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BANDSTAND at Broadway In Thousand Oaks

Bandstand-ProductionPhotos-1920-6
December 3, 2019Jonas Schwartz – Broadway World The musical Bandstand, which is now part of the American Theater Guild tour across the country, thrives when Andy Blankenbuehler’s Tony-winning choreography is front and center. Restaged for this production by Marc Heitzman, who was Dance Captain in the Broadway production, the dances display vitality that makes audiences want to
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DEFENDERS at the Broadwater Black Box

Darrett Sanders
November 22, 2019Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw On May 10, 1940, Iceland was invaded by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines because the British government feared the possible Nazi takeover of the country. A little over a year later, defense of the country was transferred to the United States. Against this backdrop, Cailin Maureen Harrison tells
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ELIJAH at The Victory Theatre Center

Tim Sullens
November 22, 2019Terry Morgan  -  Stage Raw Placing a disparate group of characters in a location they can’t leave and forcing them to deal with each other has been a tried and true source of dramatic conflict since Sartre’s No Exit. The claustrophobia and stress of interacting with new people ratchets up the tension swiftly. So it
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KEY LARGO at Geffen Playhouse

Jeff Lorch
November 18, 2019Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Key Largo was first a 1939 Broadway play, then a 1948 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and finally, it is now at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles in a new world premiere adaptation. Adapted by Andy Garcia and Jeffrey Hatcher, this play shifts some of the
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THE GREAT LEAP at the Pasadena Playhouse

grt leap
November 14, 2019Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Sometimes the most compelling drama in sports does not happen on the court or field, but behind the scenes. In The Great Leap, a play by Lauren Yee that opened in its Los Angeles premiere this weekend at the Pasadena Playhouse, in association with the East West Players,
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THE THANKSGIVING PLAY at Geffen Playhouse

Jeff Lorch
November 12, 2019Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen The version of Thanksgiving most of us were taught in school is certainly problematic. From outdated, disrespectful views of Native Americans and erasure of their role to the generous portrayals of the first white settlers on this continent, the narrative around the whole holiday is due for reexamination.
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THE BEST MAN at the Lounge theatre

Ed Krieger
November 8, 2019Rob Stevens – Haines His Way When Gore Vidal’s play The Best Man premiered in March, 1960, it seemed to presage the upcoming Democratic Presidential Convention. The two main characters–Governor William Russell, an intellectual, was modeled on persistent Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson while the brash, young contender Senator Joe Cantwell was an amalgam of
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Archive for Son of Semele Ensemble

INCOGNITO at Son of Semele Ensemble

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
Son of Semele

Son of Semele

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

When Albert Einstein died of a brain aneurysm at Princeton Hospital in 1955, the pathologist who performed the autopsy ended up stealing Einstein’s brain.      Read more…

Now running through April 7

 

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THAT PRETTY PRETTY; OR, THE RAPE PLAY at Son of Semele Ensemble

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Friday, June 3rd, 2016
Photo by Laura Carson

Photo by Laura Carson

Terry Morgan  -  Stage Raw

The thrill of creating an experimental theatre piece lies in being able to express something one couldn’t in the standard mode. The downside is that not all experiments are a success.   Read more…

Now running through June 19

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THE LIFE AND SORT OF DEATH OF ERIC ARGYLE at Son of Semele Ensemble

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014

SoSE_Argyle_3

Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw

“Alas for those that never sing,

But die with all their music in them.”

–Usually attributed, possibly inaccurately, to Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809-1894) in “The Voiceless”

Irish playwright Ross Dungan might have had this quote in mind -– for sure he had the sentiment –- when he wrote this sad and whimsical play about the life and death of an ordinary man. Read more…

Photo by Matthew McCray

Photo by Matthew McCray

Margaret Gray – LA Times

At first, “The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle” by Irish playwright Ross Dungan gives the impression of a short story that somehow fell into the submission pile at Son of Semele theater — whereupon director Matthew McCray gamely gathered his ensemble and staged it anyway. Read more…

Now running through September 28.

 

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