The play, running Jan. 23 through Feb. 16, is set in a Black community in the late 1960s, a time period Hartford Stage successfully conjured for the Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit ‘67” in 2019. This production features several actors who are steeped in Wilson’s work. Some even knew and worked closely with the playwright, who died in 2005.

Jerome Preston Bates, who plays Holloway in the show, said his first Wilson play was a production of “Two Trains Running” in Philadelphia in the early 1990s playing a different character, West. The next one he did found him originating the role of Floyd Barton in the world premiere production of “Seven Guitars” at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. When “Seven Guitars” moved to Broadway Bates went with it, understudying two of the lead roles. Next was “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at the New Federal Theatre in New York. Then he did Wilson’s “Jitney” at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. Pittsburgh is where Wilson began his writing career and where most of his plays are set.

“That was four in a row,” Bates said, enough to get him known in theater circles as “an August Wilson actor” though he said there was a 17-year gap before he did another one.

There are 10 plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle, with each play taking place in a different decade of the 20th century. The plays are meant to stand apart from each other, but characters from some plays are mentioned in other ones and there are recurring themes. All the plays concern the difficulties of Black life in America.

Bates directed staged readings of every one of the Century Cycle plays in Augusta, Georgia between 2005 and 2008, and is in the process of doing them all again now in the same city.

Working on important early productions of “Seven Guitars” and “Jitney,” Bates got to know Wilson personally. “During ‘Seven Guitars’ he was still writing, by pencil and paper, the script,” Bates said. “He would give us new pages every day. He was looking up while he was writing, very much in the room. I got to be around him. For ‘Jitney’ I got a little closer to him.

I sat at his tables. I got books from him. In one of them he wrote ‘To Jerome Preston Bates, the first Floyd Barton,’” he said.

Winter theater in CT offers a range of shows from big musicals to insightful intimate dramas

Hartford Stage has now brought Bates back to his first Wilson play, “Two Trains Running.” The play, set during the heated Civil Rights protests of the late 1960s, takes place in a diner in the Hill district of Pittsburgh. The seven characters, which include the diner’s owner Memphis and his employee Risa, debate issues of the day, including the death of a local religious leader, whose body is lying at a funeral home on the same block, the likely sale of the diner, various work and life troubles and the potential payout from the neighborhood numbers racket.

Bates has appeared on Connecticut stages before in other great Black dramas such as Michael Henry Brown’s “Generations of the Dead in the Abyss of Coney Island Madness” at Long Wharf Theatre in 1990 and Samuel E. Kelley’s “Pill Hill,” both in its premiere at the Yale Repertory Theatre’s Winterfest in 1990 and when Hartford Stage did it in 1992. He had to step into the Hartford production at short notice and despairs that he didn’t get a chance to get to know the city. Now he gets another opportunity. “It’s incredible to come back to Hartford after 32 years,” the actor said.

It’s a welcome return to Connecticut for the play as well. The world premiere of “Two Trains Running” at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven in 1990 featured the stellar cast of Laurence Fishburne (who won a Tony for playing Sterling when the show moved to Broadway), Samuel L. Jackson, Samuel E. Wright, Ella Joyce, Sullivan Walker, Leonard Parker and Al White. When the production went to Broadway two years later, Fishburne, Walker and White were still in the cast, while Roscoe Lee Browne replaced Wright as Holloway, Anthony Chisholm, not Jackson, was Wolf, Cynthia Martells was Risa and Chuck Patterson, rather than Parker, was West.

Bates’ character Holloway is described in Wilson’s stage directions as “a man who all his life has voiced his outrage at injustice with little effect. His belief in the supernatural has enabled him to accept his inability to effect change and continue to pursue life with zest and vigor.”

The rest of the cast includes David Jennings as Hambone, Rafael Jordan as Sterling, Postell Pringle (from Hartford Stage’s production of “The Hot Wing King”) as Wolf, Taji Senior as Risa, Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. (the artistic director of HartBeat Ensemble who is making his third appearance in a Hartford Stage play following “All My Sons” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”) as Memphis and Jeorge Bennett Watson as West.

