Actor Patrick Keleher urges you to see ‘Fatherland’ at the Fountain Theatre

Video: Rave reviews everywhere for ‘Fatherland’ at the Fountain Theatre

Fountain Theatre announces national job search to replace outgoing artistic director Stephen Sachs

The Fountain Theatre board of directors has announced criteria in its national search to replace outgoing artistic director Stephen Sachs, who will retire at the end of 2024.

Sachs has been one of the most influential figures in the intimate theater scene in Los Angeles, not only as founding artistic director of the Fountain Theatre, but also as a playwright and director. The search seeks to find the individual best suited to honor and build upon Sachs’ legacy to lead the Fountain into the future and the next phase of its mission.

“The artistic director is the primary face of the organization, embodying and communicating the artistic vision and mission of the Fountain, and ensuring that the Fountain continues to be seen as one of the premier theaters in Los Angeles while advancing our national reputation,” states board chair Dorothy Wolpert.

Responsibilities of the new artistic director will include artistic leadership, including selecting and implementing full seasons of plays for the company; leading the development of new plays and the nurturing of new theater artists; and championing and sustaining arts education, dance and other programs, as well as administrative leadership: collaborating with the board to create and advance the organizational structure of the Fountain; supervising staff; and actively participating in all fundraising and development activities. Skills and qualifications include a B.A. or higher, preferably in the arts, and a minimum of five years experience as an artistic leader at a non-profit theater.

To find a detailed job description; a complete list of required skills, qualifications and personal leadership attributes; and information about salary and benefits, go to fountaintheatre.com/leadership-transition.

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, resume and writing sample on or before April 15 using this link. No phone calls please.

Questions can be sent via email to ADSearch@fountaintheatre.com.

Biddy Mason: A Staged Reading, a co-presentation of the Fountain Theatre, plays tonight at the Autry Museum

“If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in. The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance, even as it receives.”

–Bridget “Biddy” Mason

Tonight, March 7, at 7pm, a one-night only performance of Biddy Mason: A Staged Reading will be presented at the Autry Theatre. Directed and choreographed by Annie Loui, and based on a story by Dana Johnson, Biddy Mason is presented by The Autry Theatre, CounterBalance Theater, Ebony Repertory Theatre, and the Fountain Theatre. The 90-minute reading blends video projection, music, song, movement and dramatic storytelling to bring to life the powerful and inspiring true story of an extraordinary woman.  

Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born an enslaved female in 1818. Her exact birthdate and birthplace are unknown. As a teenager she was taught domestic and agricultural skills, and learned herbal medicine and midwifery from other enslaved women. At some point she was purchased by a Mississippi Morman convert named Robert Smith who moved his family and enslaved persons to the area that would become Salt Lake City. Along the long journey there, Biddy herded livestock, cooked the meals and acted as a midwife—all this while caring for her newborn child and her two young children, aged 4 and 10

In 1856, Smith decided to move again—this time to the slave state of Texas, where he planned to sell his enslaved people. Mason shared her fears of being separated from her children and never gaining her freedom to a couple of free black men. They, and others, helped her, and in 1856 Judge Benjamin Ignatius Hayes granted Mason and her family freedom.

In her new life, Biddy Mason worked as a nurse and midwife. At one point she cared for those afflicted with smallpox during the 1862 epidemic in Los Angeles. She saved her earnings and became one of the first Black women to own land in LA. She became a prosperous woman, and shared her good fortune with charities, fed the poor, and visited prisoners. She founded a traveler’s aid center, a school and day care for Black children, and the first elementary school for Black children in LA. She was also a founding member of the First AME Church of Los Angeles, and donated the land the church was built upon. Eventually she became to the community known simply as Grandma Mason.

Biddy Mason died on January 15, 1891 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights in an unmarked grave. Ninety-seven years later, her burial place was finally marked with a gravestone. She is remembered through the Biddy Mason monument in downtown Los Angeles, and her legacy lives on in the City of Angels.

