Ed Krieger
Deborah Klugman – Capital & Main
Paradise, by Laura Maria Censabella, has a lot going for it. Drawn from the playwright’s experience as an artist-in-residence in the New York City school system, it builds around the relationship between Yasmeen (Medalion Rahimi), a 17-year-old Yemeni-American student, and her biology instructor, Dr. Royston (Jeff Marlow), who supports and encourages her new-found passion for learning and experiment.
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Now running through February 17
Mark Douet
Terry Morgan - Stage Raw
When J. B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls premiered in 1945, its vivid dissection of the British social class system in the guise of an Agatha Christie–style mystery was appreciated as a modern classic. Nonetheless, in the following decades its drawing-room play format fell out of favor amidst a tide of naturalism.
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Dany Margolies – The Daily News
With “An Inspector Calls,” director Stephen Daldry saddles up an old warhorse and turns it into a sleek, muscular triple-crown winner.
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Now running through February 10
Darrett Sanders
Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review
With its provocative title, “Nude/Naked,” Lightning Rod Theater’s premiere production at the in Hollywood, may at first seem to be something prurient. What fascinates more than anything else is how much it is not, at least not if you’re really listening.
Now running through February 17
Brian M. Cole
Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw
Few elements of the criminal justice system generate more discourse and lack of consensus than capital punishment. There are now some 3,000 men and women on death row in the United States, many of whom have been languishing there for decades. Read more…
Harker Jones – Arts In LA
The death penalty ignites emotions in everyone, whether pro or con. It’s a complicated and complex subject, just like Jason Karasev’s world-premiere play Death House, which tackles the topic from many angles with compassion, intelligence, and insight.
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Now running through March 10
Enci Box
Terry Morgan - Stage Raw
The word “hir” is a gender-neutral, third-person pronoun that replaces “him” or “her.” It’s an appropriate title for Taylor Mac’s play, which examines gender definitions in the context of an American family drama. Read more…
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
What happens when you return home after time away only to find the home you remember has been rendered virtually unrecognizable? In Hir, a play by Taylor Mac currently in its Los Angeles premiere at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, the concept of a dysfunctional family is taken to another level.
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Now running through March 17
Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review
Going to see “Titanic” at Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theater in Claremont was something I approached with trepidation. Thought the music was written by Maury Yeston, whose work I have always liked, and the book by Peter Stone, and its storyline was based completely on actual people, which I approve of, I was haunted a bit by the first version I saw. I need not of worried.
Now running through February
Craig Schwartz
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
What does ‘starting over’ really mean if you’re stuck in the same self-destructive behavior patterns? In Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Linda Vista, a new play by Tracy Letts that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, a middle-aged man attempts to figure out what options remain for him in life when his marriage blows up. Read more…
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw
Linda Vista is perhaps not a play to see if you’re someone who squirms intensely when naked people on stage engage in realistically simulated copulation and other intimate sex acts. This smart, thorny dramedy by award-winning playwright Tracy Letts, imported from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre to the Mark Taper Forum with the original cast, features a couple of such scenes that are as awkwardly explicit and comical as they can be in real life.
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Dany Margolies – The Daily News
Dick Wheeler has moved to Linda Vista, a section of San Diego whose name is translatable from the Spanish as “pretty view.” He needs one. He has a grim picture of where he’s been and where he’s headed. Read more…
Now running through February 17
Jason Niedle
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze
The musical “1776” is quite a piece of writing. Indeed, the story is the indisputable star in this La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts’ production, even while the performances engage and the staging enchants.
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Jonas Schwartz - Arts In LA
We hold these truths to be self-evident about the musical 1776. Truth one: Even an American audience member with a D- grade point average knows how this play will end. Truth two: Due to Peter Stone’s glorious libretto, what conclusions may be inevitable to everyone will still seem for most of play to be impossible…….Read more…
Now running through February 3
Jeff Lorch
Terry Morgan - Stage Raw
One of the hallowed maxims of writing teachers everywhere is: “Show, don’t tell.” Simply put, the actual experience of a thing is much more effective than simply hearing about it. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule (Swimming to Cambodia comes to mind), but it’s a solid one to follow overall. Brian Letscher, writer of Smart Love, now running at Pacific Resident Theatre, could have benefitted from this advice.
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Now running through February 24
Ed Krieger
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw
Just what does it mean to be human? Are men and women merely the sum of our neurons and biological processes, or is there a spiritual force that drives our actions, one that empirical science needs to acknowledge? That question has preoccupied playwright Matt Chait for some time, and in A Misunderstanding, directed by Elina de Santos, he strives to create a platform for airing differing opinions on the matter.
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Now running through February 3
Jordan Kubat / South Coast Repertory
Margaret Gray – LA Times
As a punctuation nerd, I may be reading too much into the parentheses in “Culture Clash (Still) in America,” the satiric troupe’s latest anthology of sketches at South Coast Repertory.
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Now running through January 20
Harker Jones – Arts In LA
After showcasing cheeky musical adaptations of films as diverse as Bridesmaids, Jurassic Park, and Hocus Pocus, Rockwell Table & Stage is back with a seasonal story that has enchanted audiences for 28 years. Tim Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands is an enduring classic that all misfits identify with—and we’ve all felt like misfits.
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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
Sometimes, a story originally told nearly thirty years ago manages to feel more timely than ever. Read more…
Now running through January 27