Will Metro-adjacent theaters get a boost from the increased frequency of evening trains? Wicked returns again to the Pantages, while the Ahmanson loses Funny Girl. Bets Malone cannot escape the Wonderettes, and Broadway diva Susan Egan infuses the “glamour and goop” of motherhood into her act. INSIDER history focuses on the historical journey of Sierra Madre Playhouse. READ MORE
Mining Gay Pulp Novels for Posing Strap Pirates
by Michael Van Duzer | November 10, 2011
The ship ahoy at Eclectic Company Theatre is a revival of Michael Van Duzer’s Posing Strap Pirates, a parody of the gay pulp novels of the ’50s and ’60s. Van Duzer writes about the liberating thrill of writing for characters with literally no subtext. READ MORE
David Dean Bottrell — The Power Of “Yes”
by Mark Kinsey Stephenson | November 10, 2011
David Dean Bottrell has bounced from actor to playwright to screenwriter to actor and now, to director, as he makes his staging debut with the Colony Theatre’s Travels With My Aunt. Meanwhile, he’s also preparing a revival of his solo show David Dean Bottrell Makes Love at Rogue Machine. READ MORE
For Robin Givens, The Sky’s The Limit
by Darlene Donloe | November 9, 2011
Robin Givens, starring in Blues for an Alabama Sky at Pasadena Playhouse, gets all choked up about playing Pearl Cleage’s sad and struggling blues singer in Harlem during the Depression. Director Sheldon Epps comments on the play and Givens’ performance, and Givens describes the demands of balancing work with raising two sons as a single mom. READ MORE
Going Underground in the Middle East’s Holy Ground
by Stephanie Liss | November 9, 2011
Stephanie Liss visited the PLO in Lebanon and the Israeli military 25 years ago, in order to research a TV movie — which the network then turned down. Now she’s turning some of the material into two one-act plays under the title On Holy Ground, at the MET Theatre. READ MORE
Bring It On: The Musical Crosses the Line
by Jessica Koslow | November 9, 2011
It feels like teen spirit — and team spirit — at the Ahmanson Theatre, where Adrienne Warren and Taylor Louderman prepare for their starring roles in Bring It On: The Musical. No, they’re not remaking the movie, and yes, some of the cheerleaders and dancers in the cast had never acted. But they’re learning quickly, as the production begins a long road tour that might take it to Broadway. READ MORE
From Belfast to Kampala to LA With Daddy O’Callaghan
by Cynthia Citron | November 8, 2011
Johnny O’Callaghan’s solo show Who’s Your Daddy? at the Little Victory Theatre relates the tale of his adventures adopting an orphan in Uganda — and more. His past also includes a stint in a site-specific production inside a Central Park restroom and five years as an Ancient Replicator on a TV series. READ MORE
Anna Gunn Plays Alan Alda’s Marie Curie at the Geffen
by Pauline Adamek | November 8, 2011
Anna Gunn tackles the role of Marie Sklodowska Curie in Alan Alda’s Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie at the Geffen Playhouse. The play covers some of the less radiant episodes of the great scientist’s life as well as her signature achievements. Gunn has adopted a Polish accent and a devotion to the woman she’s playing. READ MORE
Esther’s Moustache Writer/Director Debates Herself
by Laurel Ollstein | November 8, 2011
Playwright Laurel Ollstein sometimes squabbles with director Laurel Ollstein as they collaborate on Esther’s Moustache, at studio/stage. Can this partnership be saved? READ MORE
The Cates Years at the Geffen — A Hard Act to Follow
by Don Shirley | November 7, 2011
The Geffen Playhouse has been closely identified with its founder and producing Gil Cates. Let’s take a quick tour through the Cates years and then ask the inevitable question — what now? With Cates gone, will the Geffen create a new identity? Plus a few thoughts on the current Geffen production Next Fall. READ MORE
Kubzansky Explores Language Archive at East West
by Patricia Foster Rye | November 7, 2011
Director Jessica Kubzansky talks about the LA premiere of Julia Cho’s The Language Archive at East West Players. It’s about a linguist who tries to preserve dying languages but can’t communicate with his wife. Kubzansky had her cast recall the dying languages within their own familes — then explains how she and her siblings created their own language around their dog. READ MORE
Bernardo Returns to Magno Rubio, in Two Languages
by Julio Martinez | November 4, 2011
Bernardo Bernardo, who performed in the 2007 LA premiere of The Romance of Magno Rubio, returns to Lonnie Carter’s play by directing it in two languages, English and Tagalog, at [Inside] the Ford. READ MORE
