GOD HELP US!
A Political Comedy
starring Ed Asner
Written by Samuel Warren Joseph and Phil Proctor
Produced by Liza Asner
Directed by Mitch Levine
Download: GOD HELP US! One-Sheet
Ed Asner (Actor/Star): Versatile, committed, eloquent and talented are all adjectives that describe actor/activist and 8-Time Emmy Award-winning actor ED ASNER. He 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.
Samuel Warren Joseph (Writer): Sam’s 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 (Writer): Phil 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. Philip can be seen on screen in the sex farce, Love Addict and in Sam Joseph’s comic political thriller, Window of Opportunity produced by The Doors’ John Densmore, as well as in Henry Jaglom’s first film, A Safe Place with Tuesday Wells, Orson Welles and Jack Nicholson and later in Hollywood Dreams and Queen of the Lot. Other film credits include The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Amazon Women on the Moon, Lobsterman from Mars, with the great Tony Curtis, and Love Addict, The Selling and The Independent, with Melinda, his wife. 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) was born and raised in Los Angeles but spent 22 years in Portland, Oregon working in promotions and advertising before returning to the City of Angels to assist her father, Ed Asner. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Northeastern University and a Master of Science in Education from Capella University. Her last year of graduate school she was the Recipient of the Helene Krivosha School of Education Scholarship. Liza wrote and voiced radio spots for Portland Saturday Market (the largest continuous open-air crafts market in the world) and managed the Saturday Conservatory of Music part-time for several years in Los Angeles. Asner was casting director and co-producer of Ed Weinberger’s staged readings Two Jews Talking with Ed Asner and Richard Kind and Two Sisters Talking with Sally Struthers and June Squibb at the Falcon Theater (2017). Liza is booker and stage manager of Ed Weinberger’s staged reading A Man and His Prostate that is on tour now. Recently she had a photo exhibit at the San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center benefiting the Jewish Cuba Project with partner Martin Cohen. Liza is the Producer and booker of Ed Asner’s newest show, GOD HELP US!
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. In addition to GOD HELP US!, Mitch is preparing productions of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s THE VISIT, starring Barbara Bain, an evening of theatre entitled SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, AND SOMETIMES… LOVE, as well as a multi-media staging of Verdi’s REQUIEM. He is on the faculty of Loyola Marymount University and for many years was Production Director of MOMIX Dance Theatre and a Special Representative to the United Nations.