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Thinking Cap Theatre Presents LIZZIE: THE MUSICAL – October 18 – November 1

08 Wednesday Oct 2025

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Thinking Cap Theatre Presents
Lizzie: The Musical
Main Stage Production Runs October 18 – November 1, 2025
After 25 years, live theater finally returns to Hollywood

Media Contacts
Pierson Grant Public Relations 
Diana Hanford
dhanford@piersongrant.com
561-309-4136

Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (October 8, 2025) – – Thinking Cap Theatre (TCT) will launch its 15th anniversary season with the riveting rock production Lizzie: The Musical, a theatrical thrill ride that slashes through Victorian repression with unapologetic abandon.

The production opens Saturday, October 18 and runs through Saturday, November 1 at the Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center, 1770 Monroe Street, in vibrant downtown Hollywood. Eight performances are scheduled with varying start times.

Based on the infamous 1892 case of Lizzie Borden, the production reimagines the story of a dutiful daughter with a dark secret and a thirst for freedom. As tensions rise, Lizzie, her alluring friend Alice, rebellious maid Bridget, and manipulative sister Emma collide in a bloody storm of betrayal, desire, and liberation. Fueled by electric guitars, raw emotion, and a punk-meets-Gothic edge, Lizzie smashes through the prim corset of history with electrifying passion and a killer beat.

A champion of gender equality, Thinking Cap Theatre cast four women in the leading roles – all talented actresses, singers, and dancers who will transfix the audience during this anachronism of a tale, which pairs period costumes with contemporary rock music performed by a live five-piece rock band.

“Launching our 15th anniversary season with Lizzie: The Musical feels both exhilarating and fitting,” said Nicole Stoddard, Ph.D., Producing Artistic Director of Thinking Cap Theatre. “This show is bold, imaginative, and an incredible performance vehicle for actresses. Lizzie is more than a rock musical; it’s a visceral exploration of power, repression, and liberation that will leave audiences thrilled and thinking long after the final note.”

Originally written by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer (music and lyrics), Tim Maner (lyrics, book, and additional music), and Alan Stevens Hewitt (music and additional lyrics), Lizzie: The Musical  has become an off-Broadway cult favorite—and Thinking Cap Theatre brings its own fearless take to the stage.

To get in the spirit, the audience is welcome to dress in period attire. Tickets are $45, plus service fee at https://tinyurl.com/LizzieMusical * Note, this production is rated PG-13 and for mature audiences. Students 21 and Under are FREE with Valid Student ID

Performance Schedule:

  • Saturday, October 18 at 8 p.m. (Opening Night, post-show cocktail reception in the lobby, price included in ticket)
  • Sunday, October 19 at 6 p.m.
  • Wednesday, October 22 at 7 p.m.
  • Saturday, October 25 at 3 p.m.
  • Sunday, October 26 at 6 p.m.
  • Wednesday, October 29 at 7 p.m.
  • Friday, October 31 at 8 p.m. (post-show Halloween party with cash prizes for best costumes, price included in ticket)
  • Saturday, November 1 at 8 p.m. (Closing Night)

“With most theatrical productions, you don’t often get the thrill of a live band sharing the stage with the actors,” said Bree-Anna Obst, Managing Director of Thinking Cap Theatre. “Lizzie amps that experience up to eleven with a five-piece rock band delivering the score in real time. It’s not just theatre—it’s a full-bodied concert-meets-musical experience that makes the story hit harder, louder, and cooler than you’d ever expect.”

Support & Partnerships
Lizzie: The Musical is made possible with support from the Broward County Cultural Division and The Our Fund Foundation, with additional support from the Leo M. and Alice J. Rutten Fund, August and Melba Urbanek Fund, Huizenga Family Unrestricted Fund, and The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation Broward Community Fund at the Community Foundation of Broward. The production is also presented in partnership with the Art and Culture Center Hollywood.

About Thinking Cap Theatre
Now celebrating its 15th season, Thinking Cap Theatre is a 501(c)(3) professional theatre company founded in 2010. Known for bold, thought-provoking productions, TCT strives to create theatre that explodes with imagination, sparks dialogue, and enriches South Florida’s cultural landscape.

Calendar listing:

What: Thinking Cap Theatre Presents Lizzie: The Musical, a theatrical thrill ride that slashes and rocks through Victorian repression with unapologetic abandon with a live band.

When:  Saturday, October 18 at 8 p.m. through Saturday, November 1 at 8 p.m.

Where: Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center, 1770 Monroe Street, Hollywood, 33020

About: Based on the infamous 1892 case of Lizzie Borden, the show reimagines the story of a dutiful daughter with a dark secret and a thirst for freedom. As tensions rise, Lizzie, her alluring friend Alice, rebellious maid Bridget, and manipulative sister Emma collide in a bloody storm of betrayal, desire, and liberation. Fueled by electric guitars, raw emotion, and a punk-meets-Gothic edge, Lizzie smashes through the prim corset of history with electrifying passion and a killer beat. This production is rated PG-13 and for mature audiences.

Cost: $45 * Note, this production is rated PG-13 and for mature audiences. Students 21 and Under are FREE with Valid Student ID

Tickets https://tinyurl.com/LizzieMusical

For additional info call 310-500-6448 or email nicole@thinkingcaptheatre.org

Pigs Do Fly Productions to present BETTER LATE By Larry Gelbart

25 Thursday Sep 2025

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Pigs Do Fly Productions
to present
Better Late
by Larry Gelbart
November 7 – 30, 2025

“…funny, deliciously sharp and ultimately moving.” ~ New City Stage

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

September 25, 2025

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL: Pigs Do Fly Productions will present Better Late,Larry Gelbart’s (M.A.S.H.) ‘breezy entertainment on serious themes’ (Variety) at Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale from November 7 – 30.

A bitingly funny December-December-December romantic triangle, Better Late focuses on former actress Nora, her not-always-faithful husband of 25 years, Lee, and her ex-husband Julian, who needs a place to stay while recovering from a recent illness.  Once Julian moves in, the question becomes: how long will Julian have to remain with them? Gelbart’s clever script is filled with one-liners and sharp repartee, yet “explores love, divorce, aging and death with a mature sensibility and in a decidedly comedic tone.” (Variety)

“We are now into our ninth year of operations,” says Pigs Do Fly Productions’ Founder and Executive Producer Ellen Wacher. “When we started, we weren’t sure how our concept of focusing on characters (and employing actors!) over a ‘certain age’ who are living real and interesting lives would resonate with audiences.  But we have found that people want good theatre, no matter what their age or demographic – our full houses reflect that. 

“It has sometimes been a challenge to find plays that fit our mission,” she continues, “But with both Better Late, and our upcoming March 2026 production, Bonnie and Claire, we know we have chosen pieces that will provide great theatre and fit that mission perfectly!”

