Edgemar Center For the Arts

We went to the Edgemar Center for the first time last night to see «A Night at the Black Cat Cabaret». The experience of entering the theatre, exchanging our online receipts for tickets, getting refreshments, waiting in the small lobby and entering the theatre was the most chaotic of the 7 decades that I have been attending live theatre going back to my childhood in the 1950’s. I wasn’t the only one drawing the same conclusion. I heard somebody near me talking about the «chaos» in the lobby.
Eventually it became clear that I needed to exit and wait in a line that had formed after we got there to exchange my receipt for tickets. When I got to the front of that line I learned they had two auditoriums with a show in each, and they wanted everybody waiting for the other show to go first because their show started first. That makes great sense. An announcement so we would all have known would have helped a lot, too. Good thing I noticed the lady was only prepared to give me two tickets because there were three of us, and I had paid for three tickets.
The lobby was tiny and quite crowded. There was nobody telling people how to proceed until about 10 minutes before the house opened. The house opened at 8:02 for an 8:00 performance. I’ve never experienced that before in all the shows I’ve attended across California, and outside of California.
Fortunately in the show there was some excellent song & dance right away, which temporarily overcame the poor first impression the Edgemar Center had created. During the show I did notice two instances when it was obvious cast members weren’t getting the audience reaction they had anticipated. I think the experience of extreme disorganization in the lobby had dampened audience enthusiasm. At the end the show got a hearty round of applause, but no standing ovation. The talent in this show deserves a better level of support from the people running the lobby.
I wondered if this was an isolated instance, but noticing the house was just a tad over ½ full on a Saturday night for such a good show made me think such is not the case. I know I’ll think twice before going there on future visits to L.A.

Nestled in a great little strip in Santa Monica, The Edgemar Center for the Arts is a great place to see a show. When you walk into the complex there is some great art on display. Currently, as it is Christmas time there is a Christmas tree made out of shopping carts. When you actually walk into the building there are some great photographs on display. Check them out, I am going to assume that they change out the gallery every now and then but the current photography work in there is absolutely gorgeous and so real. Vivid.
The show we saw was called «Train to Zakopanè». The theater is quite nice, has a bit of a rustic look, open ceiling design, comfy seats (but very tight rows), and everyone gets a really great view because of the elevated stadium seating. At intermission they have wine and other beverages to quench your thirst with, and afterward there are a ton of good restaurants around to eat at. I highly recommend going to see a show here.

I saw The Rainmaker several months ago, and it was really well done. Previously, I had seen Tanna Frederick in two other performances at The Edgemar, but this is her best performance. The actors in The Rainmaker all did splendid portrayals. I recommended this show to numerous people, and all of them thanked me and told me that they thoroughly enjoyed it. They commended not only the performance, but the playhouse as well. One’s words summed it up when she wrote me that her group all enjoyed it, «Great story, wonderful actors, nice theater.» This is an intimate theatre setting where you have a great view of the actors on the stage. Seeing facial expressions makes such a difference, while viewing a play. Place the Edgemar as a venue not to miss. You’re sure to enjoy your evening!

I recently took my mom here while she was in town and the theater was a great little find. The performance was better than expected. Everyone had a great seat, it made the drive to Santa Monica worth it :).

We went to see The Rainmaker, a wonderful 2 act play at The Edgemar Center for the Arts. The acting was top notch and the set design was exquisite. (I got all teary eyed and that means they did their job very well!)
Robert Standley, who was once a recurring character on All My Children and Tanna Frederick, an actress with a noteworthy indie film career are truly stand-​out actors. My hat goes off to the director Jack Heller as well. BRAVO!
As for the theater space itself: It’s very comfortable and spacious with nice chairs and there is a place to grab a drink and a light snack and socialize just outside of the theater space’s doors— a perfect way to spend your time during the show’s brief 15 minute intermission.
We will be going back to Edgemar Center for the Arts to see another show. I highly recommend the Edgemar experience!

The Edgemar is a small, informal playhouse, with a convenient location next to Ben & Jerry’s, and a metered parking lot across the street. I went to watch The Rainmaker and was very pleased with the performances. There were some lulls in the play, but it picked up in Act 2 and came together at the end. I really enjoyed the space (small and intimate), as well as the lighting and set decoration. I would love to see another play here, particularly a musical.

