Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Sister opens on a dark bare stage, its single set piece being a plain white toilet, the kind you find in rundown apartments. The story takes place in a crummier section of Hollywood. We learn about that when the main character Denise (Erica Gimpel) directs a trick to her residence, in … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw This one-woman show, written, performed and co-directed by Alyson Renaldo (with Chris deCarlo) may be about virginity, but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of sex. Read more… Now running through April 19. This one-woman show, written, performed and co-directed by Alyson Renaldo (with Chris deCarlo) may be about virginity, but that … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright David Grieg’s compelling drama is a sequel of sorts to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Given that just about everyone is dead at the end of Shakespeare’s play, one could well ask “what on earth can happen in a sequel to Macbeth?” Do the Three Witches move on down to Fort Lauderdale to get … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Like the cupcakes in her story, playwright Lisa Dillman’s American Wee-Pie may be too sugary for some palates. It was for mine. Read more… Now running through April 13.
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Three siblings and their father — all estranged — reunite at their mother’s ramshackle country homestead shortly after her death to uncover her will and to sling recriminations at each other. Despite its flashes of black humor, Charlotte Miller’s gutsy, messy and heavy-duty family drama Thieves is about as jolly as that … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Shakespeare could wield a neat dialectic as deftly as Bertolt Brecht, though he didn’t talk about it as much. In almost every play, the Bard shaped his plots to depict forces eternally at odds. Here, he ranges Prince Hal (Ramon de Ocampo) and Hotspur (Joe Holt), believers in the chivalric … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Never underestimate the power of stagecraft. Case in point: ”Carrie: The Musical,” now receiving a mind-blowing immersive production at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. Read more… Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania Few musicals are as infamous as the 1988 Broadway bomb Carrie. That notoriety was enhanced by the bootlegged CDs … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times There are plenty of fish in the sea, we console ourselves when loved ones escape our nets. But in Kimber Lee’s new play, “tokyo fish story,” having its world premiere at South Coast Repertory, the truth of this old proverb is in doubt. Read more… Bob Verini – Stage Raw … Read more
Bob Verini – Variety Writers of crime fiction are rarely as brutal or twisted as the characters they create. But meet Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995), by general agreement a foul-mouthed misanthrope who spent decades detailing the psychotic narcissism lurking in humanity’s dark heart. Read more… Hoyt Hilsman – Huffington Post Crime novelist Patricia Highsmith was renowned for her intense … Read more
Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology was first published in 1915, and is probably referenced in just about every grade or middle-school American literature text ever adopted. Read more… Now running through March 22.