Yale Rep was known for nurturing Wilson’s work. Lloyd Richards, who directed the world premieres of five of the plays in the Century Cycle, was the Yale Rep’s artistic director in the 1980s and also the artistic director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford where most of the plays had their first readings. This meant that other Connecticut theaters tended not to do the plays. But with “Two Trains Running,” Hartford Stage has now done four Wilson plays in the past 18 years, the previous ones being “Fences” in 2007, “Gem of the Ocean” in 2011 and “The Piano Lesson” in 2016.

Gilbert McCauley, who is directing “Two Trains Running” for Hartford Stage, has never directed this play before, though he’s helmed productions of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” (in Ghana), “The Piano Lesson” and “Fences.” He has seen “Two Trains Running” done and, like a lot of Wilson fans, is “not sure why it doesn’t get done more often, though I do know of two other productions coming up right now. There’s something about how it speaks to people today. There’s a harmony of meaning in a way, all this stuff happening at that time in this Pittsburgh neighborhood. The language of it is heightened. The subject matter ranges from gritty to everyday to humorous to sad.”

McCauley is a professor in the theater department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where is he starting rehearsals on a production of Aishah Rahman’s “Unfinished Women Cry in No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies in a Gilded Cage” immediately after “Two Trains Running” opens in Hartford.

He met Hartford Stage’s artistic director Melia Bensussen through the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society union (for which Bensussen serves on the executive board). “I reached out to her last year about doing a different Wilson play,” McCauley said. “Melia is a great artistic director. You don’t always get someone who’s so welcoming.”

The director noted that “Two Trains Running” is the play in the Wilson cycle that takes place in the late 1960s, when, in real life, its playwright was in his early 20s just starting his writing career and especially aware of what was happening on the streets of Pittsburgh. Another distinction of this play is that unlike “Fences” or “The Piano Lesson” or several other plays in the cycle, it doesn’t involve members of the same family. “It’s a motley crew, all from different backgrounds,” McCauley said.

The play is willfully “deceptive,” the director said, in how it reveals its greater, more universal meanings by “talking about everyday things. These are people who have come to their last refuge here. They are dealing with a world outside that’s not so friendly to them and does not have their best interests at heart. There’s this destruction going on all around them. I wanted to evoke the sense of this place that is worn but very cared for, that feels like a safe place.”

“Two Trains Runnings” runs through Feb. 16 at Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford. Performances are Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There is no 2 p.m. matinee on Jan. 25 and no public performance on Feb. 4. $20-$105. hartfordstage.org/two-trains-running.

“He’s loud, rich, presumably white, old. … How are we going to have people feel for him? Well, he was an orphan himself, abandoned and as Annie tells him, ‘You’re doin’ all right,’” Swan said. “He’s gone through life with blinders on. He’s no less deserving of finding a family than anyone else. He wants to connect. He wants to be loved.”

The “Annie” tour, which returns to Connecticut for three performances Jan. 25 and 26 at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, is directed by Jenn Thompson, who in the 1980s and 1990s restarted the Ivoryton Playhouse with her family (all of them actors) as the River Rep company. She has directed plays at TheaterWorks Hartford and musicals at the Goodspeed Opera House. “Annie” is the first major tour Thompson has directed.

Thompson feels especially close to the project because she played Pepper, one of the orphan girls, for two years in the original Broadway production of “Annie.” For this tour, Thompson restored several scenes from other revivals of the musical and generally sought to return the show to its roots as a Depression-era tale of grit, determination and a heartwarming search for family.

Well-known Connecticut theater director helms the new tour of ‘Annie’ coming to the Shubert

“Jenn, out of the gate, was fighting to keep scenes that established the time period, like the Hooverville scene with the people who are out of work because of the Depression or the Cabinet meeting with FDR in the White House,” Swan said.

He likes sharing these historical moments with audiences, though he still finds himself wondering “Is this the audience where they won’t know who Harpo Marx is?” The silent Marx Brother is referenced in a joke in Warbucks’ first scene.

“So often, musicals have just enough lines between the scenes to connect the songs,” Swan said. “This has full scenes where the characters talk about their issues.”

