SkyPilot’s first full production of 2022 is “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Divorce”.
July 9th - September 11th at Two Roads Theatre
Extended: October 9 - November 20th at New Collective Theatre
SkyPilot Theatre Company is happily launching the first production of its 2022 season, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Divorce by Jeff Gould. The play will open July 9th and run Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3 PM until August 7th and then from August 27th until September 11th. Performances will be at The Two Roads Theater 4348 Tujunga Ave Studio City, CA 91604. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at divorce.brownpapertickets.com or at the door. Proof of vaccination will be required.
A Funny Thing …, written by Jeff Gould and directed by Marc Antonio Pritchett, introduces three couples, all going through difficult divorces, as they anxiously and frustratingly wait in a room at a courthouse for an appointment with a mediator. Conversations begin, details of each of their troubled marriages are revealed and they eventually learn more about themselves and their relationships in just hours than they have in years of matrimony.
Cast includes: Anthony Backman, Ian Nemser, Marie Pettit, Corbin Timbrook, Bri Ana Wagner, and Laura Walker.
Also: Ayla Rose Barreau, Kelly Desarla, Albert Garnica, Patricia Mizen, Morris Schorr
Jeff Gould has written five plays with four having been produced to great acclaim and success, the most recent production being The Marriage Zone, which had a long run last year at Santa Monica Playhouse and was awarded “Best Writer of an Original Play” at the 2018 Valley Theatre Awards. Gould is also a journalist, actor and professional poker player.
Following this production, SkyPilot will continue its Runway series with several new plays that were selected.
“Think Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf… if it were written by Neil Simon instead of Edward Albee.”
“Director Marc Antonio Pritchett does a skillful job of fielding these free-for-all marital battles with an eye to their inherent humor – but also to their potentially poignant underpinnings.”
“The only thing harder than marriage is divorce. And the only thing harder than that is making divorce funny – a feat that SkyPilot Theatre’s world premiere of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Divorce actually accomplishes.”
“It was indeed worth its wait as this show holds plenty of laughs with a touch of somberness. These are the same emotions emoted when it comes to marriage. You can fight one moment and have a roll in the hay the next! And not necessarily in that order!”
“The performances are nuanced and tender, fiery and authentic, and truly excellent. What struck the the most about the stories of each couple and the wonderfully awkward empathy they have for each other was how human all these characters are.”
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Divorce is not only ceaselessly insightful throughout its 80-minute duration, but it also manages to convey its complex message about relationships with an incisive flair that features both clear and subtle brushstrokes on the topic of marriages on the brink — evoking laughter, deep thought, and even tears before the final bows.”
SkyPilot Runway Series Returns
June 8, 2022
The opening selection is Ice Breakers
Los Angeles – June 2022 – SkyPilot Theatre Company’s Runway series returns after a two year hiatus, and more delays, opening its 2022 season with a brand new play reading. Ice Breakers will finally be performed on Wednesday, June 8th at 8pm at Oh My Ribs! Theater, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. The production is free to the public with proof of vaccination at the door.
SkyPilot, a well-established greenhouse for the development of new theatrical works, continues Runway, a play reading series that helps to develop new plays in the early drafts stage. The readings are directed by prominent Los Angeles theatre directors in partnership with the playwrights. They are rehearsed, staged, on their feet and performed with scripts-in-hand, immediately followed by a focused feedback session with a moderator, the playwright, and the audience.
Ice Breakers, written by Nick Freedson and directed by Stephen Juhl, was initially chosen as a finalist for the 2020 season after a nationwide search. As struggling single mother Beth prepares for the perfect Christmas Eve with her son, an unexpected visit from her estranged daughter, Liz, throws her world into chaos once more. The longer Liz stays in the house with her brother and mother, the more she and Beth begin to remember what tore their family apart. As tensions rise, the past turns from a blurred mirage to a vivid nightmare as a brother, mother and daughter must come to terms with their own mistakes to move on as individuals and as a family
Cast: Goreti Da Silva, Alyssa Klein, Luc Rosenthal, Karen Brundage, Stefani Lah, Tina Walsch
Nick Freedson is an actor and playwright currently based in Los Angeles and represented by Johnson Talent Agency. He received his B.A in Theatre and Community from UC Santa Barbara in 2020 and continues to write and perform after graduating. Previous work includes “This Is Not A Drill” performed at Skypilot’s 2018 one act festival and another workshop of Ice Breaks at Center Stage Theater in Santa Barbara. One of his plays, Anna, has been chosen to appear in the New York United Solo Festival next year and is in the process of making its LA debut.
