Holland Taylor

The fabulous Holland Taylor will have some free time in the upcoming months since the TV show in which she currently stars, Two and a Half Men, was put on indefinite hiatus. Nominated for an Emmy several times for playing Charlie Sheen’s mother, she won an Emmy back in 2000 for her role in The Practice. Holland played the daughter in the original production of A. R. Gurney’s The Cocktail Hour back in 1988. She also starred in one of Broadway’s most notorious flops, Moose Murders, which closed after opening night on February 22, 1983. To her credit, she had joined the production just one week before opening after Eve Arden quit the show.

Another Buffalo Christmas tradition might be in the making as the Irish Classical Theatre Company will bring back its very successful production of James Joyce’s The Dead in December for a couple of weeks, in addition to its regular season offering. The company is planning to open the season in September with La Bête, a comedy in verse by David Hirson which was revived on Broadway this season.

Up next for Buffalo Laboratory Theatre, Joe Olive’s drama Standing on My Knees, about a young and promising poet affected with schizophrenia. Directed by Taylor Doherty, the production will star Katie White, Michael Seitz, Linda Stein, and Marie Costa. The play will open on March 11 at the company’s home, the William E. Swan Auditorium in Hilbert College.

Loraine O’Donnell will be making her TOY debut in the upcoming production of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Directed by Meg Quinn, the production will also star James Robert Steiner, Kurt Guba, Jaclynn Carpenter, Justin Fiordaliso, and Lawrence Smith. The show opens on March 25.

David Oliver is directing Torn Space’s production of Wallace Shawn’s Aunt Dan and Lemon, scheduled to open on March 17th. The play which had its New York premiere at the Public Theater in1985, had a very successful revival in 2004 presented by the prestigious New Group. The local production will star Kristen Tripp-Kelly, Kristin Bentley, David Lundy, Adrienne Lewis, Kelly Meg Brennan, Andrew Kottler, and Greg Howze.

Ujima will present a staged reading of Gary Earl Ross’s The Scavenger’s Daughter on Tuesday March 8 at 7:30pm at TheaterLoft. The playwright describes his new play as “part African-American family drama and part murder mystery.” Patrons attending the reading are invited to donate to the Give for Greatness fund to support the arts in WNY.

Manny Fried

American Repertory Theater of WNY will host a Mardi Gras Celebration on March 8 featuring readings of famed Louisiana literature and a gumbo taste-off. There will also be music, hurricanes, and a tarot card reader. The event runs 7-11pm at Buffalo East (1410 Main Street). The company is planning to open next season with the musical Floyd Collins by Tina Landau and Adam Guettel (grandson of theater composer Richard Rodgers), who won the Tony for his musical The Light in the Piazza.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to know Manny Fried, will probably remember vividly the first time we met him. I met Manny in the early 1980s when his play Drop Hammer was being performed in the back room at Nietzsche’s with a cast of union workers. He was working the box office. Goodbye, Mr. Green.