Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Set up as a play-within-a-play, the action of Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, currently playing at Antaeus Theatre Company in Los Angeles, begins in the lobby.Read more… Terry Morgan – Stage Raw One can see why Antaeus Theatre Company has decided to revive Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Joe Orton was only 34 when he was bludgeoned to death by Kennegth Halliwell, his jealous lover and one-time writing partner. Halliwell envied Orton’s newfound celebrity as an up-and-coming playwright, launched after the BBC aired The Ruffian on the Stair as a radio play in 1964.Read more… Now running through July 28
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Geraldine Inoa’s incisive character-rich drama, directed by Stevie Walker-Webb at the Matrix Theatre, examines the impact of institutional racism on a group of young people in the aftermath of their friend’s murder by police. The off-beat title is a reference to the origin of African-American soul food, prepared by slaves … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen The tone for the farce that is The Play That Goes Wrong is set long before the curtain rises. Frazzled cast members wander the audience, asking questions such as if anyone has a dog they can borrow for the second act, as others attempt to fix the constantly malfunctioning set.Read … Read more
Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Frederick Knott’s edgy thriller was first performed on Broadway back in 1966 and ran for 373 performances. It’s had many stage revivals, not to mention the well-touted film version that starred the talented Audrey Hepburn, along with Alan Arkin and Richard Crenna. In short, this “slow-burn” thriller has been … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw When, in 2008, premiered Good Men and True, his tale of privileged young prep school students acting badly, it certainly wasn’t new or surprising — this sort of pernicious behavior has gone on for generations. But the obnoxious, beer-relishing example of Brett Kavanaugh brought entitled, smug white men back into the … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw I’ve always admired Celebration Theatre for its expert staging of technically demanding plays in tiny venues. The company’s musical productions — last year’s Cabaret, the Boy from Oz (2016)and Women of Brewster Place, the Musical (2010) — have been especially impressive. Now comes The Producers, Mel Brooks’s wacky stereotype-laden show about an unethical Broadway producer … Read more
Terry Morgan – Talkin’ Broadway The old maxim states that truth is stranger than fiction, but sometimes truth isn’t quite that bold and merely approaches the outlandishness of prose. Such is the case of Richard Lancelyn Green, the subject of a New Yorker article, a Sherlock Holmes expert who was found dead in his apartment … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw It’s not often we have a story that spotlights a friendship between an elderly woman and a much younger one. It’s a welcome notion, and the primary draw for playwright Grace McLeod’s Herland, a National New Play Network rolling world premiere, directed by Tiffany Moon at Greenway Court Theatre.Read more… Now running … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way Ladies is a fascinating look at a piece of nearly forgotten history. As the playwright says at one point, these women were feminists 100 years before the term came into being. The female foursome does some lovely work under Jessica Kubzansky’s spot on direction. The action moves briskly along … Read more