“Two husbands. One wife. Under one roof. What could possibly go wrong?” says Better Late director Deborah Kondelik. Gelbart has given us a story that’s funny, sharp, and surprisingly tender. It reminds us that love is never simple. We can love more than one person in different ways, and the past doesn’t always stay neatly in the past.

“Love is rarely tidy,” she continues. “It’s layered with jealousy, guilt, old affections, and unexpected loyalties. But in the end, forgiveness – sometimes grudging, sometimes hard-won- emerges as the saving grace.”

Kondelik has cast Carbonell Award-winner (and current 2024 nominee) Patti Gardner as Nora, Geoff Freitag as Lee, Peter W. Galman as Julian, and Chad Raven as Lee’s son Billy.

The Stage Manager for Better Late is Patrick Vida. Dean Landhuis is the show’s Scenic Designer, David Hart will do the Sound Design, and Preston Bircher will create the Lighting Design and serve as Technical Director. Director Kondelik will serve as both production’s the Costume Coordinator and Property Designer, and MNM Theatre Company will build the sets.  Jessica Kaschube is the Company Manager, and Luis Roberto Herrera will handle the Box Office.

Tickets for Better Late are $45 and are available online at www.pigsdoflyproductions.com  or by calling 954-678-1496.  Performances are on Fridays at 8 pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 5 pm. All performances will take place at Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Drive,Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.

For more information about Pigs Do Fly Productions, please visit www.pigsdoflyproductions.com.  To arrange for interviews, or for photos, or for requests to see a performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.  For more information about Ellen Wacher, please visit www.ellenwacher.com.

~

Better Late
By Larry Gelbart
November 7 – 30
Directed by Deborah Kondelik
Tickets: $45
Tickets:  www.pigsdoflyproductions.com
Or call 954-678-1496
Performances: 
Friday at 8 pm
Saturday & Sunday at 5 pm
All performances will take place at 
Empire Stage1140 N Flagler Drive,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304

(Click on each image to enlarge it, then right click on the enlarged image and ‘save image as’ or ‘copy image’)

Photo credit: Deborah Kondelik

Geoff Freitag, Patti Gardner
Patti Garnder, Chad Raven
Patti Gardner, Chad Raven
Patti Gardner, Geoff Freitag
Patti Gardner
Patti Gardner, Geoff Freitag
Geoff Freitag, Patti Gardner, Chad Raven
Peter W. Galman, Patti Gardner
Patti Gardner, Peter W. Galman
Peter W. Galman
Patti Gardner
Peter W. Galman

Better Late – Cast, etc.

Peter W. Galman
Patti Gardner
Geoff Freitag
Chad Raven
Ellen Wacher
Deborah Kondelik
Larry Gelbart

Celebrating Jewish Pride – A Free Reading of A PEOPLE by L M Feldman at Island City Stage on August 25th

28 Monday Jul 2025

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Celebrating Jewish Pride

Love Jewish to present a Free Staged Reading of
A People
by L M Feldman
Directed by Avi Hoffman
August 25th at Island City Stage
Love Jewish is dedicated to give a voice to contemporary Jewish LGBTQ+
artists and content creators.

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com /561-445-9244

July 28, 2025

WILTON MANORS, FL:  In celebration of Jewish Pride, Love Jewish, a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative, will present a staged reading of playwright L M Feldman’s theatrical mosaic A People as their inaugural season presentation. The performance will take place on August 25th at 7 pm at Island City Stage. 

Directed by Avi Hoffman and featuring South Florida favorites Ana Marie Calise, Eytan Deray, Lela Elam, Rayner Gabriel, Avi Hoffman, Autumn Kioti-Horn, Laura Turnbull, and others, A People will take audiences on a magical lyrical journey into heritage, tradition, religion, and humanity. 

Feldman holds up a mirror to 5000 years of Jewish identity and history, reminding us that we are all descendants from somewhere, and we can choose to deny our lineage, wrestle with it, or embrace it. Sometimes hilarious and sometimes terrifyingly honest, A People’s ensemble will take on a mass of old and new-world personalities to create snippets of life the way we see it, the way we want it, and the way it is.  

Utilizing the performing arts, media, publishing, education, language, and literature, the mission of Love Jewish is to Advocate for Jewish Pride, Build Cultural Bridges and Challenge Antisemitism Through the Arts by promoting Jewish history and life, and their far-reaching impact on the contemporary world. Based in Miami-Dade County, in proud partnership with the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University, YI Love Jewish builds engagement and forges multicultural and diverse connections through an immersive and varied range of programming for audiences worldwide.

Tickets for A People are free, with a suggested donation of $10, and are now available.  They can be purchased online at www.YILoveJewish.org/events. Island City Stage is located at 2304 North Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors (33305). 

For more information about A People, Love Jewish, and Yiddishkayt Initiative please visit https://yilovejewish.org.  To arrange interviews, photos, or requests to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244. 

~

A People
By L M Feldman
Monday, August 25th at 7 pm
Tickets: FREE ($10 Suggested Donation)
To reserve:  https://yilovejewish.org/events
The performance will take place at
Island City Stage
2304 North Dixie Highway
Wilton Manors, FL  33305

L M Feldman is a queer, feminist playwright (and circus artist) who pens plays that are wildly theatrical but deeply intimate. Formally ambitious plays that move and take up space. Plays that are questioning, wrestling, and asking. Plays without answers. Plays about women and queers, plays about outsiders and searchers. Plays grappling with voice and agency, opportunity and access, history and its wake. Plays about the human connection. Plays that seek to be a greater, communal, rare theatrical event in which something transcendent transpires – for those both onstage & off.

Her plays include Thrive, or What You Will (Page 73 Residency, New Georges Audrey Residency); Another Kind Of Silence (Magic Theatre Virgin Play Festival, PlayPenn Conference, Playwrights Realm Fellowship, FEWW Prize Honorable Mention); Amanuensis (Georgetown University); A People (Orbiter 3, Jewish Plays Project); The Egg-Layers (Jane Chambers Honorable Mention, New Georges/Barnard College commission); Grace, or The Art of Climbing (Denver Center, Art House Productions, Nice People Theatre, ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award Nomination, Barrymore Nomination); ensemble-devised works, including Gumshoe (New Paradise Labs + Free Library of Philadelphia + Rosenbach Museum), War of the Worlds: Philadelphia (Swim Pony + Drexel University), And If You Lose Your Way, Or A Food Odyssey (The Invisible Dog, New York Innovative Theatre Award Nomination), and others; and a baker’s dozen of short plays. She has been nominated for the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, Wendy Wasserstein Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She was awarded an artist grant through the Boomerang Fund and a creation grant from the State of Vermont, and she has been an artist-in-residence at Terra Firma, SPACE at Ryder Farm, the School of Making Thinking, Tofte Lake Center, Montana Artists Refuge, Montana Repertory Theatre, Sewanee University of the South, Cornell University, and Theater Emory/Brave New Works Festival. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, L is also a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a devised-work collaborator, a teacher of playwriting (Bryn Mawr College, Lantern Theatre/Jefferson Medical School, PlayPenn), and a freelance dramaturg.