The cast of Biddy Mason, pictured above, includes, from the top: Mary Hill as Biddy Mason; Leslie Lank as Mrs. Smith, Young Bandit, and Others; Kayla Quiroz as Latina Mother, Schoolteacher, Rita and Others. Bottom row: Garrett Gray as Charlie, Jeremiah and Others; April Mae Davis as the Voice of the Future, Ellen, Dana and Others; Alexander Quinones as Pio Pico, Dr. Griffin and Others; Abel Garcia as Master Smith, Judge Hayes, O’Malley and Others.

The Autry

4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462
T: 323.667.2000

The Autry is located across from the L.A. Zoo at the junction of the I-5 and 134 freeways.

Go Metro

Take the Metro Local Line 96 to the Autry stop (if headed north/from Union Station) or to the L.A. Zoo stop (if headed south/from Burbank). Plan your best route using the Trip Planner on metro.net.

Parking

Parking is always free at 4700 Western Heritage Way, directly in front of the Autry. Overflow parking is available across from the Autry in the L.A. Zoo lot for $8-10.

Tickets

Tickets are $5 for Autry Members, $10 for the General Public. Reservations required.

PLEASE NOTE: Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for an opportunity to visit the latest Autry Museum exhibitions and purchase food. Reading followed by a conversation with the creative team.

Fountain Theatre co-founding artistic director Stephen Sachs announces retirement

After 34 years as artistic director, Fountain Theatre co-founder Stephen Sachs has announced his retirement at the end of 2024.

“The more than three decades spent launching, nurturing, developing, and leading the growth of the Fountain Theatre have been the most joyous and meaningful years of my professional life.” Sachs wrote to the board of directors in a letter announcing his decision. “Thousands of artists have worked on our stage and in our arts education programs. Hundreds of thousands of patrons have walked through our door, sat in our seats, and been transported. Fountain plays are now produced around the world. We’ve been home to Pulitzer and Tony Award winners. Our artistic integrity is respected locally and across the country. We stand strong as an organization. My co-founder, beloved colleague and dear friend, Deborah Lawlor, passed away last May. This year, I turn 65. I look forward to many pleasant years traveling with my wife, relishing our two adult sons, perhaps writing a novel or two.”

Sachs and Lawlor, who passed away in 2023, assumed leadership of the Fountain Theatre in 1990. Together, they transformed the charming two-story building into one of the most highly regarded theaters in Los Angeles. Under Sachs’ guidance, the award-winning, intimate Fountain Theatre has established a national profile for excellence, producing new plays that reflect the diversity of Los Angeles and the nation, and serving young people throughout Southern California with its arts education programs. In recent years, a perilous time for performing arts organizations everywhere, he led the theater out of the pandemic, installing an outdoor stage in 2021 — the first performance venue permitted to serve the public by the City of Los Angeles and Actors’ Equity Association during COVID-19. He leaves the Fountain in the strongest financial position in its history.

“Our extraordinary founding artistic director, Stephen Sachs, leaves the Fountain healthy and vibrant, with a board of directors eager to protect and nourish his inspiring living legacy of great theater, community engagement, and brilliant innovation,” stated Fountain board president Dorothy Wolpert. “We are committed to finding a worthy successor who will carry that legacy into the future.”

A playwright, director and producer, Sachs has received every theater award in Los Angeles. He was recently honored by the Los Angeles City Council for “his visionary contributions to the cultural life of Los Angeles.”

Sachs is the author of 18 produced plays. His writing career began with his 1987 acclaimed stage adaptation of Italo Calvino’s The Baron in the Trees at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in Los Angeles of which the Los Angeles Times wrote, “If you know some people who have never witnessed a real play in action and might be wondering what all this theater stuff is about, take them to The Baron in the Trees.” His production of The Golden Gate, the first play he adapted and directed for the Fountain in 1990, traveled to San Francisco. Central Avenue, his chronicle of the Black L.A. jazz scene, ran for seven months in 2001. His deaf-themed Sweet Nothing in my Ear was made into a TV movie starring Marlee Matlin and Jeff Daniels, for which Sachs wrote the screenplay. Open Window debuted in 2005 at the Pasadena Playhouse. His adaptation of Claudia Rankine’s CITIZEN: An American Lyric earned rave reviews at the Fountain, was produced at the Kirk Douglas Theatre to launch CTG’s Block Party in 2017, and is now produced nationwide. His modern ASL spin on the classic Cyrano starred Oscar winner Troy Kotsur. After an extended run at the Fountain, Miss Julie: Freedom Summer was produced in Vancouver and Toronto. Sachs’ comedy/drama Bakersfield Mist premiered at the Fountain in 2011 and remains one of the theaters most beloved productions; after a seven-month sold-out run at the Fountain, the play was produced in London’s West End starring Kathleen Turner. Now produced throughout the United States, it’s been translated into many foreign languages and is performed worldwide. The world premiere of his current work, Fatherland, which he also directs, opens February 25.

