Myron Meisel – Stage Raw Betty (Renee Ulloa-McDonald), “a nice girl”, sits on a bench, reading a book. She is approached by a figure in mime-like whiteface wearing dinner dress (Jeffrey Gardner), who asks her if she “has” the time. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times Charles A. Duncombe’s new play at City Garage, “Timepiece,” … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw Herbert the Chihuahua discusses Mitch Hara’s Mutant Olive Herbert the Chihuahua was sitting in the front row of the Lounge Theatre on Saturday night, cradled by his female owner. She and an unidentified man to her right were there to see Mitch Hara’s Mutant Olive, a one-man show about Hara’s self-described alter-ego, … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Writer-director (and classical pianist) Allen Barton gained critical acclaim last year with his play Years To The Day, presented by Skylight Theatre Company. It was a futuristic satire of our self-important discussions of movies and tech gadgets via the reunion of two long-time friends at a coffee shop. During their meeting, … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama about love, grief, and higher mathematics gets a solid, if not prime (in the Gaussian sense) staging in director John Markland’s elegiac production. Markland’s production emphasizes subtext and psychology over blocking, with the result that the show seems more conversational than composed – … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Photo-journalist Sarah (Prescilliana Esparolini) and foreign correspondent James (Aidan Bristow) are a cracker-jack team, who have travelled the world, covering its wars and hot-spots, and they are also lovers, who have been together for eight years. But a tour of duty in Afghanistan has shattered their world. Read more… Now running … Read more
Myron Meisel – Stage Raw During the notoriously doomed 1984 coal miners’ strike against Maggie Thatcher’s determination to destroy the union and its jobs, motherless 11-year old Billy Elliot (Mitchell Tobin) ditches his 50-pence afterschool boxing classes for ballet lessons, unbeknownst to his picketing father (David Atkinson) and firebrand older brother Tony (Stephen Weston). Read more… … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly In Serrano The Musical, book and lyrics writer Madeleine Sunshine plucks elements of Edmond Rostand’s iconic romance Cyrano de Bergerac and transposes them into a story set in New York City’s mob-infested Little Italy. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times Serrano the Musical,” in its world premiere at the Matrix Theatre, relocates “Cyrano … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw On a small arched screen at center stage is played out the tale of the imperious, fickle and slightly goofy Little Queen, represented by a stylized shadow puppet. At stage left is painter Eva Noelle, standing beside a small table with her paints, which she uses to depict all the … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright-actor Stephanie Satie’s solo show uses the format of a group therapy session to depict the oral histories told by survivors of the Holocaust survivors who were children when the German Nazi concentration camps were functioning. These are women who survived either because they were hidden by parents and friends, … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Adam Szymkowicz’s noir comedy is set in a place of his invention — the clown underworld. Here the clowns are not those funny, entertaining party creatures but criminals with damaged psyches. Sure, there are red noses, silly wigs, painted faces and colorful costumes, but that’s almost as far as the … Read more