Terry Morgan – ArtsBeatLA What is real? Perhaps more than any time in human history, there is more of an ability to realistically fake anything. Worse, there are any number of people actively trying to use those technologies to mislead and manipulate others. This affects every aspect of our lives, and as a result the … Read more
F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw In a finely tuned staging, director Guillermo Cienfuegos elicits optimum performances from his cast, particularly his young performers, who ferret out the common core of humanity in their roles. Read more… Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA With proper attribution for the title as a passage from my generation’s inimitable … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA The truth is—and it has always been so—that art heals. From the ancient days of Greek drama, when a shrewdly disguised political message is slyly presented through the lens of outrageous comedy, it is a feat to be admired. Read more… Terry Morgan – ArtsBeatLA In my fifty-seven years of … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA This disappointing “Monster” is a badly constructed and often confusing clunker that couldn’t possibly be more predictable, with a continuous series of monologues played directly to the audience that droned on with tired exposition that did nothing to make me care a whit about either character—both of whom should be … Read more
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move Alexis and Blackie dance to the distortion of seductive addiction in playwright Tim Venable’s “Long Day’s Journey” rehab intersection. And, right from the start, it’s clear from the moment Blackie shows up that Alexis’s bubble of hope for a sober future is going to burst. How violently, isn’t … Read more
Terry Morgan – ArtsBeatLA In a world in which a repulsive con man can get elected president and turn the entire Republican party into a credulous and insane mob, it’s to be expected that somebody would try to write a play about how the conservative movement has become so unhinged. Will Arbery’s Heroes of the … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. Murder-by-cop. In Blue, playwright June Carryl lays out a blueprint for this grim, all-too-frequent horror show, building her story around a character who has taken the life of another human being and is struggling to justify this action both to himself and the person recording his take on events. The … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Welsh playwright Daf James’s On the Other Hand, We’re Happy tells the story of a couple’s efforts to adopt a child and the subsequent doubts and fears that plague both the prospective parents and the birth mother. Read more… Terry Morgan – Artsbeat LA Some theater locations seem to be blessed, and in … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw The adage, “Youth is wasted on the young,” is generally attributed to George Bernard Shaw, a man who didn’t lack for adages. The idea that youth can also be wasted on the old is one of the undercurrents that powers ’s play, Disposable Necessities, a science fiction comedy/drama that posits a … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw Rogue Machine, one of the theatre companies in town I most admire, has been promoting its new show, Ruth Fowler’s bled for the household truth, as something important and shocking, and warning that easily offended people may walk out at intermission. In my experience, having specific expectations for a play or … Read more