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Lost LakeReviewed by Socks WhitmoreCrimson Square Theatre Company at the Beverly Hills PlayhouseThru Oct. 9A personal note of caution for sensitive theater-goers: This show contains stage blood, multiple instances of thrown and shattering objects, and a discussion of suicide. On the floor of a dingy lakeside cabin, surrounded by shattered glass, two very different people sit […]
Kim’s ConvenienceReviewed by Steven Leigh MorrisLaguna PlayhouseThrough Oct. 9RECOMMENDEDBorn in the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival, Korean-Canadian scribe Ins Choi’s widely produced family comedy (spurring a spinoff sitcom on Canadian TV and Netflix) is a paeon to family. It clearly fills a hunger to reinforce embattled institutions (family businesses and family bonds), against children’s quest for […]
Moniece ClarkReviewed by Deborah KlugmanBarker Room Rep at The BroadwaterThru October 2LaShea Delaney’s drama, Moniece Clark is about the media’s exploitation of crimes against women and the tendency of law enforcement to downplay those crimes if the victim is a woman of color. You don’t have to look far to uncover the deplorable statistics behind […]
The Great Jheri Curl DebateReviewed by Julia StierEast West PlayersThrough October 9RECOMMENDED Magical realism, race relations, and a heartfelt story all in one, The Great Jheri Curl Debate by Inda Craig-Galván packs an emotional punch, while still leaving room for plenty of quirkiness and wit.When Veralynn (Julanne Chidi Hill) hangs up her hairdresser’s apron in […]
Revenge PornReviewed by Julia Lloyd GeorgeAmmunition Theatre CompanyThrough Oct. 9RECOMMENDEDRevenge Porn doesn’t skirt around its delicate subject — its title a bold, confident and, frankly, punk declaration of what the cast is about to unpack for you. The alternative title, The Story of a Body, is gentler and more emotional, but certainly no less true […]
A Clean BrushReviewed by Iris MannTheatre 40Through Oct. 23Norm Foster, with some sixty plays to his credit, is Canada’s most prolific and produced playwright. This farce is a world premiere and the sixth of his plays to be presented by Theatre 40.At moments one can glean that, as written, there is a good deal of […]
A Great WildernessReviewed by Deborah KlugmanRogue Machine at the Matrix TheatreThru Oct. 30RECOMMENDEDOne of the marks of playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s work is how skillfully he portrays people who lead lives in desperate isolation. In A Great Wilderness, produced by Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre, that scenario might apply to Walt (John Perrin Flynn), […]
PODCAST: Stages of Our City: Episode 22: Local productions of musicals about outsiders.Produced by Julia StierIn Issue 22, Socks Whitmore and Steven Leigh Morris discuss Jagged Little Pill at the Pantages, Oklahoma! at the Ahmanson, and 13 (Panic Productions at the Simi Valley Performing Arts Center) In Issue 21, California State Senator Anthony Portantino, (D) 25th […]
