Russell Brown’s Listing directed by Tom Lazarus debuts at Theatre 40
World Premiere January 16-February 16, 2025
All too often in Los Angeles, homes of architectural significance are leveled or changed beyond recognition by new owners who don’t appreciate their historical worth. Listing looks at how far one realtor will go to preserve a home’s integrity—even over his client’s interest. Lively dialog, romance, forbidden sex, racial tensions, deception, and even a touch of the supernatural come together in the play written by Los Angeles native Russell Brown. Tom Lazarus—known for writing the screenplay for horror classic Stigmata—directs the performance staged by producer David Hunt Stafford for Theatre 40.
Raymond, a real estate agent with a passion for historic preservation, gets his dream listing—an architecturally significant modernist home. Though Raymond is the lead, the real star of the play is the house itself, which seems to display its own personality and nefarious power over anyone who would dare to alter it. Flashbacks hark to the house’s master architect (think: Rudolph Schindler mixed with Richard Neutra) and his insistence on what the house must be—and notably not become. Tragedy, societal tension, and ghosts of the home’s past all simmer to the surface, and the home’s good bones can’t hide the bad blood.
Russell Brown is the founder of Friends of Residential Treasures: Los Angeles (FORT: LA), an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to building community through exploration of architecture. FORT: LA offers self-guided tours, virtual and on-site programs, educational information, and fellowships. Brown, an award-winning filmmaker, has written and directed five narrative features, two full-length documentaries, and a number of well-regarded narrative and documentary shorts. His films are held as part of the collection at the UCLA Film and Television archive. Listing is Brown’s first produced work for the stage.
Tom Lazarus, the director of Listing, has a long-time interest in architecture and architects. His play The Princes of Kings Road is about Schindler and Neutra; in Surviving Frank Lloyd Wright, he delves into the relationship between Wright and client Aline Barnsdall during the making of Hollyhock House; and King Kahn about Louis Kahn and his simultaneous relationships with three women. Lazarus’s credits include a long list of film, stage, and television productions as both writer and director.
In addition to writer Brown, director Lazarus, and producer Stafford, the Listing team includes set designer Jeff G. Rack, costume designer Michael Mullin, lighting and sound designer Nick Foran, and assistant to the director Stevie Stern. The cast features Michael Gambiano, Idielis Hernandez, Bradley James Holzer, Michele MacGregor, Nakasha Norwood, Sherrick O’Quinn, Ian Riegler, Katyana Rocker-Cook, Tack Sappington, Anibal Silveyra, Mark Stancato, Mouchette van Helsdingen, and Tamir Yardenne.
Listing
• January 16-February 16, 2025
• Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM; Sundays at 2 PM.
• Theatre 40, 241 So. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, CA; Mary Levin Cutler Theatre on the Beverly Hills High School campus. Free parking beneath the theatre is accessed through the driveway at Durant and Moreno Drives.
• Admission: $35
• Reservations: (310) 364-0535
• Online Ticketing: http://theatre40.org
