Only Real Cougars by Tony Werner
LOCATION
The Road on Lankershim – THEATRE
5108 Lankershim Boulevard
North Hollywood, CA 91601
(Street parking or paid lot parking at 5125 Lankershim Blvd)
Only Real Cougars
By Tony Werner
Directed by Hollace Starr
CAST
DANNY- Ben Solenberger
BOB – Chris Bozzini
EMILY – Monica Quinn
*Appears courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association
SYNOPSIS
Danny, Emily, and Bob are just trying to enjoy themselves at their 10-year high school reunion. But there’s a mysterious stranger: some asshole, just having the time of his life. Their paranoia builds as they wonder: who is this person and how dare he ruin their evening?
TICKETS
No reservations or advance tickets. Admission is by donation ($15 suggested).
MEET YOUR PLAYWRIGHT
TONY WERNER is a writer in Los Angeles. He’s a former contributing writer for The Onion. He was a 2014 semi-finalist for Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace Fellowship and a 2016 finalist for the Goodman Theater Playwrights Unit. Recently, he was a finalist for the 2018 Heideman Award. He has been produced or developed at Chicago Dramatists, Collaboraction, Northwestern University, Steep Theatre Company, and Jackalope Theater. He’s a member of the Living Room Playmakers. He graduated from the University of Iowa, where he was in the Undergraduate Writers’ Workshop for Fiction, and Northwestern University’s MFA in Writing for the Screen + Stage.
MEET YOUR DIRECTOR
HOLLACE STARR Producing: Mexican Day at Rogue Machine. Directing: Circle Mirror Transformation and Eurydice at Pepperdine Univeristy, Three Views Of The Same Object at Rogue Machine Theatre, Best Wishes by Bill Barker at Crown City Theatre, as well as the annual one-act theatre festival at Antelope Valley College. Acting:Yard Sale Signs and Milkmilklemonade at Rogue Machine, A Chicago Christmas Carol at Crown City Theatre, Small Tragedy at the Odyssey, Vieux Carre at the Ivy Substation, Window Of Opportunity at the Met, and productions at The Fountain Theatre, The Actors’ Gang, and more. Hollace performed her one-woman show My Dad Came Dressed As Marilyn Monroe at Highways Performance Space and at the Hysteria Festival in Toronto, Canada. She is a founding member of Rogue Machine Theatre Company and on the board of Trade City Productions, which operates Los Angeles’ very first mobile theatre truck. Hollace received her MFA in acting from UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television. She is a lifetime member of the Actors Studio, a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, and an Associate Professor at Pepperdine University.
An Interview with Playwright Tony Werner
1: What is the name of your play?
Only Real Cougars
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
My first paying job in the theatre was assisting the playwright Lisa D’Amour on the premiere of her play, DETROIT at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. It was a little stressful at times—I was in charge of tracking every single revision throughout rehearsal and implementing it into the script, for God’s sake. But it was truly enlightening to witness Lisa’s process as a writer and to work with the other brilliant artists involved.
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
Absolutely. They often function as a great starting point. All it takes is an interesting gesture, a turn of phrase, or a strong opinion to get going.
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest?
I am a deeply neurotic person and I love exploring how neurotic thought expresses itself (or tries to) in language. My characters edit themselves a lot and almost always hide their true intentions. I also tend to love things that are darkly funny. The impulses we would never admit to having. I really enjoy watching audiences collectively decide what they find funny and what they recognize in themselves.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
I love fiction, especially anything noir-ish.
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
I’m currently working on a play about suburban paranoia.
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
Hmm. I gotta say ice cream. Vanilla with sprinkles.
8: Any acknowledgements or words of encouragement?
Thanks so much to my wife, my first reader of anything. As far as words of encouragement go, I’d say if you write comedy, try to write what you think is funny… not what you think others might think is funny.
9: Describe your play in 3 words!
Why not me?