Manhattan Repertory Theatre has announced that they will produce a one week festival of playwright Liza Lentini’s works in LIZAFEST! from June 24 – 28, 2009. The week-long festival will feature 9 of the prolific playwright’s early works. Included in the line-up is her first play, as well as a series of one-acts about murderous women from history.

Liza Lentini has written over 100 plays, and achieved early success in her native Boston with her first professional production at the age of 19. After receiving her MFA in Playwriting from Southern Illinois University in 1997, she moved to NYC where her work achieved immediate acclaim, including an

Liza Lentini, Playwright.

Directors for LIZAFEST! include: Nell Balaban, Brion Dinges, Mary Geerloff, Joan Kane, Christine Seisler, and Melanie Sutherland. LIZAFEST! will feature New York City actors and directors from Lentini’s fifty-plus productions.

“Liza Lentini is an outstanding playwright. Each play is unique, engaging and theatrically surprising. Her attention to character detail is awesome and her dialogue is witty, lyrical at times, and always truthful. We love her work, so we are thrilled to be presenting LIZAFEST!” – Ken Wolf, Artistic Director, Manhattan Repertory Theatre.

Manhattan Repertory Theatre, located at 303 W. 42nd St. in NYC, produces original plays in the heart of Times Square. MRT runs seasonal play festivals, produces Manhattan Repertory Theatre company plays, and produces returning festival artists. Created in 2005 by Ken Wolf, Artistic Director, and Jennifer Pierro, Director of Productions, Manhattan Repertory Theatre has produced over 225 plays, and over 1,500 theatre artists have participated.

LIZAFEST! will run June 24 – 28, 2009 with shows Weds – Fri at both 7:00PM and 9:00PM, with one show Sat and Sun at 7:00. Tickets are $20, cash only.

The stars come out again in Hollywood as film legends George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese take part in an All-Star Tribute to the late Academy Award-winning Filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and celebrate the launch of the Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film on March 23rd, 2009. The day would have marked the 99th birthday of Kurosawa, one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of cinema inspiring such films as Star Wars, A Fistful of Dollars, the Magnificent Seven, Last Man Standing, A Bug’s Life, Lucky Number Sleven and Vantage Point.

The tribute is part of the Cherry Blossom Gala, a black-tie extravaganza of culture and the arts hosted by television announcer/actor Shadoe Stevens at the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel Crystal Ballroom. Stars have also been flown in from Japan to perform the evening’s Japanese-themed entertainment with over 150 performers, which includes exotically beautiful kimono clad models, traditional “Awa” dancers, and a film concert/ condensed screening of Kurosawa’s award-winning “Ran” by the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra led by globally acclaimed Japanese female conductor Tomomi Nishimoto. Along side this there will be a special tribute to the late American TV and Film Actress and Star of the 1988 film Tokyo Pop Ms. Carrie Hamilton (daughter of Actress and Comedienne Carol Burnett), as well as others who influenced and contributed to the film school’s development.

The evening will also see awards being presented to the Walt Disney Company, Jim Henson Company and Leonardo DiCaprio as it recognizes the environmental and social responsibilities of today’s filmmakers, principles which the Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film strives to incorporate in its online Digital Film programs slated for September this year.

According to Darrell Nelson, International Liaison Office Director for Anaheim University, “Kurosawa was the master of today’s cinematic leaders, so we really expect the glitterati to be in attendance on March 23rd for what promises to be a spectacular evening.”

The Gala is organized by Anaheim University, the Academia Foundation and the AK100 Project, sponsored by Japan Airlines and endorsed by the Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles, the Japan Foundation and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California.