(Click on each image to enlarge it, then right click on the enlarged image and ‘save image as’ or ‘copy image’)

L M Feldman
Avi Hoffman

The Riveting Legal Drama A CLASS ACT Opens at the Township Center for the Performing Arts June 20 – 29

15 Thursday May 2025

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Riveting Legal Drama
A Class Act
at
The Township Center for the Performing Arts
June 20th – 29th

“…always absorbing, always unpredictable.”
~ TheaterScene.net

“…contamination is really a national crisis, and the real scale of contamination is staggering. The more we test, the more we find it.”
~ Melanie Benesh, Legislative Attorney at the Environmental Working Group, Washington

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

May 15, 2025

COCONUT CREEK, FL:   A major chemical company pours cancer-causing waste into the water supply, and a high-powered law firm brings a class action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of “the little people” – who might die from the poisonous water. Who wins?  Who loses?  A Class Act, Norman Shabel’s intriguing and timely look at the inner workings of our justice system will ask and possibly answer these, and other questions when the play runs from June 20th through June 29th at the Township Center for the Performing Arts.   

As the lawyers wheel and deal and decide whether to take a settlement or go to trial, it becomes increasingly unclear who is really winning. Who makes millions whether they win or lose? Which lawyers battle the best… or the worst? Who gets justice in the end? A Class Act is a sophisticated thrill ride that has been described as “engrossing and gripping”. It examines a world in which greed pervades, the loyal suffer, and morality is always relative.

“When I originally wrote the play, we were all probably peripherally aware that there was poison being dumped in the worlds’ drinking waters by non-caring corporations whose only consideration was saving expenses in the production of their products,” Shabel said recently.  “In fact, several years ago the Environmental Protection Agency warned that ‘forever chemicals’ found in our nations’ drinking water are more dangerous than previously thought, and by some estimates, these toxic family of chemicals can be found in the blood of nearly every person on our planet.

“Courts are inherently dramatic places, and I guess I saw that connection between law and theater before I even realized it,” he continued. “A Class Act depicts the dramatically war-like negotiations between those corporate non-caring pollution perpetrators and the lawyers who represent the dying public.”

Attorney turned author and playwright Norman Shabel spent close to 50 years as a trial and class action lawyer.  He has drawn upon his experience to fashion a ‘pulled from the headlines’ look at what goes on in corporate America, in courtrooms, and behind the scenes.  A Class Act received excellent reviews when it played Off-Broadway in 2016.

A Class Act director Seth Trucks’ cast includes Johnbarry Green as Edward Duchamp, Carey Brianna Hart as Dorothy Pilsner, Murphy Hayes as Ben Donaldson, Rick Prada as John Dubliner, Ben Prayz as Ignatio Perez, Manny Zaldivar as Frank Warsaw, and director Trucks who will play Phil Alessi.  Sara Grant will serve as the production’s Stage Manager.

A Class Act will run at The Township Center for the Performing Arts from June 20 – 29. Tickets are $27 ($25 for children under 15) and can be purchased online at https://boxoffice.townshipcoconutcreek.com or by phone at (954) 970-0606.

The Township Center for the Performing Arts is located at 2452 Lyons Road in Coconut Creek (33063).

For more information about A Class Act, or to arrange to see the production, pleasecontact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

~

A Class Act
By Norman Schabel
June 20 – 29
Performances:Friday & Saturday at 7 pm
Saturday & Sunday at 2 pm
Tickets: $27 (Children under 15, $25)
For tickets: https://boxoffice.townshipcoconutcreek.com
Or call (954) 970-0606
The Township Center for the Performing Arts
2452 Lyons Road
Coconut Creek, FL 33063
Box Office: 954-970-0606

Norman Shabel
Seth Trucks
Johnbarry Green
Carey Hart
Ben Prayz
Manny Zaldivar
Murphy Hayes

THE RIGHTEOUS a New Play by Jeff Cohen at Miami New Drama April 22nd Only

14 Monday Apr 2025

Posted by in Clients, Uncategorized, YI Love Jewish, Yiddishkayt Initiative

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Yiddishkayt Initiative and The University of Miami Center for Jewish Studies
in Association with Miami New Drama and Second Serve Productions
to present a staged reading of
The Righteous
A new play by Jeff Cohen

In a World filled with turmoil and amorality, what does it mean to be Righteous?

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

April 14, 2025

MIAMI BEACH, FL:  In honor of Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day – Yiddishkayt Initiative (YI Love Jewish) and The University of Miami Miller Center for Judaic Studies in association with Miami New Drama and Second Serve Productions will present a staged reading of Drama Desk Award-winner Jeff Cohen’s (The Soap Myth) new play The Righteous.  The event will take place at Miami New Drama (at The Colony Theatre) on April 22nd at 7:30 pm.

What would you do if you learned that your country planned to exterminate an entire race of people? That is the horrible question faced by Eduard Schulte, a captain of German industry and member of Hitler’s inner circle.  The Righteous is the true story of the man who sounded the alarm of Hitler’s plan to murder all the Jews in Europe.  Schulte’s warning reached the desk of President Roosevelt in December 1942.  Roosevelt refused to act.

Schulte’s identity was a closely guarded secret for over forty years and his heroic act to stop the Holocaust was kept hidden from his family and from the world. The Righteous tells his story through the lens of Priscilla Schulte, the American granddaughter who never knew him. She uncovers a compelling and poignant portrait of a man who risked his life and the lives of his family to stand up against evil.  In 1988, Eduard Schulte was posthumously honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations – a Righteous Gentile.

The Righteous will be directed by the playwright Jeff Cohen, and feature Tony Award nominee Craig Bierko (The Music Man) and two-time Drama Desk Award nominee Avi Hoffman (Death of a Salesman), along with an award-winning cast of some of South Florida’s most talented actors, including Laura Turnbull, Patti Gardner, Irene Adjan, Peter Galman, Chiz Chisholm, Stephen Schnetzer, and Dave Corey. 

The Righteous will be staged for one night only at Miami New Drama (The Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139).  Admission to the reading is FREE, however reservations are required, and can be made online at https://yilovejewish.org/events.

