Pasadena Playhouse

Last month's exit by Stephen Eich as executive director at the Pasadena Playhouse last month was greeted with a mixture of regret and gratitude in the theater community. Eich was a crucial player in rescuing the old venue from financial ruin. Stepping in as interim executive director is Charles Dillingham, former managing director for two decades at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, which includes the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre. He is currently a vice president at the Arts Consulting Group, and brings with him four decades of executive experience at a variety of performing arts companies, from the American Ballet Theatre to the Brooklyn Academy of Music Theatre Company.

Pasadena Playhouse had a rough 2010, but executives with the venerable theater group have shed long-standing financial burdens and are looking ahead to the launch of the 2011-12 season Sept. 16. In February 2010, the 94-year-old organization closed its theater doors after staging just one of its planned productions. In May, the playhouse filed for bankruptcy. It had $102,000 in cash and savings, but owed more than $2.3 million to creditors. The company planned to restructure and emerge from bankruptcy within two months.

Michael J. Arvizu The theater is dark no more for Furious Theatre Company. As a matter of fact, the lights have gotten brighter and spots have been added. Beginning this fall, Furious Theatre Company will stage full-scale productions in the Pasadena Playhouse's 99-seat Balcony Theatre as part of a partership with the Playhouse. For the first time since May of 2003, Furious will have a permanent space in which to produce its shows. Previously, the company had to stage productions on the shipping and receiving dock of Armory Northwest, a former plastics factory owned by the city of Pasadena.

Things will heat up this month when the Pasadena Playhouse presents Nilo Cruz's "Anna in the Tropics," winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in drama. This lyrical, passionate tale runs from Jan. 7 to Feb. 13. "Anna in the Tropics" is a co-production with Dallas Theater Center and the Arizona Theatre Company and is directed by Dallas Theater Center's artistic director Richard Hamburger. Opening night will be Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Hired to read to the employees at an antiquated Cuban cigar factory, Juan Julian soon falls for Conchita, an unhappily married employee whose husband has already betrayed her. Julian's novel of choice, Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," provides the dramatic and telling backdrop for the life-changing choices the characters must make.

Glendale resident Ruthanna Valentine wrote her first play when she was about 14 years old. It didn’t take long for her English teacher to notice her talent when she was in middle school. Valentine, 89, got a little help from her teacher, and before she knew it, she was writing plays based on conversations she had overheard, she said. But Valentine’s playwriting stint was short-lived. After graduating from high school in Pasadena, she decided to pursue creative writing in college.

Joyce Rudolph PASADENA -- Jazz violinist Lesa Terry of Glendale will participate in a panel sponsored by the Pasadena Playhouse in connection with its production of "Side Man" on Saturday, June 2. Titled "A Great Day of Jazz," the symposium is free to the public and will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave. The three panels are Jazz in Hollywood, from 10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.,...

The Glendale Centre Theatre announced last week that it will be offering Pasadena Playhouse season ticket holders the opportunity to watch, for free, the iconic Glendale theater’s production of “Kiss Me, Kate,” which opens Thursday. Pasadena Playhouse, in operation since 1917, held its last curtain call Sunday for its performance of “Camelot.” The theater’s closure was announced Jan. 30. Glendale Centre Theatre, at 324 N. Orange St., will set aside a select number of seats for each performance of the musical, on a first-come first-served basis, during the show’s run, which ends April 3, said Glendale Centre Theatre Executive Producer Tim Dietlein.

When does faith become fury? An empty Florida condo. Three dead bodies. Is this a shady crime scene or God's fateful hand at work? Perceptions keep changing as "Grace" deconstructs the marriage of an intensely Christian couple, their not-so-religious disfigured neighbor, a shaky business deal ? and the way religious ideas make sense, and sometimes nonsense, of life's events. This is a darkly funny, sometimes hilarious, deadly serious and provocative new play from Craig Wright, writer of "Recent Tragic Events" and HBO's "Six Feet Under."

New Horizons Family Center's after-school programs in south Glendale will benefit from a performance on Jan. 15 at The Pasadena Playhouse. The play, "Anna in the Tropics," which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play, is a love story between two employees at an Cuban cigar factory. It was written by Cuban American playwright Nilo Cruz. A VIP reception will be from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. with the performance beginning at 9 p.m. Tickets are $50 for the performance only or $75 for the VIP reception and preferred theater seating.

Last month's exit by Stephen Eich as executive director at the Pasadena Playhouse last month was greeted with a mixture of regret and gratitude in the theater community. Eich was a crucial player in rescuing the old venue from financial ruin. Stepping in as interim executive director is Charles Dillingham, former managing director for two decades at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, which includes the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre. He is currently a vice president at the Arts Consulting Group, and brings with him four decades of executive experience at a variety of performing arts companies, from the American Ballet Theatre to the Brooklyn Academy of Music Theatre Company.

