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9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL Opens Broadway LPAC’s 2025 Season

07 Tuesday Jan 2025

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9 to 5 The Musical
Opens
Broadway at LPAC’s 2025 Season
The Show will run
January 16 – February 2

“The musical has everything to offer… The story is incredibly simplistic but is so much more than a story about three women finding their way in a man’s world.”
Theatre Tonic 

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

January 7, 2024

LAUDERHILL, FL: Broadway at LPAC’s 2025 season will open with 9 to 5 The Musical. Based on the seminal 1980 hit movie, the show, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and book by Patricia Resnick, is a story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era.  The production will open on January 16th and run through February 2nd at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center. 

Pushed to the boiling point, three female coworkers concoct a plan to get even with the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot they call their boss. In an uproarious turn of events, Violet, Judy and Doralee live out their wildest fantasy – giving their boss the boot! And while he remains “otherwise engaged,” the women give their workplace a dream makeover, taking control of the company that had always kept them down.

The production, directed by Michael Ursua,will star Dalia Aleman asViolet Newstead, Caiti Marlowe as Judy Bernly, and Anna Cappelli as Doralee Rhodes .Other cast members include Clay Cartland* as Franklin Hart Jr., Britte Steele as Roz Keith, and Michael Stafford as Joe.

“In today’s fast-paced environment where conversations around workplace dynamics, gender equity, and the importance of mental health are more prominent than ever, 9 to 5 The Musical invites us to laugh, reflect and unite,” Ursua says. “The camaraderie among the three lead characters – Violet, Judy and Doralee – serves as a reminder that collective action can lead to profound change. 9 to 5 The Musical is not only a tribute to the film that so many people know and love, but also a timely reminder of the power of standing up for what’s right.”

Ursua will also serve as the production’s Music Director and Alex Jorth is the show’s Choreographer.  Lighting is by William Gibbons-Brown and Sound is by Christopher Wynter.  Costumes are provided by Music Theatre Wichita and Costume World, supervised by Penny Williams/original design by William Ivey Long and Wigs are by Justin Lore of Tease & Floof Theatrical Wig Boutiques. Lisa Loweis the Production Stage Manager.

Tickets for 9 to 5 The Musical are on sale now and can be purchased online at https://www.lpacfl.com, or by calling the LPAC box office at 954-777-2055.Tickets range in price from $45 to $65. 

The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center is located at 3800 NW 11th Place (33311), in the Central Broward Regional Park on the Northeast corner of Sunrise Boulevard and State Road 7.  For more information about LPAC visit https://www.lpacfl.com. 

For more information about 9 to 5, 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.

~

9 to 5 The Musical
January 16 – February 2, 2025
Music and Lyrics by Dolly Parton
Book by Patricia Resnick
Based on the Twentieth Century Fox Film
Tickets:  $45-$65
For tickets:  https://www.lpacfl.com or
Call 954-777-2055
Performances:
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 pm
Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm
All performances will take place at
The Lauderhill Performing Arts Center (LPAC)
3800 NW 11th Place
Lauderhill, FL  33311

Photo Credit: Jerahmeel James

Dalia Aleman
Caiti Marlowe
Anna Cappelli
Clay Cartland
Britte Steele
Michael Stafford

Thinking Cap Theatre at The Vanguard presents Oscar Wilde’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST November 20 – December 13

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

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Thinking Cap Theatre at The Vanguard
presents
Oscar Wilde’sEarnest-poster---webNovember 20 – December 13

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

October 28, 2015
LAUDERDALE, FL: Dust off your disco shoes and get ready to have fun with puns. Thinking Cap Theatre will put its own unique spin on one of the theatre’s most beloved classics when it presents Oscar Wilde’s bristling comedy The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vanguard Sanctuary for the Arts from November 20th through December 13th.

Director Nicole Stodard has set the play in December 1978 – in disco-era New York City. The show promises to be punny, prurient, and pointed, informed by both 1970’s pop culture and social issues.

