Mary and Lance: Not Dead, Only Resting

What's Goin' On?

Mary and I are switching it up, starting a new chapter, and we’re very excited about it. After 26 years of creating a new kind of theater – cabaret, classical, fun, social – we’re stepping into new positions at PNT, devoting our time to the “PNT Radio Theater” that we began in Covid and now can focus on. We have 50 classics recorded already that we want to refresh, and add a few new ones, with the hope of expanding PNT to a global audience, something we've had a bit of success with - Denmark! India! - but never really pursued.

So Where Ya Goin'?

Just before Christmas our daughter Jemma, her husband Dave, and our 18 month old granddaughter Emma Freddie Bennett, returned from a stay in the Hudson Valley, closer to Jem’s work in NY and Paris and Dave’s sound work and family in England. They realized their lives were just much easier there, and also enjoyed being nearer our East Coast families...and so, they were leaving LA.

Well then Mary's and my own questions of the past couple of years became much easier to answer. Mary said, "Lance Davis, I’m going East to be near my grandchild and I would, of course, love for you to join me.” And, of course, I wanted to be a part of the fun too.

So You're Leavin'?

Not completely. I announced to the board and the company at Christmas that after this season I would be turning in my locker key and Artistic Directorship, though I would really love to continue on, to see what we could do to promote Parson’s Nose in the “audio drama” arena, which I can do from NY as a sort of “Parson’s Nose East”. The idea would be for the two branches to complement each other – come see our work live in Pasadena, and also listen to us anywhere in the world through our website or Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.

The board and company graciously agreed. We looked at the numbers and feel it’s possible - with your continued support - and so, we’re off!

So Where Ya Goin'?

Well, the kids have bought a lovely home in Red Hook, NY, (Duchess County, not Brooklyn). And Mary and I are in the process of selling our home of 30 years in South Pasadena, digging out our sweaters, and heading for the Hudson Valley, around Red Hook, Rhinebeck, close to the Hudson River - Rip Van Winkle territory. We're from the East, New York and Philadelphia, and have lots of family there.

And You'll Do What?

We have lots of ideas. In the spirit of The Hudson Valley I’m already preparing my stage script to record - with the help of our son-in-law, professional sound editor Dave Bennett - Dion Boucicault’s comic melodrama of Washington Irving's “Rip Van Winkle”. Also, to honor America's 250th Anniversary of the Revolution, I’m posting our "Introduction to The Declaration of Independence” this month, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Devil and Daniel Webster. In the near future (we do have to move 3000 miles, you realize) perhaps an introduction and reading of Thomas Paine’s incendiary and oh so relevant “Common Sense”.

I also want to do recordings of my recently successful adaptations, “War of the Worlds…in Pasadena” and “Wodehouse: Golf and Love”, and Mary has graciously promised she will allow some time from our granddaughter, at her discretion, to assist me whenever possible.

SO HERE comes the moment in the race when the baton is handed to the next runner. As I said, luckily, at PNT, we have 4 wonderfully talented veterans ready to seize the moment. Barry Gordon, Gary Lamb, Marisa Chandler and Hoyt Hilsman, whose work you’ve all enjoyed for so many years, are busily preparing Season 27. It’s almost ready to go into the oven - I hear the word "musical" alot - and will be well worth the wait.

So thank you for your patience while we adjust. Our hearts are full of love and humility for the support you’ve all given to our little project over the years. I’ll be giving a more full history of our mission in the future, but for now it’s been such a delight to realize that we’ve done what we all set out to do.

Thousands of Angelenos of all ages can now say they’ve enjoyed works by the world’s greatest writers – Moliere, Shakespeare, Chekov, Gogol, Dickens, Goldoni, Taylor, Boucicault, Thurber, O Henry, Steinbeck, Belasco, the list goes on - enjoyed works they may have heard of, but never come in contact with, and now they have. Making their lives richer, hopefully, through simply presented appeals to their "classic" imagination. And so we continue! Please stay tuned!