Rob Stevens – Haines His Way
Ladies is a fascinating look at a piece of nearly forgotten history. As the playwright says at one point, these women were feminists 100 years before the term came into being. The female foursome does some lovely work under Jessica Kubzansky’s spot on direction. The action moves briskly along in the 100 intermission-less minutes. There is a lot of food for thought engendered in the script.
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Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw
Even in the darkest, most unenlightened era, there have been women prepared, often driven, to buck the strictures placed upon their gender. Ladies, Kit Steinkellner’s illuminating world premiere play directed by Jessica Kubzansky at Boston Court Pasadena, imagines what it must be like to be this kind of person, ready to risk pariahdom for the sake of personal freedom.
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Margaret Gray – LA Times
It’s easy to see why Jessica Kubzansky — one of L.A.’s most daring directors of women’s writing — chose to develop “Ladies,” the hit of Boston Court’s New Play Reading Festival last year. But a text that must have seemed quirky and playful in a reading has gone limp and labored onstage. Steinkellner’s regular interruptions of narration quickly become trying. Not only do they call into question the veracity of the Bluestocking story line but they also progressively drain it of interest. It’s hard to feel sympathy for characters you are repeatedly reminded are not real. Read more…
Now running through June 30