Geffen Playhouse and BroadwayHD Partner to Live Stream Long Day's Journey Into Night

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE AND BROADWAYHD PARTNER TO BRING WEST COAST THEATER TO AUDIENCES WORLDWIDE

THE GEFFEN’S “LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT” MARKS BROADWAYHD’S FIRST-EVER LIVE STREAM FROM A U.S. THEATER OUTSIDE OF NEW YORK CITY

BROADWAYHD SUBSCRIBERS CAN TUNE IN SATURDAY, MARCH 11 AT 10:00 P.M. EST / 7:00 P.M. PST

LOS ANGELES (February 23, 2017) – Geffen Playhouse and online theater streaming service BroadwayHD today announced a partnership to present select live and captured-live productions from the Los Angeles theater to BroadwayHD subscribers. The Geffen’s current production of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Long Day’s Journey Into Night, starring Jane Kaczmarek and Alfred Molina, will be the first play presented under the partnership. It marks BroadwayHD’s first live stream from a U.S. theater outside of New York City.

“Geffen Playhouse is committed to bringing world-class theater to audiences in Los Angeles and around the world in creative and innovative ways,” said Gil Cates, Jr., Executive Director of the Geffen Playhouse. “We are excited to partner with BroadwayHD, which is not only the market leader with global reach, but also shares our philosophy of making theater accessible to audiences everywhere.”

“We are honored to partner with Geffen Playhouse, marking the first time BroadwayHD live streams from the West Coast,” said BroadwayHD co-founders Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comely. “We couldn’t be more thrilled it’s Eugene O’Neill’s most respected play. This haunting revival will give audiences around the world the feeling that they’re in the Geffen’s theater. While they watch, they’ll be able to feel the heightened energy radiating from the actors’ performances.”

Long Day’s Journey Into Night will stream live Saturday, March 11 at 10:00 p.m. EST / 7:00 p.m. PST, followed by a 10-day on-demand encore. BroadwayHD subscribers can watch Long Day’s Journey Into Night on BroadwayHD.com, Chromecast, Apple TV and Roku, iOS and Android apps. The finished production, following the live event, will also be available to view in select high schools and universities across the country and in more than 3,500 colleges in 40 countries worldwide.

The live stream will be directed by Emmy Award-winner David Horn, Executive Producer of PBS’s acclaimed Great Performances series. Horn also directed BroadwayHD’s productions of Roundabout Theatre Company’s She Loves Me and Holiday Inn with producers Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night is playing now in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse through Saturday, March 18. The play stars Angela Goethals as Cathleen, Stephen Louis Grush as James Tyrone, Jr., Emmy Award-nominated Jane Kaczmarek as Mary Cavan Tyrone, Tony Award-nominated Alfred Molina as James Tyrone, and Colin Woodell as Edmund Tyrone.

Directed by Jeanie Hackett, the Geffen’s production is the first major staging of the classic play in Los Angeles in nearly a decade.

O’Neill’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece pulls back the curtain on the Connecticut home of the Tyrone family, where deep-seated resentments and bourbon-fueled tirades cause a family to expose their darkest natures. O’Neill paints the powerful and heart-rending portrait of a single day that begins as any other, only to become a night from which they will never recover.

Regarded as one of America’s most important works, Long Day’s Journey Into Night had its world premiere in Stockholm on February 2, 1956, in a production directed by Bengt Ekerot. Its Broadway debut followed on November 7, 1956 at the Helen Hayes Theatre, shortly after its U.S. premiere at Boston's Wilbur Theatre. The production won the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play (Fredric March as James Tyrone), and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play of the season. In 1957, it was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

A 2016 revival of the play by the Roundabout Theatre Company, starring Gabriel Byrne and Jessica Lange, was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play.

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ABOUT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE
Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates, and is currently helmed by Artistic Director Randall Arney, Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr., and Co-Chairs of the Board Martha Henderson and Pamela Robinson. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org


ABOUT BROADWAYHD
Since its launch in 2015, BroadwayHD aims to extend the reach of Broadway to fans old and new, anytime and anywhere. BroadwayHD is the only online streaming service of its kind, offering viewers an unprecedented Broadway experience and access to exclusive live streams. In June of 2016, BroadwayHD made history with Roundabout Theatre Company's “She Loves Me,” marking the first-ever live stream of a Broadway show. In addition to exclusive live-streamed content, BroadwayHD offers subscribers unlimited access to an on-demand library of over 170 theater productions from the comfort and convenience of their homes—or wherever streaming is possible. It's the Broadway you know and love, curated from the stage to your screen.

ABOUT WNET
WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (KidsTHIRTEEN, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through Theater Close-Up, NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender, First Person, and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport.


Media Contacts
Ashley Bodul, Geffen Playhouse

310.208.6500 Ext. 159

Tameka Davis, Olson Engage
For BroadwayHD

212-656-9239