“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

First performed on February 14th, 1895 at the St James’s Theatre in London – the height of the Victorian era – the farcical comedy, in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations, has proven to be one of Wilde’s most popular and enduring pieces. The Importance of Being Earnest was celebrated for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot and its scintillating dialogue. Yet the play also contains a critique of relationship conventions, social mores, and gender roles that still resonate today.

Stodard has assembled an award-winning cast to bring Wilde’s characters to life:
Carbonell Award-winners Karen Stephens and Clay Cartland will be joined by Elizabeth Price, Carey Hart, Noah Levine, Jim Gibbons, Johnnie, Bowls, and Emma Magner.

Nicole Stodard

Nicole Stodard

“For me, Earnest was love at first read,” says Stodard. “Wilde’s wit is, in my opinion, unrivaled. And yet, depending on the staging, the play can sometimes feel dated, so I always knew that I wanted to stage the play closer to our own moment. The class, gender, racial, and sexual politics of the late 1970’s make for a rich and poignant backdrop for revisiting and re-imagining Wilde’s comedy. The 1970’s were an incredibly hedonistic and liberated decade, a drag culture was emerging in downtown NYC, and discos, most notably Studio 54, were the sites of divine apparel, playfulness, and pleasure. However, feminism experienced a splintering, gay marriage was still decades from society’s grasps, AIDS was on its way to becoming an epidemic, and anti-gay and racial violence still occurred routinely—not the least of which was the November 1978 murder of openly gay politician, Harvey Milk.”

Karen Stephens

Karen Stephens

“I’m so thrilled to play a role I wouldn’t normally get to play,” says actress Karen Stephens, who will play Lady Bracknell in the production “And the opportunity to bring this character – who is normally played by a male – to life in the retro world that will be created by director, Nicole Stodard is so exciting.”

“I am so excited to FINALLY work with Nicole Stodard and Thinking Cap Theatre, not to mention this stellar cast!” says Clay Cartland, who won the 2014 Carbonell Best Actor, Musical, Award for his work in The Trouble With Doug.

Clay Cartland

Clay Cartland

“Take everything you thought you knew about Oscar Wilde and this show in general,” he continues. “Then imagine Oscar Wilde and Donna Summer conceived a child while watching Saturday Night Fever…and then buy your tickets!

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Tickets for The Importance of Being Earnest are $35 ($20 for students with ID) and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased by calling 813-220-1546 or on line at www.thinkingcaptheatre.com.

The Vanguard Sanctuary for the Arts is located at 1501 S. Andrews Ave, Fort Lauderdale, 33301.  There is free street parking surrounding the building and a metered municipal lot just south of The Vanguard on Andrews Ave.

For more information about Thinking Cap Theatre at the Vanguard visit www.thinkingcaptheatre.com. or contact Nicole Stodard at nicole@thinkingcaptheatre.com / 813-220-1546 or Carol Kassie at ckassie@gmail.com /561-445-9244.

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People
By Oscar Wilde
November 20 – December 13, 2015
Tickets: $35 ($37.22 with s/c)
For Tickets: 813-220-1546
On Line:  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2304016
www.thinkingcaptheatre.com
Performance Schedule:
Friday, November 20, 2015, 8pm (Opening Night)
Saturday, November 21st, 8pm
Sunday, November 22nd, 5pm
Friday, November 27th, 8pm
Saturday, November 28th, 8pm
Sunday, November 29th, 5pm
Thursday, December 3rd, 8pm
Friday, December 4th, 8pm
Saturday, December 5th, 8pm
Sunday, December 6th, 5pm
Thursday, December 10, 8pm
Friday, December 11, 8pm
Saturday, December 12, 8pm
Sunday, December 13, 5pm
Please note – there will be no performance on Thursday, November 26 – Thanksgiving Day

The Vanguard
1501 S. Andrews Avenue
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316
www.vanguardarts.org
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“How you can sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.”
“Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly.
It is the only way to eat them.”
“I say it’s perfectly heartless your eating muffins at all, under the circumstances.”
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

 

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Parade Productions to present a premiere reading of Michael Leeds’ The Gift’

29 Wednesday May 2013

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                         Sometimes a nightmare can be a gift… THEGIFT - imageParade Productions will present a premiere reading of award-winning South Florida playwright/director Michael Leeds’ new work, The Gift. The reading will take place on July 1st at 7:30 p.m., at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center’s Studio Theatre in Boca Raton and will feature actors Clay Cartland and Lindsey Forgey.  This FREE reading is part of the South Florida Theatre League/WLRN sponsored Summer Theatre Fest program.

