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...

On a spring day in 1947, Mr. Rickey, the powerful General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, summons heavyweight champion Joe Louis, tap star Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson and actor Paul Robeson to his hotel room in Manhattan. Rickey wants their support when he taps Jackie Robinson to be the Major League’s first black ballplayer. But a power struggle ensues when the eloquent Robeson raises questions about Rickey’s motivations to integrate white baseball.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast pe...

Inspired by the released American hostages, Hotel Oubliette is a darkly comedic play that explores what happens when two emotionally disconnected men are chained to a post with an endless amount of time stretching before them.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Thomas Caruso, Arye Gross and Marsha Mason.

With an all-star cast including Stacy Keach, Helen Hunt, Edward Asner, Ted Danson and Richard Dreyfuss, this epic of the booming 1920’s uniquely captures the relentless culture of American business. Babbitt is a true classic about conformity in small town America - celebrated for its comic tone, satire, and vivid dialogue. The play is based on Sinclair Lewis’ novel, first published in 1922.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Rene Auberjonois, Bonnie ...

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.

Adapted from the diaries of Richard Wagner, Beethoven’s music soars in the background as a poor young composer named Richard Wagner struggles toward Vienna to meet the composer he idealizes.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Allan Corduner, Arye Gross and Paul Mercier.©2010 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2010 L.A. Theatre Works

Two one-act plays by Joyce Carol Oates.Gulf War: An affluent young couple entertains an older couple for an evening of cocktails and politics during the Gulf War. But as the evening continues, the conversation take a bizarre and absurd tone.Black: In this evening of cocktails and dinner, a couple anxiously awaits the arrival of an ex-husband. As the wine glasses are drained, the evening becomes dark and intense, revealing the true colors of the characters in this eerie love...

On November 24, 1947, the most powerful men in American film met in New York’s plush Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to decide how to address the Communist witch-hunt being carried out by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Twenty-four hours later they emerged having created the Hollywood Blacklist. The Waldorf Conference dramatically speculates on what went on in that room.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Edward Asner, Shelley Berman, Charles Durning, David Elle...

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...

It’s 1929 as The Jazz Singer hits the silver screen and the talkies promise to change movies forever. Enter three down-and-out vaudevillians who hatch a hare-brained scheme to “make it big” in Tinsel Town. Their plan? To open a voice academy for the witless stars of silent movies. The only things standing in their way are ditzy starlets and power-hungry movie moguls. Starring Ed Asner and directed by Moss Hart’s son, this is top-of-the-bill screwball comedy and Kaufman and Hart genius at i...

Speaking effective English! is the definitive "listen & learn" speech program!In this breakthrough audio program, three of America's top voice coaches give you the tools you need to speak clearly, powerfully, and effectively -- and get what you want through the power of speech! With this audiobook, you will learn:How to make a knockout first impressionHow to minimize accents and dialectsHow to overcome...