MINE at the Moth Theatre
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright Ryan Surratt’s three person chamber piece of need and greed strips motivation and morality down to their minimal essence. Read more… Now running through April 16.
Paul Birchall
FATHER, SON AND HOLY COACH at the Odyssey Theatre
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Writer/performer John Posey’s solo show is about the strained relationship between a driven football-crazed dad and his more laidback and thoughtful son. In the program, Posey notes that the story is not autobiographical, though it does contain elements of real life and is drawn from the stories of people he … Read more
PAST TIME – Sacred Fools at the Elephant Asylum Complex
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Padraic Duffy’s rather sweet romantic comedy — the premiere offering at Sacred Fools’ new home at the former Elephant Asylum complex — is a good workmanlike calling card to introduce the company’s style and tone to its new neighborhood. If the play ultimately strikes one as slight, it’s salvaged by … Read more
SWARM CELL at the Greenway Court Theatre
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright Gabriel Rivas Gomez’s eccentric, uneven drama is loosely based on themes from Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Filtered through a prism of modern corporate capitalism, it’s a tale of American kindness — or more accurately, about the lack of it as far as poor immigrants and our underclass are concerned. Read more… … Read more
TWO SISTERS at Theatre 40
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Those of us raised in Jewish families will recall (with a mix of fear and affection) that larger-than-life figure known as the Jewish Grandmother, a towering being known for her boundless love and her connection to a past now lost in the murky fogs of time. Read more… Now running through … Read more
MY SISTER at the Odyssey Theatre
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Sometimes all a play really needs is two characters and some genuine emotion. Set in 1930s Berlin, playwright Janet Schlapkohl’s evocative two-hander tells of a pair of identical twin sisters (played by bona fide identical twins Elizabeth Hinkler and Emily Hinkler) beset by troubles as the Nazis rise in power … Read more
MIRAVEL at Sacred Fools Theatre
David C. Nichols – LA Times Edmond Rostand meets Hermann Hesse at the Village Vanguard in “Miravel” at Sacred Fools. Author-performer Jake Broder’s mash-up of Rostand’s deathless “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Hesse’s novel “Gertrude” has some post-larval quirks, yet a compelling undertow propels its jazz-centric romantic triangle. Read more… Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright/composer Jake … Read more
WOMEN W/O WALLS at the Lounge Theatre 2
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Strong performances and imaginative direction are not enough to offset the weak and rather ponderously metaphysical meditation that is playwright Robin Rice’s clunky opus. It’s a play overlong at 70 minutes, and it feels like a re-cycled Twilight Zone but without Rod Serling’s twisty bite. Read more… Now running through December 12.
TOYS: A DARK FAIRY TALE at the Hudson Theatre
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Sometimes you can just sit down in a theater and, as soon as the lights dim, you know you’re seeing a show whose origins are Eastern European. Read more… Now running through December 13.
THE DOCK BRIEF at Pacific Resident Theatre
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw This amusing one-act by the late playwright John Mortimer is a genial, slight piece and touchingly old fashioned. You just don’t really see this sort of play anymore: an intimate two-hander involving a pair of fellows who sort of banter and bluster with each other. Read more… Now running through November … Read more