Stage Raw

SUMMER AND SMOKE at the Actors Co-op

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David C. Nichols – LA Times Summer and Smoke” may stand a little higher in the Tennessee Williams canon after you see an exceptional Actors Co-op revival of the 1947 drama, one of the best offerings in the company’s storied history. Read more… Les Spindle –  Frontiers L.A. Tennessee Williams’ sultry and thought-provoking 1947 drama, strongly … Read more

WOMEN LAUGHING ALONE WITH SALAD at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

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Margaret Gray – LA Times Is “Women Laughing Alone With Salad” the first play inspired by an Internet meme? In 2011 the feminist website the Hairpin published stock photographs of slender models appearing to exult over forkfuls of mixed greens. We’d all seen these images in advertisements, but we’d never really looked at them, or … Read more

CLOUD 9 at the Antaeus Theatre Company

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Terry Morgan  –  Stage Raw The Antaeus Theatre Company once again demonstrates its immense value to the Los Angeles theatre community, this time with a superb revival of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9. It’s an ambitious and tricky work, but under Casey Stangl’s thoughtful direction, an inspired ensemble does the play proud. As usual, Antaeus “partner-casts” … Read more

YOU NEVER CAN TELL at A Noise Within

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Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw George Bernard Shaw’s’s turn of the 20th century rom-com, had a rocky start. Set to debut in 1897, it failed to make it to the stage that year, as actors struggled with the material and one leading lady quit, complaining the comedy had neither enough laughs nor enough exits. Not … Read more

SPIES ARE FOREVER at the NoHo Arts Center

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Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw This slick little musical is a spoof of the James Bond movies, with emphasis on their snazzy-jazzy opening credits. The book is by Tin Can Brothers, a team made up of director Corey Lubowich and ensemble members Joey Richter and Brian Rosenthal, with a score by Clark Baxstresser and Pierce … Read more

A GAMBLER’S GUIDE TO DYING at the Ruskin Group Theatre

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Jenny Lower – Stage Raw In just over an hour, Scottish playwright Gary McNair’s affectionate portrait of the rise and fall of an inveterate gambler manages to span 45 years, chart a grandson’s disillusionment and recovery of faith in his hero, mull the randomness of the universe, and probe the legacy of any human life. … Read more

THE MONGOOSE at The Road on Magnolia

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Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In the opening scene of Will Arbery’s dark, roundabout dramedy, a family lounges in the living room of their grungy Dallas domicile, munching food and watching TV. The clan consists of Cole, the dad (Dirk Etchison), and his three teenaged kids. Kay Bailey (Arielle Fodor), the serious-minded middle sibling (and, … Read more

THEY DON’T TALK BACK at the Wells Fargo Theatre at the Autry Museum

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Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw This world premiere of Frank Henry Kaash Katasse’s They Don’t Talk Back is produced by Native Voices at the Autry, a theatre company dedicated to developing new theatre works by Native American playwrights, and supporting the talents of Native American actors, writers, musicians, and directors. Read more… Now running through March 20.