Neal Weaver – Stage Raw There have been a number of plays in which the action occurs at a funeral, but now, Liz Shannon Miller’s Clutch is being staged in a venue actually dedicated to funerals, weddings, and bar mitzvahs. We’re asked to believe, however self-consciously, that we’re at the real funeral of former football star and … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw “The whole world’s in a state of chassis!” said Jack Boyle, the iconic Irish lotus-eating blackguard of Juno and the Paycock, Sean O’Casey’s great drama about the tragic flaws of an Irish family. Read more… Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly Corktown 57 unfolds entirely in the Irish-quarter grocery-shop basement of Frank Keating (John … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw A couple debates their options after their untrained Rottweiler dismembers the new neighbors’ small dog. But a series of lies and missteps brings Eden and Michael (Christine Woods and Graham Sibley) into an awkward friendship with their unsuspecting neighbors (the missing dog’s owners) Nicole (Katie Lowes and Amy Rosoff share … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Occupation,” now receiving its West Coast premiere at Sacred Fools Theater, explores the ramifications of globalization and imperialism with considerable ambition and erratic dramaturgy, to put it mildly. Read more… Now running through May 9.
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly In Break of Noon, Neil LaBute departs from his typical preoccupation with gender warfare and builds a story around the sole survivor of a mass murder, who claims to have heard God. Read more… Now running through May 10.
Margaret Gray – LA Times South Coast Repertory’s generosity to new playwrights has a fairy godmother-like charm. The company commissioned a play from the relatively unknown writer Melissa Ross and has mounted a lavish, gorgeous world premiere production of it. Read more… Now running through April 26.
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Sister opens on a dark bare stage, its single set piece being a plain white toilet, the kind you find in rundown apartments. The story takes place in a crummier section of Hollywood. We learn about that when the main character Denise (Erica Gimpel) directs a trick to her residence, in … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Writer-director Michael Phillip Edwards drew inspiration for his spooky comedy Blood from a Jamaican storyteller he knew in childhood, a man named Parsons, whose wild tales mixed moral imperative, ominous foreboding and pitch-black humor. Read more… Now running through May 30.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw This one-woman show, written, performed and co-directed by Alyson Renaldo (with Chris deCarlo) may be about virginity, but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of sex. Read more… Now running through April 19. This one-woman show, written, performed and co-directed by Alyson Renaldo (with Chris deCarlo) may be about virginity, but that … Read more
