Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Writer-director Odalys Nanin’s fictionalized bio-play zeroes in on Mercedes De Acosta, who in the 1930s was celebrated as a poet, playwright and novelist, though nowadays she’s remembered mostly for her lesbian affairs with famous actresses including Eva LeGallienne, Alla Nazimova and Tallulah Bankhead.In Nanin’s play, De Acosta (played by the … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly This comic extravaganza, written by Ron House, Diz White, Alan Shearman and John Neville-Andrews and first produced in 1971, went on to become an international hit. Now the Ruskin Group brings it back, and to insure it retains its original comic glory, two of the original creators have returned: Shearman … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly In David Lindsay-Abaire’s dark comedy, Kimberly (Dorrie Braun) is a teenager who suffers from progeria, a disease that causes its victims to age more than four times faster than the normal rate. Read more… Now running through August 11.
Neal Weaver In writer-performer Michael Kass’ solo show, Ceremony, he depicts himself as a pathetic, all-around loser, until a bizarre series of encounters seems to be telling him that he must try the Peruvian drug ayahuasca.Read more… Now running through July 26.
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Kings Road Park is a small, bucolic gem, plunked down amid our urban sprawl, and a perfect venue for the city of West Hollywood’s Free Theatre in the Parks program. This play, produced by the Classical Theatre Lab, is by Carlo Goldoni and was first performed in 1762. But the … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly This production, directed by Zombie Joe, consists of four adaptations of short works by Edgar Allan Poe: the short story “The Oval Portrait,” two short poems — “Song” and “Alone” — and the longer narrative poem “The Raven,” with its haunting refrain of “Nevermore!” All four pieces are narrated rather … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly This jaunty jukebox musical, with book by Hagan Thomas-Jones, direction by Brian Lohmann, arrangements by David O, musical direction by John Ballinger and choreography by Michele Spears, is set in England in 1965, when London was said to swing like a pendulum.Read more…
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Chris Phillips’ cannily written play examines the need to stand up against oppression and avenge violence with violence versus the necessity for love and forgiveness. The six scenes are alternately comic, brutal and surreal. The piece initially seems fragmented, but the interrelatedness of the scenes, and their thematic unity, gradually emerge.Read … Read more
THE MATCHMAKER by Thornton Wilder. Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Thornton Wilder, who wrote this zany philosophical farce, is a paradoxical figure. He was both deeply conservative — intent on conserving the theatrical conventions and traditions of the past — and an innovator who burst the bounds of realistic theater with plays like The Long Christmas Dinner, … Read more
Written by Brian Friel. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA A study of language and identity, Irish playwright Brian Friel’s Translations charts the beginning of a grim passage of Irish history where the imperialism of the brutish British government threatened to wipe out their culture.Read more… Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Brian Friel’s 1980 play is set in 1833. … Read more