Friends of Franklin Avenue Get Busy

From time to time, friends ask me if I can plug events that they’ve masterminded or are participating in. It just so happens that I’ve heard from three different people this week: Apparently my friends are busy.

So here’s what’s up. Consider it a “Friends of Franklin Avenue Events Calendar”:

:: Our friend Lizzy organized “Immigrant Experience,” which begins showing next month at the American Friends Service Committee.

According to the website, “Immigrant Experience” highlights art that demonstrates “the spirituality that immigrants bring to their new landscape, symbolizing not only their connection to their cultures and inheritance, but also what helps them live out their lives and sustains their spirit.”

The exhibit opens with an artists reception on Dec. 6 at 6 p.m.; after that, the show continues through March 12.

“Immigrant Experience”
American Friends Service Committee
634 S. Spring St., 3rd Floor
Los Angeles, California 90014
(213) 489-1900

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:: An old Northwestern friend, Kevin F. Sherry, alerted me to Ruby Lake, the sketch/improv soap opera spoof that he’s involved with. The Ruby Lake team have condensed the soap opera’s various episodes into one short play, which will run during the Los Angeles Comedy Festival.

Details here. Tix are $10.

Friday, November 21, 2008; 8 p.m.
The Art/Works Theatre
6569 Santa Monica Blvd.

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:: Another old NU friend, Maggie Bandur, writes that she recently penned a short play in an evening of easy, bite-sized pieces for <a href="www.thenextarena.com
” target=”_blamk”>The Next Arena, “a very good small theater company I recently got involved in.”

The show is called “HISTRIONICS: An Evening of Historical Proportions”; Maggie’s play, directed by Stuart Meltzer, is “More White Meat.”

Opening night gala takes place Nov. 7 at 8 p.m.; after that, shows are also Nov. 8, 13-15, 20-22, and 28-30. General admission (except opening night) is $18.

The Lounge Theatre
6201 Santa Monica Blvd
(@ El Centro, one block East of Vine)

They Say The Neon Lights Are Bright on Broadway (And The Rest of L.A.)

Above, the renovated Palladium’s new sign — nicely re-created from images of how the sign once looked.

Yesterday, we wrote about the Museum of Neon Arts’ new home in downtown Los Angeles. The MONA’s neon cruises are still going strong, and on Saturday night the museum’s Eric Evavold invited us to check one out.

With the Blogger Preschooler’s grandparents in town, the timing was perfect. Maria and I got there early enough for a wine and cheese at the museum, before heading out at 8 p.m. sharp. Eric led us through downtown (including Broadway) and Chinatown (where the bus took a break). Then it was on to Hollywood (maneuvering around the anti-Prop 8 rally) and Fairfax, where we took another break at Canter’s. Final leg of the tour took us down Wilshire.

Eric Evavold, our guide for the evening.

The Orpheum — Broadway’s best example of how to revitalize the street’s movie palaces.

Also on Broadway: The old Globe theater.

Old Chinatown signs, recently restored (partly by MONA) and installed (in some cases, for the first time in decades).

One of the city’s best examples of adaptive reuse: Bullocks Wilshire, now a part of the Southwestern School of Law.

The floor in front of Clifton’s Brookdale.

Hollywood rallies to put a stop to Prop 8, as seen from the MONA bus.

Get Your Free Theater Tix While You Can

The national Free Night of Theatre campaign has made its way to Los Angeles, and free tix to local shows are still available.

Check here to see what shows are still available for free. Many of the more popular plays are already sold out, but others aren’t. And there are shows going into early November available.

Some details on the promotion:

Free Night of Theater (FNOT) is the annual national audience development program to attract new theatergoers to America’s professional not-for-profit theatres. Since the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) launched the pilot program in 2005, Free Night of Theater has increased in scope and participation each year. This year will be the largest Free Night of Theater celebration since its inception in San Francisco, expanding to over 700 companies and attracting 75,000 new theatergoers from coast to coast.

Brad Erickson, Executive Director of Theatre Bay Area says, “The demand for live theatre—when it’s made accessible to all—is overwhelming. We’re bringing in new audiences—young people, people of color, people from all walks of life—and they are coming back for more. Free Night of Theater has thrown the doors of our theatres open wide.”

The National Free Night of Theater now takes place in 120 cities across the country.