IS THERE A DIRECTOR IN THE HOUSE? There is nothing inherently humdrum about the Geffen Playhouse's production of Ruth Draper's Monologues but there is nothing particularly exhilarating about…
SOME ARE TKO’S, SOME SHOULD BE BRIEFER The first play featured in this annual showcase of ten-minute plays by emerging writers, An Eclectic Evening of Shorts VII: Boxers and Briefs,…
EVERYTHING NEEDS A RETOUCH 30-year-old Jess is a mess. A New York-based dotcom genius, Jess is fraught with low self-esteem, making her an overweight, smelly, anti-social, stressed-out, aggr…
BOOZE AND BARD In ShakesBEER, NYC's Original Shakespearean Pub Crawl, New York Shakespeare Exchange members perform ten-minute scenes from four Shakespeare plays in as many bars over the cou…
A WILD(E) ADAPTATION A spectacle that swirls and thrills, The House Theatre of Chicago's Dorian has updated Oscar Wilde's classic cautionary tale from Victorian music halls to today's club s…
THE CONDITIONAL KINDNESS OF STRANGERS An episodic evening set in and around a hotel near O'Hare Airport, Marisa Wegrzyn’s itinerant one-act both celebrates and red-flags those encou…
WATCHING LOSERS LOSE IS A LOSE/LOSE SITUATION After a brief show of compassion for life's casualties and some welcome sympathy for the underdog in Good People and The Motherfucker with the H…
TITTY GARAGE Shows that are listed at two hours and fifteen minutes shouldn't be forgiven for running three hours, unless they are written by a genius like Mikhail Bulgakov. One of that …
IT'S ALL IN THE TIEMPO The excitement in Ana Maria Alvarez' voice is contagious: "When we got the news it was like one of those Ed McMahon calls that everyone sees on television." The Artist…
THREADBARE In the 1950s, dissident South African Can Themba wrote a short story called "The Suit," describing a cuckold’s response to his wife’s infidelity " specifically his ins…
A HOWLINGLY FUNNY BASKERVILLES SPOOF IS MORE THAN ELEMENTARY It turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks, proven by TheatreWorks' contemporary stage-spoof treatment of the 1901 She…
INVENTIVE MEMORY PLAY COULD USE JUST A BIT MORE MAGIC Inspired by the work of Johanna Cooper"a broadcaster who was commonly drawn to Jewish tales"Nicola Behrman, David Kersnar, Abbie Phillip…
SAN DIEGO OPERA’S SWAN SONG SPEAKS TO DREAMING IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS Don Quixote ("Don Quichotte" in its original French spelling) serves as a fitting final production with which to close …
THE BANALITY OF SURVIVAL A crowded creation, Our Class remembers the Holocaust by forgetting nothing. Intent on conscience-keeping, burning to reclaim a slice of history, this dogged docudra…
SECOND CITY DEPRAVED AND BACK ON TRACK Dark thoughts, insecurity and regrets may seem like particularly bleak material to base a sketch comedy show around, but their universality makes them …
A BLINKING YELLOW FOR RED AT THE REP Is a soup can art? To Matisse, probably not. To Warhol, clearly yes. And to everyone else? Ah, that’s when we start getting into wh…
MAC THE DULL KNIFE Under Charlie Polinger's unremarkable direction, the often charming cast of Sean Patrick Monahan and James Presson's vacuous tongue-in-cheek musical comedy Little Mac, Lit…
COME BACK TO A NOISE WITHIN The current production of Come Back, Little Sheba at Pasadena's A Noise Within proves that William Inge's breakout 1950 Broadway hit is still relevant today. The …
FREED FROM A CELLAR The inception of this 2006 work from Chicago's neighborhood-based Albany Park Theater Project is a remark made by a 14-year-old member of their youth ensemble: "I learned…
WELL MET BY MOONLIGHT Some plays are just too good to be easily staged. In my experience Shakespeare’s most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, has defied more directo…
IS THERE A SHOW DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? There is a method of political activism called a "zap." Basically, zaps are militant but non-violent face-to-face confrontations with persons in position…
HAVING A “‘S WONDERFUL” TIME It should come as no surprise that the song catalog of George and Ira Gershwin"according to Los Angeles Times"generates about $8 million a year…
MERRY PRANKSTERS' MEDIEVAL MELTDOWN Cheeky, goofy and sassy as it "cocks a snoot" at a literary legend, this irrepressible import from Kneehigh, a brassy Cornwall theater, should be injected…
HEIDI DUCKLER OFFERS AN OASIS FROM CONVENTIONAL DANCE Well before her college-years dance training, Heidi Duckler danced as early as she could walk. "I've always been dancing," she tells Sta…
SHAKESPEARE WISHES HE WERE THIS FUNNY Mistaken identities, cross-dressing, puns, fart jokes and dick jokes and pussy jokes. You know where you can find these? Movies starring Saturda…