PLASTICITY at the Hudson Guild Theatre

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen The human brain is a powerful and fascinating thing. In Plasticity, a world premiere play written by Alex Lyras and Robert McCaskill, a man in a coma struggles to become conscious again, all while his family and friends are forced to make difficult decisions regarding his life and future. Read … Read more

ZANNA DON’T! at Chromolume Theatre at the Attic

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Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw There’s a lot of singing about love in Tim Acito’s musical fantasy, Zanna, Don’t! which is set in a high school in the Midwest (Heartsville High), where homosexuality is the norm and being hetero prompts wrinkled noses and grossed-out looks. Read more… Now running through February 5

BECKETT5 at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble

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Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw The late playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett did not make things easy for his audiences. He was first of all an arch-minimalist, reducing his works to the barest possible form. He often eschewed plot, multiple characters, dialogue or hope, concentrating on people who somehow find a way to go on, … Read more

ALL THE STREET’S A STAGE AND SACK LUNCH ‘FELLOWSHIP’ by Don Shirley

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Don Shirley – LA Observed January 21 was a great day for immersive theater in Los Angeles. I’m referring to one event you probably know about, the Women’s March. But I’m also writing about “fellowship” – which you probably don’t know about. The former attracted the masses; the latter has a maximum capacity of 42 for … Read more

NICE IRANIAN GIRL at the Whitefire Theatre

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Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw Nice Iranian Girl, Layla Rumi (a.k.a. Layla Kaleigh)’s one-woman show at the Whitefire Theatre, feels half-baked. The 50-minute monologue, which plays weekly in Sherman Oaks as part of Whitefire’s Solofest, follows Rumi from her early years growing up in Tehran to 2009, when her daughter was born in Los Angeles. Read … Read more

THE FOUND DOG RIVER DANCE at the Atwater Village Theatre

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen In the opening scene of The Found Dog Ribbon Dance, a world premiere play by Dominic Finocchiaro currently being presented by the Echo Theater Company, a man wearing a Lucha mask uses a webcam to record himself dancing, with ribbons, of course, to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by … Read more

BEE-LUTHER-HATCHEE at the Sierra Madre Playhouse

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Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In 1985 police dropped a bomb on a predominantly black middle-class neighborhood in Philadelphia. They were targeting MOVE, a strange radical group known for staging vociferous profanity-laden demonstrations against the Establishment. Read more… Now running through February 18

13 THINGS ABOUT ED CARPOLOTTI at the Broad Stage

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania finds Virginia (Penny Fuller) alone in her home for the first time after her husband, Ed (they were childhood sweethearts), passes away. Worse, she discovers that Ed’s business has been failing for years. As president of the company now, Virginia finds herself on the hook for almost $2 million… Read more… … Read more