Blank Theatre Company
Encyclopedia
The Blank Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company located in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. It was founded in 1990 by Daniel Henning, who is today the company's Artistic Director/Producer. The Blank’s mission is to produce either premieres or "reinventions" of previously-produced material. The productions must be innovative and provocative and of the highest artistic quality.

In its sixteen years of existence, The Blank has produced 30 mainstage productions, and garnered many major Los Angeles theatre awards, including six Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....

s and three LA Weekly Awards. In 1992, the theatre began an annual Nationwide Young Playwrights Festival, which has provided an outlet for the creative efforts of over 200 playwrights aged nineteen and younger.

The Blank also produces a workshop series, of mostly new works, called the "Living Room Series", giving theatre artists the chance to hone their skills. The series culminates in a Monday night performance and is presented nearly every Monday night from Labor Day to Memorial Day.

In April 1996, the company moved to its current home at the 53-seat 2nd Stage Theatre in Hollywood, California, at 6500 Santa Monica Blvd.

Key Players

  • Daniel Henning - Artistic Director/Producer
  • Noah Wyle
    Noah Wyle
    Noah Strausser Speer Wyle is an American film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. John Truman Carter III in the Medical drama ER. He has also played Steve Jobs in the 1999 docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley and Flynn Carsen in The Librarian franchise...

     - Artistic Producer
  • Matthew Graber - Producer
  • Ed Murphy - Managing Director

Select alumni

  • Ed Asner
    Ed Asner
    Edward Asner , commonly known as Ed Asner, is an American film, television, stage, and voice actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, primarily known for his Emmy Award-winning role as Lou Grant on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series, Lou Grant...

  • Amber Benson
    Amber Benson
    Amber Nicole Benson is an American actress, writer, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but has also directed, produced and starred in her own films Chance and Lovers, Liars & Lunatics...

  • Nicholas Brendon
    Nicholas Brendon
    Nicholas Brendon , is an actor best known for his character Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer .-Early life:...

  • Warren Davis
    Warren Davis (actor)
    Warren Davis is an American actor and video game programmer. He is best known for inventing the arcade classic Q*bert. His other video arcade credits include Joust 2, Lotto Fun, Exterminator, Terminator 2, and Revolution X, which featured Aerosmith; as well as Us. Vs...

  • Eliza Dushku
    Eliza Dushku
    Eliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...

  • Susan Egan
    Susan Egan
    Susan Egan is an American actress and singer known for her work on the Broadway stage.-Early life and career:Egan was born in Seal Beach, California. She attended Orange County High School of the Arts and UCLA. In the meantime she started her career touring with the performance group The Young...

  • Sarah Michelle Gellar
    Sarah Michelle Gellar
    Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...

     
  • Alyson Hannigan
    Alyson Hannigan
    Alyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Willow Rosenberg in the cult classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, and Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.-Early life:Hannigan was born in...


  • Sally Kellerman
    Sally Kellerman
    Sally Clare Kellerman is an American actress and singer known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film MASH , for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.-Early life:...

     
  • James Kerwin
    James Kerwin
    James Kerwin is an American film and theatre director.Kerwin, who attended Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield, Missouri, has been noted for his Shakespearean adaptations of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cardenio and Venus and Adonis...

  • Richard Kind
    Richard Kind
    Richard John Kind is an American actor known for his roles in the sitcoms Mad About You and Spin City .- Early life :...

  • Ricki Lake
    Ricki Lake
    Ricki Pamela Lake is an American actress, producer, and television host. She is best known for her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray, her ground-breaking documentary film The Business of Being Born, and her talk show which was broadcasted internationally from...

  • Matthew Lillard
    Matthew Lillard
    Matthew Lyn Lillard is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his roles as Stu Macher in Scream, Stevo in SLC Punk , and Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film series and the Animated reboot series.-Early life:Lillard was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Tustin, California...

  • Allison Mack
    Allison Mack
    Not to be confused with Alison MacAllison Mack is an American actress. She is best known for her role of Chloe Sullivan on the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.-Early life:...

  • James Marsters
    James Marsters
    James Wesley Marsters is an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond yobbish English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997 to 2004...

  • Debra Messing
    Debra Messing
    Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....


  • Molly Shannon
    Molly Shannon
    Molly Helen Shannon is an American comic actress best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995–2001 and for starring in the films Superstar and Year of the Dog. More recently, she starred in NBC's Kath & Kim from 2008–2009 and on the TBS animated series Neighbors from...

  • Sherri Shepherd
    Sherri Shepherd
    Sherri Evonne Shepherd is an American comedienne, actress, and television personality. She is one of five co-hosts on the ABC daytime talkshow, The View, as well as being the current host of the Newlywed Game and having a recurring role as Angie Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock...

  • Kate Shindle
  • Bruce Vilanch
    Bruce Vilanch
    Bruce Vilanch is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a six-time Emmy Award-winner Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on Hollywood Squares, as a celebrity participant; in the entertainment industry he is best known as head writer for the show...

  • Gedde Watanabe
    Gedde Watanabe
    Gedde Watanabe is an American theatre, film, and television actor.He was in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing...

  • Mae Whitman
    Mae Whitman
    Mae Margaret Whitman is an American television, movie and voice actress. She is known for her role as Ann Veal in the TV series Arrested Development, her role as Amber on the TV series Parenthood, her role as Roxy Richter in Scott Pilgrim vs...

