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Archive for Elizabeth Swain

Put a ‘Tiger’ in your tank, LA Times

Photo by Jenny Graham

Photo by Jenny Graham

Don Shirley – Angeles Stage

Why didn’t the LA Times review the hilarious “Tiger Style!” or “Our Town” at South Coast Repertory? Plus thoughts on “Man of God,” “Metamorphoses,” and more. 

“Tiger Style!” deserves the exclamation point in its title. Mike Lew’s satire is the funniest new play I’ve seen since theaters started re-opening last year, after vaccinations began.

At first, “Tiger” is a no-holds-barred satire of two Chinese-American young-adult siblings with acute anxiety, stirred up by other Americans who seem to bar no holds in their treatment of these exemplars of the so-called “model minority.” Then it also finds a lot of laughs as these third-generational siblings belatedly blame their problems on their parents, who used “tiger style” child-rearing techniques.

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HAMLET at Antaeus Theatre Company

Photo by Frank Ishman

Photo by Frank Ishman

Terry Morgan – Arts Beat LA

At this point, Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a theatrical peak so frequently attempted that you can see, as on Everest, the frozen bodies of thespians who chanced and failed the perilous ascent on the way. And yet this dissuades absolutely no one to take on the challenge, seemingly again like Everest in the words of mountaineer George Mallory, “Because it’s there.” Thankfully in the new production of Hamlet by the Antaeus Theatre Company the summit is impressively attained, due to Ramón de Ocampo’s brilliant lead performance and Elizabeth Swain’s assured direction. Read more…

Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move

It is a badass, nail-biting event akin to a Celebrity Death Match of iambic pentameter gone wild as Ramón de Ocampo takes the stage in the lead role as the Prince of Denmark.  Never – have you seen Antaeus Theatre Company quite like this. Read more…

Now through June 20

FOREVER HOUSE at the Skylight Theatre

Photo by Ed Krieger

Photo by Ed Krieger

Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly

Tony Abatemarco’s play Forever House, about a gay couple who purchase a home and then struggle to make a go of their partnership, is something of a hybrid. In some places it’s an airy situation comedy that drifts into horror-lite…… 

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Lovell Estell III – Stage Raw

For Jack and Ben (Michael Rubenstone, James Liebman), the future could not be brighter. At a time when gay couples have attained something approaching legitimacy and equal rights, they have just purchased a stylish craftsman home in a very white bread “straight,” neighborhood, and are mulling over the details of decoration and the possibility of a family. Full assimilation and acceptance at last. Or is it?       Read more…

Les Spindle –  Frontiers L.A.

Veteran playwright Tony Abatemarco offers an alternately funny and heartrending new play, exploring the quest for happily-ever-after domesticity in contemporary gay relationships. Read more…

Now running through February 28