HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Three Sisters

Chalk Repertory Theatre and Hollywood Forever Present the U.S. Premiere of Susan Coyne’s New Version of Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

  Ricardo Antonio Chavira of Desperate Housewives

to Star in the Role of Vershinin

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Performances begin January 30, 2009 for a Limited Engagement in the

Masonic Lodge of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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Chalk Repertory Theatre will kick off its 2009 inaugural season with the U.S. premiere of Susan Coyne’s new version of Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov.  Performances will run for a limited engagement, January 30-February 22, 2009 in the recently restored Masonic Lodge of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  A special opening night performance and celebration will take place on Sunday, February 1, 2009.

Director Larissa Kokernot remarked, “Three Sisters is a play about a family who is crippled by nostalgia, unable to move forward under the weight of their past. Hollywood Forever Cemetery is literally a remnant of Hollywood’s former glamour, buried along Santa Monica Boulevard. In a city which is constantly mythologizing its past, I can’t think of a more perfect place to put on this play about characters who are doing just that.”

Chalk Rep’s production of Three Sisters will feature Ricardo Antonio Chavira of Desperate Housewives in the role of Vershinin. At the center of this classic Russian tale is the Prozorov family played by Asian-American actors, Joy Osmanski, Jennifer Chang, Aileen Cho, and Feodor Chin.  Rounding out the Three Sisters ensemble is Tony Aguilar, Tony Amendola, Corey Brill, Tom Carey, Owiso Odera, Teri Reeves, Adam Smith, Richard Tanne, and Eva Wielgat.

Preview performances are Friday, January 30 and Saturday, January 31 at 8:00pm.  Opening night is Sunday, February 1 at 7:30pm.  The regular performance schedule will be Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 2:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sundays at 7:00pm through February 22, 2009.  All performances will take place at the Masonic Lodge of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

Preview tickets are $20 and regular seats are $30.  Tickets are on sale now and available for purchase at TicketWeb.com or by calling 866-468-3399.  Half price student rush tickets and military discounts are available at the door one hour before curtain. Pay What You Can night is Sunday, February 8, 2009.

Chalk Repertory Theatre is dedicated to presenting classical and contemporary plays in unconventional spaces around Los Angeles County. For more information about Chalk Rep or its upcoming season, please visit us online at www.chalkrep.com.

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AWARDS 

Nominees for the 81st Academy Awards

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
• Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
• Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
• Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
• Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
• Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

(Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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AWARDS

And the Oscar nominees are…

Slumdog Millionaire is one of the five nominated films with 10 nominations

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ leads all contenders with 13 nods including best actor for Brad Pitt.

By Susan King

Los Angeles Times

January 22, 2009

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a fable about a man who ages in reverse, dominated the 81st annual Academy Award nominations this morning, earning 13 nods, including best film, best actor for Brad Pitt and best director for David Fincher.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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100th Birthday

Ann Sothern

AMERICAN ACTRESS

née Harriette Arlene Lake

• BORN: January 22, 1909, Valley City, North Dakota
• DIED: March 15, 2001, Ketchum, Idaho
• CAUSE OF DEATH: Heart failure
• BURIAL: Ketchum Cemetery, Ketchum, Idado

(findagrave.com / Gail Powers)

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ACADEMY NEWS

Forest Whitaker to Join Academy President Sid Ganis for Oscar® Nominations

Forest Whitaker (AMPAS)

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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Warner Bros. to cut 800 jobs

By Claudia Eller

Los Angeles Times

January 20, 2009

Warner Bros. Entertainment is eliminating 800 jobs, or about 10% of its global workforce, becoming the latest media company to take drastic cost-cutting measures amid a deepening recession.   (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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OBITUARY

Susanna Foster dies at 84; costarred in 1943 version of ‘Phantom’

Susanna Foster was offered the lead in “National Velvet” but turned it down because she wanted only singing roles. MGM soon dropped Foster, and the part went instead to the young Elizabeth Taylor.

By Elaine Woo

Los Angeles Times

January 20, 2009

Susanna Foster, a singer and 1940s leading lady whose most famous role was the terrorized prima donna in the first talking version of “Phantom of the Opera,” died Saturday of heart failure at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, N.J., according to publicist Dale Olson. She was 84.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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WALK OF FAME

Actresses’ Hollywood stars targeted by vandals

Sharon Stone and the Olsen twins have seen their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame defaced by anti-fur protesters.

The shared star belonging to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, unveiled in April 2004, was vandalised with the words “FUR HAGS!”, while Stone’s marker on the Hollywood Boulevard, which she received in November 1995, is daubed with “OLD FUR HAG!”.

It is not the first time these celebrities have come under fire for wearing fur – campaigners for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) frequently hold protests outside the stars’ signings and public appearances in a bid to rid fur from fashion.

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HISTORY

America’s New

First Family

 Congratulations

President Barack Obama

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FUNERALS/MEMORIALS

Ann Savage

Ann Savage

(February 19, 1921 – December 25, 2008)

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By Allan R. Ellenberger

The affirmation of life ceremony for film noir actress, Ann Savage, was held on Sunday in the chapel of Hollywood Forever Cemetery with interment  in the Beth Olam Mausoleum. Those who spoke included Eddie Muller, writer and founder of the Film Noir Foundation; Arianne Ulmer Cipes, former actress and daughter of director Edgar G. Ulmer [Detour (1945)], and Kent Adamson, filmmaker and Savage’s manager.

Memorial program

A recent photo (2005) of Ann Savage and writer, Eddie Muller,

who spoke at today’s memorial (Films in Review)

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Selected blessings and prayers from Christian, Jewish and secular writings were read. The ceremony concluded with the annointment of Savage’s urn with Chanel No. 5 – her favorite perfume. Following the service, a procession led guests to the Beth Olam Mausoleum niche where her cremains were placed with those of her husband, Bert D’Armand.

Processional to the niche in the Hall of Solomon

in the Beth Olam Mausoleum

Preparation to inter the cremains of Ann Savage

The urns of actress Ann Savage and her husband, Bert D’Armand

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