  • Noah Wyle
    Noah Wyle
    Noah Strausser Speer Wyle is an American film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. John Truman Carter III in the Medical drama ER. He has also played Steve Jobs in the 1999 docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley and Flynn Carsen in The Librarian franchise...

  • Constance Zimmer
    Constance Zimmer
    Constance Zimmer is an American actress perhaps best known for her role as Dana Gordon in HBO's Entourage and as Claire Simms on the critically acclaimed ABC legal comedy-drama Boston Legal...



Mainstage productions

  • Set Up and Punch (World Premiere) 2009
  • The Jazz Age (West Coast Premiere) 2009
  • Speech and Debate (West Coast Premiere) 2008
  • Little Fish
    Little Fish
    Little Fish may refer to:*Benny Bass, American world featherweight champion & world junior lightweight champion boxer*Little Fish , a 2005 film directed by Rowan Woods*Little Fish , a 2003 musical by Michael John LaChiusa...

     (West Coast Premiere) 2007
  • Heads (World Premiere) 2007
  • Missouri Waltz (World Premiere) 2007
  • Hotel C'est L'Amour (World Premiere) 2006
  • Lobster Alice (Los Angeles Premiere) 2006
  • A Hole in the Wall (West Coast Premiere) 2006
  • The Wild Party (LaChiusa)
    The Wild Party (LaChiusa musical)
    The Wild Party is a musical with a book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe and music and lyrics by LaChiusa. It is based on the 1928 Joseph Moncure March narrative poem of the same name...

     (West Coast Premiere) 2005
  • The Book of Liz (Los Angeles Premiere) 2005
  • Les Liaisons Dangereuses
    Les Liaisons dangereuses
    Les Liaisons dangereuses is a French epistolary novel by Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782....

     2005
  • American Way
    American Way (play)
    "American Way" is a one-act play by Jeremy Gable. The plot centers around three comic book superheroes who, in the midst of a break, are faced with a tragedy that they could not prevent from happening, despite having superpowers. It is notable for its sudden shift in tone and use of metaphor to...

     (World Premiere) 2004
  • As Is
    As Is (play)
    As Is is a play by William M. Hoffman.The Circle Repertory Company and The Glines co-production, directed by Marshall W. Mason, opened on March 10, 1985 at the Circle Theatre, where it ran for 49 performances...

     2004
  • Funny... (2 World Premieres) 2003
  • Fill in the Blank (World Premiere) 2003
  • Sanguine
    Sanguine (disambiguation)
    Sanguine is a red earth pigment used in the manufacture of artists chalks or pastels, first used by Renaissance artists.Sanguine , may also refer to:...

     (World Premiere) 2003
  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
    Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
    Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee that opened on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater on October 13, 1962. The original cast featured Uta Hagen as Martha, Arthur Hill as George, Melinda Dillon as Honey and George Grizzard as Nick. It was directed by Alan Schneider...

     2002
  • First Lady Suite
    First Lady Suite
    First Lady Suite is a chamber musical by Michael John LaChiusa. The musical contains four separate segments about four of the First Ladies of the United States of America and the people surrounding them. They are: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy...

     (West Coast Premiere) 2002

  • Precious Sons (West Coast Premiere) 2000
  • The Why (World Premiere) 2000
  • A Night Out With Young Playwrights (2 World Premieres) 1999
  • Starr Struck: A Musical Investigation (World Premiere) 1999
  • Hello Again
    Hello Again (musical)
    Hello Again is musical with music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa. It is based on the 1897 play La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler...

     (West Coast Premiere) 1998
  • Loot
    Loot (play)
    Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....

     1997
  • Sky's End (World Premiere) 1996
  • Breaking the Code
    Breaking the Code
    Breaking the Code is a 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore about British mathematician Alan Turing, who was a key player in the breaking of the German Enigma code at Bletchley Park during World War II...

     (L.A. premiere) 1996
  • Young Playwrights Mainstage 95 (3 World Premieres) 1995
  • Chess
    Chess (musical)
    Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...

     (L.A. Premiere) 1995
  • The Cradle Will Rock
    The Cradle Will Rock
    The Cradle Will Rock is a 1937 musical by Marc Blitzstein. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman. The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording.The musical is a...

     (Off Ramp Theatre) 1994
  • Gertrude Stein and A Companion (L.A. Premiere) 1994
  • In Stitches (World Premiere) 1994
  • Isn't It Romantic?
    Isn't It Romantic?
    "Isn't It Romantic?" is a popular song and part of the Great American Songbook. The music was composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It has a 32-bar chorus in ABAC form...

     1993
  • The Fantasticks
    The Fantasticks
    The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into...

     1993
  • A Snake in the Vein (West Coast Premiere) 1993
  • Sexual Perversity in Chicago
    Sexual Perversity in Chicago
    Sexual Perversity in Chicago is a play written by David Mamet that examines the sex lives of two men and two women in the 1970's. The play is filled with profanity and regional jargon that reflects the working-class language of Chicago. The characters' relationships become hindered by the caustic...

     / Hills Like White Elephants
    Hills Like White Elephants
    "Hills Like White Elephants" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was first published in the 1927 collection Men Without Women.-Plot summary:...

     1991
  • The Winter's Tale
    The Winter's Tale
    The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...

     1991
  • Hosanna
    Hosanna (disambiguation)
    Hosanna, a liturgical word in Judaism and Christianity, may also refer to:*Hosanna shout, a Mormon ritual*Hosanna , a single by A. R. Rahman for the 2010 Tamil feature film soundtrack Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa...

    1990
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK