Jenny Lower – LA Weekly The Shoplifters, Morris Panych’s 2014 comedy having its West Coast premiere at the Victory Theatre in Burbank, tries to put a goofy spin on some not-so-funny topics: high-strung rookie cops, overzealous right-wing Christians and the San Andreas Fault–sized gap between the rich and poor. Read more… Les Spindle – Edge on … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Robert O’Hara’s Lambda Award-winning comedy is the first production by Celebration Theatre in its new home. It’s largely a fictionalized, semi-autobiographical tale satirizing the trials and tribulations of growing up Black. Read more… Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly In some ways Robert O’Hara’s Bootycandy is like a confounding road trip: you get … Read more
Photo by Stephen Mihalek Jenny Lower – LA Weekly Though the Latino Theater Company’s newest production never delves into contemporary politics, it’s hard to imagine a more direct or effective counter-narrative to the kind of xenophobic propaganda that so often dominates immigration debates. Read more… Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Writer Cris Franco was a year … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Nat Turner: Following Faith, Paula Neiman’s nigh three-hour-long play (with intermission), attempts to fill the gaps in what knowledge we may have about this historic personage, dramatizing the events of record and adding a conjectured account of Nat’s (Tarnue Massaquoi) relationships with his mom, grandmother, father, followers and wife. The … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw As Pete Townshend was once known to opine, “The world begins behind your neighbor’s walls.” It’s one of the core mysteries of modern life – what do people do or say when they think they’re unobserved or unheard? Read more… Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly The characters In Jonathan Caren’s contemporary … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Dermot Davis’ dark comedy is set in the elevator of an urban hi-rise and performed on a proscenium 7-feet wide by 7-feet deep. That makes it unusually problematic to stage, though the challenge is ably met by director Tim Byron Owen and his game two-person ensemble. Read more… David C. … Read more
Jenny Lower – LA Weekly Boredom is contagious in Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, now receiving an energetic revival at the Antaeus Company. The locus of the ennui is Yelena (Linda Park), the gorgeous, restless young wife of Serebryakov (Lawrence Pressman), an elderly professor who has retired to his family’s provincial estate. Read more… Margaret Gray … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly As in Death of a Salesman, his 1949 Pulitzer Prize winner (and my personal favorite) Arthur Miller’s All My Sons looks at an American family in crisis and weaves their story into a broader vision of a morally bankrupt culture. Read more… Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Arthur Miller’s powerful 1947 family drama has aged … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Rebekah M. Allen’s musical about a loser squad of high school cheerleaders fighting their way up from the bottom of the heap sounds like it might be a satiric hoot. It isn’t. Read more… Paul Birchall – Stage Raw If you are studying Ancient Greek mythology, you will have heard of … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Playwright David McMillan’s Watching O.J. cogently encapsulates the passions and perspectives surrounding the murder trial of ex-professional football star and actor O.J. Simpson – an event which captivated America and much of the Western world this month, 20 years ago. Read more… David C. Nichols – LA Times Tomorrow you can be white … Read more