Photo by Michael Lamont
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw
We don’t usually think of the Japanese as being on the side of the angels during the Holocaust. This play reveals how, when the Nazis began rounding up the Jews in Lithuania, the Japanese ambassador signed exit visas for 6,000 of them and sent them to Kobe, Japan to form a settlement. Read more…
Now running through March 19
Photo by Roger Nygard
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw
In a month where various iterations of A Christmas Carol proliferate like mistletoe, an antidote is required for those of us who prefer our holiday spirits bottled.
Bob’s Holiday Office Party, written by Joe Keyes and Rob Elk, has been fulfilling this duty for two decades. Unfortunately, this twentieth anniversary production is scattershot in its effectiveness, perhaps relying too much on the affection of longtime fans rather than working to entertain new audiences. Read more…
Now running through December 20.
Photo by Will Adashek
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw
In the 4th century B.C., a villainous thug, Herostratus, set fire to the tomb of Artemis. His reason? He had been a nonentity his entire life, and by committing this crime, he knew he would be remembered. Of course, the Greek judges, in their wisdom, executed him, and passed a law forbidding his name ever being mentioned again… Read more…
Now running through September 27.
Dany Margolies - Arts In LA
This Matthew Lopez play would have made a fascinating two-hander. But the playwright added a third character and ratcheted up the intrigue, conflict, and shaping, making it an even more fascinating play. Like a fine puppeteer, director Howard Teichman pulls strings to alter the balance among the characters, adding even more to the interplay. Read more…
Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter
In the backwash of 12 Years a Slave, a film most notable for how it reflects on the present day rather than solely as a window into the past, Matthew Lopez‘s play The Whipping Man stands out as a different sort of inquiry into the meaning of freedom, which it accurately depicts as much as a matter of the soul and spirit as the body. Read more…
Now playing through April 13.