That dialogue, of course, is filled with humor and sweetness in the spirit of the long-running comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” on which the musical is based. Harold Gray created the strip in 1924 and wrote and drew it until his death in 1968. It was continued by other artists and writers until 2000. Recently, Annie Warbucks has made a comeback as a character in another classic comic strip, “Dick Tracy.”

The “Annie” musical, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Thomas Meehan, premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam in 1976. It opened on Broadway in 1977 and became one of the biggest Broadway hits of the 20th century, running for nearly 2,400 performances. The show spawned a short-lived sequel, has been filmed four times (twice for TV) and has been revived multiple times on Broadway and on tour. A pre-Broadway 25th anniversary tour with Nell Carter as Miss Hannigan played the Oakdale in 1997.

The classic showtunes in “Annie” include “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” (famously sampled by Jay-Z for “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”), “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” “Easy Street” and of course “Tomorrow.”

Swan has been Daddy Warbucks in “Annie” since this tour started three years. He hadn’t played the role before this. He’s visited Connecticut previously in tours of “Hairspray,” “Guys and Dolls” and “A Christmas Story: The Musical.” Swan is based in New York, but his parents were both from Connecticut. His father was born in Connecticut and his mother in Old Saybrook. He’s visited family in the state many times but also is constantly on tour. He’s found that “touring is the way to go to really make acting a full-time job.”

Stephanie Londino, who plays the other key adult key character in the musical — the sourpuss orphanage manager Miss Hannigan — has also been with the tour for three years, though she relinquished the role to Whoopi Goldberg when the production played the theater at Madison Square Garden last month. For those special New York performances, the production “adjusted really beautifully” to the larger venue, Swan said. “It was amazing. New York really embraced us.” He recalled how satisfying it was to sing one of his signature songs from the show, “N.Y.C.,” in the city it’s about.

The child actor starring as Annie in the show has changed every year. Including understudies, there have been six Annies since the tour started. When the tour played the Shubert Theatre in New Haven just over a year ago, Rainier “Rainey” Treviño played Annie. The role is now being handled by Hazel Vogel, whom Swan said “is a real actress. She is a pathos to her that I really like playing off of.”

As Warbucks, he revels in the chance to “do dramatic scenes, tell jokes, dance and sing. This can be a demanding role. You hardly leave the stage once you come on. You get two songs back-to-back at one point.” He is buoyed by the “happiness Warbucks finds” as the show progresses. “I just go there. I lighten up.”

The national tour of “Annie” plays Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and Jan. 26 at 1 p.m. at the Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford. $53-$128.50. concerts.livenation.com.

LOS ANGELES — Netflix’s upcoming “Narnia” movie will be exclusively released in Imax theaters for two weeks worldwide, the streamer confirmed Friday.

The movie, directed by Greta Gerwig, will be shown on 1,000 to 1,800 Imax screens, according to a person familiar with the deal who declined to be named. Its theatrical release will be in on Thanksgiving Day 2026 and premiere on Netflix on Christmas.

The deal marks a delicate balancing act for Netflix, because the company’s business model is centered on growing its streaming subscriptions. Although Netflix has released movies theatrically before to qualify for awards, the streamer typically aims to quickly distribute those movies on its streaming service to satisfy its millions of subscribers.

But some Hollywood talent would prefer to see their work appear on the big screen. A representative for Gerwig did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is Imax’s first deal for a theatrical window for a Netflix narrative feature film. A Netflix documentary, “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” also had a theatrical run on Imax last year.

The movie is based on “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. It’s an epic tale with Christian undertones about a magical world and the four siblings who discover and rule it as kings and queens. The seven Narnia books have sold more than 115 million copies worldwide.

Some analysts have said bringing the epic story to Imax screens makes sense given the breadth of the fantasy world and anticipated stunning visual nature of the film. There is also likely to be significant fandom surrounding the movie.

The last three Narnia movies, released theatrically in 2005, 2008 and 2010 by Disney and 20th Century Fox, generated $537.7 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to non-inflation-adjusted data from Comscore.

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(L.A. Times staff writer Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.)

