Los Angeles

A PERFECT PERFECT GANESH In the realm of contemporary theater, where scripts often tend to shy away from tackling profound and uncomfortable subjects, A Perfect Ganesh is a remarkable outlier. This captivating play penned by Terrence McNally transcends the boundaries of conventional storytelling, delving unflinchingly into themes of loss, self-discovery, and spirituality. With its poignant…

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE The Red Suitcase, written by Jiggs Burgess and directed by Del Shores, with assistant direction and additional staging by Blake McIver Ewing, is a remarkable play that delves into the complexities of the father-son relationship and the moments that shape our lives. The play, seeing its world premiere at the Broadwater…

A PIPELINE TO THE TROUBLED SOUL One of our era’s greatest dramatists, Dominique Morisseau (Skeleton Crew,  Ain’t Too Proud) sheds light on the complicated realities of urban African-American communities. Her 2017 Pipeline, which opened last night at The Art of Acting Studio, concerns Nya Joseph (beautifully underplayed by Fadhia Carmelle Marcelin), a divorced mom and teacher…

CRAB’S LAST TAPE Ah, Theatre of the Absurd. a place where characters can grapple with existentialism, that which is the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. Well, not always people. In the case of Crabs in a Bucket, it’s, well, crabs….

STEWPENDOUS Pulitzer-Prize finalist Stew  by   Zora Howard, and directed by Tyler Thomas, opened last Sunday at the Pasadena Playhouse. This play invites audiences into the intimate and transformative space of a kitchen, where Mama and her daughters prepare a special stew while confronting their past and present. With a seamless narrative, Howard delves into the complexities…

THE TEMPEST AS RADIO PLAY One can only wonder why productions of Shakespeare’s The Tempest have been sprouting up like magical vines in the jungle. Is it because the tale is about revenge as much as it is about redemption? What I can say is this: When the sorcerer Prospero discards his magic staff and…

ANTSY The subject of “haves” and “have-nots” in the theater is nothing new, having been explored from The Greeks to Molière. More recent hallmarks are the Industrial Age’s The Hairy Ape by O’Neill; Odets’ Depression era Awake and Sing!; and John Osbourne’s “Angry Young Man” hurled in the world’s consciousness in Look Back in Anger….

OOHS AND OZ Just in time, a new, colorful and fun version of everyone’s childhood favorite movie is here in Long Beach. Musical Theatre West’s Royal Shakespeare version of  The Wizard of Oz — a faithful recreation of the 1939 movie — which opened last Saturday at the Carpenter Center, isn’t just for kids. Over the…

LAST SUMMER THIS SUMMER Written in 1976 by the late Jane Chambers, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove — which opened in 1980, NYC — is a milestone in lesbian theatre history. Chambers’ name is legend as a daring playwright who put lesbian writing on stage before it was widely accepted to have out lesbians in…