For more information about The Righteous, to arrange for interviews, for photos, and/or to arrange to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244. 
~
The Righteous
By Jeff Cohen
Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30 pm
Admission:  FREE (Reservations required)
For reservations:  https://yilovejewish.org/events
Or call 954-678-1496
The performance will take place at
Miami New Drama/Colony Theatre
1040 Lincoln Road,
Miami Beach, FL  33139
~

Jeff Cohen (Playwright). Jeff Cohen’s drama The Soap Myth is considered one of the most important plays about antisemitism and Holocaust denial.  Ed Asner toured the country in The Soap Myth as a “concert reading” and the play was filmed and broadcast by PBS starring Mr. Asner and Tovah Feldshuh.  Other notable actors who have performed The Soap Myth include Richard Dreyfuss, Bob Gunton, John Rubinstein, Harris Yulin, and Jayne Atkinson.  His play The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller was a NY Times and Time Out New York Critic’s Pick. He received international acclaim and a special 2002 Drama Desk Award for his response to the attacks of 9/11. The Tribeca Playhouse Stage Door Canteen, his 10-week USO-style variety show to “entertain the troops” (the rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero) featured such stars as Kristen Chenoweth, Phylicia Rashad, Sandy Duncan, Colin Quinn and many more. He produced and directed a number of award-winning new plays including Christopher Shinn’s Four (NY Times Critic’s Pick)and Tristine Skyler’s The Moonlight Room (NY Times annual Ten Best productions).  The NY Times Arts & Leisure profiled him alongside internationally acclaimed avant-garde artists Ivo Van Hove and The Wooster Group for his groundbreaking work adapting classic plays to an American milieu. In his five-decades in the theater, Mr. Cohen has helped launch the careers of Laura Linney, Kathryn Hahn, Christopher Shinn, Michael Ealy and DB Sweeney – to name just a few.

(Click on each photo to expand, identify and/or download)

jeff Cohen
Craig Bierko
Avi Hoffman
Irene Adjan
Chiz Chisholm
Dave Corey
Peter W. Galman
Patti Gardner
Stephen Schnetzer
Laura Turnbull

BITTERSUITE: SONGS OF MORE EXPERIENCE at the Levis JCC – March 22nd & 23rd

12 Wednesday Feb 2025

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Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience
at the Levis JCC Sandler Center
March 22nd & 23rd Only

Sheer brilliance… An inspired cabaret presentation with the kind of provocative Broadway songs that draw people back to relish them again and again.”
John S. Wilson – The New York Times

“Riveting, thought-provoking, superb”
Curt Davis – The New York Post

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244 February 11, 2025

February 12, 2025

BOCA RATON, FL: Elliot Weiss and Michael Champagne’s award-winning song cycle, Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience, will run for two performances only at the Levis JCC Sandler Center March 22nd and 23rd.  The production is part of the JCC’s Robert Greenberg Performing Arts Series.

Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience is a extension of the acclaimed revue Bittersuite: Songs of Experience which ran in New York, San Francisco, and for two years in Los Angeles where it was singled out as a “critic’s choice” by the LA Times, LA Weekly, and Daily News. In this edition the cycle continues to explore the American Experience in song, but from a more mature perspective. Bittersuite explores growing old in America, what it feels like, and what it means – how do the issues of love, loneliness, success and failure, change, and accommodation, impact our lives as we age?

“Michael Champagne and I had just completed a workshop of our first musical Casanova – A Musical Romanceand we were having trouble attracting a producer due to the size of the cast,” Bittersuite composer Elliot Weiss recalls. “We decided to scale down and write a song cycle for four singers and piano. We envisioned it to be performed with no props or sets. To let the material speak for itself. But – what should we write about? Seeing as both of us were rapidly approaching middle age, it seemed that how people feel when their youthful expectations collide with their present-day reality could be a fertile field to explore.” 

“Bittersuite grew out of our interest in exploring the realities – both sweet and bitter – of American life,” Michael Champagne says.  We first presented the show in a seedy little Off-Off Broadway theater in New York, where it caught fire and moved into the cabaret theatre scene in a stylish uptown location.  Bittersuite: Songs of Experience has had great success, won many awards, and has been performed many times all over the world.”

“Years went by, and lo and behold Michael and I were now approaching our golden years.” Weiss continues. “It seemed with so much more knowledge, regrets, wisdom, foolhardiness, and everything else that comes with aging it was time to update Bittersuite and call it Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience. This latest version of the show, which has been tailored and updated specifically for South Florida audiences, won the New Jersey Broadway World Best Musical award when we first performed it!”

Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience is a musical ‘selfie’ taken forty years later,” Champagne concludes. “And reflects some of the deeper perspectives time brings with it.”

Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience will be staged by Holly Budney, and Weiss will serve as the show’s Musical Director.  The production will feature Francine Birns, Lisa Fishman, David Hyman, and Shane Tanner.  The four actor/singers will use narrative song, set pieces, humor, and pathos to express the currents flowing through the American psyche to produce an unflinching view of who we are and what we hope as we grow older.

Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience will be performed at the Levis JCC Sandler Center on Saturday, March 22nd and Sunday, March 23; both performances will take place at 7:30 pm.  Tickets are $35/$40 each and are on sale now.  For tickets and information visit https://levisjcc.org/culture/performingarts/ or call 561-558-2520.

For more information about Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience, to speak with Elliot Weiss, Michael Champagne, or anyone else involved in the production, or to arrange to attend a performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

~

Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience
Music by Elliot Weiss
Lyrics by Michael Champagne
Written and created by Elliot Weiss and Michael Champagne
Saturday, March 22 & Sunday, March 23 at 7:30 pm
Tickets:  $35/$40
For tickets and/or more information:
https://levisjcc.org/culture/performingarts/ or
Call:  561-558-2520
Both performances will take place at
The Levis JCC Sandler Center
21050 95th Avenue S.
Boca Raton, FL 33428

Rehearsal photos – credit:
Carol Kassie

David Hyman, Lisa Fishman, Shane Tanner, Francine Birns
Francine Birns, Lisa Fishman, David Hyman, Shane Tanner
Elliot Weiss, Lisa Fishman, Shane Tanner, Francine Birns, David Hyman
Francine Birns, Shane Tanner, Lisa Fishman

CONFESSIONS OF A RETIRED WITCH to Debut at The Studio at Mizner Park

27 Monday Jan 2025

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Confessions of a Retired Witch
to Debut at the Studio at Mizner Park
The production will run from Febaruy 27 through March 8

A witch in a retirement home?! A magical musical fairy tale!

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

January 27, 2025
BOCA RATON, FL: D’Jamin Bartlett, the award-winning actress who made her Broadway debut singing “The Miller’s Son” in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and Emmy Award-winning composer Mark Bornfield have collaborated to create Confessions of a Retired Witch, a musical comedy that will run from February 27 through March 8 at The Studio at Mizner Park.

Angelina Max, the last remaining witch from a powerful coven in Miami, has lost her castle in a misspell.  She has placed herself in Sunny Smiles retirement community where she tells the other residents, the staff psychiatrist, and the home’s director that she is indeed a true witch, and not just losing her mind and a candidate for the facility’s assisted living quarters. Before she can reunite with other witches, she must pass her magic on to a deserving mortal; in today’s caustic world this is a challenging task, and her time is running out.   

