Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw “There’s a danger with one-man shows. What if you don’t like the performer? You’re screwed.” I’m paraphrasing, but this is a sentiment that Orson Bean articulates early into his own one-man show. The ironic implications just hang in the air, unanswered. Before and after this line, however, Bean’s efforts indicate … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Playwright Martin Zimmerman Discusses ‘Seven Spots on the Sun’ In Seven Spots on the Sun (Boston Court Performing Arts Center through November 1), a doctor in a war-torn country discovers that, with a laying on of his hands, he can cure a plague. One question in Martin Zimmerman’s play is, given the … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly As in Death of a Salesman, his 1949 Pulitzer Prize winner (and my personal favorite) Arthur Miller’s All My Sons looks at an American family in crisis and weaves their story into a broader vision of a morally bankrupt culture. Read more… Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Arthur Miller’s powerful 1947 family drama has aged … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Donald Wollner’s comedy about a hapless little guy done in by the system and his own unmanageable urges isn’t exactly cutting edge satire. But it is diverting enough to entertain. Read more… Now running through October 25.
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw My Uber driver was concerned for my safety when I told her where I was going for the play I was reviewing this week. Of course I am used to going to some dodgy places to see plays. This time, however, I had been assigned to see a show in the … Read more
Jenny Lower – Stage Raw Like most of the gangsters it features in its slick, style-obsessed production at the Atwater Village Theatre, Get. That. Snitch., the debut effort of Great Minds Creative Productions, talks a big game. But like the “very bad men” who one by one fall to their knees in a pool of their … Read more
Bob Verini – Stage Raw Lisa Loomer writes Issue Plays. She may not set out to do so quite so baldly, but there it is. Her works tend to be identifiable, and tend to last in the memory, as copiously researched treatments of specific ongoing problems in contemporary American life. And, by the way, she … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Rebekah M. Allen’s musical about a loser squad of high school cheerleaders fighting their way up from the bottom of the heap sounds like it might be a satiric hoot. It isn’t. Read more… Paul Birchall – Stage Raw If you are studying Ancient Greek mythology, you will have heard of … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw In a dramatic about-face, playwright Tommy Smith on Wednesday abruptly retracted allegations that Echo Theater Company had “stolen” his short play Ghost Light, which had starred Deborah Puette and opened August 5 to rave notices. The production was the playwright’s third collaboration with Echo artistic director Chris Fields, whose stagings of … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts In LA Greenway Court Theatre’s Breathing Room is a 70-minute metaphysical self-help session, scored to electric violin and synthesizer and incorporating quantum theory. It insists that people are debilitated by overwhelming technological change, and it recommends an extended time-out to develop a fresh perspective on the natural world. Read more… Myron Meisel – Stage … Read more