Terry Morgan – Stage Raw Schrödinger’s cat has been in the local theatrical zeitgeist of late. It was used to symbolize the interlocked statuses of life and death in Dirt (which just closed at the Raven Playhouse) and is even more central in Aaron Hendry’s The Superhero and His Charming Wife, a production by the Not Man Apart theater … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Gary (playwright Terry Ray) and Brad (Kevin Scott Allen) are sort of a gay odd couple. Gary is a 28-year-old gay virgin, nerdy and prim, who thinks his homosexuality is a deep dark secret, though everyone at his school refers to him as gay Gary. Read more… Les Spindle – Frontiers … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw An astonishingly edgy, timely and sensitive drama by Aliza Goldsmith, A Singular They is making its world premiere at the Blank Theatre — and what a singular play it is. Read more… Now running through May 1.
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Immigration issues are bandied about in political discourse in the media every day, but the lives of kitchen workers and janitors and fruit pickers are rarely brought to the stage. Kudos to New York-based playwright Elizabeth Irwin for doing just that. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times The workplace, where … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright Charles A. Duncombe’s drama is ostensibly a riff on the play Othello. It’s not an adaptation, mind you, because the structure and plot digress wildly from the Shakespearean original — but it is a work involving some of the same themes with basically the same set of characters. Read more… Now running … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw In her intriguing solo-drama, writer-performer Stacie Chaiken plays archeologist Sally Jenkins, who specializes in the study of ancient DNA. As she says, “It’s easy to extract the whole gene from soft tissue, but there is never soft tissue in ancient burials. I’ve managed to replicate the material I need from … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw Ruby Rae Spiegel’s Dry Land succeeds on multiple levels: first, as a dark comedy, second, as a graphic portrayal of the process of a self-administered abortion, and last and most particularly, as a sharp and illuminating character study. This West Coast premiere by the Echo Theatre Company is entertaining and assured and … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw The shadow of Eugene O’Neill looms large over the plot and writing of playwright Chris Collins’ angry family drama. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, as Collins lays the sadness and rage on so thick that Long Day’s Journey almost seems like a situation comedy in comparison. Read more… Now running through May … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Although it’s dangerous to impose our own political leanings on works of the past, Moliere’s 1662 sex farce could in many ways be considered a bona fide feminist tract. Read more… Now running through May 7.
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In 1833, African-American actor Ira Aldridge became the first man of color ever to play Othello on the London stage, replacing the acclaimed English tragedian Edmund Kean after Kean became ill. This was, not-coincidentally, the same year that a momentous bill abolishing slavery was being debated in British Parliament; it would go into force … Read more