“We have been working on this show for a number of years,” Bornfield explained recently.  “It began when I was on vacation in Denver, and I heard a lyric from the song “Miami” by Manuel Riva. (“There’s a place in Miami where they heal your soul, they fill the glass with your deepest hope”.)  It generated an energy and a vibe that piqued my imagination.  Dee’s favorite holiday is Halloween, and those two notions combined quite naturally through vivid imagination and a lot of hard work – making it fun and exciting to create characters that were magical, and that married fantasy with love.”

Confessions of a Retired Witch will be helmed by Barry Zieger, who previously directed D’Jamin Bartlett as Aldonza in Man of La Mancha.  Musical direction will be by Mark Bornfield.  The production will star Bartlett, along with four-time Carbonell Award-winner Margot Moreland, and popular South Florida actor/singer James Skiba. 

D’Jamin Bartlett won Theater World, Drama Desk, and Show Business Awards for her show stopping number “The Miller’s Son” in A Little Night Music.  Some of her other Broadway and national tour credits include Lend Me a Tenor, Pippin, and Godspell. She has been directed by Broadway legends Harold Prince, Jerry Zaks, Bob Fosse, and Martin Charnin, played leading lady to Elliot Gould, Burt Convey, and Gene Barry, and appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Other television credits include “Eva” in One Life to Live and many commercials. 

Mark Bornfield is a Boston Television Emmy Award-winning composer, a pianist, studio recording vocalist, and trumpet player.  He is a member of ASCAP and has accompanied Vikki Carr, Robert Morse, Whitney Houston, and Jamie Foxx.  He was a featured cabaret artist and solo pianist at Boston’s Copley Plaza Oak Room, and aboard the Seabourn Pride.  

Together, Bartlett and Bornfield have been called a ‘chic, sophisticated, and powerful duo’.  They have performed throughout South Florida at major country clubs, restaurants and nightclubs including Turnberry Isle in Miami Beach, Boca West, Polo Club, Indian Creek Country Club, Surf Club and Lighthouse Point Yacht Clubs. Their private and corporate party performances include Greenbrier, New York Regency (Feinstein’s) Orlando World Center Marriott, Mar-a-Lago, and the Ritz-Carlton in Naples.   In the summer, they reside on Cape Cod where they entertain at Lighthouse Inn Resort, Sagamore Inn and other popular places.

Confessions of a Retired Witch will run from February 27 through March 8 at The Studio at Mizner Park.  The theatre is located at 201 Plaza Real (2nd Floor), in Boca Raton (33432),

Tickets for Confessions of a Retired Witch range in price from $64.75 (matinee performances) to $78.25 (evening performances) including taxes and Ticketmaster fees. Group rates are also available ($49.50 for groups of 10 or more, purchased in one transaction).  For tickets and information: https://www.ticketmaster.com (search for Confessions) or email tickets@thestudioatmiznerpark.com.

For more information about Confessions of a Retired Witch, to speak with anyone involved in the production, or to arrange to see a performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244. 

In the attached photo:
D’Jamin Bartlett
Photo credit: Unknown
~

Confessions of a Retired Witch
February 27 – March 8
Conceived & Written by D’Jamin Bartlett
Music & Lyrics by Mark Bornfield
Tickets:
Evenings:  $78.25 / Matinees $64.75
Group Rate (10 or more tickets sold in a single transaction) $49.50
All prices include taxes and fees.
For tickets:  https://www.ticketmaster.com  (search for ‘Confessions’)
Direct link: https://www.ticketmaster.com/search?q=Confessions+of+a+Retired+Witch
Or email tickets@thestudioatmiznerpark.com
Performances:
Thursday, February 27 at 7:30 pm
Friday, February 28 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 2 at 2 pm & 7:30 pm
Tuesday, March 4 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, March 5 at 2 pm & 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 8 at 2 pm
All performances will take place at
The Studio at Mizner Park
201 Plaza Real, 2nd Floor
Boca Raton, FL  33432

Click on each image to enlarge and/or download.
Production photo credit: Carol Kassie

D’Jamin Bartlett
D’Jamin Bartlett
Mark Bornfield
Margot Moreland
James A. Skiba

The Curtain Rises on the POMPANO PLAYERS

22 Monday Jul 2024

Posted by in Clients, Pompano Beach Cultural Center, Uncategorized

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A New Theatre Company Takes Center Stage at
The Pompano Beach Cultural Center

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

July 22, 2024

POMPANO BEACH, FL:  Pompano Beach Arts is thrilled to announce the arrival of the Pompano Players, a brand-new resident professional theater company at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. Debuting this fall, Pompano Players promises an exciting six-show inaugural season (show list below) featuring a delightful mix of great comedies and high-energy musicals. Each production will have a limited run of eight performances.

“We are so proud to be joining the South Florida theatre community,” says Ty Tabing, Director of the Pompano Cultural Affairs Department.  “We successfully partnered with theatre veteran Kevin Barrett on a few programs last year, and now we are excited to expand our offerings with a carefully curated theatre season.” 

ACM Theatricals, part of Arts Center Management (ACM), will produce all six shows at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center this season, as well as their acclaimed Broadway at LPAC Series at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center in Lauderhill, Florida. Kevin Barrett, the Founder and CEO of ACM, is a veteran theatre executive with 32 years of experience running venues in Massachusetts and Florida, and is the long-time Executive Director of the historic Delray Beach Playhouse in Delray Beach and the former General Manager of the Coral Springs Center for the Arts (1999-2016).

“When crafting Pompano Beach’s inaugural season we selected engaging shows that both our actors and audience members will embrace,” Barrett explains. “Get ready for a delightful blend of humor, song, and heartwarming nostalgia!”

Subscriptions as well as individual tickets for the entire season are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.pompanobeachculturalcenter.com. Subscription prices start at $99 and individual tickets range in price from $45 to $65.  Performance days and times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm. The Pompano Beach Cultural Center is located at 50 West Atlantic Boulevard in Pompano Beach (33060). 

For more information about the Pompano Players, or any of the productions listed below, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244. 

Pompano Players 2024-2025 Season:

LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE 
October 11 – October 20, 2024
By Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron
Based on the book by Ilene Beckerman

A play of monologues and ensemble pieces about women, clothes, and memory covering all the important subjects – mothers, prom dresses, mothers, buying bras, mothers, hating purses, and why we only wear black.