Following this production, SkyPilot will continue its Runway series with several new plays that were selected.
Act Your Age!, written by Art Shulman and directed by Stephen Juhl, was initially chosen as a finalist for the 2020 season after a nationwide search. It concerns a man who is reluctant to be a grandfather. Although age 60, he conceives of himself as still young. His wife is excited about the baby’s arrival, setting up a conflict with him. At about the same time his fellow players in his regular basketball game have asked him to leave because of his decline in basketball ability. His daughter, in addition to being aware of her father’s reluctance, is also having marital problems, since her husband seems not to want the baby. The cast includes Morry Schorr, Tudy Roche, Jennifer Skiffington, Luc Rosenthal, and Ayla Rose Barreau.
Art Shulman has had many full-length plays produced on stage, including Champ & His Four Women, I Got Troubles, The Rabbi’s Mission, Whoopsie Doopsie!, The Rabbi & The Shiksa, Not One More Foot Of Land!, Old Broads Can’t Dunk, The $4 Million Giveaway, Bring Me A Miracle!, and the Xmas musical, Trolls Stole The North Pole. Recently his work has been produced on Zoom, including the one-acts Renewing Vows, The Actawr & The Directawr, and Sex Is For the Heart, as well as the full-length plays, September 10 and BIAS.
SkyPilot’s 2022 Runway Season Soars Onward
Theatre Company Announces Next Selection, Tight Knit
Get ready to check in for the third selection of the award-winning SkyPilot Theatre Company’s Runway series Tight Knit, which will be performed Wednesday, September 7th at 8pm at Oh My Ribs! Theatre, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. The production is open to the public with a $5 suggested donation at the door.
Based on a true story, Tight Knit is a dark comedy about one very modern family. Written by Leland Frankel and directed by Tim Martin Gleason, it is Gregory's second birthday party and in attendance are his moms Gwen and Marnina, Gwen's younger brother Spencer, and Spencer's girlfriend Maddie. Everything is fine until a slip of the tongue reveals a startling secret: Spencer is Gregory's biological father, the result of a sperm donation made at his sister's request. Their pleasant afternoon spirals into a bleakly hilarious whirlpool of vicious quips, difficult truths, and really bad modern art. Tight Knit is a uniquely contemporary look at love, parenthood, and trust that asks us what binds people together and, more dangerously, what compels people to tear each other apart?
The cast includes Alyssa Klein, Brandon Root, Brittany Hoagland, Candace Ostrander and Karen Brundage.
The reading will be immediately followed by a focused feedback session with a moderator, the playwright, and the audience.
Leland Frankel is an award-winning film-maker, playwright, and immersive artist. His stage projects have been produced around the world, from New York to London to Rome. His debut feature as a screenwriter Unidentified Objects was the US centerpiece screening at Outfest 2022, where it received prizes for Best Narrative Feature and Best Performer. Other creative honors received by Leland include a $50,000 grant from the Richard Vague Production Fund, a theater residency at The Three Clubs in Hollywood, and inclusion in the Frontières International Co-Production Market. Leland is based in Los Angeles, CA.
Following this production, SkyPilot will continue its Runway series with a double bill of Judy Klass plays, Hallway House and Cozy Murder on Sunday, September 18th at 7PM, Driftwood by Donald Loftus on Wednesday, October 12th at 8PM and closing out the season will be The Devil’s Buddy by Dana Hammer on Wednesday, October 26th at 8PM. All reading will take place at Oh My Ribs! Theater, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles.
SkyPilot Upgrades Next Runway to First Klass
Theatre Company Announces Double Bill, Cozy Murder and Hallway House
SkyPilot Theatre Company continues its ever-popular Runway series with a double bill of Judy Klass plays. Cozy Murder and Hallway House will be performed Sunday, September 18th at 7pm at Oh My Ribs! Theatre, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. The production is open to the public with a $5 suggested donation at the door. There will be a brief intermission in between the two plays.