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©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In between are a double bill of R&B/soul/pop legends The Spinners and The Isley Brothers (both of whom are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame), Martin Sexton covering an entire Beatles album, an impressive “Must Be Nice” lineup of soul and R&B stars at the Shubert, alchemists G. Love and Anders Osborne, the punky Southern roots trio Kudzu Queen, a trio of Broadway stars doing showtunes about “bad boys,” rapper Destroy Lonely, ‘90s rock stalwarts Big Head Todd and the Monsters and a screening of “Dirty Dancing” with a live band playing “I Had the Time of My Life” and other tunes.

These are the kinds of things that have to be heard to be believed, so it’s a great week to go out and listen.

Bowzer’s Rock ‘N’ Doo-Wop Party Volume 23: The Final Chapter
Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville

Jon “Bowzer” Baumann of the 1970s nostalgia-pop sensations Sha Na Na leads what he’s said will be his last “Rock ‘N’ Doo-Wop Party” tour. The lineup of the “Final Chapter” edition is Chubby Checker & The Wildcats, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, Jay Siegel’s Tokens, Peggy March, The Dubs, Lala Brooks (the original lead singer of The Crystals), Frank Pizarro (the 9/11 firefighter hero who became a pop vocalist), Bowzer and his backing band The Stingrays featuring Johnny Contardo. Rocky & The Rollers and special guest Bobby Wilson (son of the legendary Jackie Wilson). Jan. 19 at 3 p.m. $42.50-$142.20. mohegansun.com.

Must Be Nice R&B Concert
Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven

The concert features soul/R&B revue with Lyfe Jennings (“Must Be Nice”), Keke Wyatt (“Nothing in This World”), Horace Brown (“One for the Money”) and Sunshine Anderson (“Heard It All Before”). Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. $64.90-$100.60. shubert.com.

Orlando Baxter: Live from South High
Funny Bone Comedy Club, 194 Buckland Hills Dr. Suite 1054, Manchester

Orlando Baxter performs the show on which he based a special a couple of years ago, “Live from South High: A Teacher Appreciation Story.” Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. $25. hartford.funnybone.com.

Dagwood, Classic Traffic, Beauty and Splitview
Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden

Two Connecticut bands, Dagwood and Splitview, plus the New Jersey acts Classic Traffic and Beauty converge at Cafe Nine for a night of punk, rock and pop. Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. $21.54. spaceballroom.com.

G. Love & Special Sauce
Infinity Music Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road West, Norfolk

The innovative singer/musician who introduced elements of rap and hip-hop into modern blues back in the 1990s is back on tour with his band Special Sauce. The most recent studio album is “Philadelphia Mississippi. Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. $68.04-$114.43. infinityhall.com.

Kudzu Queen
Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven

Kudzu Queen, the local Southern Americana roots trio who also dabble in R&B, punk and other sounds, is calling their show on Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. their farewell show. $10. cafenine.com.

The Fierce Urgency of Now: MLK Tribute Concert
Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Ave, Hartford

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra presents a concert featuring some of the most important Black composers of the 20th century in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Selections included Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout,” Florence Price’s “Juba Dance,” Terence Blanchard’s “Malcolm X Suite,” the second movement (“Hope in the Night”) of William Dawson’s “Negro Folk Symphony,” spirituals sung by baritone Schauntice Marshall, a medley of Duke Ellington compositions and more. Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. Free. hartfordsymphony.org.

Broadway’s Bad Boys
Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport

Three Broadway musical theater stars — Julius Thomas III (a veteran of “Hamilton” who was just in the Long Wharf Theatre production of “She Loves Me”), Ridgefield native Sam Gravitte (who’s been Fiyero in “Wicked”) and Kevin Massey (who starred on Broadway in “Tarzan,” “Memphis” and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”) — sing songs associated with villains, anti-heroes and the criminally misunderstood, from the “Phantom of the Opera” to the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast.” Jan. 23 and 24 at 7 p.m., Jan. 25 at 2 and 7 p.m. and Jan.  26 at 2 p.m. $35-$65. westportplayhouse.org.

Destroy Lonely
Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford

The Atlanta rapper Destroy Lonely is touring behind his latest album “Love Lasts Forever,” which was released last August and spawned the single “Luv 4 Ya.” Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. $59; $182.90 VIP package. concerts.livenation.com.

