Open Fist to present adaptation of Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage"

The Open Fist proudly presents a world premiere musical event, the stage adaptation of Frank Zappa’s classic rock opera JOE’S GARAGE. This production is adapted for the stage by Pat Towne and Michael Franco, will be directed by Pat Towne with Musical direction by Ross Wright and choreography by Jennifer Letteleir. Produced for The Open Fist by Michael Franco, Charlie Otte and Pat Towne with permission from the Zappa Family Trust.

JOE’S GARAGE tells us the story of Joe – a simple guitar player in a garage band – as he is drawn into the dark and nightmarish world of the music business. As Joe deteriorates from betrayal, disease, and madness, our narrator, the Central Scrutinizer asserts that music is responsible for his demise, and is therefore evil.

JOE’S GARAGE is a cautionary tale about the oppression of government and its desire to make its citizenry conform and obey. It ponders a world where the government controls the masses by making music a crime.

Masked in the simplicity of a high school musical, the play’s attacks on government’s surveillance of its own citizenry, the sexual escapades of the Catholic Church, the ridiculousness of Scientology, the avarice of the music business, self serving journalism, mindless consumerism and bad boy rock and roll behavior in general, makes for a wicked and timely satire – all this wrapped in the brilliant music of legendary rock icon Frank Zappa.

JOE’S GARAGE will preview on Thursday, September 18, Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20 at 8pm and Sunday, September 21 at 7pm, and will open on Friday, September 26 at 8pm and run through Saturday, November 22 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. (former home of The Actor’s Gang) in Hollywood.


ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST

FRANK ZAPPA (American Composer, fl. (1940 – 1993).

PAT TOWNE (Adaptor, Director, Producer) A long time member of the Los Angeles theatre community, Pat recently directed Gorey Stories, a theatrical adaptation with music of the works of Edward Gorey, for the Sacred Fools Theater. The show won 3 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards including Best Ensemble, Pat earned an Ovation Award nomination for direction, and the show won the Ovation Award for Best Musical/Intimate Theater (The Franklin R. Levy Award). Pat is a founding member of the award winning Zoo District Theatre Company. He has directed and performed in several of its productions including the world premiere of Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog at the Ivan Franko National Theatre in Kiev, Ukraine. Pat is from Chicago where he was a founding member of the Annoyance Theatre. From there he went on to direct its production of The Real Live Brady Bunch Off-Broadway.

MICHAEL FRANCO (Adaptor, Producer, Production Design) has received LA Weekly, LADCC, Ovation and Garland Awards for his work as a Writer, Producer, Director, Designer and Actor for The Room, The Swine Show, Gorey Stories, Heart of a Dog, Uppa Creek, The Slow and Painful Death of Sam Shepard, Pathe’ X, The Master and Margarita and Nosferatu for The Zoo District, The Sacred Fools and The Open Fist Theatre Companies. As a writer Michael has five plays and two award-winning adaptations of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novels, The Master and Margarita and Heart of a Dog. His critically acclaimed play The Room had its world premiere at The Open Fist in September of 2007. His new play, an adaptation of Sartre’s, The Wall is slated for a 2009 world premiere. Michael is an alum of the famed Chicago Second City and a founding member of Chicago Actors Ensemble. Michael toured the Soviet Republics in 1990-1991 in a joint production with The Chicago Actors Ensemble and The Comradeship of Artists and Musicians performing Heiner Mueller’s, The Despoiled Shore, Medea Material and Landscape of the Argonauts. In 2002 Michael was invited to Kiev, Ukraine to produce the world premiere of his adaptation of Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog.

CHARLIE OTTE (Producer, Production Design) has worked around the country in theatre, opera, and film. Some of his favorite New York productions include Flood by Gunter Grass, Moliere’s Imaginary Invalid, Brecht’s Baal, Mikhail Bulgakov's Bliss, as well as Songs From Liquid Days and La Belle et La Bete by Philip Glass. Additional New York productions include The Cuchulain Cycle (based on the writings by W.B. Yeats), the multi-media production This is a Test, and restaging The Civil Wars and Einstein on the Beach for Robert Wilson. In Los Angeles, work includes James Joyce’s The Dead, Travesties by Tom Stoppard, Bulgakov’s Flight, Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, Gozzi’s King Stag, David Rabe’s Goose and Tomtom, and new plays by Bradley Smith, Steven Haworth, Rick Pagano, and John Bishop. Otte has garnered multiple honors, including a TEA Award for his work as the creative director for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, and another for work as the creative director for the Texas State History Museum. He received the John Huston Award for directing excellence at U.S.C. film school and an LA Weekly Award for comedy direction.

ROSS WRIGHT (Musical Direction) (aka Elvis Schoenberg) is the creator, writer, composer and conductor of the Orchestre Surreal. Wright’s music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe. Wright earned a Bachelor’s from California State University at Northridge, a Masters of Music from UCLA film scoring program and now teaches at the Musicians Institute.

JENNIFER LETTELLEIR (Choreography) has been recognized for her work in Los Angeles and Florida as a choreographer and created the critically acclaimed musical I Hate TV. Jennifer has worked in professional theatre both regionally and locally.

CRICKET SLOAT (Lighting Design) won the LADCC award for her Lighting Design for Gorey Stories and is a long time friend and collaborator with this production team. Lighting Eenie Meenie, Autobahn, Macbeth, The Swine Show and The Room. Cricket is currently at the mercy of Michael Bay working on “Transformers 2 and 3” in the film world.

TIM LABOR (Sound Design) most recently won The LA Weekly award for his Sound Design of The Swine Show for The Sacred Fools. Tim was also nominated for his work on Travesties at the Open Fist, and his sound designs have appeared in Beaverquest and Sex and Imagining (Sacred Fools), American Book of the Dead, Laura Comstock’s Bag-Punching Dog, Louis Slotin Sonata (Circle X), The Room, Beautiful City, Criminal Genius, Adult Entertainment, Escape from Happiness, Galileo (Open Fist.) Tim is also a professor of music at UC Riverside and a founder of Riverside Music Authority (a joint venture with the Open Fist to present new music and artistic symposia.)

JOE’S GARAGE will preview on Thursday, September 18, Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20 at 8pm and Sunday, September 21 at 7pm, and will open on Friday, September 26 and at 8pm and run through Saturday, November 22 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. (former home of The Actor’s Gang) in Hollywood.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm Sundays at 7pm. Ticket prices are $25; tickets for the opening night gala are $30. Previews are $15. Special group rates available for parties of 10 or more. For tickets, please call (323) 882-6912 for details or visit www.openfist.org to purchase tickets online or to view complete schedule.