Johnny Austen Stars in New Production of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' in Hollywood's Madnani Theater
Feb. 7, 2024
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Johnny Austen has joined the cast of Hyperactive Studios’ production of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” set to open Feb. 9 at the Madnani Theater, 6760 Lexington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038.
“I’ve loved every Shakespeare I’ve been in,” said the Australia-born actor. “The people who put on and perform these plays have a deep passion for live theatre. These plays are funny, exciting, and deeply sad. There’s no better feeling than spending weeks working on what makes one of the plays great, then getting to see the audience enthralled by our performance.”
“Twelfth Night” The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Feb . 9, 10, 11 and 17. There will be an afternoon matinee performance at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 10. Tickets are $20 and $25 and may be purchased at hyperactive.booktix.com.
The play, directed and produced by Sonny Lira, is a comedy of gender confusion where a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the one she adores, Duke Orsino (played by Austen) only to be pursued by the woman he loves. The cast includes Jerry Gureghian as Malvio, Raiya Wen as Viola, J Scout as Toby Belch, Ben Horwitz as Andrew Aguecheek, Christina Conte as Olivia, and Scout Gutzmerson as Maria.
“Preparation for a Shakespeare role is a lot of fun for me. It’s like solving a puzzle. I prepare by analyzing the language to create a deeper understanding of the text,” he said. “The beauty of the language is, even with words that aren’t used today, if I as the actor understand the meaning then the audience will too. With most of his plays, Shakespeare gives you everything you need for the character just through the words they say.”
Austen comes to the production after working on the television pilot “Broke AF,” from producers Maegan McConnell and Heather Wood. He is known for his stage work on the play “The Romantics,” as well as recent productions of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Richard III.”
Next up for Austen is the upcoming animated film comedy “The Tales of Solanum Tuberosum.”