Tim Dillon
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road, Ridgefield

The popular comedian and podcaster brings his stand-up to Ridgefield Playhouse. A second show was added when the 7:30 p.m. one sold out. Jan. 23 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. $50-$60. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Ms. Pat
Funny Bone Comedy Club, 194 Buckland Hills Dr., Suite 1054, Manchester

She has a sitcom (“The Ms. Pat Show”), a courtroom show (“Ms. Pat Settles It”) and was a highlight of Netflix’s recent “Torching 2024: A Roast Of The Year” special. Ms. Pat brings her “Hot & Flashy” tour to the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Manchester on Jan. 24 at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. $37-$47. hartford.funnybone.com.

Badfish
Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven

The acclaimed Sublime tribute (and more) known as Badfish is back at Toad’s Place, where the band played regularly for decades, with Kash’d Out and The Quasi Kings, Jan. 24 at 8:30 p.m. $25, $20 advance. toadsplace.com.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters
College Street Music Hall, 238 College St., New Haven
District Music Hall, 71 Wall St., Norwalk

The Colorado rock band Big Head and the Monsters formed in the mid-1980s, had some monster albums in the ‘90s and was an anchor of the popular H.O.R.D.E. tours. Their two shows in Connecticut this week are billed as “An Evening With Big Head Todd and the Monsters,” kind of the opposite of a big festival tour. Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. at District Music Hall (districtmusichall.com; $59.11-$100.31), then Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. at College Street Music Hall (collegestreetmusichall.com; $30-$79.71).

Randy Houser and Nick Bosse
Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Blvd., Mashantucket

Country hitmaker Randy Houser (“Runnin’ Outta Moonlight,” “Goodnight Kiss,” “Like A Cowboy”) and North Stonington’s own Nick Bosse (“Whatever Happened to Country?”) share a bill Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods’ Great Cedar Showroom. $61.65-$271.10. foxwoods.com.

Martin Sexton
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield

The revered folk artist puts his spin on The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album. Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. $50-$65. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London

A “Masterpieces of Three Centuries” concert with Mozart’s oboe concerto, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, Beethoven’s eighth symphony and Caroline Shaw’s “and the swallow.” Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. $14-$77. gardearts.org.

The Isley Brothers and The Spinners
Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Blvd., Mashantucket

Two classic ‘60s pop/soul acts, The Isley Brothers (“Shout,” “Twist and Shout,” “Pop That Thang”) and The Spinners (“Rubber Band Man,” “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”) both perform Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods’ Premier Theater. The Isley Brothers still features founding member Ronald Isley and his youngest brother Ernie. All the original Spinners are deceased but two of the current members have each been with the group for over 15 years. $61.65-$302.50. foxwoods.com.

Anders Osborne
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road, Ridgefield

Americana/blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Anders Osborne brings his expressive sound to Ridgefield Playhouse on Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. $45-$49. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

‘The Tin Woman’
Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Say brook

“The Tin Woman,” Sean Grennan’s drama about a grieving and trouble family, is being staged by Saybrook Stage Company at The Kate The play is directed by Terri Corigliuanbo. Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. $17-$29. thekate.org.

Ali Siddiq
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford

Texan comedian Ali Siddiq finds comedy in interesting places, such as the years he spent incarcerated for drug offenses. Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. $30-$80; $125 meet & greet. bushnell.org.

‘Dirty Dancing in Concert’
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford

A screening of the romantic adventure film set at a Catskills resort in the 1960s is accompanied by a live band and vocalists. Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. $45-$95. bushnell.org.

‘In Conversation with The Sopranos’
Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury

An evening with three immediately recognizable members of the cast of “The Sopranos” — Steve Schirripa (who played Bobby Bacala), Vincent Pastore (Big Pussy) and Michael Imperioli (Christopher), plus host Joey Kola. Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. $40-$100. palacetheaterct.org.

Mystic Dead
Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden

Mystic Dead is called that because they are from Mystic and they play Grateful Dead songs. Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. $26.69, $21.54 in advance. spaceballroom.com.

LOS ANGELES — It was an improbable place. An artist collective known as JJU, or John Joyce University, hidden in the foothills of Altadena, resembled a 1960s fever dream of communal living. That such a community could exist in modern Los Angeles was a miracle to those residing there, until — in a single harrowing night — the Eaton fire swallowed it whole.