In a career spanning decades, Sachs has directed dozens of award-winning productions at the Fountain, in regional theaters across the country, and off-Broadway. He inaugurated the Getty Villa’s outdoor classical theater with Hippolytos in 2006, and he directed Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers on a three-city tour of China for L.A. Theatre Works. Sachs received special permission from Arthur Miller to direct Miller’s rarely seen After the Fall. After seeing Sachs’ Los Angeles premiere production of The Road to Mecca, Athol Fugard asked him to direct the world premiere of Exits and Entrances; thus began a ten-year artistic partnership, with Sachs directing premieres of Fugard’s new plays at the Fountain, as well as off-Broadway at Primary Stages.

Under Sachs’ leadership, the Fountain also debuted new plays by such prominent playwrights as Robert Schenkkan, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Martyna Majok, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Dael Orlandersmith, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Sachs was instrumental in the formation and early development of Deaf West Theatre, giving the company’s founder, Ed Waterstreet, office space and a stage at the Fountain in 1991. Deaf West is now the foremost deaf theater company in the United States, honored with a Tony Award in 2004 for its innovative staging of the musical Big River. 

In partnership with Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, Sachs launched a new program that brought celebrity actors into Council Chambers for one-night readings of plays free to the public. All the President’s Men starred cast members from The West Wing, and a new spin on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington featured Sam Waterston. In 2019, O’Farrell hailed Sachs as “one of the great citizens and artists in our city.” 

A national search is underway to identify the Fountain Theatre’s next artistic director.

Fountain Theatre produces new play ‘Fatherland,’ true story of son who turned father in for Jan 6 attack on Capitol

A 19-year-old son faces the hardest day in his life when he testifies in federal court against his father after informing on him to the FBI. The Fountain Theatre presents the world premiere of Fatherland, a new work of verbatim theater conceived and directed by Fountain artistic director Stephen Sachs. Performances take place February 25 through March 30, with Pay-What-You-Want previews beginning February 22.

The first defendant to stand trial for the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, Guy Reffitt was found guilty on five criminal counts and sentenced to 7¼ years in prison — based in part on emotional testimony by his son. Fast-moving, powerful, and theatrical, Fatherland erupts verbatim from official court transcripts, case evidence, and public statements.

“This play is not a political diatribe,” says Sachs. “It’s the true personal story of a father and a son and the dangerous propaganda that drove them apart. Every word of it is true. It’s a shout of warning in this election year.”

”The heartbreaking family tragedy at the center of this true story is a brilliant window on the staggering human costs of the rise of fascism and the assault on democracy in America,” comments Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, whose play Building the Wall debuted at the Fountain in 2017.

Ron Bottitta (previously seen in Fountain Theatre productions of The Lifespan of a Fact and The Children, the voice of Carver Butcher on Call of Duty: Vanguard) stars as The Father, opposite Patrick Keleher (recurring co-star, The Egos on Amazon Prime) as The Son. Anna Khaja (AMC’s The Walking Dead: World Beyond) and Larry Poindexter (ABC’s Station 19, Days of Our Lives) take on the roles of the U.S District and Defense Attorneys.

The creative team includes scenic designer Joel Daavid; lighting designer Alison Brummer; sound designer Stewart Blackwood; costume designer Danyele Thomas; properties designer Jenine MacDonald;and graphics designer David Mellen. The production stage manager is Sati Thyme. Barbara Herman is executive producer; Dr Robert G Meadow and Carrie Menkel Meadow are producers; Simon Levy and James Bennett produce for the Fountain Theatre.

