MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS

 

Written by Ron Hutchinson

Directed by Andy Barnicle

 

November 6- 22, 2009

 

Making movie history isn’t easy! Just ask film producer David O. Selznick. Three weeks into production of his historical epic Gone With the Wind, he realizes the script isn’t working. Astoundingly, he halts production, fires the director and hires playwright Ben Hecht to rewrite the script in a record five days. There’s just one problem. Hecht’s never even read the novel. So, Selznick pulls famed director Victor Fleming off The Wizard of Oz and forces the three of them into a room until a new script is finished. Subsisting on a diet of bananas and peanuts, the three men spend five days crafting a screenplay that will become the blueprint for one of the most successful films of all time. This wildly funny and engaging tale illuminates the behind-the-scenes business of movie-making during the golden age of Hollywood. A co-production with The Laguna Playhouse.

Photo by Ed Krieger

"Andrew Barnicle's riotous staging!" -OC Register

"Handsomely appointed, crowd pleasing." - LA Times

"A huge triumph ...Moonlight and Magnolias may be the funniest play you’ll see this year!" - LAGUNA/NEWPORT COASTLINE-PILOT

"Exquisitely directed by Andrew Barnicle." - Riverside Press Enterprise

"Behind-the-scenes Hollywood has never been this funny." - EDGE Los
Angeles

"It is crowd-pleasing and a lighthearted screwball comedy." -Backstage

"A true gem of live theatre." - Event News

EMILY EIDEN (Miss Poppenghul) recently appeared at South Coast Repertory in the Alan Ayckbourn farce, Taking Steps and the kid's musical, A Year with Frog and Toad. Other favorite theatre credits include Tonight @ 8:30, Mother Courage and Her Children at the Antaeus Company; The Crucible and A Christmas Carol at International City Theatre; Charlotte's Web and Miss Nelson is Missing at Mainstreet Theatre Co.; and The Cradle Will Rock and Twelfth Night at Will Greer Theatricum Botanicum. Emily narrates two young adult audiobooks, Viola in Reel LIfe and The Amanda Project, both released early this fall. She earned a degree in Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean History from Pomona College and currently narrates Griffith Observatory's planetarium shows.

BRENDAN FORD (Victor Fleming) played Frank in Red Herring and Declan in Many Happy Returns at the Laguna Playhouse. Other recent credits include Howie in Rabbit Hole and Dominick in Amy's View at North Coast Rep., Harper in One Slight Hitch at the Falcon Theatre, Jamie in Long Day's Journey at the Lyceum Theater, Jack in Ernest In Love at the Fremont Theater, Arthur in Camelot at the Fullerton CLO, The Captian in Anything Goes for Reprise!, Neville Craven in Secret Garden at South Bay CLO, Vincent Van Gogh in the world premiere of Break of Day at the Lillian Theatre, Torvald in A Doll's House at LA Rep., Marco in the world premiere of Florinda at the Freud Playhouse, and at LATC, he played Laertes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in a six-actor Hamlet, and Leslie in Hostage. Brendan grew up in NYC where, among other roles, he played Laertes in Hamlet and Hastings in She Stoops to Conquer for the National Shakespear Co., Claudio in Measure for Measure at Westbeth Theatre Center, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at Columbia Shakespeare Festival and Valere in Tartuffe at Westside Rep. Brendan has appeared in the films Clear and Present Danger, The Net, George of the Jungle and If These Walls Could Talk. Brendan recently appeared in episodes of "CSI: Miami","Numbers", and "Notes from the Underbelly",and in the pilot of "Hot Properties". Other TV Credits include "The District", "The Pretender", "V.I.P.", "Beverly Hills 90210", "Chicago Hope", "Babylon 5", "Silk Stalkings" and has recurring roles on "Weekends at the D.L." on Comedy Central, "Pauly" and "The Young and the Restless."

LEONARD KELLY-YOUNG (Ben Hecht) received The Santa Barbara Independent Theatre Award for his performance as Dodge in Buried Child at the Ensemble Theatre of Santa Barbara where he also appeared as Frank in Memory of Water and George in Humble Boy. Previous appearances were in The Rainmaker (Sheriff Thomas) at A Noise Within Theatre and Bus Stop, receiving The Santa Barbara Independent Theatre Award for his performance of Dr. Lyman at the Rubicon Theatre. He also performed in Hamlet and You Can't Take It With You at The Rubicon. He starred as Titus in Titus Andronicus at The Old Globe Theatre. Other theatre credits include: The Mark Taper Forum (Tripp and Understudy to Peter Teazle) in School for Scandal, Goodman Theatre in Assassination 1865 (Jeff Award Ensemble), Missouri Repertory Theater as Carlson in Of Mice and Men, Cincinnati Playhouse in the premiere of Treasure Island, The Geva Theatre as Reverend Brown in Inherit the Wind and Marley in A Christmas Carol, Studio Arena Theatre as Bellair in Man of Mode, Worcester Foothills Theatre as Tessman in Hedda Gabler and The Huntington Theatre in Cyrano, Don Juan and Twelfth Night. He has performed at many Shakespeare Companies including: American Players Theatre, Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Shakespeare Festival and Will Geer THeatricum playing roles in Anthony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, As You Like It, Richard II and III, Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Loves Labor's Lost, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentleman of Verona, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Merchant of Venice, King Lear and many others. Leonard's TV credits include: "The Mentalist", "Madmen", "Boston Legal", "CSI", "The Shield", "Life", "Married with Children", "Ellen", "Pros and Cons", "Star Trek Enterprise", "Method and Red", "Hunter", "Silk Stalkings", "Renegade". His film credits include: My Brother Jack (Naples Film Festival), She's Got Revenge, Karla, Fallling, Evil Angel, Highway 395, Blowback, and Sliver to name a few. Recent films soon to be released include Deadheads and Looking in the Mirror.

Performances: November 6-22, 2009
Tues. – Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.;
Sat., 2:00 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:00 and 7 p.m.

Individual tickets are $50, $43, and $35. Seniors, student, children and group discounts are available.

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