SkyPilot, a well-established greenhouse for the development of new theatrical works, continues Runway, a play reading series that helps to develop new plays in the early drafts stage. The readings are directed by prominent Los Angeles theatre directors in partnership with the playwrights. They are rehearsed, staged, on their feet and performed with scripts-in-hand, immediately followed by a focused feedback session with a moderator, the playwright, and the audience.
In Cozy Murder, directed by Morris Schorr, a group of people are staying at a bed and breakfast in a small town in Maine that hosts a summer mystery play festival -- when all of a sudden, one of them turns up dead.
Then in Hallway House, directed by Daniel Guzman, Michael, Emily and Dianne are part of a group of friends who have admired and quoted 1920s writers like Dorothy Parker since college -- and Michael and Emily can't help wondering if their odd, intense friendship and in-jokes make it hard for them to have romantic relationships with more "normal" people that last.
The casts includes Tudi Roche, Anthony Backman, Ayla Rose Barreau, Jerry Weil, Karen Brundage, Alyssa Klein, Shelby Janes, Stephen Juhl, Tina Walsch, Albert Garnica, Nick Freedson, and Kelly DeSarla.
Eight of Judy Klass' full-length plays have been produced onstage. Cell is published by Samuel French/Concord. After Tartuffe has been published online in The Courtship of Winds. Country Fried Murder won the SOPS competition, and was produced at the Shawnee Playhouse in Pennsylvania in 2019. It had a new production over Zoom with Quarantine Players in 2021 and was released as a podcast and a Zoom recording on YouTube. In all, two of Judy's full-length plays and of her six one-acts have been produced as podcasts. Thirty-eight of her one-act plays have been produced onstage, many with multiple productions, all over the US. A few have been produced in the UK and Ireland. Four productions in Canadian festivals are pending. Two of her short plays stream from the Shelter Plays platform. Three of her short plays are published, each as a stand-alone script, by Brooklyn Publishers. Others have been published in Seven Hills Review, Ponder Review, some scripts literary magazines, and anthologies like The Best New Ten-Minute Plays 2021 and The Art of the One-Act. There is more info at www.judyklass.com.
Following this production, SkyPilot will continue its Runway series with a Driftwood by Donald Loftus on Wednesday, October 12th at 8PM and closing out the season will be The Devil’s Buddy by Dana Hammer on Wednesday, October 26th at 8PM. All reading will take place at Oh My Ribs! Theater, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles.
Final Runway of the Season: The Devil’s Buddy
SkyPilot Theatre Company’s Runway series will close out its 2022 season with a dark comedy. The Devil’s Buddy will be performed on Wednesday, October 26th at 8pm at Oh My Ribs! Theater, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. The production is open to the public with a $5 suggested donation at the door.
SkyPilot, a well-established greenhouse for the development of new theatrical works, continues Runway, a play reading series that helps to develop new plays in the early drafts stage. The readings are directed by prominent Los Angeles theatre directors in partnership with the playwrights. They are rehearsed, staged, on their feet and performed with scripts-in-hand, immediately followed by a focused feedback session with a moderator, the playwright, and the audience.
In The Devil’s Buddy, written by Dana Hammer and directed by Morris Schorr, a young homeless man’s life is turned upside down when he becomes the Devil’s errand boy. As he is drawn deeper and deeper into the Devil’s plans, he must decide once and for all who he wants to be — good or evil. But what is evil, exactly?
Dana Hammer is a playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer. Her short plays have been published in a variety of journals and magazines, and she has had staged readings from Orange County Playwrights Alliance, Crafton Hills College, and the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative. Her short plays “A Helping Hand” and “Chat Noir” have received full productions by Force of Nature Productions, and her monologue “Sandcastles” received a full production by Plank Island Theatre Company. Her play “I Live Here Now” was selected for Lemonfest and Festival de la Bete Noire — though both festivals were canceled due to Covid. Her audio plays have been produced on a variety of podcasts. She is a Eugene O’Neill semifinalist, and she writes a LOT.
The cast includes Luc Rosenthal, Nick Freedson, Tabatha Skanes, Laura Walker, Jeff Gould, Ari Litman-Weinberg, and Amberlee Clark.