The premise of The Gift is simple: A young man and woman are stuck in adjoining elevators. However their gradual realization they might actually be trapped in each other’s dreams leads the characters – and audiences – on an intriguing journey as they discover things about one another, and themselves, they have never known before.

“The genesis for The Gift came when I was hunting for an idea and read a quote from a New York playwright who said, ‘Most people suggest writing what you know.  I like to write what I fear.’” Leeds explains. “When I was younger I had bouts of claustrophobia and as a writer I’m drawn to plays that have a fantastical element to them.  So I started with the image of a young man trapped in an elevator who realizes he’s actually trapped in a dream, and the story just evolved from there.”

“We were looking for a play to help develop.  We fell in love with this one,” Parade Productions’ Executive Producer Candace Caplin says. “The characters are irresistible and the concept is fascinating.  It’s an honor to be part of this process with Michael.”

Clay CartlandLeeds is equally pleased: “Getting the chance to have a Lindsey Forgeyreading at Parade Productions with Candace and (director) Kim St. Leon and wonderful actors like Clay Cartland and Lindsey Forgey is a terrific opportunity.  I’m hoping the audience will be as intrigued with The Gift as I was writing it.”

Although he is primarily recognized as one of South Florida’s finest and busiest directors, Leeds has also had great success as a playwright, screen writer, and choreographer. He co-wrote and directed the Broadway musical Swinging on a Star which received a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination and a Theatre World Award. Off-Broadway he directed and choreographed Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah – The Songs of Allan Sherman, Leeds head shotstarring Tovah Feldshuh & Mary Testa, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Director and Best Choreographer.  His extensive resume also includes work on films such as End of Summer, starring Jacqueline Bisset and Peter Weller (choreographer); he co-wrote The Simian Line starring William Hurt, Lynn Redgrave and Tyne Daly and The Last Film Festival, starring Dennis Hopper, and Jacqueline Bisset. Leeds’ plays include The First Step, Who Killed Joan Crawford, and a new version of Cole Porter’s Red, Hot And Blue. His recent directing credits include Mack and Mabel (Carbonell Award Best Musical), Lend Me A Tenor, My Fair Lady and The Light In The Piazza (Carbonell nomination Best Musical, Silver Palm Award for Direction) at Broward Stage Door, and Driving Miss Daisy and Chapter Two at The Plaza Theatre. Leeds also teaches adult acting classes in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Parade Productions is a not-for profit theatre company whose mission is “To produce high quality theatre experiences that entertain, enlighten, inform, uplift, and inspire audiences, sending them home with new thoughts, insights, questions, and ideas.”

This production is open to the entire community. Seating is ‘first come/first served’.

For more information about Michael Leeds, visit www.leedsworkshop.com or contact Carol Kassie at ckassie@gmail.com/561-445-9244.

The Gift
By Michael Leeds
July 1st
7:30 p.m.
Admission: FREE
The Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, Studio Theatre, 2nd Floor
201 Plaza Real,
Boca Raton, FL 33432

 

Parade Productions to present ‘The Last Schwartz’ – January 30-February 23, 2014

06 Monday May 2013

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Parade Productions to present
Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Schwartz
Schwartz 3 copy
January 31 – February 23, 2014
The Schwartz family is on its last legs. Their father is dead and their Catskills home is going up for sale. Norma Schwartz’ husband hasn’t spoken to her since she turned their 15 year old son in for smoking pot; it doesn’t seem like brother Herb’s wife will ever present him with an heir; middle sibling Simon has one foot on the moon; and youngest brother Gene arrives at the family compound with an unexpected guest. What unfolds is the funny, surprising, and ultimately moving story of a family at a key moment in their history.

