In “an unabashedly biased, deeply researched book” (SF Gate), Ed Asner—the actor who starred as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show—reclaims the Constitution from the right-wingers who think that they and only they know how to interpret it.Ed Asner, a self-proclaimed dauntless Democrat from the old days, figured that if the right-wing wackos are wrong about voter fraud, Obama’s death panels, and climate change, they are probably just as wrong a...

A unifying narrative for divided times, Bent Toward Justice tells the story of Murray Schwartzman, a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust and escaped to America. But while Schwartzman may have found respite from external conflict in his peaceful and supportive American Jewish community, he faces a new internal upheaval. An encounter with an apparently anti-Semitic doctor forces Schwartzman to confront his beliefs about Palestinians being the enemy of the Jewish people.Mar...

Two one-act plays by Joyce Carol Oates.The Key: a hilarious perverse encounter between a vacationing suburban housewife, recently separated from her husband, and a prosperous businessman.Tone Cluster: a chilling trig-comedy that takes the form of an interview between a middle-aged, middle-class American couple and the media.Full-cast L.A. Theatre Works performances featuring Edward Asner, Hector Elizondo, Don Reed, Joyce Van Patten, JoBeth Williams

Eight highly diverse works from one of America’s most prolific and versatile authors, this collection includes an exclusive dramatization of Oates’ bestselling novel American Appetites, two comedic plays The Perfectionist and The Truth Teller, four short stories Gulf War, Black, The Key and Tone Clusters, as well as her libretto for Black Water: An American Opera, composed by John Duffy.American Appetites:The façade of an affluent suburban couple crumbles under the weight of...

Coming of age in America by way of the baseball diamond, left-hander Henry Wiggen grows to manhood in a right-handed world. From his small-town beginnings, to the top of the game, Henry finds out how hard it is to please his coach, his girl, the sports page and himself-all at once. The first installation of a series that includes Bang the Drum Slowly, The Southpaw is a comic and poignant look at Henry Wiggen’s first season in the majors. Based on the novel by Mark Harris.An L.A. Th...

Dostoyevsky’s monumental novel The Idiot, adapted into a spellbinding full-cast drama by playwright David Fishelson.In The Idiot, meet the kindly, childlike Prince Myshkin, as he returns to the decadent social whirl of 1860s St. Petersburg. The two most beautiful, sought-after women in the town compete for his affections, in a duel that grows increasingly dangerous.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Kate Asner, Angela Bettis, Arye Gross, Joh...

As a young Jewish man in 17th century Amsterdam, Baruch de Spinoza excelled as a theological student; but as he encountered free-thinking Protestants, atheists, and radicals in this relatively tolerant city, he began to question his religion and the nature of God. As a result, he was branded a heretic and faced excommunication.Includes an interview with Steven Nadler, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza’s Scan...

The year is 2076, the nation’s Tricentennial. Guns are outlawed, but the last seven surviving weapons are in captivity and on display in your city zoo. Billy the Kid’s colt .45, Andrew Jackson’s dueling pistol, a retired military rifle, a backwoods hunting rifle, a playful plastic toy gun, an unfinished nuclear handgun, and the flashy Saturday night special. In plotting and executing their escape, they see for the first time what they were really made for and why they can never be free.

Maureen Barnett (Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara) was once a singer renowned the world over. Now though, things couldn't get much worse. She's stuck performing in dives, her daughter hates her, and she's recovering from a severe nervous breakdown that leaves her petrified in front of large crowds. Prospects couldn't look bleaker, when in walks Amelia Storm (Academy Award winner Shirley Jones), an aging chanteuse, offering Maureen the ability to see into the future.Maureen reluctantly accept...

A parade of unforgettable characters emerge from the steam in this hilarious, supernatural bathhouse. There is Tandy, fresh from teaching art appreciation at the Police Academy; Meredith, whose last memory is buying a micro-miniskirt; Biberman, a karate silver-belt who masquerades as a paraplegic; and the mysterious Puerto Rican janitor given to omniscient musings and manipulating the fate of all mankind.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Jason Alexander, Edward ...

Commerce and heroism clash when a titan of American businessmen orchestrates a U.S. invasion of Mexico. This long-lost 1927 Broadway melodrama combines the crackling dialogue and riveting storytelling of the Front Page with Wag the Dog cynicism.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Kate Asner, Raye Birk, Sharon Gless, Colette Kilroy, Rod McLachlan, Paul Murphy, Mark Adair Rios, Luis Saguar, Fred Savage and Jamey Sheridan.

The Scopes Trial, over the right to teach evolution in public schools, reaffirmed the importance of intellectual freedom as codified in the Bill of Rights. The trial, in a small-town Tennessee courtroom in 1925, set the stage for ongoing debates over the separation of Church and State in a democratic society - debates that continue to this day.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Bill Brochtrup, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, Matthew Patrick Davis, John de Lan...