If you haven’t heard of it, that’s because it wasn’t actually a university. It was a compound of two neighboring properties — mansions, bungalows and converted garages — affectionately named after the 77-year-old carpenter who resided there for 26 years. He was the guy you went to if you wanted to borrow a book, had a maintenance issue or just wanted to talk philosophy. About 30 artists lived and worked together, sharing art studios, supplies, the tools of their various crafts and how-to knowledge.

Joyce saw all kinds of artists come and go over the years; composers, sculptors, painters, performance artists, poets and art professors.

“We also raised amazing kids,” he said, noting the many families who came through.

Joyce uses the word “we” liberally when talking about JJU, because the compound was all about the benefits of togetherness. He shared videos and photos of community dinners in the grand dining room and of walls covered with art from those who had once lived there. A number of clips featured artists working in various areas of the house while a performance artist named Michelle Garduno danced or napped with a CPR doll. Everybody, Joyce said, donated a piece of art to the community upon leaving.

“The whole notion of individualism is a complete fraud,” Joyce said. “We had common areas where people could do whatever they wanted. We had a photo studio set up. We had painting studios going on. We had shows in there. We used it for everything. Even the yard — there were lots of big sloppy paintings in the yard.”

The main house had a lending library filled with art books and catalogs, and people from the surrounding community came for annual parties. The diversity of the neighborhood — a melting pot from around the world — was also part of the area’s cosmic draw.

“There were working-class people next to JPL [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] people, next to Caltech people, next to Hollywood people,” Joyce said. “Everybody got along.”

Painter Susannah Mills, who for the last decade lived in a converted garage at JJU, said that one mansion on the compound was built in 1890 by a French artist and later became an orphanage run by Catholic nuns. Its current owner, Jeff Ricks, bought it more than 30 years ago and began populating it with artists, including Joyce, who also managed the property.

Mills said that when she first arrived at the compound, Joyce helped her get set up. He made sure she had the art supplies and furniture she needed.

“From that point forward, I knew I had just found this misfit community,” Mills said. “That’s what we were like. Many of us were people without families. We all had dogs and cats, and we were all artists. I never worried about anything. I always felt safe there. We all just loved each other.”

The community built an exhibition area called the Narrow Gallery in one of the houses, and that’s where Mills staged her first show. Her rent was less than $1,000 per month; Ricks never raised it. The low living expenses gave her the freedom to work as an end-of-life guide; she also worked at the Altadena Community Church, an inclusive, social-justice-oriented congregation where she helped book events for community organizations. (The church also was destroyed in the Eaton fire.)

Residents of JJU were friendly with the people living at Zorthian Ranch, another nearby collective also lost to fire. The 48-acre artists colony was on land that muralist Jirayr Zorthian bought in the 1940s, turning it into a sprawling outpost for his family and eventually a summer arts camp for children. Zorthian ran in bohemian circles and threw parties that attracted Andy Warhol, Charlie Parker and Bob Dylan.

For as long as she’s lived in Altadena, Mills said, Zorthian has served as a community hub. It hosted donation-based figure-drawing and mosaic classes, as well as workshops on how to shear sheep and spin wool. Zorthian’s granddaughter, Julia, lived at the ranch, along with about more than a dozen docents and artists, and she said the community thrived in the ordered lawlessness of the unincorporated area.

“Because Los Angeles is such a regulated city, it can be really hard to just exist as an artist,” she said. “So being able to live in a space where somebody is allowing for flexibility outside of these harsh rules and regulations gave people room to flourish.”

The utopian sense of self-determination flagged a bit after the fire, when everyone in the community scattered to the wind, but Joyce cited a great desire to rebuild. Text chains are flourishing, and an idea is fermenting about using shipping containers as living quarters.

Joyce was the last JJU resident on the property early Jan. 8, when a house across the street literally exploded from what he thinks may have been a gas leak. An ember from that fire raced on the wind and lodged into a 50-foot palm tree by the main JJU house. Gales whipped the fronds into a frenzy, causing the tree to spray embers like a sprinkler. The world around Joyce erupted in flames. Even the gravel looked like it was burning.

