THE BROTHERS SIZE
Friday, June 20th, 2014RECOMMENDED
The Fountain Theatre follows its multiple award-winning 2012 production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s In The Red And Brown Water with the Los Angeles Premiere of the 33-year-old playwright’s The Brothers Size, and while the production is as beautifully acted as they get, I am a good deal less enamored with the second in McCraney’s Brother/Sister Plays trilogy than I was with the first.
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OTHER DESERT CITIES
Saturday, June 7th, 2014
Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, one of the best written, most thought-provoking, and ultimately most moving plays of the last decade, now arrives at Long Beach’s International City Theatre in a production that no lover of contemporary drama will want to miss.
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DEATH OF THE AUTHOR
Friday, May 30th, 2014
An accusation of plagiarism is but the opening shot in Death Of The Author, Steven Drukman’s academia-set World Premiere drama that unfolds like an edge-of-your-seat suspense-thriller from its “gotcha” hook to the unexpectedly satisfying way Drukman manages to tie the whole thing up some ninety minutes later.
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GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES
Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
A series of Gruesome Playground Injuries (and other assorted wounds, both external and internal) provide the ties that bind two wounded souls from ages eight to thirty-eight in Rajiv Joseph’s aptly-titled Gruesome Playground Injuries, an imperfect play turned into a powerful theatrical experience thanks to the kind of superb performances, direction, and design that have become the hallmark of Rogue Machine.
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A DELICATE BALANCE
Friday, May 16th, 2014
A superb, superbly-directed cast not only manage to survive an overlong, overly talky first act that perhaps no contemporary playwright could get away with, they go on to make theatrical magic as the Odyssey Theatre presents A Delicate Balance, Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musings on the nature of family and friendship—and the responsibilities that each entails.
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PASSION PLAY
Sunday, May 4th, 2014
Chance Theater challenges adventurous theatergoers and rewards them in equal measure with director Trevor Biship’s powerfully staged vision of Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play, three acts, two intermissions and all. Bows may not get taken till nearly three-and-a-half hours after curtain, but if you’re anything like this reviewer, you’ll find yourself enthralled from fanciful start to emotional finish.
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MACBETH
Saturday, April 26th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Elijah Alexander and Jules Willcox deliver powerhouse performances as Macbeth and his Lady as A Noise Within presents its latest excursion into Shakespeare territory. By contrast, Larry Carpenter’s direction proves considerably less impressive.
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FIVE MILE LAKE
Thursday, April 24th, 2014
Some plays grab you from their first moments and hold you in their grasp till the lights go out. Others sneak up on gradually until at a certain point you realize that you’ve been hooked … and hooked you stay till the final curtain. Rachel Bonds’ Five Mile Lake, the latest World Premiere from South Coast Repertory, falls into the latter category, and quite a small wonder of a play it is.
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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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