I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE 
November 8- November 17, 2024
Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
Music by Jimmy Roberts

A comedic exploration of the complexities of modern relationships, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change has been updated for the 21st century. Act I navigates the journey from dating to marriage, while Act II dives into the joys and challenges of family life, from in-laws to newborns.   This delightful revue celebrates the highs and lows of love, paying homage to those who’ve experienced the ups and downs of romance and dared to ask, “Hey, what are you up to Saturday night?”
Directed by Jeremy Quinn

JERRY’S GIRLS 
January 10-January 19, 2025
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Concepts by Larry Alford, Wayne Cilento, and Jerry Herman

An exhilarating two-hour musical extravaganza celebrating glamour, optimism, love, melody, and women! Featuring music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, this Broadway sensation showcases the greatest hits for women from Herman’s timeless musicals such as Mame, Hello, Dolly!, Milk and Honey, Mack and Mabel, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, and La Cage Aux Folles.
Directed by Michael Ursua

RESPECT: A MUSICAL JOURNEY OF WOMEN
March 28-April 6, 2025
By Dorothy Marcic
Based on the book by Dorothy Marcic – “Respect: Women and Popular Music”

A vibrant musical revue that celebrates the resilience and strength of women in America through popular music – from 1900 to today. From the dependency of “I Will Follow Him” to the defiance of “These Boots are Made for Walking” and the empowerment of “Hero,” Respect captures a spectrum of women’s experiences. Featuring excerpts from 60 songs and real-life stories of dreams, love, work, and independence, it’s an exhilarating ride through history. With classics like “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” “I Wanna Be Loved By You,” “As Long As He Needs Me” and “Whatever Lola Wants,” and modern standards like “The Greatest Love of All,” “Where the Boys Are,” “It Must Be Him,” and “Stand by Your Man.”
Directed by Jeremy Quinn

THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND 
April 25- May 4, 2025
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Conceived by Susan Stroman, David Thompson, and Scott Ellis

A dazzling tribute to the legendary Tony award-winning musical duo Kander and Ebb, The World Goes ‘Round (winner of three Drama Desk Awards), takes audiences on a journey filled with humor, romance, drama, and irresistible melodies. Through hits like “Cabaret,” “Chicago,” and “New York, New York,” it celebrates the resilience and vitality of life. Follow five individuals as they navigate love, parenthood, and the daily grind, all set to unforgettable tunes. With gems like “Mr. Cellophane” and “Maybe This Time,” this high-energy musical extravaganza is a harmonious celebration of the enduring spirit of musical theater.
Directed by Jeremy Quinn

I DO! I DO! 
May 23-June 1, 2025
Book by Tom Jones
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Lyrics by Tom Jones

I Do! I Do! is an intimate musical that chronicles the ups and downs of one couple’s fifty-year journey through love and marriage.  From wedding night nerves to raising a family, facing midlife crises, and overcoming infidelity, the couple’s bond is tested time and again. Yet, through it all, they rediscover the depth of their love and commitment to each other. As they bid farewell to their home after five decades together, their story leaves a lasting impression on the next generation of newlyweds.
Directed by Jeremy Quinn

~

Pompano Players Inaugural Season
October 2024 – June 2025Individual tickets:  $45/$55/$65
Subscription prices begin at $99
Performance days and times:Fridays and Saturdays at 7 pm
Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm
For tickets and information:  www.pompanobeachculturalcenter.com
All performances will take place at
The Pompano Beach Cultural Center
50 West Atlantic Boulevard
Pompano Beach, FL  33060

~

About the City of Pompano Beach Cultural Affairs Department

The mission of the Cultural Affairs Department is to provide cultural programming that includes visual arts, digital media, music, film, theater, dance and public art for the enjoyment and enrichment of residents and visitors to Pompano Beach, Broward County, and the greater South Florida area. The department programs and manages the City’s premiere cultural arts venues, including the Pompano Beach Cultural Center, Ali Cultural Arts Center, Bailey Contemporary Arts Center, and the Blanche Ely House Museum. The department also oversees the City’s Public Art Program and the Artist in Residence (AiR) initiative.

2023-2024 THEATRE/CONERT PRODUCTION SCHEDULES

27 Thursday Jul 2023

Posted by in Boca Stage, Delray Beach Playhouse, Empire Stage, Hy Juter, Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, MNM Theatre Company, Pigs Do Fly Productions, Shari Upbin, Uncategorized

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​

Carol Kassie
Theatrical Marketing & Public Relations
www.CarolKassie.com
P.O. Box 811207
Boca Raton, FL 33481-1207
561-445-9244
Carol@CarolKassie.com

2023-2024 THEATRE/CONERT PRODUCTION SCHEDULES
for

MNM Theatre Company
Pigs Do Fly Productions
Boca Stage
 Hy Juter Presents
Lauderhill Performing Arts Center (LPAC)
Delray Beach Playhouse
The Secret Comedy of Women

MNM THEATRE COMPANY

Five Guys Named Moe
September 8 – 24, 2023
Book by Clarke Peters
Music and lyrics by Louis Jordan
Performances: Friday & Saturday at 7 pm
Saturday & Sunday at 1:30 pm
Ticket prices: $45/$50/$55
For tickets: mnmtheatre.org / kravis.org / 561-832-7469
For Group Sales:  561-651-4438 or 561-651-4304.
All performances in
The Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
701 Okeechobee Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Legendary Jazz composer Louis Jordan’s hits wrapped into one smooth, jumpin’, jivin’ life lesson for Nomax who’s down on his luck and stuck with the blues, until Five Guys Named Moe: Big Moe, Little Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Four Eyed Moe mysteriously emerge out of nowhere in Nomax’s apartment with dance and songs like “Caldonia,” “Azure Te,” “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” and many more to help him get his life back on track.

Disenchanted
January 12 – 21, 2024
Book, Music, and Lyrics:Dennis T. Giacino
Developed wit: Fiely Matias
Performances: Friday & Saturday at 8 pm
Saturday & Sunday at 2 pm
Thursday, January 18 at 8 pm
Ticket Prices: $50 – $65
For Tickets: mnmtheatre.org
All performances in
The Studio at Mizner Park
201 Plaza Real, 2nd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33432
Poisoned apples. Glass slippers. Who needs ‘em? Not Snow White and her posse of Disenchanted princesses in this hilarious not-for-the-kiddies hit musical that’s anything but Grimm. Forget the princesses you think you know – these royal renegades will toss their tiaras into Boca Raton to set the record straight about what ‘happily ever after’ is really all about – and fairy tales will never be the same.
~

PIGS DO FLY PRODUCTIONS

Morning After Grace
October 27 – Novembr 19
By Carey Crim
Tickets: $45
Tickets:  www.pigsdoflyproductions.com
Performances: 
Friday, & Saturday: 8 pm
Sunday: 5 pm
All performances will take place at 
Empire Stage
1140 N Flagler Drive,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Hilarious and heart-warming, this unconventional new comedy tackles love, loss, and coming to terms with growing older.

The Affections of May

March 8 – 31, 2024
By Norm Foster
Tickets: $45
Tickets:  www.pigsdoflyproductions.com
Performances: 
Friday, & Saturday: 8 pm
Sunday: 5 pm
All performances will take place at 
Empire Stage
1140 N Flagler Drive,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
After being deserted by her husband, a woman suddenly finds herself the center of attention in a small resort town. 

