“Are there any actors in the audience?” This question, posed by a mad scientist-type character, opens Lunatics & Actors, a world premiere play written by David Bridel and presented by Los Angeles-based clown troupe Four Clowns. It is immediately apparent that the fourth wall does not exist in this piece, which is more interactive performance art … More Theater Review: Four Clowns’ Lunatics & Actors
With summer right around the corner, many LA theater companies are announcing which shows will keep us entertained into next year and beyond. Since there are so many wonderful theater options out there in this great city, I wanted to do a round-up of some of the exciting shows we can expect moving forward. Where: … More Previewing the 2016-2017 LA Theater Season
“Punch me.” These are the opening words of Dry Land, the play by Ruby Rae Spiegel currently in its west coast premiere. They are spoken by Amy (Teagan Rose), a high school swimmer, to her new friend and teammate, Ester (Connor Kelly-Eiding) in the locker room. Why does Amy want to be punched, specifically in … More Theater Review: Echo Theater Company’s Dry Land
The subtitle for Spies Are Forever is “it’s a musical.” Truer words have rarely been spoken—the show is indeed a musical, and a damn fine one at that. This world premiere, made possible by a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised upwards of $58k, features a book by the Tin Can Brothers (Corey Lubowich, Joey Richter, and … More Theater Review: Spies Are Forever
“Act one takes place in a British colony in Africa in Victorian times. Act two takes place in London in 1979. But for the characters it is 25 years later.” This information, provided in the “time and place” section of the playbill for Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9, which opens this weekend at the Antaeus Theatre … More Theater Review: Antaeus Theater’s Cloud 9
Considering we humans spend about a third of our lives sleeping, it’s only logical that the lone location for Bed, the world premiere play that opened this weekend in Los Angeles, is, you guessed it—a bed. Written by Sheila Callaghan, directed by Jennifer Chambers, and presented by the Echo Theater Company, Bed examines a dysfunctional relationship over … More Theater Review: Echo Theater Company’s Bed
It’s not often that you get to see twin actresses playing twins on stage. My Sister, which opened at the Odyssey Theatre this weekend after an acclaimed run at the Hollywood Fringe Festival last year, stars Elizabeth and Emily Hinkler as Matilde and Magda, twin sisters living in Germany during the rise of Hitler. This … More Theater Review: My Sister at Odyssey Theatre
Before I head to New York on my annual theater pilgrimage, I made one last LA theater stop for 2015 and checked out the national tour of If/Then, currently playing at the Pantages Theatre. If/Then ran on Broadway for a year beginning in 2014, and four members of the original Broadway cast—Idina Menzel (Tony nominated for … More Theater Review: If/Then National Tour
When I arrived at opening weekend of Wood Boy Dog Fish, the world premiere production currently being presented by the Rogue Artists Ensemble at the Bootleg Theater, I was given a pair of 3D glasses along with my playbill. This was the first of many surprises in store during this highly visual, innovative take on … More Theater Review: Rogue Artists Ensemble’s Wood Boy Dog Fish
Near the end of Anton Chekhov’s classic play Uncle Vanya, Annie Baker’s adaptation of which made its west coast premiere this weekend at the Anateus Theater, one of the characters exasperatedly urges the others to “do something with your lives!” I have possibly never agreed with a character more—the eight other people in the dramatic comedy … More Theater Review: Antaeus Theater’s Uncle Vanya
ON STAGE & SCREEN 