Don Shirley – Angeles Stage ‘Macbeth’ in Griffith Park, ‘Comedy’ in Irvine. CTG’s month of emulating Netflix. ‘Beach People,’ ‘Lavender Men,’ ‘Valley Song.’ Jason Alexander charts his Abby road. Have you savored Shakespeare in the park this summer? This coming week might be the best possible moment for this annual ritual, as well as one … Read more
Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania Roger Q. Mason burns the history books with Lavender Men, a world premiere fantasia that re-envisions the passions of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. The play, produced by Playwrights’ Arena & Skylight Theatre Company at the Skylight, is a revolutionary response to a country focused on keeping its constituents disenfranchised and invisible. … Read more
Dana Martin– Stage Raw LA’s LGBT Center and Playwrights’ Area have gone (COVID compliantly) rogue by staging high stakes drama in the LGBT Center parking garage. (The audience watches the action from within their cars, sound broadcast through a pre-set FM radio station.) March, conceived and directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera and written by MJ Brown, Amir … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Part memory play, part social drama, Janine Salinas Schoenberg’s Las Mujeres Del Mar(Women of the Sea) tells the story of three generations of Mexican-American women who strive to love and support each other despite their past wounds and resentments. A world premiere mounted at Playwrights’ Arena, it’s skillfully directed by Diane … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In its world premiere, Cory Hinkle’s The End of Beauty runs about two hours, but it’s not until the last 10 minutes that it grips one’s attention. That’s when Silas Weir Mitchell, playing one of the story’s three characters, looks back on the past with acceptance, perplexity and regret.Read more… Now running … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw It’s Los Angeles in 1939. Count Basie and his band are scheduled to play at the Palomar Ballroom — one of the first African-American groups to perform there. Next door, at Bimini Baths, two employees, African-American Amen (Noel Arthur) and Mexican-American Zenobio (Adrian Gonzalez) have been given the onerous job … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Religious ideology and its impact on young minds serves as the theme for playwright Jesse Mu-En Shao’s The End Times, a lean narrative enriched with well-grounded performances and a modest but handsome production design. The play, developed jointly by Playwrights’ Arena and the Skylight Theatre, is cogently directed by Jon Lawrence … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Jennifer Maisel’s new play, premiering with this production, examines the way we deal with grief, loss, and death. Clark (Ryan Yu) and Emily (Elizabeth Pan) were a happily married couple, devoted to their 10-year-old son Jake (whom we never see). But when Jake is suddenly killed in a hideous bicycle … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Young and naive, Girlie (Sandy Yu) has moved from her Philippines village to the city to train at a regional call center for a major American airline. Obsessed with the TV soap Dallas, Girlie fantasizes about moving there to live a dream life. But her single-minded pursuit and ultimate triumph … Read more