Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In Bernardo Cubría’s The Play You Want, directed by Michael John Garcés, Bernardo (Peter Pasco), the central character, is a Mexican-American playwright who writes experimental plays about clowns, whom he views as universal symbols of humanity. Little would please Bernardo more than to be acclaimed as the new Latino Samuel Beckett. … Read more
Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania Lindsay Joelle’s dramedy Trayf transports audiences to the structured world of the Hasidim, whose strict laws and customs may be outside the understanding of even some Jewish audience members. Director Maggie Burrows, with deft stage direction and sets, visually conveys the danger, heartbreak, and wonderment found in exploring the secular world outside. Read more… … Read more
Dana Martin– Stage Raw Pearl Cleage’s romantic comedy, What I Learned in Paris, proves that politics and office romance are not compatible… The play feels simultaneously fresh and dated; weighed down by too many predictable plot points. Regardless, What I Learned in Paris does speak to the current moment; change has come. Cleage weaves messages of … Read more
Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw All’s Well That Ends Well is one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays,” texts that can’t easily be categorized as either comedy or tragedy. All’s Well has all of the trademarks of a Shakespearean comedy: a marriage plot, mistaken identity, a clown or two, and a happily married couple in the finale. But the ending … 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 – Artsbeat LA One of the core American principles is the right to free speech. However, this glorious principle runs into trouble when truly evil groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or Nazis wish to spread their poisonous propaganda. Read more… Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In a society that celebrates diversity and … 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 In a Rorschach test, an individual is presented with a series of abstract images and asked what they see. Their answers are used by the administering psychiatrist or psychologist to gain insight into that person’s state of mind. Open Fist Theater Company’s current production is titled Rorschach Fest. Presented as three separate … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen It all begins with a note on a car and a case of mistaken identity. Found, a musical based on the books and magazines of the same name by Davy Rothbart, opened this past weekend in its west coast premiere at IAMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles.Read more… Katie … Read more
Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Hamlet The Rock Musical has had a few iterations since it debuted in 1973 with the title Kronberg 1582. It was commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where it was part of a larger radio program. In 1976, it ran on Broadway for seven shows as Rockabye Hamlet, and played here at … Read more