Parade Productions will present Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Schwartz from January 31st through February 23rd at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center’s Studio Theatre.  The play received unanimously glowing reviews when it debuted at Florida Stage in 2002.

Director Kim St. Leon was immediately drawn to the piece. “We see a family’s history and future collide on one fateful weekend,” she says. “While we need to understand where we come from, we can’t let it hinder where we’re going.  In The Last Schwartz some hold on to the past too tightly while others let go of it too freely. The machinations of families have always fascinated me and The Last Schwartz does that with laughter, charm, and poignancy.”

Ken Clement and Betsy Graver have already committed to the project, and casting for the rest of the roles is underway.

“I’m very excited that we’re doing The Last Schwartz,” says Parade Productions Executive Producer Candace Caplin. “It’s one of my all-time favorite plays.  It has everything; it’s funny, it’s touching, it’s full of surprises; its characters are people we all know and deal with. It’s been top of my list for years.”

Playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and a Lilly Award. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and a two-time recipient of the LeCompte du Nouy grant from The Lincoln Center Foundation. Her plays have been developed at Florida Stage, The Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Ojai Playwrights Conference, The Missoula Colony, The Cherry Lane Alternative, The Dramatists Guild Fellowship Program, New Georges, The Lark Play Development Center, and Geva Theatre Center. She has received a National New Play Network rolling premiere and commission.  She is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop as a lyricist and librettist.

Parade Productions is a not-for profit theatre company whose mission is “To produce high quality theatre experiences that entertain, enlighten, inform, uplift, and inspire audiences, sending them home with new thoughts, insights, questions, and ideas.”

The Last Schwartz will have one preview performance on January 30th, 2014.  It will open on January 31st, and will run through February 23rd, with performances Thursday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. Ticket prices are $35 ($30 for groups of 20 or more).

Tickets will go on sale June 1st, and will be available at: www.paradeproductions.org, or by calling 866-811-4111.  For Group Sales please call:  561-291-9678.

Critical praise for The Last Schwartz:

“. . . metaphysically profound . . . The Last Schwartz is rollicking, sad, shocking, goofy, and thoughtful. It is comic drama firing on all cylinders, a superb work of theater by a playwright in full command of her considerable gift for character and dialogue.”  T.L. Ponick, The Washington Times

“Anyone who has lived in a family for even a minute will be able to identify with the wackiness and heartbreaks in The Last Schwartz.”  Laufer creates “alternately funny and emotional dialogue.”  Donna Hartman, Bradenton Herald

“The Last Schwartz balances comedy and drama. We ache for the Schwartz family members. We love them and hate them and laugh all the way to the family patriarch’s grave and beyond.” Alec Clayton, Tacoma News Tribune / The Olympian

~

The Last Schwartz
By Deborah Zoe Laufer
Tickets:  $35/$40
January 31-February 23, 2013
Preview:  January 31, 2013
Thu-Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 3 pm
The Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, Studio Theatre, 2nd Floor
201 Plaza Real
Boca Raton, FL 33432
Phone:  866-811-4111
Group Sales:  561-291-9678
www.paradeproductions.org
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Parade Productions presents Michael McKeever’s ‘The Whole Caboodle’ January 31-February 24

17 Monday Dec 2012

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The multi-award winning author of Stuff, Moscow, 37 Postcards, Suite Surrender and Open Season takes us on a wild ride – careening through seven short plays filled with very funny and wonderfully human characters.

WHOLE_CABOODLE_LOGO

Boca Raton, FL/December 18, 2012.
Michael McKeeverParade Productions’ second show of their second season will once again feature Michael McKeever – this time as playwright as well as actor.  The multi-talented McKeever will star in The Whole Caboodle, a wickedly funny collection of some of his most celebrated short plays.