~

BOCA STAGE

Wait Until Dark
October 27 – November 5, 2023
By Frederick Knott
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Tickets: $39-$69
For tickets:  www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Forty-seven years after Wait Until Dark premiered on Broadway, Jeffery Hatcher adapted Frederick Knott’s 1966 original, giving it a new setting.  In 1944 Greenwich Village, Susan Hendrix, a blind but capable woman, is imperiled by a trio of men in her own apartment.  As the climax builds, Susan discovers her blindness just might be the key to her escape.
Directed by Keith Garsson

Boeing Boeing

January 19 – 28, 2024
By Marc Camoletti
Translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans
Tickets: $39-$69
For tickets:  www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
This 1960s French farce features a self-styled Parisian lothario, Bernard, who has Italian, German, and American fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent ‘layovers’.   He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.
Directed by Keith Garsson
Starring: Angie Radosh

America’s Sexiest Couple
April 19 – 28, 2024
By Ken Levine
Tickets: $39-$69
For tickets:  www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Two actors, who ‘America’s Sexiest Couple’ on a popular ‘90s sitcom reunite for the first time in 25 years.  They face a lifetime of unresolved issues, longings, resentments, and regrets.  Plus, the network wants to reboot the show. Career and personal aspirations collide – professionally and personally, where do they go from here?
Directed by Genie Croft
Starring:  Kim Ostrenko and Wayne LeGette
~
HY JUTER PRESENTS

To Life 4: That’s (Jewish) Entertainment!
January 20 – February 5, 2023
Written and Directed by Shari Upbin
Performances:
Friday & Saturday at 8 pm
Saturday & Sunday at 2 pm
Tickets:  $45/Group Rates Available|
For tickets: www.sugarsandpark.org/willow-theatre / 561-347-3948
All performances will take place at
The Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park
300 S. Military Trail
Boca Raton, FL  33486
This all new 4th chapter in the popular series will once again feature music, amusing anecdotes, and fascinating facts about some of the most well-known, lauded, and popular Jewish entertainers and composers in recent history, including Mel Brooks, Marvin Hamlisch, Burt Bacharach, Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Mis), Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast), Stephen Sondheim, Bette Midler, Neil Diamond, and many more.

~

At the Pompano Beach Cultural Center

The Secret Comedy of Women
March 13 – April 14, 2024
By Barbara Gehring & Linda Klein
Tickets:  $45 – $65
For tickets: https://www.pompanobeacharts.org/cc
All performances will take place at
The Pompano Beach Cultural Center
50 W. Atlantic Blvd.
Pompano Beach, FL 33060
The Secret Comedy of Women celebrates the joys of the journey from girlhood to womanhood. An immersive theatrical experience that rejoices in the challenges of being a woman – from boys to bras and pantyhose to menopause – this two-woman show explores the universal female experience through a rollicking spectacle of sweetly-sharp comedy, songs, dances, stories, and spontaneous moments of discovery that all women share. (And men love it too!)

~
LAUDERHILL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (LPAC)
BROADWAY AT LPAC SERIES:

A Chorus Line
January 11 – January 28, 2024
Conceived and Originally Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics by Edward Kleban
Tickets:  $45-$65
For tickets:  https://www.lpacfl.com / 954-777- 2055
All performances will take place at
The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center
3800 NW 11th Place,
Lauderhill, FL  33311
Winner of 9 Tony Awards, A Chorus Line is a stunning concept musical capturing the spirit and tension of a Broadway chorus audition. Exploring the inner lives and bittersweet ambitions of professional Broadway performers, the show features one powerhouse number after another, including “What I Did for Love”, “One”, “I Can Do That”, “At The Ballet”, “The Music and the Mirror”, and “I Hope I Get It”. 

Memphis
February 15 – March 3, 2024
Musicand Lyrics by David Bryan
Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
Tickets:  $45-$65
For tickets:  https://www.lpacfl.com / 954-777- 2055
All performances will take place at
The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center
3800 NW 11th Place,
Lauderhill, FL  33311
From the underground dance clubs of 1950’s Memphis, Tennessee, comes the famous musical that burst off the stage with explosive dancing, irresistible songs and a thrilling tale of fame and forbidden love!  Inspired by actual events, Memphis is about a white radio DJ who wants to change the world and a black club singer who is ready for her big break.  Winner of four 2010 Tony Awards.

Hello, Dolly!
April 4 – April 21, 2024
Book by Michael Stewart
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Tickets:  $45-$65
For tickets:  https://www.lpacfl.com / 954-777- 2055
All performances will take place at
The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center
3800 NW 11th Place,
Lauderhill, FL  33311
This musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s hit play The Matchmaker bursts with humor, romance, energetic dance and some of the greatest songs in musical theatre history. Matchmaker Dolly Levi is a widow and also a professional meddler, but everything changes when she decides that the next match she needs to make is for herself. Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Hello, Dolly! is boisterous and charming from start to finish. Winner of 10 Tony Awards.

THE DELRAY BEACH PLAYHOUSE

She Loves Me
November 24 – December 10, 2023
Book by Joe Masteroff
Music by Jerry Brock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
For tickets: www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281  
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Set in a 1930s European perfumery, shop clerks Amalia and Georg more often than not don’t see eye to eye. After both respond to a “lonely hearts advertisement” in the newspaper, they begin to live for the love letters that they exchange, but the identity of their admirers remain unknown. Join Amalia and Georg to discover the identity of their true loves… and all the twists and turns along the way!

Ann Talman:  Elizabeth Taylor and The Shadow of Her Smile
December 11 – 14, 2023
Written and performed by Ann Talman
For tickets: www.delraybeachplayhouse.com  / 561-272-1281
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Ann Talman has been a successful actress on stage and on screen for over forty years. In 1981, she was cast to play Elizabeth Taylor’s daughter in Lillian Hellman’s Broadway hit The Little Foxes, and the result was a close friendship between Talman and Taylor that endured until the iconic actress died in 2011. With “The Shadow of Her Smile,” Talman explores her relationship with Taylor in a critically acclaimed solo show that combines story and song to tell the stories that only Talman can tell
.
Tevye In New York
December 21 – January 7, 2023
Written and performed by Tom Dugan
$44 ($54 with lunch)
For tickets: www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281 
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Based on the beloved characters of Sholem Aleichem, actor/playwright Tom Dugan’s (Wiesenthal) newest play Tevye in New York! asks what happened to Tevye, his wife Golde and his daughters after the curtain came down in Fiddler on the Roof Tevye in New York! finally answers those decades-old questions. Follow Tevye as he fights for his piece of the American dream in 1914—from his journey with his daughters across the Atlantic Ocean, through Ellis Island, past “the big green lady,” and into the crowded streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Aging is Optional (cause G_d I hope it is!)
January 8 – 10, 2023
Created and performed by Tovah Feldshuh
Got tickets:  www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
As multiple Tony and Emmy Award nominee and three-time Drama Desk Award-winner Tovah Feldshuh puts it, “Some people call them decades, I call them my collected works.  It’s an hour of Restylane for the soul, a booster for the heart, and a probiotic of laughter …and exercise!”

