THE LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE AWARDED FIRST GRANT FROM
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
Grant Will Support Upcoming U.S. Premiere Production of The Master of the House
DECEMBER 12, 2006 - LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA – The Laguna Playhouse, a leading nonprofit resident professional theatre company, has been awarded a grant of $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the first time it has ever received funding from the federal agency. The grant will help support the theatre’s upcoming U.S. Premiere production of Shmuel Hasfari’s The Master of the House, winner of the 2003 Best Play Award in Israel, which will run March 27-April 29, 2007.
The production will be directed by Playhouse executive director Richard Stein, who said the following about the project and the grant: “The Master of the House is a wryly comic drama based on the universal conflict between a husband and wife over remodeling their home. The marvelous thing about the play is that it is also a deeply perceptive exploration of the conflicts between fashion and tradition in a society that values both. We feel especially privileged to have our project selected for support since the NEA has extremely limited funding. Although the Playhouse enjoys strong private sector support, an NEA grant not only provides needed funds but communicates that our organization is highly regarded on a national level—and that can generate even more support locally.”
Hasfari is one of Israel’s most prominent and most produced playwrights, a writer whose work is both popular and controversial there. His plays frequently debut at The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, the nation’s foremost theatre company, where The Master of the House premiered and has run for over 600 performances. It is the first Israeli play ever produced by the Laguna Playhouse, and the author will travel to Laguna Beach for this American debut.
The Laguna Playhouse is one of the region’s largest nonprofit resident professional theatre companies and is the oldest continuously operating theatre company on the West Coast, founded in 1920. In the 1990s, the leadership team of Richard Stein, Executive Director, and Andrew Barnicle, Artistic Director, transformed The Laguna Playhouse to professional status from its amateur origins.
Among its notable accomplishments have been the production of two national tours (Copenhagen, 2002, and Julie Harris in The Belle of Amherst, 2000-01), the first musical cast album produced by a nonprofit resident professional theatre outside of New York (Gunmetal Blues, 2000), the transfer of productions to Los Angeles (The Last Session and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, 1998) and San Jose (Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays With Morrie, 2004, co-produced with San Jose Repertory Theatre), and the production of numerous play premieres (world, U.S., West coast, and southern California), including two world premieres it commissioned being produced this season.
The Laguna Playhouse is also noted for outstanding educational programs for young audiences and in Southern California schools. The theatre currently offers more than 350 performances each season with yearly attendance of over 100,000 theatregoers, and operates on an annual budget of $7 million. The Laguna Playhouse is a member of the League of Resident Theatres, which represents the nation’s largest nonprofit professional theatres in collective bargaining with the theatre unions, including Actors’ Equity Association, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and United Scenic Artists.
Initially performing in homes and storefronts, The Laguna Playhouse built its first theatre on Ocean Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach in 1924. In 1969, it relocated to its new Moulton Theater on Laguna Canyon Road, next door to the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. Since the 1980s, The Laguna Playhouse has envisioned the expansion of its facilities to include a second theatre space in addition to the 420-seat, city-owned Moulton Theatre. In 1998, The Laguna Playhouse purchased an office complex at 580 Broadway, considered the ideal site for expansion since it is next door to the Moulton Theatre. The Laguna Playhouse is actively engaged in planning its new facility and will announce those plans at a later time.
For more information, go to www.LagunaPlayhouse.com.
Click here to read the NEA Grant awarded to The Playhouse.
Media Contact: Greg Patterson, 949-497-2787 ext. 216
E-mail: gpatterson@lagunaplayhouse.com
