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Venus in Fur Reviewed by Steven Leigh Morris Ophelia’s Jump Through February 23 RECOMMENDED: It’s partly by accident that Beatrice Casagran’s current staging of David Ives’s 2010 two-character, titillating comedy of sexual politics is so absorbing. (Casagran directs the play for Ophelia’s Jump, in Upland.) The entire context of the play is a theater audition […]
Miss America’s Ugly Daughter: Bess Myerson & Me Reviewed by Iris Mann Edgemar Center for the Arts Extended through August 4 RECOMMENDED Barra Grant’s beautifully constructed, autobiographical play depicts the difficulty and pain that frequently goes along with being the child of an admired, accomplished icon. The work is also an exploration of a mother-daughter […]
Too Heavy for your Pocket Reviewed by Vanessa Cate Sacred Fools Theater Company Extended through March 23 Jiréh Breon Holder’s kitchen-sink drama spotlights the lives of two African-American couples in Tennessee in 1961. While the play features familiar dramaturgical stereotypes, it achieves poignancy and freshness by focusing on the Civil Rights movement through the prism of class […]
Ragtime Reviewed by Katie Buenneke Pasadena Playhouse Extended through March 9 Ragtime has got to be up there with Oklahoma! as one of the most undeniably American musicals of all time, and it has finally come home to Southern California. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s musical made its U.S. premiere at the now-demolished Shubert Theatre […]
Rabbit Hole Reviewed by Dana Martin 2Cents Theatre Group Through March 10 Rabbit Hole plunges into uncharted and truly terrifying terrain; losing a child. David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner examines a family struggling to comes to terms with their loss with nuanced compassion. While 2cents Theatre Group’s site-specific approach has moments of brilliance, the dramatic […]
Witness Uganda Reviewed by Stephen Fife Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Extended through March 3 RECOMMENDED Witness Uganda, the show receiving its West Coast premiere at the Wallis Annenberg’s Studio Theater until February 23rd, arrives with impressive credentials. After starting out at Harvard’s American Repertory Theater, it went on to an Off-Broadway run at Second Stage […]
Man of God Reviewed by Julia Stier East West Players Through February 24 RECOMMENDED East West Players presents the world-premiere of Anna Moench’s acerbic comedy, Man of God. Directed by Jesca Prudencio, this timely show explores the reactions of four girls, each trying to make sense of an act of violation against them, committed by […]
Anna Karenina Reviewed by Terry Morgan Actors Co-op Theatre Company Through March 17 Artistic ambition should always be encouraged. If artists never attempt greatness, if they never try working on a bigger canvas, we wouldn’t have works like Angels in America or The Iceman Cometh — plays that demonstrate how amazing theatre can be. On […]
