A Noise Within announces the first season in its new and bigger Pasadena theater, and Center Theatre Group will first host Ebony Rep’s A Raisin in the Sun at the Douglas and then produce the Raisin sequel Clybourne Park at the Mark Taper Forum — Raisin is part of the new Douglas season, announced here. Jeanie Hackett is ousted from her leadership at Antaeus, and an early Robert Wilson work will return to LA at REDCAT. That’s just part of this week’s news. READ MORE
Tiger Reel’s Modern-day Adaptation of Othello Set in Florida
by A.R. Cassell | July 14, 2011
In Tiger Reel’s adaptation of Othello at the Lex, Special Forces soldiers return from the war zone to a base in Florida for interrogation by an Iago-like character. The director explains why. READ MORE.
The Rejection of the Naked Suits or: How I Learned to Continue Worrying and Direct Steven Dietz’s Fiction
by Joshua Morrison | July 14, 2011
It’s a dangerous thing to ask someone to write about the process of his directorial debut—in my case, Steven Dietz’s Fiction running at the Underground Theatre until July 31—the week after it opened. As anyone who’s ever worked in theater (or for that matter, any type of goal-oriented entertainment) can attest, the capacity for everything to go wrong is nowhere stronger than at the last minute. READ MORE
L’Enfant Terrible Tackles Fun Family Festival of Tragedy
by Julio Martinez | July 13, 2011
So it seems these two MFA grads from UCLA and a transplant from Franklin, Massachusetts become acquainted at the Actors’ Gang and decide to put on a play, actually four plays. Along the way, they also decide to pay their actors under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association (AEA). READ MORE
Chance’s Jerry Springer Opera, Shakespeare Season
by Don Shirley | July 12, 2011
The Chance Theater is taking a chance on the oft-protested satire, Jerry Springer: The Opera, and it’s a compelling clash of luxurious music and astoundingly graphic profanities. Shakespeare season is in bloom, with rival Merry Wives of Windsor, a Richard III with a female star and the Fun Family Festival of…Tragedy. READ MORE
Christa Jackson and Sally Struthers Revisit
Always… Patsy Cline
by Pauline Adamek | July 12, 2011
Longtime friends and frequent co-stars Christa Jackson and Sally Struthers are again performing their hit show about two gal pals from an earlier era, Always… Patsy Cline. Ted Swindley’s two-handed musical show will play for three weekends only, at Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton. READ MORE
What If We All Owned a Part of the Theater’s Future?
by Patrick Berger | July 12, 2011
The future can be a scary thing. New technology, especially social media, is shifting the way people interact with each other and even with art. From June 16-18, I was able to join the mighty many of the U.S. theater elite for the Theatre Communications Group’s (TCG) annual conference. The theme this year, which is also the 50th birthday of TCG, was inspired by the theater’s increasing interest in its future: What if? READ MORE
Carrying on the Legacy of Poet Ron Allen by Pushing Creative Boundaries of Language and Life
by Jo D Jonz | July 12, 2011
Force 12 is a project developed from my mentor Ron Allen’s unedited stream of consciousness retelling aspects of his life. This is a story of a Poet who loses touch with reality, and is forced to balance his real life with Force 12, his alternative universe. He is facing a battle of the brain; his left “critical” hemisphere battles for dominance over his right ‘creative’ hemisphere. This journey between his daily life and Force 12 become so entwined that he loses grip with reality and is on the verge of losing everything. READ MORE
For A Death in Colombia You’ve Gotta Have Hart
by Cynthia Citron | July 11, 2011
Roxanne Hart, now appearing in A Death in Colombia, has found new inspiration from working in LA’s small theaters. READ MORE
Tennessee Auditions Brando at Two Roads
by Gary Ballard | July 8, 2011
Playwright Gregg Ostrin and director/produce Rick Shaw discuss their Kowalski, which depicts their imagined scenario about the first meeting of Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando, at the Two Roads Theatre. READ MORE
U.S. House Subcommittee Proposes $20 Million Cut to NEA Funding
by LA Stage Alliance | July 8, 2011
A U.S. House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee began the funding cycle for Fiscal Year 2012 by approving legislation to fund the NEA at $135.2 million, which is a reduction of $20 million from the current year. If enacted, it would be the deepest cut to the NEA in 16 years. READ MORE
The Women of Wildfire: Denise Crosby and Jamie Rose
by Julio Martinez | July 8, 2011
In the new two-person comedy, Revisiting Wildfire, by prolific Off-Broadway playwright Kari Floren, Denise Crosby and Jamie Rose portray Pam and Theresa, respectively, former college roommates back in the early years of punk rock and the Reagan Administration, who roomed together for a while after college but, while remaining friends, took vastly divergent paths in life. The two actors agree that full-length two-person plays are not easy. And there is not a lot of time for creative contemplation. READ MORE
