In Stage Raw's curtain call for the Hollywood Fringe, ASHLEY STEED compares the 2014 festival to her recollections of Year One, in 2010 -- after which she left L.A. to study in London. She wasn't here for the intervening three festivals. Ashley offers her perspective on what's changed, and what hasn't, after four years away.
SHELLY PARSONS remember actor-director-activist Ric Montejano: "For years Ric and his foundling Chihuahua-mix dog Sparky were memorable figures on Silver Lake Blvd., especially at Ric’s curbside Saturday sale of eclectic lamps. This was a “must stop” for local shoppers who remembered Ric as proprietor of Mohawk’s, a mid-century collectables store off Sunset Blvd. in the 1990s, and appreciated both the goods and the camaraderie."
PAUL BIRCHALL'S latest Fringe musings lead him, and us, to "The Werewolves of Hollywood Boulevard" and "Bronies: The Musical"
In his second column on theater-beyond-theater-spaces, TERRY MORGAN reviews National Theatre Live's broadcast of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" -- also being performed on Broadway this fall. It screens June 22 at James Bridges Auditorium at UCLA
In his second "Letter From the Fringe," PAUL BIRCHALL ruminates on what the Hollywood festival signifies, and reviews "Jesus H," "Survivor's Guilt," and "Short Plays for All Your Problems."
"Hamlet Max" in the Hollywood Fringe Festival, at Schkapf through June 24, reviewed by NEAL WEAVER
PAUL BIRCHALL hangs out inside and outside The Asylum -- that would be Theatre Asylum -- during the Fringe Festival. He gives a few casual observations and also reviews "Linden Arden Stole the Highlights" and "The Wake."
More Hollywood Fringe Reviews: "Bike Odyssey LA" reviewed by Ashley Steed, "The Fantasticks" and "Four Tree Plays" reviewed by Terry Morgan, and "Dramatis Personae" and "Angels and Whiskey" reviewed by Deborah Klugman
"Sometimes I hate what I write. I just keep trying things out. The work comes from the work. To me, the work doesn’t come from the inspiration to sit down and work, it comes from the work itself." -- composer Charles Fox BY REBECCA HAITHCOAT
"So 'Muckrakers' was written, and takes place, at a moment when our most basic assumptions about openness and privacy are being challenged. The characters in the play are, like the man in Montaigne’s glass house, exposed to the public eye. They can never assume, even within their own homes and intimate relationships, that they will remain unseen. And while they may not know they are onstage, by the end of the play, the characters are forced to confront the fact that they are living inside walls that have become suddenly, frighteningly, transparent." -- playwright Zayd Dohrn