Joyce was holding a garden hose.

“I never felt so weak in my whole life,” Joyce recalled. “Those flames, and the sound. … It was a huge, powerful, angry animal.”

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SAN BARTOLOME DE PINARES, Spain (AP) — On a chilly January night, hundreds of people gathered on the steep and narrow cobblestoned streets of San Bartolome de Pinares — population 500 — to watch a dramatic sight: horses galloping through towering flames.

It’s a centuries-old tradition in the Spanish village about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Madrid that takes place every year to honor St. Anthony the Abbott, the patron saint of animals. Riders guide horses through bonfires lit in the middle of the street in an act believed to purify the animals in the coming year.

Festivities started around nightfall Thursday as giant stacks of tree branches, later fuel for the flames, were placed on the side of the street, while locals mulled about sharing wine and beer and sweets.

In San Bartolome, where livestock and agriculture were common traditional livelihoods, locals say it all started after a mysterious illness swept through the village’s animals centuries ago. It was then that people started believing that smoke could purify and heal horses, said Ángel Martín, as he tended to his family’s horses near a stone church with his father.

“Since then, it’s stayed on as tradition,” Martín explained.

Las Luminarias has long attracted criticism for being brutal toward the animals involved.

To protect them, hours before the show starts, riders wrap their horses’ tails in fire-resistant tape and braid their manes. Some apply a glaze on the animals’ mane to prevent them from burning as they leap through the flames. Others beautify them, tightly braiding their manes, tying pink and red ribbons to their tails wrapped in tape, and adorning them with decorative headpieces.

“It’s exciting for us, even though we’re from here and we see it every year,” said Ana Díaz, who came with her daughter and husband, who later rode his horse through the flames.

Díaz, who works for a clothing company in Madrid but visits her family home in San Bartolome almost every weekend, said that she wasn’t worried about potential possible risks to riders or animals.

“It’s not just anyone who can ride,” Díaz said. “It’s people who know the festival, who know their animal and would never want anything to happen to the horse.”

Once the festivities start, some horses resist walking directly into the fires, and simply walk around them. But the horses and riders that draw the loudest cheers are those that leap head-on through the flames.

Animal rights groups in Spain have long opposed Las Luminarias, but riders and spectators in San Bartolome insist that it doesn’t hurt the horses. Others show up for the simple fact that Las Luminarias has continued almost without interruption in the village for centuries.

Generations of young people migrating from Spain’s hinterlands for cities have left scores of villages and towns like San Bartolome close to or entirely abandoned. Age-old rituals and festivals like Las Luminarias bring people back, locals say, even if just for a few nights.

Martín, who prepares his family’s horses every year for the festival, said concerns about the animals’ welfare were misplaced.

“In a week, let them come back and go through each of the farms where there are horses and see if any of them have burns, if any of them are sick, if they see anything abnormal,” Martín said. “They’re not going to find much.”

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LOS ANGELES — The Oscar race for best picture came into clarity as the Producers Guild of America announced its nominees for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, revealed on Thursday morning. Such widely predicted nominees as “Emilia Pérez” and “The Brutalist” were confirmed in the bracket of 10 features (full results below), as were titles with less certain prospects until now, including “September 5” and “The Substance.”

A historically accurate precursor of the Oscars’ ultimate winner, the PGA Awards have named the future best picture 16 out of the last 21 times. More significantly, last year’s PGA nominees were a 100% match with the 10 nominees for the Academy Award.

The Producers Guild of America’s ceremony will name the winners of its film and TV categories on Feb. 8 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City.

See the full list of nominees below:

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

“Anora”

“The Brutalist”

“A Complete Unknown”

“Conclave”

“Dune: Part Two”

“Emilia Pérez”

“A Real Pain”

“September 5”

“The Substance”

“Wicked”

Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

“Flow”

“Inside Out 2”

“Moana 2”

“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”

“The Wild Robot”

Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television — Drama

“Bad Sisters”

“The Diplomat”

“Fallout”

“Shōgun”

“Slow Horses”

Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television — Comedy

“Abbott Elementary”

“The Bear”

“Curb Your Enthusiasm”

“Hacks”

“Only Murders in the Building”

David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television

“Baby Reindeer”