I saw The Rainmaker last night at Edgemar and was very impressed by the theater itself. I really love small venues and at 99 seats or less, this place fit the description. I had tickets reserved at Will Call and the process could not have been easier. I arrived about 45 minutes before showtime and the lady with the reservation sheet simply asked for my name and gave me the ticket. They had champagne, wine, chocolate covered strawberries and maybe a cheese platter for audience consumption out in the lobby before the show. The theater doors opened about 5 minutes before scheduled time and the show started not too long after. Open seating was great. I found it to be an older crowd but the benefit was that everyone was respectful during the performance. You can’t beat the location. Such a trendy street in Santa Monica with plenty of bars, ice cream joints, and shopping. Parking is meter or their valet lot. I parked meter so I’m not sure what the valet prices are.

Nice theatre house. Saw a play about Jews and Moms which was very solid.
Seats about 200 hundy.

Sylvia — 8÷12÷2011
Having directed this show before with my high school students (heavily edited for content, of course), I went with high expectations. In short, the production did the show justice, even with the actor who played Phyllis/​Tom with a script in his hand (the actor fell ill last week). BTW, the guy who stepped up, BRAVO! You were amazing even with the script in hand — the illusion was quite real.
The facility. It is a very nice theater, nestled amidst a Peet’s Coffee, a hair salon, a baby store, and a few shops scattered. It’s a 99-​person theater, to give you a perspective in size. The seat I happened to sit in (second row, house right-​center) was broken — the cushion has separated itself from the seat pan — you might want to get that looked at, Edgemar.
Professional people — everyone’s very cordial, attentive, and kind. It was a very pleasant experience from top to bottom.
Parking — across the street from Peet’s Coffee, there’s public parking. The rate is $ 1 per hour, max 3 hours. The pay machine takes Visa/​MC/​Discover. No Amex. If you’re a good patron, you’ll arrive 30 min before the curtain, in which case you pay the three hour parking, and come back briefly during intermission to fill it out until curtain closing. They also offer Valet service hosted in their own parking lot, and other reviewers say there’s free parking on the 4^th (street, probably?).
Overall, aside from the crazy cyclists/​motorcycle riders/​drivers of Santa Monica, it was a very pleasant experience. Check out their season and go see a show! :0)
SYLVIA runs until Sept 30^th — you will LOVE this play — GUARANTEE IT!
Goldstar is offering 50% off ticket at $ 17.50 per ticket:

Saw the play «Sylvia» here today — hilarious! Totally recommendable. This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to go out to watch (live) theater more often.

Hello my friends,
I strongly recommend seeing
. Great American songbook, tight orchestra, and an inspired Frank Sinatra crooner. The setting is intimate and has a cool «You are in the recording stage» setup. Rihgt on main street in the same complex as Ben and Jerry’s. Tickets are reasonable. Please support local theatre.

The only thing keeping this review from five stars is that the class isn’t complete yet. Otherwise, definitely 5 stars.
I’m taking Edgemar’s On-​Camera Class–
I’ll admit, at beginning of the class I was a bit hesitant. The teacher began by waxing poetic about the things he has seen change in the entertainment industry as he has grown old, but the class quickly picked up speed. I regularly book commercials and short films, but, even after only the first class, I walked away with amazing tips. He’s taught me how to not only sharpen my performance but how to better carry my performance through the camera.
Without a doubt I will be taking more classes at the studio.

It’s a beautiful facility, partially underwritten by numerous TV and film stars whose names are all over the lobby and whose photographs are on the website. The lobby is gorgeous, with high ceilings and lots of light, and it’s surrounded by high rent businesses.
The reason for the one star rating? Purely philosophical. We went to check out the facility because when we talked to someone there about our show, he said we should come and meet with them, even though we told him our budget was extremely low. When we did meet with the person in charge of renting the theatre and told her what our budget was, she all but laughed in our faces. The current show’s set cost over $ 50,000 and the producers were planning to pay more than $ 100,000 in rent alone. For a 99 seat theater. That is f*cking obscene.
99 seat theaters have a special deal with Actors Equity and they pay far below union scale to the actors because, theoretically, at that size, no one’s going to be making much money.
So why is a 99-​seat theater in Santa Monica charging such unbelievable rates for rental and laughing in the faces of small producers? Clearly, they are courting the celebrities who like the idea of having a small theater to play around in, but this place is one of those places that can make LA so unbearable.
There is something completely wrong wrong WRONG here.