Allen Barton’s “The Difficulty Adjustment” Opens Nov. 6 at Beverly Hills Playhouse
Allen Barton’s world-premiere play The Difficulty Adjustment opens November 6 at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, where the Los Angeles playwright, director and pianist also serves as owner and principal teacher, BroadwayWorld reported in a “Ten Questions in Ten Minutes” interview.
The play, running 130 minutes with intermission through November 29, deals with the economic system and features characters named Sterling and Ethan. The two men never meet, but their stories connect as Ethan and his wife confront the consequences of speaking their minds in post-Covid America, according to the interview.
Cast and Production Team Announced
Matt Le Nevez stars as Sterling and Peter O’Connor as Ethan. The Beverly Hills Playhouse confirmed O’Connor is reprising the role of Ethan from Barton’s 2023 play Outrage. The cast also includes Nick Hagen as Officer Lopez, Jason Chiumento as Lucif, Cameron Meyer as Lori, Jody Booth as Lisa, Mia Christou as Penny. Mia Christou and Collin Bernsen designed the set, Derrick McDaniel the lights, David Bello stage-manages, and Sofia Macias handled projection and audio design.
Performances run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. at the Playhouse, 254 South Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills. Tickets cost $40, with $20 student tickets available at bhplayhouse.com or by calling or texting 310-620-1134.
Barton Compares the Play to Clifford Odets
Barton told BroadwayWorld the title is an intentional nod to Clifford Odets’ depression-era play Waiting for Lefty, which he described as a “crie de coeur against economic repression of the working class.” Nearly a century later, Barton writes, “here we are again.” The play’s dual storyline also tilts toward Tom Stoppard or John le Carré, he said.
Asked about $800-to-$1,200 Broadway tickets for star-driven productions, Barton told BroadwayWorld, “I think it’s all pretty gross,” adding that his current play examines why prices rise at increasing rates throughout history. He said he cannot speak to how to escape what he called the “death spiral in the accessibility of Broadway theatre.”
Barton Addresses the Playhouse’s Scientology History
Asked whether the Beverly Hills Playhouse remains a gateway to Scientology through its founder Milton Katselas, Barton told BroadwayWorld the answer is “NO” and has been for nearly 25 years. He said Katselas became persona non grata in the Scientology community during the last five years of his life, and that Barton himself received a “suppressive person declaration” after being interviewed by Lawrence Wright for the book Going Clear. Barton’s 2015 play Disconnection explores the topic, he said.
From Harvard Piano Accompanist to Playwright
A Boston native and Harvard graduate, Barton said he first considered moving to Los Angeles during a frigid February while playing piano for Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He joined the Beverly Hills Playhouse because classmates landed there, he said, and developed a 16-year working relationship with Katselas that lasted until Katselas’ death in 2008. Barton, a 2010 Steinway Artist and prizewinner in the 2002 Los Angeles Liszt Society Competition, wrote his first full-length play at age 42; The Difficulty Adjustment is his sixth. His 2017 memoir The Oasis of Insanity covers his apprenticeship with Katselas.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where does “The Difficulty Adjustment” run? The play opens November 6, 2026, at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, 254 South Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills, and runs through November 29, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m.
How much are tickets? General admission is $40 and student tickets are $20, available at bhplayhouse.com or by phone or text at 310-620-1134.
Who stars in the production? Matt Le Nevez plays Sterling and Peter O’Connor plays Ethan, reprising the role from Barton’s 2023 play Outrage, according to the Beverly Hills Playhouse.
What is the play about? It links two financial crises — the 2008 global crash and the 2020–21 Covid lockdowns — through two men, an economics professor and a Los Angeles theatre owner, who never meet but whose stories connect, BroadwayWorld reported.
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