LA: The Last Five Years: A Multisensory Experience
The Ovation Award-winning After Hours experiments with form again
When: June 7 — July 14 (Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays)
Where: The Actors Company — The Other Space 916 North Formosa Ave
Price: $75; $125.00 includes 5 drink cocktail tasting served at specific moments throughout the show, Alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available.
Tags: #musical, #multisensory, #interactivepre-show
The producers of last year’s award-winning production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest mix it up with a “multisensory” take on the Off-Broadway musical hit that became an Anna Kendrick film.
Cocktail pairings are part of the VIP experience.
Press Release Follows
AFTER HOURS THEATRE COMPANY (who most recently produced the Ovation award-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Dogfight) presents an extraordinary multisensory experience, Janel Parrish and Scott Porter starring in THE LAST FIVE YEARS, book, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, produced by Graham Wetterhahn, and directed by Kari Hayter. THE LAST FIVE YEARS will begin previews on Saturday, June 1 at 8pm; will open on Friday, June 7 at 8pm and perform through Sunday, July 14 at The Actor’s Company — The Other Space, 916 A North Formosa Ave. in West Hollywood.
From the Ovation award-winning company that brought you One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: The Immersive Experience comes an intimate, multisensory staging of this classic love story. An emotionally powerful musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show follows Cathy, an aspiring actress, and Jamie, a budding novelist, as their story is told both backwards and forwards. Utilizing cutting edge techniques including scent design, 360° sound, curated cocktails, and an interactive pre-show experience, this re-envisioned take on a classic production allows audiences to delve into Cathy and Jamie’s complex relationship and experience their love and heartbreak while engaging all five senses. (more)
ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
JANEL PARRISH (Cathy) was born in Hawaii and started her career with a love for music. She entered and won a state-wide singing contest at age 6 and soon followed that with being cast in the National Touring Company and Broadway Company of Les Miserables as Little Cosette. It wasn’t long before Janel’s Broadway experience and recognition led her to acting auditions in Hollywood. While studying acting, Janel continued to train vocally, eventually adding piano to her repertoire. She also began writing her own music, which led to becoming the lead singer in a 3-girl pop group called “Impulse” as well as a recording deal with Geffen Records. For seven seasons Janel was seen on Tuesday nights appearing as “Mona” in the top-rated Freeform TV series, “Pretty Little Liars.” For her role she won the “Choice TV Villain” award at the 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017 Teen Choice Awards as well as a TV Guide Award nomination. In 2014 she finished in 3rd place on the 19th edition of the hit ABC show “Dancing with the Stars”. Her love of musical theater also remains. In 2012 Parrish returned to her theater stage roots in Over the Moon Productions’ intimate presentation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening as Anna. In 2014 and 2015 she hit the stage in Cruel Intentions, For the Record: Baz Luhrmann as well as For the Record: Tarantino. And in 2017 she starred in the Toronto stage revival of Grease. Other television credits include “Rush Hour”, “Mysteries of Laura”, “Drop Dead Diva,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Heroes”, “Gepetto,” “Baywatch,” “The O’Keefe’s,” “The Bernie Mac Show,” “Zoey 101,” “True Jackson, VP,” and “The O.C.” She has also graced the big screen starring in feature films such as “Bratz: The Movie,” “One Kine Day”, “Knots” and most recently was seen in the Netflix hit “To All The Boys I’ve Loved before”. This year she can be seen in the feature film “Tiger.”
Janel can now be seen starring in the popular “Pretty Little Liars” spinoff “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists” on Freeform. She will also appear in the sequel to the Netflix Summer hit “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.”SCOTT PORTER (Jamie) After moving to New York City in 2005, Porter starred in two off-Broadway productions: Altar Boyz as Matthew (Drama League Ensemble Cast Award and Original Cast Album) and the award-winning Toxic Audio (Drama Desk Award, Most Unique Theatrical Experience).
(more)He is best known for his critically-acclaimed performance on the beloved Emmy-winning NBC drama “Friday Night Lights,” on which he starred as the fallen quarterback, Jason Street. He also charmed audiences for four seasons starring as George Tucker, resident lawyer and southern gentleman, on the CW series “Hart of Dixie.” Porter also had recurring roles on the CBS hit drama “The Good Wife,” opposite Julianna Margulies, on the CBS action drama “Scorpion”, and on “Caprica,” the prequel series to the SyFy smash hit “Battlestar Galactica.” Guest stars include NBC’s “Parenthood,” the CW’s “Charmed,” and “Law & Order: SVU.”
