"As the story broke yesterday, now-laid off LA Weekly writer Keith Plocek posted a brief, ominous article, asking, “who owns the publication you’re reading right now?” And, adding, “The new owners… don’t want you to know who they are. They are hiding from you. They’ve got big black bags with question marks covering their big bald heads.” -- BY PAUL BIRCHALL
"Everyone in the town’s intimate theater scene should be delighted with this prospect of a small local theater’s well-deserved rise to mid-size, though the economics of all that will need to be massaged, and may even require several visits to a chiropractor after negotiating with the stage actors’ union. But if anyone can iron out the knots and aches of a mid-size frame, Rivera can. For years, he has been one of the town’s hardest working journeyman directors and opinion makers, and his new home base promises to become central to a bona fide neighborhood and its extended community that’s connected to the school."
"The document suggests that two events changed the mood of Arney’s tenure at the Geffen, the first being the transfer of Gil Cates, Jr. (son of the theater’s late producing director and Board Chair, Gil Cates) from Board Vice Chair to Executive Director. The second event occurred when Arney manifested early stroke-like symptoms of Bell’s Palsy." -- BY PAUL BIRCHALL
“The case, on the face of it, is pretty simple,” Scott Guy told Stage Raw. “We’re asking to be removed from the Do Not Work list. We’re asking to be recognized as a membership company.” BY PAUL BIRCHALL
"Stage Raw was sorry to hear about the passing of the great local and Seattle theater designer Gary Smoot, who died in Seattle last May. Amongst his many contributions to shows at L.A.’s Circle X, Smoot served as production designer for productions of Love Loves a Pornographer, The American Book of the Dead, and for his extremely memorable set design in Great Men of Science, No 21 and 22. He’d been a multi-award winner of many LA Weekly, Garland, and LADCC accolades, and, in addition to frequent gigs with New York theaters, was a long time company member of Seattle’s Annex Theatre." -- BY PAUL BIRCHALL
". . . Another plaintiff in the AEA lawsuit, Michael A. Shepperd, was just elected to the union’s National Council – yes the same Council that overturned a 2/3 referendum of local membership to preserve the 99-Seat Plan, in April 2015. AEA’s National Council, in its actions, has been largely dismissive of the stated concerns of Los Angeles stage actors over the past two years." -- BY PAUL BIRCHALL
"What was important was that the panelists were all playwrights, and, as playwrights, their considerations, fears, and hopes were essentially the same as playwrights working in any genre – e.g., how do we get our plays performed, and how do we grow great theater?” --BY PAUL BIRCHALL
"A few days after the ad was posted, Rivera’s casting director Raul Clayton Staggs and Rivera received a letter from a mysterious address Equityworksla@yahoo.com, which, at the bottom of the letter and in small font, stated, “We are in no way authorized to represent AEA and this notification has not been approved or authorized by AEA. We are concerned, professional members of the L.A. Theatre community and we are in support of their efforts.” --BY PAUL BIRCHALL
“Los Angeles Intimate Theatre is a thriving incubator with a track record of critically acclaimed productions. Many have gone on to other venues, creating jobs along the way. It needs to be treated with the same care as any other small business community.”
"This is, obviously, quite bad news for the local theater scene and we will need to take some time to absorb just what all this means and how we will react to it. Already, we are seeing several Facebook posts from Equity actors who are vowing to go rogue and act secretly (and, yes, illegally) on 99 seat stages. Others are seriously discussing the notion of going FiCore, a topic discussed at length in journalist Myron Meisel’s excellent earlier Stage Raw article." --BY PAUL BIRCHALL