Neal Weaver – Arts In LA Carlo Collodi’s 19th Century children’s book, The Adventures of Pinocchio, has been largely over-shadowed for modern audiences by Disney’s movie adaptation, which turned it into a sentimental moral tale. But Collodi’s original was made of sterner…
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA It’s 1935, and Mrs. Abramowitz’s 12-year-old daughter has been cast as Jesus in her school’s Christmas pageant. Oy. So goes Coney Island Christmas, Torrance Theatre Company’s holiday season offering, written by Donald Margulies based on Grace…
Don Shirley – LA Observed LA theater has been embroiled in behind-the-scenes controversy for the past year. Many actors angrily challenged their own union over its decision to end the 99-Seat Theater Plan, which allows Equity members to work for…
Jenny Lower – LA Weekly The Shoplifters, Morris Panych’s 2014 comedy having its West Coast premiere at the Victory Theatre in Burbank, tries to put a goofy spin on some not-so-funny topics: high-strung rookie cops, overzealous right-wing Christians and the…
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Robert O’Hara’s Lambda Award-winning comedy is the first production by Celebration Theatre in its new home. It’s largely a fictionalized, semi-autobiographical tale satirizing the trials and tribulations of growing up Black. Read more… Deborah Klugman…
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Few Americans have a detailed understanding of the history behind Shakespeare’s history plays. We may grasp the themes of his work – the struggle for power and/or the Bard’s reflections on what makes or breaks…
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw David McDowell Blue’s play is loosely based on an 1872 Novella about lesbian vampires by Irish writer Sheridan LaFanu. Blue has transposed the story to Europe at the end of World War II and sharpened…
Photo by Stephen Mihalek Jenny Lower – LA Weekly Though the Latino Theater Company’s newest production never delves into contemporary politics, it’s hard to imagine a more direct or effective counter-narrative to the kind of xenophobic propaganda that so often…
Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania Struggling singer Charlie Jane wants to find her voice. She writes songs that speak to her frustrations growing up as the daughter of a failed artist, and she wants to reach other youngsters. Sleazy producers, egotistical…
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Nat Turner: Following Faith, Paula Neiman’s nigh three-hour-long play (with intermission), attempts to fill the gaps in what knowledge we may have about this historic personage, dramatizing the events of record and adding a conjectured…