On the big screen, Porter appeared in Maggie Carey’s “The To Do List,” alongside Aubrey Plaza and Bill Hader. He also starred in Jamie Linden’s romantic comedy “Ten Year,” alongside Channing Tatum, Chris Pratt, Oscar Isaac, and Anthony Mackie. Additional film credits include, Independent feature “Brampton’s Own,” opposite Rose McIver; “Dear John,” directed by Lasse Hallstrom, opposite Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, “The Good Guy,” an independent drama starring Alexis Bledel, Bryan Greenberg and Aaron Yoo, “Bandslam,” directed by Todd Graff also starring Lisa Kudrow and Vanessa Hudgens; the Wachowski’s live-action “Speed Racer,” “Prom Night,” opposite Brittany Snow and “Music and Lyrics,”, starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Porter can be heard as many voices in animation and video game including Luke in Telltale Games’ “The Walking Dead: Season 2,” White Wolf in “Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panthers Quest”, Scarlet Spider in “Marvels Ultimate Spider-Man”, Star-Lord in “Telltale’s Guardians of the Galaxy”, Colt Cruise in Madden 18 and 19’s critically acclaimed “Longshot” story mode and many, many more nerdy superheroes. Porter can be seen starring in the upcoming Hulu/Blumhouse film “Pure” releasing this September.
KARI HAYTER (Director) is a professional director and educator based in Southern California. Most recently she directed Hairspray (Norris Theatre/PVPA), Violet (Chance Theatre/Los Angeles Critic’s Choice), Cabaret (CALREP/Long Beach), In the Heights and The Drowsy Chaperone (Valley Performing Arts Center), Lysistrata Jones (Ovation Nomination/Best Musical) and Nate the Great (South Coast Repertory).
She was nominated for the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award (Best Direction of a Musical) for both Parade (Chance Theatre) and Urinetown, The Musical (Coeurage Theatre Company). Kari was also nominated for the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Theatrical Excellence in Direction for Urinetown, The Musical and was named Director of the Year for StageScene LA in 2016. Future projects include: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (South Coast Repertory), West Side Story (Broadway in the Park/TACFA), and Hamish Linklater’s play The Vandal (Chance Theater).
JENNIFER LIN (Musical Direction) works as a music director, accompanist, and teacher throughout Southern California. She is the resident music director for Color and Light Theatre Ensemble. Recent productions include Matilda The Musical (5 Star Theatricals), XY (NAMT Festival of New Musicals), Lizzie (Color and Light Theatre Ensemble), Priscilla: Queen of the Desert (Celebration Theatre — Ovation Winner for Best Production of a Musical, Intimate Theatre; Ovation Nominee for Musical Direction), Hit the Wall (LA LGBT Center), A Little Night Music (Colony Theatre), and Promises, Promises (Musical Theatre Guild). She has taught at CSUN, USC, the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, and is currently teaching at the Geffen Academy at UCLA.
GRAHAM WETTERHAHN (Artistic Director/Executive Producer) is an Ovation-nominated theatrical producer and the founder of After Hours Theatre Company. Previous theatrical credits include: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest: The Immersive Experience (2018 Ovation Nomination for Best Production of a Play — Intimate Theatre, L.A. Times Critics’ Choice), the first Los Angeles production of Pasek and Paul’s Dogfight (2017 Ovation Nomination for Best Production of a Musical — Intimate Theatre, L.A. Times Critics’ Choice), Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…BOOM!, Pasek and Paul’s song cycle Edges, and Salzman and Cunningham’s I Love You Because. Graham has also directed immersive marketing activations for companies such as HBO and Cinemax. He recently produced his first film, horror short Goodnight, Gracie. The film had its world premiere at the Oscar-qualifying Sitges Film Festival in Spain, and has since played at over 100 festivals worldwide and been seen by millions online.
The Design team for THE LAST FIVE YEARS features; Scenic Design by Efren Delgadillo, Jr.; Lighting Design by Andrew Schmedake; Sound Design by Cricket S. Myers; Costume Design by Elizabeth Cox; Properties Design by Shen Heckel;
Scent Design By Christoff Visscher; Immersive Experience Design by Sara Ashley Beil; Cocktail Design By Spirit Guides; Technical Direction by Matt Scarpino. The Casting Director is Michael Donovan, CSA. The Stage Manager is Juliana Scott. After Hours Producing Team is KJ Knies, Shen Heckel, Mick Torres, Jennifer Oundjian, Juliana Scott, Sara Beil.
ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING
THE LAST FIVE YEARS will begin previews on Saturday, June 1 at 8pm; will open on Friday, June 7 at 8pm and perform through Sunday, July 14 at The Actor’s Company — The Other Space, 916 A North Formosa Ave. in West Hollywood.Performances are Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00pm; Sundays at 7:00pm.
There will be no performance on Thursday, July 4.Ticket prices are $75.00; $125.00 for full multisensory experience including curated cocktail selection. Prices subject to change.
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