Photo by Craig Schwartz
Lovell Estell III – Stage Raw
The sneaky, overworked phrase “friends with benefits” takes on new meaning in this watery comedy by Bathsheba Doran. Read more…
Dany Margolies – L.A. Daily News
Family has not changed since ancient times. Our perceptions of family have. Playwright Bathsheba Doran seems to celebrate this in her play “The Mystery of Love & Sex.” That’s the lovely part of this work. Read more…
Now running through March 10
Photo by Jessica Sherman Photography
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw
Padraic Duffy’s rather sweet romantic comedy — the premiere offering at Sacred Fools’ new home at the former Elephant Asylum complex — is a good workmanlike calling card to introduce the company’s style and tone to its new neighborhood. If the play ultimately strikes one as slight, it’s salvaged by just enough quirk to make it appealing, along with winsome performances from some of the company’s stalwart mainstays. Read more…
David C. Nichols – LA Times
Just because something is imaginary doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
So goes “Past Time,” Sacred Fools Theater Company’s inaugural production in its new home at the Lillian Theatre, a felicitous match-up.Read more…
Now running through March 26
Photo by John Perrin Flynn
Don Shirley – L.A. Observed
Two plays named after cities: “Barcelona” at the Geffen Playhouse and Rogue Machine’s production of “Pocatello” (in case that doesn’t ring a bell, its namesake is the fifth largest city in Idaho.)
Which theatrical destination sounds more inviting?
Well, “Barcelona” isn’t bad. But “Pocatello” pops. Read more…
Photo by Enci Box
Terry Morgan - Stage Raw
The upside to reinterpretations of classic works is a fresh look at how that art still speaks to us and remains vital. The downside produces Coriolanus on Mars. Read more..
Now running through April 10
James Garcia Photography
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A.
In the debut of his solo vehicle, multi-talented James Mellon gives a crash course on his remarkable life, blending fascinating anecdotes and irresistible musical sequences. Read more…
Now running through March 5.
Photo by Michael Lamont
Margaret Gray – LA Times
Culture shock, like grief, progresses through distinct stages: There’s the honeymoon period, when an expatriate is enchanted by a new country. Bliss gives way to withdrawal and hostility, the adjustment and, ultimately, acceptance. This journey happens to have a pleasing narrative structure that works well onstage. Read more…
Now running through March 13.
Photo by Paul Rubenstein
David C. Nichols – LA Times
At the outset of “Lear,” now receiving an austerely lunatic West Coast premiere at City Garage, a projected PBS-style host drolly relates the narrative of William Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy, up to Lear’s banishment and Gloucester’s blinding. Read more…
Now running through March 13
Photo by John Perrin Flynn
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw
If you google the town of Pocatello in Southwest Idaho, you’ll get images of dusty hills and a downtown whose architecture might have served as nostalgic backdrop for The Last Picture Show. The place is changing though; look long enough and you’ll see a shot of a Ross store as well, and signs of a bland commercial culture metastasizing across the landscape. Read more…
Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA
Now running through April 10
Photo by Alicia Reys
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw
A couple meet, fall in love and marry. But do Whitney and Jake live happily together forever and ever thereafter? Not in Dean Farell Bruggeman’s heart-wrenching drama they don’t. Read more…
Now running through March 12
Photo by Myra Mejia
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw
This play, by writer-director Paul S. Flores, sets out to examine the life of Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S., but it’s also part of an attempt to stop gang violence. It examines, among other things, the role of placas in gang life. (“Placas” is barrio slang for body tattoos that proclaim one’s membership and unwavering loyalty to the gang.) Read more…
Now running through February 28
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze
The curtain rises to reveal a New York stoop, as the overture blossoms into an iconic score and eight young men in jeans and tennies burst into a dance of seething frustration and endless energy. Unmistakably, this is “West Side Story.” Read more…
Now running through February 28
(Photo by Ellen Giamportone)
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw
Franz Altman (Michael Laskin), the protagonist of playwright Charles Dennis’s deft solo drama, is an elderly Viennese Jew born just before the turn of the 20th century. Now nearly 100 years old, he owns a second-hand store called King Solomon’s Treasures, located in mid-town Manhattan, circa 1990. Read more…
Margaret Gray – LA Times
Franz Altman, the fictional New York City junk-shop proprietor in Charles Dennis’ play “Altman’s Last Stand” now at Zephyr Theatre, may be 90 years old, but he’s in no hurry to retire. In fact, he’s recently become a celebrity, interviewed on “60 Minutes” for refusing to sell his store, King Solomon’s Treasure, to high-rise developers. Read more…
Now running through March 13