Springtime on Spring Street brings authentic LA stories — Cornerstone Theater’s production of Lisa Loomer’s Café Vida, inspired by the saga of the Homegirl Cafe, and eight short plays at Company of Angels across the street, set during the riots two decades ago. Plus The Girl Most Likely To from Playwrights’ Arena. READ MORE
Springtime in LA, at Café Vida and on April 29, 1992
by Don Shirley | May 7, 2012
Bedfellows Leads a Pack of Plays About Politics
by Don Shirley | April 30, 2012
It’s election year, so it’s time for plenty of plays about politics. Chuck Rose’s Bedfellows leads the pack by letting us see the potential as well as the flaws within its California gubernatorial candidate. The Fix and Early and Often are content to make fun, while The Bewildered Herd examines a consultant instead of a politician. READ MORE
Young Women Come of Age in Three Musicals. A Vietnamese American Plays Kim in Miss Saigon
by Don Shirley | April 23, 2012
Three young women enter adulthood in musicals that are otherwise very different — Cloudlands at South Coast Rep, Dames at Sea at the Colony and Miss Saigon at La Mirada. In Miss Saigon, Jacqueline Nguyen is the first Vietnamese American to play the role of Kim. We talk to her about how her mother’s journey parallels that of Kim. READ MORE
Class Acts — But Where’s LA in This Mix?
by Don Shirley | April 16, 2012
The subject of class distinctions looms large in this election year. Take a look at Good People, The Prince of Atlantis, Billy Elliot, Working, even Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Why are so many of these set in New England and none of them in LA? READ MORE
Surprising Stats From Equity About LA Theaters. Lean Forward and Pay Attention to Counting New Beans.
by Don Shirley | April 9, 2012
99-Seat Plan productions made up “only” 58% of the Equity-related productions in Greater LA in 2011. The others were on Equity contracts – something to think about as Equity considers changing the plan. Plus a few thoughts on the book Counting New Beans and its interviews with three LA artistic directors. READ MORE
Bankrupt at the Old Bank. Felder Sings. ’60s Fantasias.
by Don Shirley | April 2, 2012
The Vault: Bankrupt is almost site-specific, located inside LATC’s old bank building, produced by an organization that has had financial problems of its own. Hershey Felder has Lincoln‘s doctor singing — and competing with a 45-piece orchestra. The ’60s trips depicted in 1969 and The Magic Bullet Theory raise questions about real-life characters. READ MORE
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two New Jukebox Musicals With Trouser Roles
by Don Shirley | March 26, 2012
The Mike Daisey flap isn’t just for the East Coast — it raises questions about whether or when any producer of non-fictional theater should vet the accuracy of the text. Plus a look at two new jukebox musicals with trouser roles — Hello! My Baby at the Rubicon and Two Gentlemen of Chicago at the Falcon. READ MORE
American Idiot No, Spring (Re-)Awakening Yes
by Don Shirley | March 19, 2012
American Idiot — the musical as opposed to the Green Day album — owes a lot to its predecessor Spring Awakening, but unfortunately American Idiot isn’t nearly as good. The evidence is in the touring American Idiot at the Ahmanson Theatre and in the first production of Spring Awakening in a small LA theater. READ MORE
The History Plays, Starting With American Night
by Don Shirley | March 12, 2012
By flexing his imagination while also connecting his fantasies to a firm narrative base, Richard Montoya makes history and the immigration experience come alive in his American Night at the Kirk Douglas. It’s the best Culture Clash-related show yet. It’s much better than a couple, smaller plays that also touch on American history. Meanwhile, Independent Shakespeare takes its Hamlet to its much smaller studio and charges for it. READ MORE
Antony and Cleopatra and Chekhov Three Ways
by Don Shirley | March 5, 2012
Antony and Cleopatra is the big new production in A Noise Within’s new theater that we’ve been waiting for. Are you enjoying the Chekhov festival — the one that includes Theatre Movement Bazaar’s adaptation of a Chekhov short story in The Treatment, Tanya Saracho’s adaptation of The Cherry Orchard in El Nogalar and Antaeus’ new Seagull? READ MORE
The Past Is a Grotesque Animal — in Argentina and in The Jacksonian
by Don Shirley | February 27, 2012
The turntable in Mariano Pensotti’s The Past Is a Grotesque Animal keeps revolving during the two hours’ running time of these four only loosely connected stories about Argentinians between 1999 and 2009. The run at REDCAT was too short — someone should bring this show back to LA. Beth Henley’s The Jacksonian is a beautifully written and staged miniature, but why couldn’t it have been bigger? READ MORE
Reprise’s Role — Why Isn’t It More Precise? Sarah’s War and Other Plays About Israelis and Palestinians.
by Don Shirley | February 21, 2012
Reprise is in trouble. Is its mission not clear enough? Should it be just like other musical theater companies or should it continue to produce shows that can’t be seen elsewhere?…Valerie Dillman’s Sarah’s War is a skillfully layered fictionalization of the Rachel Corrie story that dramatizes a variety of perspectives. Plus brief glances at a couple other production that examine the Israeli/Palestinian cauldron. READ MORE
