April 14, 1865. Lee had surrendered just two days before. Washington was one big party, with dancing in the streets. The President felt he could finally take an evening to see this wonderful British comedy, on tour with Laura Keene’s New York company, playing at Ford’s Theater. The events surrounding that night are tragic, but …continue reading »
Full out for Comedy 2019-2020 By Gad, this is going to be fun! We’re going full out for comedy this season. We’ll all need a bit of intelligent entertainment and even escape! “Cherchez la femme!” is the theme. Perhaps we at PNT are celebrating the upcoming Centennial Year of Women’s Suffrage a little early, but …continue reading »
AT PNT we just saw Venezia through Carlo Goldoni’s 18th Century eyes in his relentless comedy “The Servant of Two Masters”. Now we’ll look at it through Shakespeare’s eyes more than 150 years before. We can say “Merchant” is also, by definition, a “comedy” because the hero turns out well in the end. But such …continue reading »
A Few Thoughts About “Improvisation” In the early 1960s when ‘improvisation’ was all the rage, Sir Tyrone Guthrie was asked what he thought of it. The grand genius of classical staging remarked, “Well it’s all very fun, but I don’t see what need actors have of it. Their lines are written for them.” This seemingly …continue reading »
Mr. Dickens: Artist and Business Man So the story goes that Charles Dickens, the young author of Sketches by Boz, was interviewed by Chapman and Hall to write the cover plates for a series of illustrations of a whimsical men’s club by Robert Seymour, a leading London artist, who looked to make a personal killing …continue reading »
What is “Readers’ Theater”? From the preface to Lance Davis’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol” “I held off doing ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Parson’s Nose for a number of years because there were so many good productions already being done, and I wasn’t sure what Parson’s Nose could offer that was unique. …continue reading »
I’ve been trying to piece together the history of our new home and hope you who have more information will help me out. I went down to the Pasadena Historical Society and they were most helpful, going back into their files to produce these photos. There wasn’t a lot written, from what I’ve gathered, but …continue reading »
Feeling blue with melancholy, or red with rage? Both Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow got you down? Your kid didn’t make the cheer squad? Or did make the cheer squad? And is a “flyer”? Your office just switched to cubicles and lanyards? Well keep your chin up high! You still have time to get a …continue reading »
With an elementary school education Sam Clemens became a printer, a journalist, a miner, a steamboat pilot, an investor, and, many believe, America’s greatest writer. He was the first writer to allow the American way of speaking English to take its rightful place in literature. He captured America, warts and all. This is the man …continue reading »
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” – Mark Twain “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” – Ernest Hemingway Our PNT “Clearly Classic” imprimatur declares works worthy of your investigation. If Parson’s Nose Theater’s mission is to introduce – or reintroduce – the wonderful …continue reading »
Shakespeare had Elizabeth; Moliere had Louis XIV. We need you! If you enjoy what we do, please consider a donation. Ticket sales can only cover a portion of our costs. PNT has never been in debt in 17 seasons, thanks to you. We are one of the few theaters our size in Los Angeles that pays its artists, not what they deserve, to be sure, but above the Actors Equity minimum. Your donation allows us to pay artists and our overhead and still keep our programs available to all members of the community.