Grumpy Old Men
February 2 – 25, 2024
Book by Dan Remmes
Music by Neil Berg
Lyrics by Nick Meglin
For tickets: www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Neighbors Max and John have been feuding for most of their lives. Invigorated by their shared affection for their new neighbor across the street, the beautiful, eccentric, and charming Ariel, they face-off as romantic rivals until their hilarious shenanigans finally bring about a resolution to their fifty-year fight.


Merrily We Roll Along
March 22 – April 7, 2024
Book by George Furth
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
For tickets: www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281 
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Merrily We Roll Along begins in the present and moves backwards, tracing the lives of wealthy, jaded composer, Franklin Shepard, and his two estranged friends through each milestone of their personal and professional lives (good and bad). Stephen Sondheim and George Furth expertly blend the excitement and energy of a backstage musical with a poignant and emotional contemporary story about the importance of staying true to one’s ideals.

The Lost Virginity Tour
May 3 – 19, 2024
By Cricket Daniel
For tickets: www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281
All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Happy Trails Senior Resort Living in Surprise, AZ is where the ladies of the Happy Trails Baking Club meet weekly, swapping desserts and recipes.  But when these four friends start swapping stories about their “first time”, one of them bakes up an idea- to take a road trip across the country, revisiting each location where they lost their virginities.

Best of Broadway Cabaret Series:

February 19 – 22, 2024
From Broadway With Love:  From Funny Girl & 42nd Street to Miss Saigon & Phantom of the Opera

March 25 – 28, 2024
It’s De-Lovely:  Jeff Harner Sings Cole Porter

May 13 – 16, 2024
Something Wonderful:  Laura Yanez Sings Rogers & Hammerstein

Nostalgic Concert Series: Feelin’ Groovy:
December 6, 2023
A Time for Peace:  The Life and Song of Pete Seeger

February 7, 2024
Imagine:  The Life and Song of John Lennon and the Beatles

April 3, 2024
60s Pop Chart Hits You Didn’t Know Came from Canada

All performances will take place at
The Delray Beach Playhouse
950 NW 9th Street
Delray Beach, FL  33444
www.delraybeachplayhouse.com / 561-272-1281

~

For more information about this schedule or any of the productions listed, please don’t hesitate to contact me at:

Carol Kassie
Theatrical Marketing & Public Relations
www.CarolKassie.com
P.O. Box 811207
Boca Raton, FL 33481-1207
561-445-9244
carol@carolkassie.com






Norman Shabel’s ‘Dysfunctional Comedy’ MARTY’S BACK IN TOWN! in Aventura and Boca Raton in March

07 Tuesday Feb 2023

Posted by in Clients, Uncategorized

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Ebenezer’s Entertainment
to present
Norman Shabel’s ‘Dysfunctional Comedy’
Marty’s Back in Town
In Two South Florida Venues

Shake many a family tree and you’ll likely find the same nuts!

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

February 7, 2023

AVENTURA & BOCA RATON, FL:  Marty’s Back in Town!, Playwright Norman Shabel’s comedic drama about the ups and downs of a dysfunctional family and their relationships with each other and with the “black sheep” who is returning home after 10 years, will run at the Alan and Diane Lieberman Theatre at the Michael-Ann Russel JCC in Miami from March 9 – 19, and at The Studio at Mizner Park in Boca Raton from March 24 – April 2nd.

Shabel, whose well-received courtroom drama A Class Act had a successful run in Boca Raton in 2022, admits to drawing on his own “true life’ experiences to fashion this story:

Norman Shabel

“Marty’s really done things the family didn’t like over the years,” Shabel explains.  And now he thinks he’s dying so he arrives ‘home’ with his wife… and it’s how the family reacts.  That’s the fire under this play – his return.

“Those things could have happened over many, many years, or many, many months, or many, many days,” Shabel continues.  “And what I’ve done is, I’ve compressed these characters – their actions and their issues, their attributes, their good things, their bad things, their hatreds, their fears – into an hour and a half or two hours, so the playgoer will know, this is the character, this is what he’s all about, this isTh his life.  And the difficult part, of course, is putting a lifetime into an hour and a half or two hours.  And I think that’s what I’ve done in Marty’s Back in Town!

Shabel has tasked Seth Trucks with directing the production, and Trucks has convened a stellar cast to bring Marty and his family to life:

James A. Skiba will play Marty, Ben Prayz will play his brother Ronald, Francine Silvers will play his sister, Susan, and Christine Chavers will play the family matriarch.  Also cast are Leslie Kandel, Blaine DeBerry, Emma Mcavoy, and Peter Galman who will play the family patriarch, Sam.  Galman will also take on the role of Assistant Director for the Production, along with Chris Cooper.  Harold Petion is the production’s Stage Manager.

Brooklyn-born, successful New Jersey class-action attorney turned author Norman Shabel has been driven to write ever since he can remember. By the time he was in his twenties he had written several novels that ended up stuffed in drawers as he launched his legal career, married and had a family. To date Shabel has written 7 plays and 8 novels, some written in long-hand, hunched over his desk while waiting for a jury verdict to come in, and all dealing with either crime, relatable family dynamics or both.  Three of his plays have been produced Off-Broadway in New York, Philadelphia, and in several theaters in South Florida.

Marty’s Back in Town! will run at the Michael-Ann Russell JCC from March 9 – March 19, and at the Studio at Mizner Park from March 24 – April 2. Ticket prices range from $25 to $45.

The Alan and Diane Lieberman Theatre at the Michael-Ann Russel JCC is located at 18900 NE 25th Street in Miami (33180). The Studio at Mizner Park is located at 201 Plaza Real, in Boca Raton (33432).

For more information about Marty’s Back in Town!, or to arrange to see the production, pleasecontact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

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Marty’s Back in Town!
By Norman Shabel
March 9 – 19
Performances:
Thursday, March 9 & 16 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 11 & 18 at 8 pm
Sunday, March 12 & 19 at 5 pm
For tickets: https://www.ticketplate.com/martysbackintown
Performances at:
The Alan and Diane Lieberman Theatre at the Michael-Ann Russel JCC
18900 NE 25th Street
Miami, FL 33180

March 24 – April 2
Performances:Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm
Sunday at 3:00 pm
For tickets: https://tinyurl.com/28as53yp
Performances at:
The Studio at Mizner Park
201 Plaza Real, 2nd Floor
Boca Raton, FL 33432

  • Norman Shabel
  • Seth Trucks
  • Ben Prayz, Christine Chavers, Francine Birns, Christian Cooper, Leslie Kandel
  • Ben Prayz, Emma McAvoy
  • Ben Prayz, James Skiba & Cast
  • James Skiba