Saturday, May 18, 2019
If it’s not one thing, it’s your mother — a bit of bumper sticker wisdom, perhaps, but on the heels of Mother’s Day it’s an apropos adage for three of this week’s selections from…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:05AMMonday, May 6, 2019
“Smart Love” at Pacific Resident Theatre appears destined to be a garden-variety dysfunctional family portrait, but then Brian Letscher’s new comedy unexpectedly pivots into a quirky t…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:29PMFriday, April 19, 2019
What begins as a comic road trip of ancestral rediscovery takes a hairpin turn into tragic history as “Everything Is Illuminated” makes its Southern Californian stage debut courtesy of S…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:20PMQuestions of gender and identity drive headlines daily, so it’s only natural to find the topic taking center stage in our theaters. With emotional tones ranging from light to dark, this we…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, March 22, 2019
If you’ve ever had the dizzying feeling you’re watching the world through the twisted reflection of a fun-house mirror, you’re already familiar with the central metaphor of “Fuddy Me…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:20PMPerseverance in the face of adversity is a common theme this week on “The 99-Seat Beat,” our selections from L.A.’s theater scene. The human spirit endures, whether in the mythic quest…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AMFriday, February 22, 2019
In the face of moral ambiguity, what does integrity look like? This week, promising shows from the intimate theater scene include a hip-hop-infused drama with a Black Lives Matter story line…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, January 25, 2019
“Do the right thing” is more easily said than put into practice, especially when there’s no moral compass to guide our choices. Quandaries that resist tidy solutions figure in this wee…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMTuesday, July 24, 2018
Unless you’ve lived them, chances are the disruptive travails of new motherhood charted in Molly Smith Metzler's “Cry It Out” will come as a shock — and an unexpectedly sobering rebu…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:45PMFriday, July 6, 2018
It’s summer, and love is in the air — and in the story lines of this week’s small-theater offerings. Romance figures comically in Shakespeare’s ode to midsummer frolics, tragically i…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, May 18, 2018
Among the many unsettling questions raised by the murderous protagonist of Antaeus Theatre Company’s electrifying Southern California premiere of “Native Son,” the least difficult to a…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:10PMFriday, May 11, 2018
This week in L.A.'s small-theater scene: "Forever Bound" at Atwater Village Theatre, Rogue Artists Ensemble's "Wood Boy Dog Fish" at the Garry Marshall Theatre in Burbank, Buzzworks's "Sex" …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, April 13, 2018
This week in L.A.'s small-theater scene: "The Willows" at the Bootleg Theater, "The Dorothy Parker Project" at Pacific Resident Theatre. "Disgraced" at L.A. Theatre Works and "The Invisible …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, March 23, 2018
Stop me if you’ve seen this one: An aging, tempestuous, narcissistic ruler craves adulation, exiles those who question him, and neglects those who suffer on the fringes of society. We’re…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, March 16, 2018
This week's picks from L.A.'s small-theater scene: "All's Well That Ends Well" at ISC Studio, "Pigs and Chickens" at Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, "An Undivided Heart" at Atwater Village Theat…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, February 16, 2018
In this week's small-theater guide: Open Fist's "One Year Later," Sacred Fools' "The Art Couple," Actors Co-op's "A Walk in the Woods" and Celebration's "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, January 12, 2018
Sigmund Freud, C.S. Lewis, Michael Kearns, Disney’s “Splash” and the ’80s soap “Dynasty” all factor into this week’s roundup of “The 99-Seat Beat,” our weekly highlights fr…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMThis week's highlights in the small-theater scene include Michael Kearns' show "Bloodbound" at Highways, Lounge Theatre's "Bugaboo & the Silent One" and "Freud's Last Session" at the Odyssey.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, December 1, 2017
This week in L.A.'s small-theater scene: Independent Shakespeare Company's "A Christmas Carol With Charles Dickens," 24th Street Theatre's "Pang!," the Latino Theatre Company's "The Latina C…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, November 10, 2017
Never take your pop culture for granted. Today’s animated sitcom might just turn out to be tomorrow’s sacred text — an evolution ingeniously depicted by Sacred Fools Theater Company in…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, November 3, 2017
The immersive art-gallery theater piece "Caught," IAMA Theatre's "Redline" and "Sinner's Laundry," Coeurage Theatre's "The Secret in the Wings" and "The Red Dress" at the Odyssey are this we…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, October 27, 2017
In case turning back the clock to the stability and prosperity of the early 1960s seems an enticing alternative to today’s sociopolitical turbulence, consider the fate of Lenny Bruce. The …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, October 6, 2017
This week in L.A.'s small-theater scene: "Captain Greedy's Carnival" at the Actors' Gang, "Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play" at Sacred Fools, "Ridiculous Darkness" at Son of Semele and "Mrs. …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AMFriday, September 8, 2017
There are no easy outs in the Grove Theater Center revival of David Harrower’s “Blackbird” — not for its two characters locked in brutal psychological warfare, nor for anyone in the …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:45AMWith DACA ending, a Dreamer's tale of navigating the American immigration system leads our list of small-theater picks for the week.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:00AMWednesday, July 5, 2017
What does it say about us when that quintessential symbol of union and hope — the wedding cake — becomes a flashpoint in the culture war? Bekah Brunstetter’s new dramedy, “The Cake,�…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:00PMFriday, February 17, 2017
The boundaries between human civilization and the animal kingdom become very blurry indeed in “Grimly Handsome,” an appropriately titled grim fairy tale from Santa Monica’s longtime pu…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:45PMFriday, January 20, 2017
With ominous stories of right-wing extremism in parts of the world, there’s a solid case to be made for a revival of the Holocaust drama “Bent” so soon after the high-profile Mark Tape…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:40PMWednesday, November 2, 2016
Can a sci-fi-themed, classic rock musical stand measure to measure with Shakespeare? “Return to the Forbidden Planet” at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura seeks to boldly go where no outer …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PMTuesday, November 1, 2016
Friends, readers, theatergoers, lend me your eyes; I come to praise “The Tragedy of JFK (as told by Wm Shakespeare)” at the Skylight Theatre, not to bury it. Daniel Henning’s adaptatio…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:00PMWednesday, September 14, 2016
Try to remember a greener "Fantasticks," when props were leaner and sets were matchsticks ... Ah, well, memory of the original lyrics fades, and it may be hard at first to recognize the no-f…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM 