“Feud: Capote vs. The Swans”

“The Penguin”

“Ripley”

“True Detective: Night Country”

Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures

“Carry On”

“The Greatest Night in Pop”

“The Killer”

“Rebel Ridge”

“Unfrosted”

Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television

“30 for 30”

“Conan O’Brien Must Go”

“The Jinx — Part Two”

“Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces”

“Welcome to Wrexham”

Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television

“Ali Wong: Single Lady”

“The Daily Show”

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”

“Saturday Night Live”

Award for Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television

“The Amazing Race”

“RuPaul’s Drag Race”

“Top Chef”

“The Traitors”

“The Voice”

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, Jan. 11, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2025 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2025, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. James. Percival Everett. Doubleday

2. Four Ruined Realms (deluxe ed.). Mai Corland. Red Tower

3. The Women. Kristin Hannah. St. Martin’s

4. Never Say Never. Danielle Steel. Delacorte

5. Holmes Is Missing. Patterson/Sitts. Little, Brown

6. The God of the Woods. Liz Moore. Riverhead

7. The Wedding People. Alison Espach. Holt

8. All the Colors of the Dark. Chris Whitaker. Crown

9. Intermezzo. Sally Rooney. FSG

10. The Book of Bill. Alex Hirsch. Hyperion Avenue

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Let Them Theory. Mel Robbins. Hay House

2. The House of My Mother. Shari Franke. Gallery

3. Beyond Anxiety. Martha Beck. Open Field

4. The Anxious Generation. Jonathan Haidt. Penguin Press

5. Don’t Say Um. Michael Chad Hoeppner. Balance

6. Good Energy. Casey Means. Avery

7. Don’t Believe Everything You Think (expanded ed.). Joseph Nguyen. Authors Equity

8. What If You Are the Answer? Rachel Hollis. Authors Equity

9. The Serviceberry. Robin Wall Kimmerer. Scribner

10. Be Ready When the Luck Happens. Ina Garten. Crown

TRADE PAPERBACK

1. Fourth Wing. Rebecca Yarros. Red Tower

2. Chainsaw Man, Vol. 17. Tatsuki Fujimoto. Viz

3. Beg, Borrow, or Steal. Sarah Adams. Dell

4. The Frozen River. Ariel Lawhon. Vintage

5. The Boyfriend. Freida McFadden. Poisoned Pen

6. Lights Out. Navessa Allen. Slowburn

7. Quicksilver. Callie Hart. Forever

8. The Housemaid Is Watching. Freida McFadden. Poisoned Pen

9. She’s Not Sorry. Mary Kubica. Park Row

10. Haunting Adeline. H.D. Carlton. Zando

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©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Tickets to the event are free and are expected to be gone as soon as they are made available on Jan. 31.

Reynolds has appeared in dozens of movies, from “Van Wilder” to “Green Lantern” to the “Deadpool” series. He is also known as a businessman with investments in numerous companies including Mint Mobile, for which he acts as a spokesman in TV commercials.

Levy is a 1989 graduate of Yale. He directed Reynolds in “Free Guy,” “The Adam Project” and “Deadpool and Wolverine,” co-produced all three with Reynolds and wrote two of them. Among his many other projects, Levy directed the “Night at the Museum” series of comedies and the 2006 remake of “The Pink Panther” starring Steve Martin. He is the executive producer of the “Stranger Things” series, for which he has also directed a few episodes each season.

The Yale talk will be moderated by film critic Kevin McCarthy. Tickets will be available to the general public through the Yale Schwarzman Center website at schwarzman.yale.edu.

‘ONE OF THEM DAYS’

Rated R for language throughout, sexual material and brief drug use.

What it’s about: Two best friends living in L.A. have a crazy day trying to secure their rent payment.

The kid attractor factor: The comedy will be a draw to teens

Good lessons/bad lessons: Never let your boyfriend pay your rent, have each other’s backs, resourcefulness is everything.

Violence: A few perilous situations and brawling.

Language: Swearing throughout.

Sex: Explicit sexual references.

Drugs: References to drugs, brief onscreen marijuana use.

Parents’ advisory: Too raunchy and mature for kids, fine for teens.

©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC