Peggy Goss and Marianne Muellerleile Headline NPT's Lettice and Lovage Reading on Sunday, June 1

LOS ANGELES - May 28, 2014 - PRLog -- Ovation Award nominee Peggy Goss,  Marianne Muellerleile, Toni Sawyer and  James Siering headline The New Phoenix Theatre-LA’s staged reading of Peter Shaffer’s comic tour-de-force Lettice and Lovage  on Sunday, June 1 at The Elephant Stageworks, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood, CA   90028.

Lettice Duffet (Goss), an expert in Elizabethan cuisine and medieval weaponry, is an indefatigable but daft enthusiast of history and the theatre.  As a tour guide of Fustian House, one of the least stately of London’s stately historic homes, she theatrically embellishes its historical past, ultimately coming up on the radar of Lotte Schon (Muellerleile) an inspector from England’s Preservation Trust. Neither impressed not entertained by Lettice’s freewheeling history lessons, Schon fires her.  Not one, however, to go out without a fight, Lettice engages the stoic, conventional Schon in a battle to the death of all that is sacred to The Empire and The crown.  This hit play by the author of Equus and Amadeus originally featured a triumphant, award-0winning performance by dame Maggie Smith in London and on Broadway.

Peggy Goss (Lettice Douffet) - For NPT: Queen Eleanor of Acquitaine in The Lion in Winter; Liz Essendine in Present Laughter; The Actress in The Guardsman;  title roles in Phaedre and Medea; Mrs. Alving in Ghosts. Peggy recently co-starred in the Colony Theatre's production of "Blame It On Beckett." She received an Ovation Award nomination for "Best Featured Actress" as Susan in the west coast premiere of Chris Thorpe's Safety. Other LA stage roles include: Jean in Emma's Child (Odyssey Theater); The Wife in Love in the DMZ (Actor's Workout Studio); Kitty in Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Producers, 2005 GLAAD Award Nomination); Det. Sergeant Caroline Patterson in the American premiere of Gary Mitchell's Force of Change. Television credits include: "Medium," "Alias," "The Gilmore Girls," "Judging Amy" and the HBO series "Tell Me You Love Me." Film: "Go for It" (winner of the 2010 Audience Award at the L.A Latino Film festival), "Redemption Maddie," "The Rat Thing" and the title role in the short film "Norma Grace."  She starred and co-produced the short film "The Road to Ruin," nominated for "Best Sci-Fi Short" at the 2012 Beverly Hills Short Film Festival.

Marianne Muellerleile(Lottie Schoen) - For NPT: Monica Reed in Present Laughter; Onone in Phaedre; Cora in Life With Father; Maria in Twelfth Night; The Nurse in Medea and in Romeo and Juliet. She starred in the Mark Taper Forum revival of The School for Scandal and in the special Hollywood Bowl presentation of The Sound of Music, in addition to roles in over 40 plays in New York, LA and across the USA. Her more than 50 film roles include memorable appearances in "The Terminator," "Return To Me," "Smokin' Aces," "Passion Fish," "Thank You for Smoking," "Memento," and "A Smile Like Yours," to name but a few. Marianne's over 350 television appearances include most of the major comedic and dramatic series of the past two decades, highlighted by "Life with Bonnie," "Will & Grace," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Passions," "The Mentalist," "CSI," and "Parenthood," among many others. Recently she wrapped on the feature "The Nina Simone Project." For more information, visit  www.mariannemuellerleile.com.

Toni Sawyer (Miss Framer) - For NPT: Miss Erickson / Lady Saltburn in Present Laughter; For NPT: Mama in The Guardsman; Panope in Phaedre; Elvira in The Cid; The Chorus in Medea; Regional theatre includes: Night (A.C.T. San Francisco), The Nerd (La Mirada Theatre); Anatomy of A Murder (Mill Run Playhouse, Chicago); She Stoops to Conquer, Oedipus Rex, Caucasian Chalk Circle (Marin Theatre Company); Harvey (Welk Resort Theatre) and over 10 productions at The Colony Theatre including Lady Markby in An Ideal Husband and Ida in Mornings at Seven.  Also at The Colony, she originated the role of Jeannette in Could I Have This Dance, for which she won a Drama-Logue Award, and which the American Theatre Critics Association named "Best Regional Play of 1991-92." She repeated the role at the Village Theatre in NYC. On film, she played Nicole Kidman's mother in "My Life" and Laura Dern's overly protective mother in Peter Bogdanovich's "Mask.".

James Siering (Mr. Bardolph) For NPT: Morris Dixon in Present Laughter; Dr. Bernhard (The Critic) in The Guardsman; Jakob Engstrund in Ghosts; Aegeus in Medea; Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night; Don Diego in The Cid; Theramenes in Phaedre, the title role in Tartuffe. Jim was Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Matrix in New York City where he produced numerous plays and one-act festivals. As an actor, Jim has performed at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Lincoln Center and in several Obie Award-winning productions with Andre Serban's company at LaMama and Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company, in addition to numerous Equity Waiver and off-off-Broadway productions. Jim has worked extensively in youth theatre education as a teacher, writer and director.

Founded in 2007, The New Phoenix Theatre offers chamber theatre staged readings of the great international classical theatre repertoire.  Past NPT staged readings have included:  Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, The Misanthrope, Tartuffe; The Cid; Phaedre, Medea, Twelfth Night, Ghosts, The Guardsman, Present Laughter and The Lion in Winter.  For more information, visit: http://www.newphoenixtheatre-la.com.