Garbo’s Cuban Lover Reviewed by Julyza Commodore MACHA Theatre Co. Through February 25 RECOMMENDED MACHA Theatre Co. presents Garbo’s Cuban Lover, an imagining of Greta Garbo’s rumored romantic relationship with Mercedes de Acosta. Written by Odalys Nanin and co-directed by Nanin (also starring as de Acosta) and Angela Nicholas, the play’s foundation is their relationship. […]

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Call Me Elizabeth Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley Sierra Madre Playhouse Through February 19 RECOMMENDED It requires temerity to play Elizabeth Taylor, arguably the most luminously beautiful woman to earn the title of Hollywood “star,” in the largest, most grandiose sense of the word.In her one-woman show, Call Me Elizabeth, an offering in Sierra Madre […]

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Harold and Maude Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre Through March 19 RECOMMENDED Harold and Maude, the 1971 dark comedy film that was commercially and critically unsuccessful when first released but eventually attracted a cult following, is also an adapted stage play (by the late Colin Higgins, author […]

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The Dry YearsReviewed by Steven Leigh MorrisGhost Road Theatre Company at The Broadwater StageThrough March 4 RECOMMENDEDThere’s so much to recommend in Christine Breihan’s staging of John Guerra’s play, even though the work feels in need of one more pass to address some dramaturgical clutter.Let’s start with the almost gothic beauty of a rural, drought-plagued California valley […]

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If I Don’t Behave Then WhatReviewed by Steven Leigh MorrisOpen Fist Theatre CompanyThrough March 4RECOMMENDEDIva Brdar’s play isn’t a play in any traditional sense. It’s a poem. A one-woman confessional in 13 verses, starting with “Age 0” and culminating in “Age 78.” It’s almost a one-woman show performed by Cynthia Ettinger, except for the supporting […]

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Conjure the SpiritsReviewed by Taylor KassZombie Joe’s Underground Theatre GroupThrough Feb. 18 RECOMMENDED Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group’s Conjure the Spirits begins on the sidewalk in front of the theatre. A ghostly usher (a cameo by Zombie Joe himself) takes your tickets wordlessly, struggles to navigate worldly fixtures like doors and parking meters, and shouts Shakespeare to […]

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Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual HelpReviewed by Iris MannTheatre 40Through February 19RECOMMENDEDThis delightfully whimsical play by Katie Forgette, has a bittersweet underpinning and invites comparison with Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, particularly due to its metatheatrical device of breaking the fourth wall to have the characters address the audience directly. Also, like Our Town, it […]

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Do You Feel Anger?Reviewed by Terry MorganCircle X Theatre Co.Through February 25RECOMMENDEDThere’s a Cowboy Junkies song from 1993 called “Hunted,” which is about the ever-present threat of male violence in women’s lives, the refrain of which is: “Do you know what it’s like to be hunted?” It’s a terrifying song, and unfortunately is no less […]

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Southern GirlsReviewed by Taylor KassAll The Way ProductionsThrough Feb. 26th RECOMMENDED “The dream is the truth.” This quote from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God threads throughout Southern Girls, another American coming-of-age story that’s as bitter as it is sweet. Sheri Bailey and Dura Temple’s Southern Girls follows six Alabama women from their childhood in […]

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Home FrontReviewed by Iris MannVictory Theatre CenterThrough February 12RECOMMENDEDIn this west coast premiere of Home Front, by Warren Leight, a psychiatrist is quoted as saying, “This country will break your heart.” So will this beautifully rendered play. The statement by the psychiatrist foretells what happens to the story’s three characters in the face of a […]

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