What to Know
- The nonprofit streaming platform launched on Sept. 30
- Pay-per-view theatrical events are on the slate and four new series, including "Intermission With Hashtag Booked"
- There's a free trial period through Dec. 2020, while pay-per-view events start at $14.99
Theater, being a venerable and august art form, has no specific schedule that it consistently adheres to, month in and month out.
It's all around us, all the time, on our screens and, only a few months ago, our stages, too, and we could always count on finding an interesting play, reading, or musical event nearby.
And yet?
Fall in United States traditionally serves as the season when many theaters open the curtains, print up the playbills, and roll out a host of productions, making September the most anticipated month of all for theater buffs across the nation.
And while the footlights temporarily remain in the "off" position at the theaters of Southern California, one lauded location is taking its excellent offerings to at-home audiences, thanks to a new streaming platform.
That would be the Pasadena Playhouse, which just launched its new nonprofit platform PlayhouseLive on Wednesday, Sept. 30.
The "... productions will offer a broad range of voices and perspectives while ensuring that access to the programming will remain accessible to the widest possible audience," shared the historic venue.
This means you'll have access to pay-per-view theatrical streaming events, like performance artist Javon Johnson's "Still.," "a timely one-man performance about the complexities of the Black experience, commissioned by Pasadena Playhouse," and family fare from the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, just to name two highlights.
A quartet of debuting series will also serve as centerpieces for the service.
"Intermission With Hashtag Booked," featuring the comedy stylings of LaNisa Frederick and Danielle Pinnock, is one must-check-out series (actor Alfred Molina is the first guest), while "Page to Stage" takes audiences from "conception to opening night," a trip that famously has thrilling (and not-so-thrilling) twists for each and every production that reaches its Opening Night.
Eager to check out all of this word-beautiful, performance-rich goodness?
The free trial period is on now, through December 2020, though note that pay-per-view events will have a fee beginning at launch (the starting price is $14.99).
It's fall, you're eager for theater that both lifts the spirit and deepens the mind, and you miss connecting with local gems like the Pasadena Playhouse.
Here's where you start, by becoming a PlayhouseLive audience member and a supporter of sublime, from-the-stage entertainment that's streamed to where you are.
Pictured: 'Intermission with Hashtag Booked' hosted by LaNisa Frederick and Danielle Pinnock, photo by Jeff Lorch
