bareNaked LA (WHO'S WHO - Comedy Is Hard by Mike Reiss)

Welcome To our Paperless Program

Barefoot Theatre Company

Season 2013-2014

bareNaked LA Reading Series

proudly presents

COMEDY IS HARD

By Mike Reiss

Starring:

(in order of appearance)

Alley Mills, Martha Hackett, Orson Bean, Christopher Whalen,

Francisco Solorzano, and Jane Stephens Rosenthal

Directed by

Jerry O’Donnell

Live Music: WEST

Drink Sponsor: SAINT ARCHER BREWING COMPANY

March 27^th, 2014 @ 7:30pm

ART OF ACTING STUDIO LOS ANGELES

1017 N. Orange Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90038

Barefoot Theatre CompaNY / LA

Francisco Solorzano, Producing Artistic Director

Christopher Whalen, Producing Director

Danelle Eliav, Associate Producing Director

Molly Marinik, Program Director

Jennie West, Co-Producer / Artistic Associate

Special Thanks to: AOA, Risa Bramon Garcia, Robert Stein, Johnny Yoder,

Tom Oppenheim, Nina Cappeli, cast, crew and YOU, our audience.  

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www.barefoottheatrecompany.org

ALLEY MILLS, a magna-cum-laude graduate of the first class of women at 

Yale, earned an M.A. in drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She is best known for her six years playing Norma Arnold on the acclaimed TV series The Wonder Years but has appeared for the past seven years on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful. She lives in Venice with her husband Orson Bean.

ORSON BEAN was nominated for a SAG award for his performance in BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. He starred on Broadway for twenty years, winning a Theater World Award and a Tony nomination in the process. He appeared on the Tonight Show over 200 times, a hundred of them as substitute host. He played Mrs.McClusky's husband on the final three seasons of Desperate Housewives and beat Charley Sheen with a cane on 2 and a Men. He will be seen in June at the Geffen Theater in Westwood in the world premiere of Death of the Author.

CHRISTOPHER WHALEN Theater: bareNaked LA Reading Series in Mike Reiss’ (THE SIMPSONS) I’M CONNECTICUT (opposite Joyce DeWitt); Joe Pintauro’s RAFT OF THE MEDUSA; Kristoffer Diaz's F**KING VIGWAN (OR SWAG); GLOUCESTER BLUE (Cherry Lane Theatre) and SINS OF THE MOTHER written and directed by Israel Horovitz (Gloucester Stage Company), 70/70 Horovitz Project in Horovitz's UNEXPECTED TENDERNESS (alongside Michael Stuhlbarg, Annabella Sciorra, Anna Chlumsky; Bleecker Street Theater), bareNaked Reading Series (NY/LA), SUITE HOROVITZ & MID EAST PIECES by Horovitz (Theatre For The New City). Christopher developed the role of Moretti in the workshop production of DOG DAY AFTERNOON, Horovitz's NEW SHORTS (Theatre Row Theatres opposite Lynn Cohen), BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, PERICLES, CRIMES OF THE HEART,

Israel Horovitz's SECURITY (Bleecker Street Theatre) & NORTH SHORE FISH (78th Street Theatre Lab) and Joseph Sousa's TEETH OF THE SONS (Bleecker Street Theatre) among others. Film: PS. I LOVE YOU opposite Lisa Kudrow, (Warner Brothers), THE PROCTOR (Endless Films). A physical fitness enthusiast, he completed his third New York City marathon in the fall of 2007. Co-Founded Barefoot Studio Pictures with Francisco Solorzano (debut film, Floating Sunflowers premiering this April at World-Fest Houston).  Barefoot Theatre Company Ensemble Member.

