Neal Weaver – Stage Raw We have all heard horrendous tales of the hardships and uncertainties facing the undocumented struggling to cope with our fractured immigration system, but that knowledge is pretty abstract compared to the grueling realities of being there. Actor/writer/poet Alex Alpharaoh has been there, for thirty-odd maddening and painful years, and he shares the … Read more
Hoyt Hilsman – Huffington Post Simon Stephens’ Tony-award winning adaptation of Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel arrives in Los Angeles after productions in New York and London, still full of vibrancy and innovation. It tells the story of Christopher John Francis Boone (Adam Langdon), a 15-year old on the autism spectrum, who sets out to solve … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Playwright Chuck Faerber looks with a satiric, goofy and sometimes jaundiced eye at what he calls “the real American religion: sports.” In this series of comic sketches, he casts a wide net, examining the players, the coaches, the TV commentators and producers, the Ku Klux Klan —and Condoleezza Rice. Read … Read more
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze In their West Coast premieres, two one-act radio plays by Anthony Minghella grace the smaller stage at Pacific Resident Theatre. Though the two are produced as radio plays, the actors speaking from music stands, Michael Peretzian directs with enough subtext and reactions to start the audience’s imagination moving and … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Born in 1915, Sister Rosetta Tharpe has been called the godmother of rock & roll for her profound influence on a legion of famous vocalists, including Elvis Presley, Tina Turner and Johnny Cash (who noted in his induction speech into the Hall of Fame that she was his favorite singer). Read … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In Jennifer W. Rowland’s The Lost Child, Addie Daddio plays Ann, a troubled woman whose daughter had been mysteriously abducted 7 years prior. Read more… Now running through September 3
Margaret Gray – LA Times Jon Robin Baitz has never been afraid of putting politics onstage. He has a gift for channeling current events into complex and nuanced plays, practically in real time. Read more… Now running through September 30
Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw At times, it seems unbelievable that playwright Alice Childress wrote Trouble in Mind in 1955. The show, which features the tried and true dramatic structure of a play-within-a-play, examines racial politics with a razor-sharp wit. Read more… Now running through September 30
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw One of the reasons for the continued popularity of Shakespeare’s work over the centuries is how unusually open it is to reinterpretation — directors or actors can use it as a lens with which to focus anew on some aspect of the world.Read more… Erin Conley – On Stage & … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw In playwright Arun Lakra’s quick-witted, if perhaps overly cerebral piece, it isn’t a rabbit’s foot or a four-leaf clover that makes someone lucky — it’s genetic predisposition. Or perhaps it’s an evolutionary adaptation that allows people to peer into the future, quantum physics-style, and somehow bring about their future happiness.Read … Read more