Evan Brenner’s solo Buddha – A Fantastic Journey condenses reams of sutras about the Buddha’s life into about 90 minutes. Brenner discusses his show’s path and how acclaimed actor John C. Reilly’s direction of the West Coast premiere at the Bootleg has improved it. READ MORE
City Garage Sets LaBute’s Filthy Talk in a Gallery
by Pauline Adamek | January 4, 2012
City Garage revives an early Neil LaBute play, Filthy Talk for Troubled Times: Scenes of Intolerance, but re-locates it from a topless bar to a high-end art gallery, befitting City Garage’s recent move to Bergamot Station. Also added to the play are three naked women who spout speeches as part of the fictional exhibition at the gallery. It’s part of a package that pairs art with LaBute’s work in two different Bergamot galleries. LaBute and the City Garage directors discuss their collaboration. READ MORE
Journalists At Risk Examined by Global Theatre Project
by Pauline Adamek | December 5, 2011
A staged reading of an Italian play examining the legacy of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and a panel discussion on the impact of assassinations of reporters are part of the Global Theatre Project’s ESPECIALLY NOW: Create the World Together, at LATC next Sunday. 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
House of Gold Reveals Dark Underbelly of Kiddie
Beauty Pageants
by Pauline Adamek | October 21, 2011
Gates McFadden was a TV model at the age of five. Now that she’s the artistic director of Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, she’s able to express her feelings about highly pressured childhoods by staging House of Gold by Gregory Moss. He was inspired by the JonBenét Ramsey case to write a play about the phenomenon of hurried children. No, children aren’t being pressured to appear in the play itself — they’re played by adults. READ MORE
Ovation-Nominated Lighting Designers:
Jeremy Pivnick and Ken Booth
by Pauline Adamek | October 4, 2011
Ovation-nominated lighting designers Jeremy Pivnick (A Wither’s Tale) and Ken Booth (A House Not Meant to Stand and The Train Driver) shed some light on their methods and their careers. Several directors also chime in with thoughts on the two designers. READ MORE
East West Examines A Widow of No Importance,
Bombay Style
by Pauline Adamek | September 12, 2011
East West Players ventures into contemporary Bombay with Shane Sakhrani’s A Widow of No Importance. The title takes off from Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance — a signal that it’s a comedic take on the plight of a 50-year-old widow. READ MORE
‘Black Dahlia’ Murder Examined in The Chanteuse and the Devil’s Muse
by Pauline Adamek | September 7, 2011
David J refashions his Black Dahlia song cycle into a new multi-disciplinary musical play The Chanteuse and the Devil’s Muse that presents a chilling theory regarding the identity of the famous 1947 cold case killer. Opening September 8 at the Bootleg Theater, it combines drama, song, visual projection, fine art and a Butoh dance performance by Vangeline. READ MORE
Soap star Judith Chapman portrays Vivien
by Pauline Adamek | August 11, 2011
Soap opera star Judith Chapman tackles a solo show about the troubled movie star Vivien Leigh at Rogue Machine, where Chapman was the first board president. Rick Foster’s play is set just days before Leigh died of tuberculosis at age 53. READ MORE
Sandra Bernhard Declares I Love Being Me, Don’t You?
by Pauline Adamek | August 10, 2011
Sandra Bernhard is discussing her new album, I Love Being Me Don’t You? A blend of her signature brand of critically acclaimed comedy with two musical covers that showcase her idiosyncratic singing talents, it was recorded at the 1400-seat Castro Theatre in San Francisco last October. 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
Tate Donovan wonders who is the Lobby Hero?
by Pauline Adamek | June 14, 2011
Returning to the role he originated 10 years ago, stage and screen actor (and TV director) Tate Donovan is about to appear in a radio theater production of Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, for a short run at the Skirball Cultural Center. READ MORE