Dr. Gordon Breitman, long-time resident of La Canada and community physician for over 45 years, passed away in his home at the age of 78 in Henderson, NV, on April 4, surrounded by loving family. He is remembered for his kindness, warmth, thoughtfulness and good deeds. A believer in community service, he spent much of his spare time while a La Canada resident volunteering as President of the Friends of the Library, working to improve the Pasadena Playhouse and the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.

Last month's exit by Stephen Eich as executive director at the Pasadena Playhouse last month was greeted with a mixture of regret and gratitude in the theater community. Eich was a crucial player in rescuing the old venue from financial ruin. Stepping in as interim executive director is Charles Dillingham, former managing director for two decades at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, which includes the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre. He is currently a vice president at the Arts Consulting Group, and brings with him four decades of executive experience at a variety of performing arts companies, from the American Ballet Theatre to the Brooklyn Academy of Music Theatre Company.

Last month's exit by Stephen Eich as executive director at the Pasadena Playhouse last month was greeted with a mixture of regret and gratitude in the theater community. Eich was a crucial player in rescuing the old venue from financial ruin. Stepping in as interim executive director is Charles Dillingham, former managing director for two decades at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, which includes the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre. He is currently a vice president at the Arts Consulting Group, and brings with him four decades of executive experience at a variety of performing arts companies, from the American Ballet Theatre to the Brooklyn Academy of Music Theatre Company.

When the Pasadena Playhouse filed for bankruptcy in 2010, closing its doors and some $2.3 million in debt, a leading player in its recovery and reopening later that year was Stephen Eich, the respected former managing director of both Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the Geffen Playhouse. Eich took on the position of executive director at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2009 to help guide the venerable theater back to solvency. Now, less than three years later, he is leaving that position to pursue projects of his own, he said.

Pasadena Playhouse had a rough 2010, but executives with the venerable theater group have shed long-standing financial burdens and are looking ahead to the launch of the 2011-12 season Sept. 16. In February 2010, the 94-year-old organization closed its theater doors after staging just one of its planned productions. In May, the playhouse filed for bankruptcy. It had $102,000 in cash and savings, but owed more than $2.3 million to creditors. The company planned to restructure and emerge from bankruptcy within two months.

What do you get when you cross the creative son of a Venetian espresso salesman with a passion for all things Disney, an eye for carnival costume design, a love of origami and a musical ear? The result is artist Ennio Marchetto and his ever-evolving live performance, “The Living Paper Cartoon” appearing Aug. 23 through 28 at the Pasadena Playhouse. The 51-year-old Ennio, a self-described clown, unfolds a unique, musical-comedic parody of current pop stars and classic icons using quick-change costumes made of paper and cardboard.

Edward N. (“Ned”) Glad, a retired attorney and honorary Officer of the British Empire, died March 4 from natural causes.  He was 91. Born on June 30, 1919 in Polk, Nebraska, Glad was a leading customs lawyer in the country, known for his litigation prowess in the U.S. Customs Court that led to significant international recognition.  Prior to his legal career, Ned served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy during WWII.  He was part of the officer class who commissioned the U.S.S.

The Glendale Centre Theatre announced last week that it will be offering Pasadena Playhouse season ticket holders the opportunity to watch, for free, the iconic Glendale theater’s production of “Kiss Me, Kate,” which opens Thursday. Pasadena Playhouse, in operation since 1917, held its last curtain call Sunday for its performance of “Camelot.” The theater’s closure was announced Jan. 30. Glendale Centre Theatre, at 324 N. Orange St., will set aside a select number of seats for each performance of the musical, on a first-come first-served basis, during the show’s run, which ends April 3, said Glendale Centre Theatre Executive Producer Tim Dietlein.

Glendale needs a culture shock Nora Mossessian is absolutely right (“Local color is disappearing,” Mailbag, Wednesday). Glendale has very little that is interesting in the way of shopping, accommodations or the arts. There was a proposal for a cartoon museum in Glendale, which would have attracted a lot of visitors from outside Glendale as well as from Glendale. The City Council dropped the ball on this, and we have no museum. A Noise Within is one of the best repertory theater groups in California, winning Ovation award after award.

The place to be to exercise and socialize is Disco Night on a Friday night at the Glendale Curves on West Kenneth Road. Last Friday evening’s Disco Night was no exception. Down came the daytime lights, up came the red and blue disco spotlights, pounding disco music and twirling disco ball. Owner Zovig Injejikian likes to have fun and makes sure her exercise patrons do, too. Glendale residents and Curves members Ritta Hovsepian , her niece Ashley Barsamian and Aida Kanchian let their hair down and discoed.