Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld Bernardo Cubría’s world premiere CRABS IN A BUCKET: OR HOW BITTERNESS RUINED THE FUN is a riotous satire of small minds divided by envy. Focused on literal crabs in a shucking bucket, the crabbiest crab, Amargo (Xochitl Romero), and daffy sidekick Pootz, (Anna Lamadrid), spend their days bitching about the crabs … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Power is an illusion in Will Power’s startling play Fetch Clay, Make Man, now running at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles. All the characters believe they have control of their destinies, but each is desperate to break free from someone’s influence — even Muhammad Ali, marvelously played by Ray … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw A party in a bar on the eve of an apocalyptic event becomes the foundation for one woman’s investigation of events 500 years in her past in The Catastrophe Club, Devin Burnam’s intellectually ambitious but underdeveloped drama. Read more…
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw “Religion isn’t really that bad on its own,” observes Dan Prevette in Missionary Positions, his poignant yet entertaining account of growing up first within — and then away from — the strictures of a worldwide evangelical church. Read more…
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw An old-timey small town in Kansas. A young person chafing at its limitations and longing to see the world. A handsome stranger of uncertain moral character who appears as a catalyst for change. These plot elements appear front and center in William Inge’s Pulitzer-prize-winning play, Picnic, and they’re appropriated with … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. Show me a play about a working woman who pits her strength and smarts against predatory banks, and you’ll have me rooting for it, and her, from the start. Directed by Gregg T. Daniel, francisca da silveira’s can i touch it?, a rolling premiere at Rogue Machine, features all the ingredients … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. In a world grown progressively more dystopian, the collectively created Whittier Boulevard seems apt indeed —even more so for people of a certain age. An ensemble piece from the Latino Theater Company, made resonant by stunning projections and a sonorous score and sound, it’s a stygian satire set in a … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. As written, Tornado is easy to relate to, with well-drawn characters, believable dialogue and a point to make about how people from different backgrounds misread each other. The play mirrors some of the divisions that beset our nation in a clear illustrative way. It eschews caricature and unneeded exposition while … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. In Scintilla, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, playwright Alessandro Camon wraps a dire message about climate change around the chasmal differences between a mercurial artist and her resentful adult son. Not nearly as gripping as Time Alone, his intense and poignant work about the impact of crime on the lives … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. Murder-by-cop. In Blue, playwright June Carryl lays out a blueprint for this grim, all-too-frequent horror show, building her story around a character who has taken the life of another human being and is struggling to justify this action both to himself and the person recording his take on events. The … Read more