Neil LaBute, Bekah Brunstetter, Devon Gummersall, Mike Vogel among artists at work in IAMA THEATRE COMPANY’S IAMAFest 2012 – a festival of new one-acts and premieres

LOS ANGELES – May 8, 2012 – IAMA THEATRE COMPANY presents IAMAFest 2012 on Friday, May 18, 2012 – Sunday, June 10, 2012 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm) at The Working Stage Theater.  IAMAFest is an festival of new one-acts and premieres, featuring both known, established talent and new, emerging voices. The five featured pieces in this years festival are CALL BACK by Neil LaBute (World Premiere); DRUNK by Bekah Brunstetter (West Coast Premiere); A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR THE LIVING by Charlotte Miller (World Premiere); THE FOUNDATION by Graham Sibley (World Premiere); and STORYTELLING by Stefanie Black (World Premiere).  Stars Mike Vogel (THE HELP, CLOVERFIELD, PAN AM) and Emma Greenwell (SHAMELESS) join an ensemble cast of IAMA Theatre Company members and friends.

ABOUT IAMA THEATRE COMPANY:

IAMA is an ensemble of theater artists seeking to connect and cultivate a new generation of audiences. By promoting new artists and developing new works that challenge and entertain, we hope to produce vibrant, voyeuristic theater that stimulates honest dialogue and sustains the future value of theater within our diverse Los Angeles community.  IAMA was conceived in 2007 by a group of young actors eager to create new theater in Los Angeles. Working with a shared commitment to exploration and development, IAMA seeks to challenge themselves and their audience by producing original works within a collaborative, multi-disciplinary ensemble.

The past five years has seen IAMA grow from a fledgling company to “a new creative force on the local theatre scene (LATimes)”. Fueled by the exciting work of Artist-in-Residence Leslye Headland and her Seven Deadly Plays, IAMA has brought six new, full length works to the stage. Grounded in the struggles of youth, vice, and modern life, Headland’s plays “speak directly to this generation of post-college castoffs (MetromixLA).” As a result of IAMA’scollaboration with Ms. Headland and their support of her work, her play “Bachelorette”, the second of the Seven Deadly Plays, and originally developed, produced and premiered by IAMA in 2008, also enjoyed a sold-out run at Second Stage Theater in New York during the Summer of 2010.  Ms. Headland’s stage hit has since been produced by Gary Sanchez Productions (Will Ferrell and Adam McKay) as a
feature film that premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival starring Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, and Isla Fisher.

IAMA’s passion for live performance, commitment to quality, and innovative material has garnered them recognition and rave reviews from StageSceneLA, LA2DAY, MetromixLA, LAWeekly, and The LATimes. Quickly building an enthusiastic and loyal audience, IAMA has carved a niche for themselves in an emerging LA theater community: “In this industry town, where theater is often the byproduct of actors waiting to be plucked for film and TV, IAMA’s devotion to the stage is fully grounded in its counter-intuitiveness (MetromixLA)”. Eager to continue to create new theater in Los Angeles and work with new writers, IAMA also began producing IAMAFEST, an annual festival of new, one-act plays.

IAMA is a young company, but is already an active participant in the both the theater community and the city at large. Committed to sustaining the future value of theater within Los Angeles, IAMA is an active member of The Young Storytellers Foundation, an arts education and early development program that pairs artists from the entertainment industry with at-risk students in targeted public schools. Under the supervision and guidance of their mentors, the students spend weeks developing short scripts that are then performed for the school and their families by professional actors. For the last three years, IAMAmembers have participated in the program as both mentors in the schools, and as actors in the students’ final show, encouraging a new generation of writers to love the performing arts, to develop their creativity and confidence, and to pave the way for many stories to come.

Ambition and determination are the qualities that IAMA Theatre Company was built on, and the hard work is beginning to pay off. Through the support of donors, loyal fans, an elite advisory board, and now the fiscal sponsorship of the Pasadena Arts Council, IAMA is poised for an exciting new season.

ABOUT THE WORKS:

CALL BACK by Neil LaBute; directed by Jacob Chase; featuring Sarah Bassak and Graham Sibley (World Premiere)

DRUNK by Bekah Brunstetter; directed by Devon Gummersall; featuring Ingrid Haas, Laura Holloway, Margaux Susi and Aly Thrasher (World Premiere)

A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR THE LIVING by Charlotte Miller, directed by Wes Whitehead; featuring Josh Stamell, Sarah Utterback and Stefanie Black (World Premiere)

THE FOUNDATION by Graham Sibley, directed by Becca Wolff; featuring Michael Popp and Wes Whitehead

STORYTELLING by Stefanie Black, directed by Jamie Wollrab; featuring Emma Greenwell and Mike Vogel

IAMA Fest 2012 will take place Friday, May 18, 2012 – Sunday, June 10, 2012 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm).
All tickets are $20 and available here:
For Tickets, click here!

