THE GREAT DEBATE BEGINS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 – Starring The Legendary Ed Asner

NEWPORT HARBOR DRAMA DEPARTMENT presents three very special benefit performances for the Robert S. Wentz Theatre at Newport Harbor High School of ED ASNER starring as God in GOD HELP US!, written by Samuel Warren Joseph & Phil Proctor and directed by Mitch Levine and also starring Stewart J. Zully and Pamela Guest. GOD HELP US! will perform for three performances only, Friday, February 22 at 7 pm and Saturday, February 23, 2019, at 2 pm & 7 pm at the Robert S. Wentz Theater, 600 Irvine Ave. in Newport Beach.

A POLITICAL COMEDY FOR OUR TIMES…

GOD HELP US! is a play ripped from today’s headlines, an evening’s entertainment that is at once hilarious, unifying and thought-provoking. Two pundits, Larry (a liberal lad) and Randi (a conservative gal), find themselves confronted by GOD (Ed Asner), a wise, sarcastic, cantankerous and wildly funny character who is offended by what America’s political leaders have done to America. He has brought Randi and Larry to Purgatory for a lively debate about the issues our time. And whomever he finds more persuasive will get God’s “mighty thumb on the scale” in one or the other’s favor.

We learn that Randi and Larry were a couple back in their college days, but politics tore them apart – in large measure because they couldn’t learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. God interrogates them on a wide array of topics – domestic, international and personal – while commenting on the Bible, the Big Bang, the origin of mankind, and so much more. Given the current state of our politics – GOD HELP US! speaks to audiences of all political persuasions with one essential argument, that we must listen to each other so that we can all live – and laugh – together.

ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

ED ASNER (God) starred as Carl Fredricksen in Pixar’s 2009 box-office- hit Oscar-winning Best Picture “Up!” and as Santa in the Will Ferrell hit, “Elf.” Mr. Asner was the recipient of his eighth Emmy Award at The CSA Awards for his guest appearance in the Canadian dramatic series “Forgive Me.” Mr. Asner is best known for his comedic and dramatic talent as the gruff but soft-hearted journalist Lou Grant, the role he originated on the landmark TV newsroom comedy, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and continued in the newspaper-biz drama “Lou Grant,” which earned him five Emmys and three Golden Globe Awards. Mr. Asner received two more Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for the mini-series “Rich Man, Poor Man” and “Roots.”

STEWART J. ZULLY (Larry) has been working for over thirty-five years as an actor, director, producer, writer, and teacher. His acting resume includes the films “Vice,” “Wolf,” “For the Boys,” “Bonfire of the Vanities,” “Malcolm X,” “Fighting For Freedom” and “New In Town.” On television, he had a recurring role on “The Sopranos” and has appeared in “Bluebloods,” “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Law and Order CI,” “Burn Notice,” “Becker,” “Columbo” and many others. In 2004, his commercial for Citibank’s Identity Theft campaign won an Emmy as Best Commercial of The Year. Stewart also co-wrote and co-produced the feature film “Perfect Opposites,” which stars Piper Perabo and Aaron Paul. Numerous theater credits include leading roles Off-Broadway, LA and Toronto and he recently directed the award-winning White Guy On The Bus at The Road Theatre in North Hollywood and the Ovation-nominated Martha at The Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. His memoir, “My Life In Yankee Stadium 40 Years as a Vendor and Other Tales of Growing Up Somewhat Sane in The Bronx” is available on Amazon.

PAMELA GUEST (Randi) was recently (finally) awarded IndieFEST, Accolade and Best Actors Film Festival ‘Best Leading Actress’ awards for her portrayal of Elyse DeMeyers/Cleopatra in “Cleopatra Backstage.” She often says she started her acting career at the top as DeNiro’s Secretary in “The Last Tycoon” directed by Elia Kazan. Comedies followed: “Amazing Stories” “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” “Police Academy 6” “Californication” “Married.” One serial killer mom in “Life.” Also an Artios-nominated casting director (her day job) she has cast for such notable filmmakers as David Lynch/ “Blue Velvet,” Paul Schrader/“Patty,” David Twohy/ “Timescape,” Christopher Monger /“Waiting for the Light”, Mike Figgis/“Stormy Monday” and Donald Cammell.

MITCH LEVINE (Director) is a stage and film director, a directing member of the Actors Studio, a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was a Fellow at the Juilliard School and the American Film Institute. His Holocaust drama “Shadows” won awards around the globe. He directed the films “In Confidence” (Cannes 2015), “Hungry Is The Tiger” and “Morphing Gravity.” Mitch was Artistic Supervisor of the opera Einstein On The Beach, collaborated with Peter Gabriel and Moses Pendleton on Passion, directed A Dream Within A Dream for PRTE and Jean Anouilh’s Antigone for the Williamstown Theatre Festival. In NY, he directed Sorry! at Circle Rep, Amorphous George for MCC and the revival Lyle Kessler’s Orphans at ATA. His adaptation of Godspell won Best Production/Best Director honors in La Jolla and his production of Arthur Kopit’s Wings was a much-honored show in Los Angeles. Mitch is the President of The Film Festival Group and is just back from conceiving, writing and directing the Bicentennial Celebration of the University of Virginia. It was a vast production: four hours, 850 performers, 23,000 in the audience.

SAMUEL WARREN JOSEPH (Playwright) credits include the movie “Off Your Rocker,” a comedy-drama about a revolution in an old folks’ home starring Milton Berle, Red Buttons, Dorothy Malone and Lou Jacobi. He has written animation episodes for such shows as “Duck Tales,” “Dennis the Menace,” “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Beast Wars.”

In addition to his film and TV credits, Sam is a produced playwright. He wrote the book and co-wrote the songs for the stage musical, Campaign, which had its world premiere in 2010 at the Met Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2010, Sam’s comedy about marital infidelity, Two Times Two, had its world premiere in New Orleans. The film “Window of Opportunity,” which he wrote and directed, is based on his produced stage play of the same name. 2016 saw the world premiere of his play Moral Imperative about morality and murder in the world of academia. It also saw the workshop production of his new musical, Psychosexual: A Love Story.

PHIL PROCTOR (Playwright) shared three Grammy nominations with The Firesign Theatre and three daytime Emmies for voicing Howard DeVille on “Rugrats,” honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has shared several Academy Awards for his voice work in the animé “Spirited Away” and numerous Disney/Pixar movies and most recently won an Audie for adding voices to the sci-fi epic “Battlefield Earth” and a Mark Time Award for “The Audio Adventure Book of Big Dan Frater,” created by Brian Howe. The release of his autobiography, “Where’s My Fortune Cookie,” co-authored by Brad Schreiber, will be followed by “Americathon: The Skits behind the Script” and the transcripts of the NPR comic series “Power” by Proctor & Bergman, for Bear Manor Media. Today most of Firesign Theatre’s classic albums and books are available at www.firesigntheatre.com.

LIZA ASNER (Producer, God Help Us! Productions) was born and raised in L.A. but spent 22 years in Portland, OR working in promotions and advertising before returning to the City of Angels to assist her father Ed. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Northeastern University and later a Master of Science in Education (recipient of the Helene Krivosha School of Education Scholarship).