FRANCISCO SOLORZANO - for the past 15 years, Francisco has produced, directed, acted, and led the Barefoot Theatre Company as Producing Artistic Director / Co-Founder from Off-Off Broadway to become a critically acclaimed and award winning NYC and LA Ensemble.  Most notably onstage, Francisco adapted, directed and acted in the critically acclaimed/sold-out Off-Broadway world premiere of DOG DAY AFTERNOON (Theatre Row Theatres).  Francisco has also been known for his leading role in Israel Horovitz's two-act drama SINS OF THE MOTHER (alongside Ethan Hawke, Chris Cooper, Bobby Cannavale, and Michael Stuhlbarg).  Most recently, acted in and co-produced two short films with Barefoot Studio Pictures, THE GIRL WITH THE JACKET written and directed by Caitlin FitzGerald and FLOATING SUNFLOWERS (also dir.) w/ Anna Chlumsky, Lynn Cohen & Christopher Whalen.  Collaborated on award winning revivals, NY and World Premieres with some of the most prolific companies including: LABYRINTH THEATER COMPANY, RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER, FLORIDA STAGE, GLOUCESTER STAGE CO., ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATER, STELLA ADLER THEATER, THEATRE ROW THEATRES. BFA in Acting: CUNY'S Brooklyn College; Recipient of the Graduate Theater Organization of Brooklyn College, CUNY's Alumnus of the Year Award.  Currently splits his time between his home in Brooklyn, New York and Hollywood, CA.

MARTHA HACKETT is a veteran theatre, film, and television actress based in Los Angeles.  A long-time member of Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, she has appeared there in over twenty productions.  Other theatre work includes Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory, the Odyssey Theatre, and Freight Train Shakespeare.  Regionally she has worked multiple times in Washington, D.C. both at Arena Stage and the historic Ford's Theatre.  Recent film and television credits include the Walt Disney comedy, ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY, starring Steve Carrell, and guest starring roles on THE MINDY PROJECT, MASTERS OF SEX, and PERCEPTION.  Martha graduated from both Harvard University and USC, where she received an MFA in Acting.

JANE STEPHENS ROSENTHAL is an actress, and a poet, and a lady, and she is currently working on writing her first film.  She most recently collaborated with Barefoot Theatre Co. acting in the short film written and directed by Caitlin FitzGerald for their sister co., Barefoot Studio Pictures.

JERRY O'DONNELL (Director) a New York raised actor and director who now lives and works in Los Angeles. Recent TV credits include a recurring role on MADMEN and guest stars on Dexter, Cold Case and Without a Trace. Jerry can currently be seen punching a heavy bag in a Kaiser Hospital commercial.  Working with Barefoot theater Co feels like coming home in many ways and Jerry is excited to be an ensemble member working with such talented and committed artists.  

MIKE REISS has won four Emmys and a Peabody Award during his twenty-one years writing for “The Simpsons”.  He ran the show in Season 4, which Entertainment Weekly called “the greatest season of the greatest show in history.”  In 2006, Reiss received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Animation Writers Caucus. 

Reiss co-created the animated series “The Critic” and created Showtime’s hit cartoon “Queer Duck” (about a gay duck).  “Queer Duck” was named one of “The 100 Greatest Cartoons of All Time” by the BBC.  “Queer Duck: the Movie” was released to rave reviews in July 2006, winning awards in New York, Chicago, San Diego, Sweden, Germany and Wales.  Reiss’s other TV credits include “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”, “ALF”, and “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson”.   “My Life in Ruins”, a film inspired by his travels to 71 countries, was released in 2009.  Reiss also co-wrote ‘The Simpsons Movie” and “Ice Age 3”, with a combined world-wide gross of $1.5 billion.  

Reiss’ first play, “I’m Connecticut” set box-office records for Connecticut Repertory Theater.   The Hartford Courant called it “sweet and hysterically funny” and named it one of the year’s Ten Best Plays.   Broadway World Connecticut voted it Best Play of 2012.  His caveman detective story “Cro-Magnon P.I.” won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.  He has published seventeen children’s books, including the best-seller “How Murray Saved Christmas” and the award-winning “Late for School”.  Reiss also composes puzzles for “NPR”, and “Games Magazine”.  As a professional speaker, Reiss has lectured at over two hundred colleges and institutions, on six continents.   His topics include “The Simpsons”, comedy and Judaism, and the sorry state of television.   Reiss is a former president of “The Harvard Lampoon” and editor of “The National Lampoon”.  He has been happily married for twenty-five years.  Like most children’s book authors, he has no children.