LADCC Critics 
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. It’s one thing to have unresolved issues; it’s another to be in your mid-thirties and unable to process them with a little more aplomb than these friends do. With some fine tuning to the script and the direction (and thusly the performances), this could be a moving meditation on that nebulous … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw. The Trump administration was noted for an almost Shakespearian level of hubris, and the world is still waiting with bated breath for the comeuppance we’ve always been told follows such behavior. Life always models itself after literature, right? For those of us who can’t wait for reality to accord with … Read more
Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA. Plays in which family secrets are tragically revealed are nothing new – Oedipus and his mom were shocking audiences back as far as 429 BCE. In the U.S., the 500 lb. gorilla of this genre would be Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, and the most influential of recent plays of … Read more
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle is proud to announce its 2022 nominees for theatrical excellence. This year, in lieu of the Circle’s annual live event ceremony, the award recipients will once again be announced online at a future date. The LADCC has also named the following special award honorees. The TED SCHMITT Award for … Read more
Patrick Chavis – The Orange Curtain Review. So many powerful stories have been and will continue to be told around the subject of family. What family means in different cultures differs to various degrees, but family is also a universal concept that ties humanity together. It’s in our books. It’s on our TVs. In that … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw. There’s so much to recommend in Christine Breihan’s staging of John Guerra’s play, even though the work feels in need of one more pass to address some dramaturgical clutter. Let’s start with the almost gothic beauty of a rural, drought-plagued California valley that has the mythology of the Wild … Read more
Tracey Paleo – BroadwayWorld. From the moment Rafiki (Gugwana Dlamini) Shaman of the Pride Lands, heralded her recognizably famous opening note, the audience was uproarious. And there was nothing that could have prepared me for my slightly teary-eyed response to the splendor of it all. Even as long as it’s been around, THE LION KING … Read more
Dana Martin – Stage Raw. Not every new work is stage worthy. Laguna Playhouse’s new comedy Staged by Martin Bergman and Rita Rudner finds charm in fits and spurts but the world-premiere production is clunky and underwhelming…The play behaves and moves like an old-school sitcom, with the characters crafted in broad strokes. Both Fenella and Jarvis … Read more
Patrick Chavis – Orange Curtain Review. Ironically, this might be the happiest story about death I have ever seen. The Chance Theater has transformed its stage area to look like some haunted carnival that time has forgotten in the middle of the county. To further the illusion, the show tickets look like tickets you would … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw. Brdar’s play isn’t a play in any traditional sense. It’s a poem. A one-woman confessional in 13 verses, starting with “Age 0” and culminating in “Age 78.” It’s almost a one-woman show performed by Cynthia Ettinger, except for the supporting characters (Carmella Jenkins, Howard Leder and Debba Rofheart) who … Read more