A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026
A pair of single fathers from mirror-opposite backgrounds bond against all odds over parenthood, financial challenges, and a shared “specific kind of sadness” in Samuel D. Hunter’s deeply moving two-hander, A Case For The Existence Of God, the fifth of Hunter’s 15 “Idaho Plays” to get a pitch-perfect Los Angeles Premiere at Rogue Machine Theatre.
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MARISOL
Saturday, September 19th, 2026
I can’t fault the talent that’s gone into bringing Open Fist Theatre’s revival of José Rivera’s Obie-winning Marisol to nightmarish life, but I found the Puerto Rican playwright’s vision of a dystopian New York City under siege almost as torturous to sit through as the unrelenting, apocalyptic horrors its titular heroine has to endure in scene after excruciating scene.
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THE VISIT
Tuesday, September 15th, 2026
How far would you go if someone offered you an outrageous sum of money on one condition? And if you were willing to go that far, how would you rationalize your decision to do the unthinkable? These are the questions at the heart of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, now being revived at the Pasadena Playhouse in a production so spectacular, you’d think you were seeing it on Broadway.
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AUGUST WILSON’S MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
My mind may have wandered during the second half of Act One of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but when all is said and done, it’s a pretty darn spectacular season opener for A Noise Within.
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CONSCIENCE
Saturday, August 29th, 2026
Decades before lies, chaos, fear, personal attacks, intimidation, and bullying reigned supreme in Washington DC, a senator named Joseph McCarthy set it all in motion by waging war against suspected communists and Senator Margaret Chase Smith in Conscience, Joe DiPietro’s fascinating look back at how much times haven’t changed since 1950.
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GREEN CORRIDORS
Tuesday, August 25th, 2026
Natalka Vorozhbyt’s Green Corridors, a series of vignettes revolving around four Ukrainian women fleeing their war-torn land, works better as a showcase for City Garage’s unique style and sensibility than as a play for those who prefer more traditional linear realism to existential dreamscape theater.
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ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
Monday, August 24th, 2026
Tests that reveal contaminated water in the local hot springs pose an existential threat to townspeople whose livelihoods depend on tourist dollars in Bart DeLorenzo’s electrifying contemporary adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s ahead-of-its-times 1882 shocker Enemy Of The People.
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HOW HIGH THE MOON
Sunday, August 2nd, 2026
If you think the 1950s were all The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It To Beaver, then you haven’t met the the Butlers and Thompsons of Van Nuys, whose hornet’s nest of secrets and lies come to light over the course of an explosively entertaining Fourth Of July weekend in Barbara Nell Beery’s How High The Moon.
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Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
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