Don Shirley

The Bluest Eye @ A NOISE WITHIN

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Don Shirley – Angeles Stage A Noise Within got a jump on other midsize companies by opening its fall season last Saturday — before Labor Day — with Lydia Diamond’s 2006 adaptation of Toni Morrison’s 1970 novel “The Bluest Eye”. I missed its first LA County production, in Santa Monica in 2011, so I was … Read more

Kill Shelter @ THEATRE OF NOTE

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Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw Playwright Ashley Rose Wellman’s world premiere dramedy depicts a complex mother-daughter relationship with nuanced characters and snappy dialogue. Set in a cramped and cluttered animal shelter, Wellman’s play explores themes of euthanasia, abortion, and single motherhood. These are embodied by human as well as Bunraku-influenced puppet characters, resulting in a … Read more

A View from The Bridge @ RUSKIN THEATRE

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Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw In the early 1950s, playwright Arthur Miller and his friend Elia Kazan pitched Miller’s dockworker-based screenplay The Hook, with Kazan as the proposed director, to Columbia Pictures’ boss Harry Cohn. When Cohn – and the FBI – wanted to change the corrupt union villains from Mafia thugs to Communist ones, … Read more

Julius Caesar @ Independent Shakespeare Company

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Don Shirley – Angeles Stage The free-admission but donation-reliant ISC returns to its Old Zoo space within Griffith Park with “Julius Caesar,” after two seasons in a much smaller dell just to the west, deeper within the park (following the COVID-caused cancellation of ISC’s outdoor activity in 2020). The temporary location was used primarily because … Read more

Last Summer at Bluefish Cove @ Fountain Theatre

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Don Shirley – Angeles Stage “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove” isn’t usually considered a classic, but it played an important role in LA theater history as the first lesbian-themed play to have a long run — more than two years at the Fountain Theatre after a 1981 opening. This summer the Fountain has revived “Last … Read more

A cluster of classics – in South Pasadena, Griffith Park, Topanga, Glendale, Boyle Heights Plus ‘Into the Woods,’ Ali meets Fetchit, ‘The Ants,’ ‘Beetlejuice’ musical

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Don Shirley – Angeles Stage But this summer’s crop of classics includes a genuine surprise in the usual list of venues. Have you heard of South Pasadena Theatre Workshop? I had not, until a few weeks ago. But last weekend I entered this company’s 60-seat theater, where I was transported to Russia, two turns-of-the-century ago, … Read more

The Tempest @ Antaeus Theatre Company

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Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw Director Nike Doukas adds a three-piece combo and rocking beat to Shakespeare’s tale of magic, revenge, and love in a production that is part musical, part radio play, and all fun. Rather than a set that depicts the play’s island motif, Doukas and scenic designer Angela Balogh Calin strategically place … Read more

Into the Woods @ Ahmanson Theatre

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Katie Buenneke – Theater Digest Into the Woods at the Ahmanson [LA]. I have to admit, as the curtain rose on the national tour of the City Center Encores production of Into the Woods, I wondered if I needed to see the show again—I think I’ve seen more productions of Into the Woods than I … Read more