Pasadena Playhouse Takes New Tack as Theater-Going Audiences Change ‘Dramatically’

The pandemic wrought persistent change in many endeavors, and the Pasadena Playhouse says the stage is among them.

“Theater-going audiences’ behaviors and preferences have changed dramatically since theaters have been able to open up again and deliver in-person services, which we weren’t able to do for a year and a half or almost two years,” said Nora DeVeau-Rosen, Pasadena Playhouse Assistant Director of Development.

In response, DeVeau-Rose said the Playhouse launched NextGen, a new networking program geared towards bringing together arts- and culture-minded people to fresh and dynamic events and happenings.

“This idea of expanding NextGen, not only in Pasadena but in the Los Angeles community, came from direct conversations with our communities who live in different parts of Los Angeles. ‘We love coming to Pasadena. We love seeing shows at Pasadena Playhouse, but we’re also interested in seeing what you can carry for us around Los Angeles.’”

The launch comes Wednesday, when the Pasadena Playhouse is hosting a special tasting and tour at Benny Boy Brewery in Los Angeles, to be experienced with some of the artists of the Playhouse who make their work possible.

Attendees can expect a tour of Benny Boy, enjoy a curated flight of their beers and ciders, and hear from the sound designers working with Pasadena Playhouse to bring “Sunday in the Park with George” and “A Little Night Music” to shimmering life.

Nora DeVeau-Rosen, Pasadena Playhouse Assistant Director of Development, said sound designers and composers Ursula Kwong-Brown and Danny Edberg will host the artists’ talk during the tour.

Bringing the sound designers to Benny Boy Brewing, located at 1821 Daly St. in Lincoln Heights, marks the beginning of a new partnership between Pasadena Playhouse and the owners of the new brewery-cum-restaurant that just opened in March, making beer and cider “the way it used to be made – with quality ingredients straight from the farm, less processing, zero filtering, and only natural carbonation.”

“The result is cleaner, classic beer and natural dry cider,” the owners, husband-and-wife team Ben Farber and Chelsey Rosetter, said. “And it’s all straight from the tanks so it’s as fresh as it can be!”

Farber was a former contractor who oversaw the construction of what comes out to be the first combined brewery and cider house in Los Angeles. Chelsey Rosetter was Media and Communications Coordinator at Center Theatre Group, and worked as Assistant Manager at Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Taproom and Publicity Manager for Eagle Rock Brewery LLC, where she probably got her brewery skills. 

With a BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota, Rosetter was also Publicity Coordinator for the LA Film Fest in 2017.

“So Benny Boy Brewing was actually started by a bunch of theater folks, funny enough,” DeVeau-Rosen said. “Chelsey Rosetter was at Center Theater Group for a number of years and Benny Boy Brewery was part of her dream of launching her own business. So we knew Benny Boy and sort of their origination in the arts and culture sector to begin with, so when we went to them and said we wanted to bring a bunch of theatergoers and arts and culture lovers here to Benny Boy Brewery, they were really, really excited.”

The artists, Ursula Kwong-Brown and Danny Erdberg, are frequent collaborators doing music and sound design for theater, TV and film in Los Angeles. Kwong-Brown grew up in New York City and started writing music at the age of eight. When she moved to LA, she begun composing for film, theater and multimedia with Edberg – who also started professionally in New York – and most recently collaborated on a video with the Japanese visual artist Akiko Nakayama and the San Francisco-based ensemble Ninth Planet Music, of which she was a founding member.

Kwong-Brown and Edberg also co-designed “Head Over Heels” for Pasadena Playhouse, “Native Gardens” at Merrimack and the world premiere of “Stonewall” with NYC Opera.

For more information and to purchase tickets for the event at Benny Boy Brewing, visit www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/event/benny-boy-brewing. The tasting and tour begins at 6:30 p.m.

Valet parking is included in the ticket.

You may also call (626) 356-7529.