to escape the pain and uncertainty of the future.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Jenny Bacon, Christopher Donahue and Jerry Saslow."
"He was a friend of George Washington and a decorated hero of the Revolutionary War. What caused Benedict Arnold to renounce his country and become one of America’s most reviled figures? Richard Dreyfuss stars in Richard Nelson’s dramatic and surprisingly modern take on the man whose name is now a synonym for being a traitor.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, starring Samantha Bennett, Steven Culp, Keene Curtis, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Durning, Dominic Keating, Shirley Knight, Richard Hoyt Miller, Laurel Moglen, and Douglas Weston.
Directed by Gordon Hunt and recorded before a live audience by L.A. Theatre Works."
"When her husband dies, aging Miss Helen begins to fill her home in the remote South African bush with strange sculptures made from beer cans and old headlights. A local clergyman and a young woman visitor try to decide whether Miss Helens peculiar art is an outpouring of creativity or an outbreak of madness. An incandescent drama by South Africa’s most celebrated playwright.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Julie Harris, Amy Irving and Harris Yulin."
""Mr. Belasco has written the following account of "Peter's" evolution: [ ] The play, "The Return of Peter Grimm," is an expression in dramatic form of my ideas on a subject which I have pondered over since boyhood: "Can the dead come back?" Peter Grimm did come back. At the same time, I inserted a note in my program to say that I advanced no positive opinion; that the treatment of the play allowed the audience to believe that it had actually seen Peter, or that he had not been seen but existed merely in the minds of the characters on the stage. Spiritualists from all over the country flocked to see "The Return of Peter Grimm," and I have heard that it gave comfort to many. It was a difficult theme, and more than once I was tempted to give it up. But since it has given relief to those who have loved and lost, it was not written in vain." (Summary from Introduction)"
