Arts & Entertainment

POTUS at Playhouse

One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the president unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. A broad, zany, old-school comedy that earned three 2022 Tony nominations.

Written by Selina Fillinger and directed by Kathy Paladino, POTUS is playing in the Long Beach Playhouse’s Studio Theater through May 23.

Call (562) 494-1014 for tickets or visit www.LBPlayhouse.org.

Screening of Hendrie

The Art Theatre will present a special screening of the documentary Hendrie on Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m., as a fundraiser for Long Beach Public Radio 99.1 KLBP-FM.

The event will feature an appearance by Radio Hall of Famer Phil Hendrie and Director Patrick Reynolds post screening in a live Q&A moderated by syndicated radio journalist Richard Wagoner.

Crafted with a comedic lens, Hendrie tells the story of legendary talk-radio innovator Phil Hendrie, focusing on The Phil Hendrie Show, which aired from 1990 to 2006 across various radio markets. The documentary explores Hendrie’s groundbreaking approach to satire – blurring the lines between host and character in a way that challenged both audiences and the radio industry itself.

Directed by Patrick Reynolds and produced by Reynolds and Jordan Brady, the film features commentary from a wide range of notable entertainers, including Bill Hader, Judd Apatow

Long Beach Community Television & Media Corporation, dba Long Beach Public Media, is a 501(c)(3) working to advance public media through education, technical assistance and access to production facilities. The organization was awarded a permit from the FCC to broadcast at 99.1 FM under the call sign KLBP-LP in December of 2015. KLBP, is a community service of LBPM. For more information visit klbp.org

Goldberg Contest

On May 3, 14 teams will compete for awards in the first West Coast National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. Teams will compete on May 3 at the Edison theater, 213 Broadway St., and at the Makersville Underground pop-up at Shannon’s Corner, 207 Pine St.

Jennifer George, Rube Goldberg’s granddaughter, and Zach Umperovitch, Global Contest Director at the Rube Goldberg Institute (RGI) will be present for the competition. In addition to his role at the RGI, Zach is co-host of Discovery’s “Contraption Masters” and a professional Rube Goldberg Machine builder. Zach, who goes by “Zach’s Contraptions,” oversees all Rube Goldberg competitions around the world.

The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is the ultimate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) learning environment and competition. Rube Goldberg is celebrated for his humorous cartoons that depict over-engineered machines designed to perform apparently simple tasks.

Contestants have taken the theme of the competition (Open a Box) and developed it into a skit that they will perform to introduce their Rube Goldberg machine that ends with opening a box. Even during the competition they will fail, adjust and overcome challenges.

Zach shared his excitement with these words: “We’re thrilled to bring the energy of a National level Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC) to Long Beach. I’m excited for the students to showcase their incredible mix of creativity, with teams from across the West Coast and even from parts around the world, coming together to celebrate ingenuity, persistence, and a little bit of wonderfully controlled chaos all with the common goal of failing upwards.”

A stakeholders’ meeting will immediately follow the event and will be held at the Edison theater. Education professionals, experience providers, MakerSpaces, MakerFaire and event organizers and companies that want to introduce Rube Goldberg experiences to their communities of youth and/or adults are invited to participate.

The event is free. The public is asked to pre-register on Eventbrite as space is limited. Wristbands will be distributed upon arrival at the event: https://www.eventbrite-goldberg-west-coast-national-final-open-a-box-tic.... The event registration QR code is also listed on the event flyer.

More information on the competition and related auxiliary events will be made available on the Makersville website: http://makersville.net.

We would like to thank the Creative Class non-profit for their support in bringing this event to life.