The production will preview on January 31st, open on February 1st, and run through February 24th in the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center’s Studio Theatre, at 201 Plaza Real in Boca Raton.

Stephen Sondheim, Abe Lincoln, Munchkins, ambivalent lesbians, even Grant Wood’s ‘American Gothic’ – the award winning playwright skewers them all as he takes apart and reassembles a series of lovably flawed characters and pop culture icons with razor sharp humor and extra-keen insight –  with  hilarious results.

McKeever, who has just completed a successful run as Macy’s most irascible elf, Crumpet, in Parade’s recent production of David Sedris’ The SantaLand Diaries, is extremely pleased to be continuing his relationship with the young theatre company:

“I’m delighted Parade Productions is presenting this collection,” he says. “These seven pieces represent the best of my short plays.  Putting them together was like finding the perfect combination of funny.  Even more so, I love working with our director Kim St. Leon.  She has a wonderful gift for humor, and has put together a fabulous group of actors.  I couldn’t be more happy.”

Kim St. Leon agrees:  “It’s all magic,” she says of The Whole Caboodle.  “That’s the great thing about theatre.  When it all comes together, it’s an experience you’re not going to get on the street . . .”

Elena Maria Garcia, Jacqueline Laggy, Clay Cartland, Casey Dressler, and Candace Caplin will also star in the production.
CABOODLE_1 croppedCaplin, who doubles as the the company’s executive director, says, “We’re excited about Caboodle.  Who wouldn’t be?  You take Michael McKeever, add Kim St Leon, and you’ve got combustible comedy.  We’ve got a great cast, a great cast of characters,” she continues. “When it comes to comedy, you’re not going to do better than Michael Mc Keever and Elena Maria Garcia.  We’re lucky they, and the rest of the cast, were available, and that it all came together.  It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Parade Productions is also offering their audiences an opportunity to support the company, and experience theatre in a uniquely first hand manner.  For a tax deductible donation of $100 or more, patrons can ‘play a part’ in The Whole Caboodle, and make a ‘walk on’ appearance on stage during the play.

The versatile Michael McKeever, who recently won a Silver Palm award for his play, Moscow, and a Carbonell Award for Best New Work for his play, Stuff, explores every aspect of the human condition in his work, which incorporates a wide variety of styles and subject matter.  He has been honored with an NEA Residency Grant (New Theatre, Miami) and has been a 3-time finalist for Humana Fest’s nationally renowned Heideman Award. He is the proud recipient of three Carbonell Awards; four Curtain Up Awards; and two Florida Individual Artist Fellowships. Six of his plays have been produced at City Theatre’s prestigious Summer Shorts Festival in Miami. He has been a finalist several times at both the Key West Theatre Festival and the Sarasota Festival of New Plays. He is also an award-winning actor and designer. He resides in South Florida and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Actors’ Equity.

Parade Productions is a not-for profit theatre company whose mission is “To produce high quality theatre experiences that entertain, enlighten, inform, uplift, and inspire audiences, sending them home with new thoughts, insights, questions, and ideas.”

The Whole Caboodle previews on January 31st, 2013, opens on February 1st, and runs through February 24th, with performances Thursday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $35 and $40 ($30 for groups of 15 or more).

Tickets are available at: www.paradeproductions.org, or by calling 866-811-4111.  For Group Sales please call:  561-291-9678. 

For more information, photos, head shots, or to arrange for interviews, please contact Carol Kassie at 561-445-9244/ckassie@gmail.com.  For information about ‘walk-ons’ contact info@paradeproductions.org .
(Photos by Justin Namon)

The Whole Caboodle
by Michael McKeever
January 31-February 4, 2013
Thu-Sat 7:30 pm; Sun 3 pm
The Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, Studio Theatre, 2nd Floor
201 Plaza Real
Boca Raton, FL 33432
Tickets:  $35/$40
Phone:  866-811-4111
Group Sales:  561-291-9678
www.paradeproductions.org
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