Padraic Duffy’s new Copy is actually a new version of a play he started writing a decade ago. In the re-writing process, he discovered that the latest Duffy is hardly an exact copy of his younger self. The play, a darkly absurd office comedy, opens tonight at Theatre of NOTE. READ MORE
Theater Takes to the High Seas Part II: Be Flexible
by Deborah Behrens | May 3, 2012
Crystal Cruises’ Serenity sails south, and the performers on this theater-related cruise have to vie for rehearsal space and time. How about the fitness room after midnight? Susan Claassen presents her Edith Head show, Christine Pedi tackles Great Dames, and Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles members generate good will as well as music. READ MORE
Loomer Looks at Homegirls for Cornerstone’s Cafe Vida
by Rachel Fain | May 2, 2012
Cornerstone Theater’s Café Vida was inspired by the former gang members who re-enter productive society via jobs at downtown LA’s Homegirl Café. Lisa Loomer was hired to write the play, which kicks off Cornerstone’s Hunger Cycle. Sometimes she feels the experience has given her a more productive job, too. READ MORE
The Happy Campers Behind the Unhappy Camp Logan
by Darlene Donloe | April 27, 2012
The black soldiers at Camp Logan in Texas became embroiled in a devastating chapter in American history in 1917. Alex Morris’ staging of Celeste Bedford Walker’s Camp Logan recalls that bitter incident at LATC. Behind it is a production team that includes Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, Ben Guillory’s Robey Theatre and Morris. READ MORE
An Election-Year Fix With Mistretta at ICT
by Samantha Mehlinger | April 27, 2012
Sal Mistretta won an award for his performance in the DC area’s US premiere of the rock musical The Fix, about political shenanigans, in 1998. But the Monica Lewinsky scandal apparently prevented the show from moving on. Now International City Theatre is presenting the West Coast premiere, and Mistretta’s back in the same role. READ MORE
Taking a Chance on Reborning Dolls
by Amy Tofte | April 26, 2012
Lifelike “reborn” dolls are used as therapeutic props by mothers whose babies have died or abused individuals. They’re also used in Zayd Dohrn’s Reborning, opening at the Chance Theater. Casey Long, a member of the cast and the company’s managing director, talks about the play and what could be Chance’s own reborning. READ MORE
Cyrano in 2012 LA — His Nose Isn’t His Problem
by Julio Martinez | April 26, 2012
Cyrano with a big nose — been there, done that. In 2012 LA, Cyrano’s problem is that the woman he loves doesn’t understand the ASL movements of his hands. This is the idea behind Stephen Sachs’ adaptation of the Rostand classic for a Fountain Theatre collaboration with Deaf West Theatre. The companies have a joint history. READ MORE
Richard Chamberlain’s Latest Doctor and His Heiress
by Steve Julian | April 25, 2012
Richard Chamberlain, playing a stern father in The Heiress at Pasadena Playhouse, remembers his own “repressive” and “terrifying” father, as well as his own sunnier life since he came out of the closet. He also recalls the amazing break that thrust him into prominence as TV’s young Dr. Kildare five decades ago. READ MORE
LA Theater Takes to the High Seas
by Deborah Behrens | April 25, 2012
A cruise is making is way down the Mexican coast, en route to the Panama Canal and then New York — and it will benefit such LA arts nonprofits as Center Theatre Group and the Gay Men’s Chorus. LA STAGE Times Editor-in-Chief Deborah Behrens, who’s aboard, provides the background for this arts-themed adventure. READ MORE
Pianist Golabek Tells Her Mother’s Story at the Geffen
by Cynthia Citron | April 24, 2012
Mona Golabek, a third-generation concert pianist, concentrates on her mother’s story in The Pianist of Willesden Lane at the Geffen. As a child, her talented mother was shipped out of reach of the Nazis on the celebrated Kinderstransport. The play’s mingling of music and theater is familiar turf for the director, Hershey Felder. READ MORE
Busy Bets Malone is Thrice Upon a Mattress
by Samantha Mehlinger | April 20, 2012
Bets Malone is one of those rare actors who relies on the LA stage for most of her income. Since she was a kid in San Diego County, she has been employed in southern California musicals, with side trips to Milwaukee and New York. Now she’s Princess Winnifred — for the third time — in Cabrillo’s Once Upon a Mattress. READ MORE
How Premsrirat Developed Girl Most Likely To
by Amy Tofte | April 20, 2012
Michael Premsrirat’s The Girl Most Likely To is loosely based on the story of murdered transgendered teenager Gwen Araujo. It’s being introduced in an LATC production directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera — whose Playwrights’ Arena tries to provide LA stage writers with some honor in their home town. READ MORE