Stephen Sachs is the award-winning author of 19 plays produced in theaters across the United States and translated worldwide. His international hit, Bakersfield Mist, ran for three months on London’s West End starring Kathleen Turner, and Sweet Nothing in my Ear was made into a TV movie starring Marlee Matlin and Jeff Daniels. Over a theater career spanning nearly 40 years, Sachs has been honored with multiple awards, including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and two Ovation Awards for Best Director. He was recently honored by the Los Angeles City Council for “his visionary contributions to the cultural life of Los Angeles.”

The Fountain Theatre is dedicated to presenting outstanding theater that challenges thinking while shining an artistic light on social justice issues and on the diverse voices and cultures within Los Angeles. The L.A. City Council  commended the Fountain for “achieving a position of leadership in the Los Angeles theatre community… producing meaningful new plays of social and political importance that enrich the lives of the citizens of Los Angeles.” The Fountain is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Circle’s Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theater, presented for “outstanding productions of meaningful new plays and first-class performances spanning three decades.” Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty  hailed the Fountain, stating “No L.A. theater has done a better job of asking us to reexamine our lives through the lens of acute contemporary drama.”

TICKETS/MORE INFO

2023: A year to remember at the Fountain Theatre

Three hit productions of invigorating plays, transformative arts education programs, and the loss of two deeply significant Family members marked 2023 as a year we will always remember.

Now Casting: Nineteen year-old actor for lead role in Fountain Theatre’s world premiere ‘Fatherland’

The Fountain Theatre is casting the lead role for its upcoming World Premiere of Fatherland, a new play conceived and directed by Artistic Director Stephen Sachs. The riveting and powerful docu-drama opens February 22nd, 2024, and runs to March 30.

Fatherland tells the true story of a nineteen-year-old son who turned in his father to the FBI because of his dad’s role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Fast-moving, stylized, and theatrical, it is verbatim theatre. All of it comes from public statements, case evidence, and the official court transcript.

NOW CASTING:

[SON] 19, sensitive, bright, and soft-spoken. His gentle demeanor does not diminish his inner strength, determination. A liberal-minded socialist, his progressive beliefs fly against his father’s extreme right-wing manifesto. Emotionally and morally torn, he’s stunned and brokenhearted by what his father has become. Seeking a skilled young actor with a deep emotional well who can carry the complex lead of a play.

Rehearsal starts January 23, 2024. Opens February 22, ends March 30. Performances Friday & Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm, Monday 8pm.

Union Status: AEA. Rate of Pay / Contract: AEA 99-Seat Contract ($20/hour).

Actors submit via Breakdown Services, Actors Access, or email: casting@fountaintheatre.com

Shirley Jo Finney Lifted Every Soul

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Fountain Theatre will host memorial celebration for Shirley Jo Finney at Kirk Douglas Theatre Dec. 12

The Fountain Theatre will host a celebration to honor the memory of Shirley Jo Finney at the Kirk Douglas Theatre on Tuesday, Dec. 12 beginning at 7 p.m.

A respected and beloved Los Angeles theater director who worked at regional theaters across the country and in South Africa, Finney was also an established television and film director. She was the winner of numerous honors and awards, including for eight productions she directed at the Fountain over the course of a decades-long artistic relationship. Her acclaimed staging of the Fountain’s production of Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine was one of three chosen to inaugurate CTG’s Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2017. Finney passed away on October 10 at the age of 74 following an eight-month battle with cancer.

“We invite the Los Angeles theater community to gather with us to honor this extraordinary artist,” says Fountain Theatre artistic director Stephen Sachs. “The celebration is open to anyone who was touched by Shirley Jo’s life. All are welcome.”

The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd, Culver City CA 90232. Parking is free with validation underneath City Hall, located across the street from the theater on the corner of Culver Blvd. and Duquesne Ave. (entrance on Duquesne).

Reservations can be made online at https://tinyurl.com/CelebratingShirleyJo.