A bittersweet comedy, Later Life will be The Moveable Theatre Company’s theatrical production for this fall. The play will open October 21, 2012, and be performed in the Altadena Library, benefitting the Friends of the Altadena Library. Not community theater, The Moveable Theatre Company (TMTC) allows nonprofits the opportunity to use a play like Later Life to be a fundraiser by selling tickets and/or promoting their memberships. TMTC uses an enthusiastic volunteer corps of well-seasoned professional actors from theater, movies and TV. This theater company has no theater facility. The company performs where the patrons want it done.
With advance planning, other venues can be used for almost any Los Angeles nonprofit. A charity first picks an adventurous or accommodating location (for very low or no cost). Then it sells tickets and/or memberships to cover the very small fixed costs and yield a profit for the charity. Charities can combine to do this at a single performance actually reducing costs and increasing funds raised.
“Critics loved this play by A. R. Gurney when it premiered in New York a number of years ago,” said Nicholas Hosking, founder and artistic director of The Moveable Theatre Company. “This play is funny and poignant, as it pits two vastly different people opposite each other at a party. A romantic spark is rekindled between the man and the woman who haven’t seen each other in about 30 years. Other free-spirited guests at the party rally behind the couple and remind them of the infinite possibilities that life holds, if they choose to pursue them.” Hoskings summarized.
“Being portable forces you to get creative,” said Holly Witham, TMTC’s founder and production director. “We have to accommodate any grandiose ideas for production that we have. This means improvising, fitting, moving and getting very creative – often in a few minutes – to make it work in the space and parameters that exist. …Since we are moving anyway, why not make the space a character in the play. By doing the shows in appropriate spaces, the space coordinates and becomes part of the experience,” Witham said. As examples, a play or staged reading can work in a museum, a famous home, a school, church or synagogue, community auditorium, a room in a famous LA restaurant, civic club or even within a cemetery.
Tickets will be $10 for the 2 pm and $20 for the 5:30 performance. The 5:30 event will include a wine and cheese reception with the actors following the show. Tickets may be purchased at the main Altadena Library, located at 600 East Mariposa Street, Altadena or online on the library's website. For tickets and more info: www.altadenalibrary.org or www.moveabletheatrecompany.org; 626-398-1265 or 626-798-0833.
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About The Moveable Theatre Company
Organized in 2009, The Moveable Theatre Company is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation through its fiscal receiver, The Pasadena Shakespeare Company. Their mission is to take quality theatrical performances to audiences throughout Los Angeles, while using the performances to raise money for worthy charitable causes. The Company is a volunteer group of like-minded actors, directors, producers and writers who share a love of theater and a desire to share enriching theatrical experiences with audiences throughout the Los Angeles area. They present creative, innovative experiences while performing in spaces not normally thought to be “stages” and to large or small audiences as space permits. Visit www.moveabletheatrecompany.org.