This festival will be held at The Working Stage Theater, located at:
1516 North Gardner Street  West Hollywood, CA 90046

Next reading:

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE IAMA: An IAMA Holiday Event

featuring a new play by Brooke Berman starring Bill Pullman, Tom Irwin, Sharon Lawrence, Katie Lowes, Stefanie Black, and Brandon Scott
directed by Michael Garces
with songs by Samantha Shelton

Cocktails at 7pm
Reading starts at 8pm
Tickets are $15
cash bar
Location: The Art of Acting Studio Theater 1017 N Orange Drive Los Angeles, Ca 90036

The Art of Acting Theater 1017 N Orange Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90038

IAMA Theatre Company Presents The Accidental Blonde:  A New Play by Leslye Headland

October 6^th, 2010 (Los Angeles, CA) :  A friendship gone sour with envy is the subject of The Accidental Blonde in Leslye Headland’s newest installment of the Seven Deadly Plays, produced and premiered by IAMA Theatre Company.  The Accidental Blonde:  Playing at The Elephant Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038.  Opening Friday, October 8^th, 2010, and running through Sunday, November 7^th, 2010.  Performing Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 7pm.

The Accidental Blonde examines the sin of envy by following the two very separate lives of old but estranged friends, Lucy and Veronica. Their story begins divided between Lucy’s apartment, full of the bustle of burgeoning success of a newly discovered Reality TV star, and Veronica’s studio, stuck in the stasis of under-employed insouciance.  As the two women’s stories unfold simultaneously, Veronica’s long-held grudge against Lucy leads to consequences that blend their worlds together.  A disturbingly humorous look at jealousy, work and success in the cyber-stalking generation.

Playwright and Director Leslye Headland–whose screenplay Bachelorette was voted as one of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood on the prestigious 2008 Blacklist–proposed the Seven Deadly Plays series to the IAMA Theatre Company in 2007.  By the end of 2009, five plays had been produced, were playing to sold out crowds, and received immense support from the theater community.  Bachelorette (gluttony) “redefines the notion of female bonding.” – LA Times.  Assistance (greed) “captures the resigned hatefulness of those who define themselves by their masters.” – LA Weekly.  Reverb (wrath) is “a scary play…with frightening intensity.” – Backstage.  Cinephilia (lust) was snatched up shortly after IAMA’s premiere and taken to New York, where NYTheatre.com said “Headland has got a lock on the distracted and confused young adult.  I would not be surprised if she wrote a defining work on the subject.”  July 2010 saw another New York premiere, with Bachelorette opening at Second Stage Theatre under the direction of Trip Cullman.  It was extended twice, and received critical acclaim from The New York Times, New York Post, and Variety.

For more information about Leslye Headland and IAMA’s Seven Deadly Plays, please visit www.iamatheatre.com.

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The Accidental Blonde – Teaser Trailer from IAMA Theatre Company on Vimeo.

REVERB

A New Play by Leslye Headland

(January 5, 2009) Los Angeles, CA – IAMA THEATRE COMPANY presents the world premiere of Reverb, the newest installment of their Seven Deadly Plays series.  Playing at the Working Stage Theatre, 1516 North Gardner Street, West Hollywood, CA 90046. Performing Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm, and Sunday evenings at 7pm. Reverb runs from January 16, 2009 through February 22, 2009.

Written and directed by Leslye Headland, Reverb tackles the deadly sin of “wrath”.  The plot follows a musician, Dorian, and his struggle to cope with his abusive father’s ailing health and his first taste of professional success.  Rushing back into the arms of June, his estranged girlfriend, Dorian slips into a dangerous cycle of violence that casts June as both his savior and oppressor.  History threatens to repeat itself as the troubled lovers purge mutual pain by inflicting it on each other.

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ASSISTANCE
A NEW PLAY BY LESLYE HEADLAND
Quit Your Job.

(April 4, 2008) Los Angeles, CA — IAMA THEATRE COMPANY presents the world premiere of a brilliantly funny new play about a group of young, ambitious, and competitive executive assistants: ASSISTANCE. Playing at the Working Stage Theatre, 1516 N. Gardner Street, West Hollywood, CA 90048. Performing Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm. Assistance runs from April 18th, 2008 through May 24th.
!Assistance, the third installment of Leslye Headland’s Seven Deadly Plays series presented by the IAMA Theatre Company, examines how the sin of greed eventually corrupts an office full of youthful ambition. Several twenty-somethings take on the daunting job of assisting a successful but impossibly demanding boss. Unable to please him as their environment deteriorates, they resort to rivalry, jealousy, fear, and abuse. What started out as a promising career opportunity becomes a prison they can neither endure nor escape.

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SURFER GIRL by Leslye Headland

IAMA Theatre Company Presents
SURFER GIRL
A NEW PLAY BY LESLYE HEADLAND
(April 4, 2008) Los Angeles, CA — IAMA THEATRE COMPANY presents the world premiere of a powerful new play about a couch-surfer’s struggle to find her own life: SURFER GIRL. Playing at the Working Stage Theatre, 1516 N. Gardner Street, West Hollywood, CA 90048. Performing Sunday evenings at 7pm. Surfer Girl runs from April 20th, 2008 through May 25th.
!Surfer Girl, the fourth installment of Leslye Headland’s Seven Deadly Plays series presented by the IAMA Theater Company, is a poignant and witty monologue featuring a powerful performance from Sarah Utterback (“Grey’s Anatomy”). The play explores the sin of sloth through an intimate look at the personal struggle between avoiding responsibility and longing for home. Reunited with an estranged sibling, a prodigal couch-surfer recounts her misadventures surviving off the hospitality of others. Reliving her years of dependence, she confronts the tragic results of infiltrating other people’s lives rather than creating her own.

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