From dust to dust, from chalk to chalk — Chalk Repertory returns to the Hollywood cemetery where it acquired its name and staged its first production, this time with the West Coast premiere of Carson Kreitzer’s Slither. It examines the relationship between women and snakes through the centuries. Casey Stangl, who staged the play’s premiere in Minnesota before she became a rising director in LA, takes the helm. READ MORE
Kubzansky and Company Climb 39 Steps
by Tom Provenzano | January 20, 2012
Jessica Kubzansky’s staging of The 39 Steps at La Mirada Theatre offers a chance to see Matt Walker outside his usual Troubies format. Switching among 15 different characters and accents, he’s joining Andrew Borba, Dana Green and David McBean in the theatricalized send-up of the Hitchcock movie. The actors and their director discuss the challenges of doing all this with only 2½ weeks of rehearsal. READ MORE
How the Professionals Stage Manage
by Tom Provenzano | December 20, 2011
A half-dozen LA stage managers discuss the stable temperament required for their job. Then they recall a few incidents in which their temperaments were sorely tried by missing actors, abusive language, flooded scene shops and fainting theatergoers. READ MORE
Mason Peels the Hidden Histories of Onion Creek
by Tom Provenzano | December 1, 2011
Roger Q. Mason draws on magical realism and his interracial family’s “hidden histories ” in 1870s Texas in his new play Onion Creek, directed by June Carryl. It’s produced by Padua Playwrights at Son of Semele. READ MORE
Pat Kinevane Remembers the Irish Forgotten
by Tom Provenzano | November 15, 2011
Pat Kinevane’s solo, Forgotten, examines four octogenarians who live in what they consider “geriatric asylums.” Yet the writer/performer explains that his work isn’t restricted to text-heavy realism, in the tradition of many Irish plays. It also incorporates movement inspired by Asian theater. The Odyssey presents the West Coast premiere of this production from Dublin’s Fishamble: The New Play Company. READ MORE
Jim J. Bullock Finds Comfort in Hairspray
by Tom Provenzano | October 28, 2011
Jim J. Bullock auditioned to replace Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad in Broadway’s Hairspray, but he wasn’t ready for it yet. After earning his stripes in several smaller roles in the show, he now feels he has reached his Edna moment. He’s playing the Baltimore mom in Musical Theatre West’s staging in Long Beach. READ MORE
Jenny Sullivan Leads Irma Vep Across the Rubicon
by Tom Provenzano | October 19, 2011
Jenny Sullivan, the only “Artistic Associate” at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre, has that title because of her contributions over the theater’s 14 years, primarily as a director. Her staging of The Mystery of Irma Vep is opening the Rubicon’s new season, but she also remembers some of her other Rubicon experiences, including her own play about her late brother, which starred the late John Ritter. READ MORE
The Great Shakes Migration:
From Redlands to Downtown LA
by Tom Provenzano | October 11, 2011
Director Steven Sabel is opening a small black box in downtown LA, called Archway Studio/Theatre, as a supplement to his work running the Redlands Shakespeare Festival in a giant-size amphitheater, east of LA. The Bard is coming along for the ride, as the new theater will open with a production of Macbeth inspired by Oliver Stone’s movie Natural Born Killers. READ MORE
Directing Noises Off at La Mirada
by Tom Provenzano | September 23, 2011
British director Richard Seyd returns to La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts to helm season opener Noises Off, a play he considers “the most successful farce ever written,” after having led numerous West Coast productions. READ MORE
A West Coast Look at 9/11 and What the Moon Saw
by Tom Provenzano | September 9, 2011
Matthew McCray and Son of Semele found a way to examine 9/11 from a West Coast perspective by asking for some revisions of Stephanie Fleischmann’ s What the Moon Saw, or “I Only Appear to Be Dead” – drawn from five contemporary adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen stories. READ MORE
The Elaborate Entrance of Kristoffer Diaz
by Tom Provenzano | August 31, 2011
Wrestling was Kristoffer Diaz’ first entree into the world of theatrics. He grew up a half hour from Manhattan and was frequently taken to see wrestling live at Madison Square Gardens, where he soon began to figure out that it was staged. “Even at an early age, you start to get a sense that there are certain physical things in wrestling that wouldn’t happen in real life. If you pull the back of a guy’s head and walk down the aisle he doesn’t have to go with you.” His West Coast premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity opens September 7 at the Geffen Playhouse. READ MORE
Playwright Yockey and Director Deser Collaborate on Heavier Than…
by Tom Provenzano | July 20, 2011
Playwright Steve Yockey and director Abigail Deser discuss the art of their recent collaboration on the premiere of his Heavier Than…, a play based on the Theseus and the Minotaur myth, opening at Boston Court. READ MORE
