PURE CONFIDENCE
Sunday, April 16th, 2017
Pure confidence is just one of the qualities distinguishing Simon Kato from his fellow Kentucky slaves in the year 1860. Another is the champion jockey’s talent for winning any race he sets his mind to, and these days what Simon wants to win (or more precisely to buy) is his freedom.
Welcome to the world of Carlyle Brown’s Pure Confidence, the latest from Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble and quite possibly the most purely entertaining (and elucidating and emotionally powerful) show in town.
(read more)
MACBETH: REVISITED
Sunday, April 9th, 2017
Shakespeare’s Scottish Play is back, in streamlined form, as The New American Theatre debuts Macbeth: Revisited, and if the newfangled title suggests a more radically rethought Macbeth that this one actually is, director/star Jack Stehlin and his company of actors do indeed deliver the bloody goods.
(read more)
CAT’S PAW
Monday, March 27th, 2017
Suspense dramas don’t much more edge-of-your-seat nor subject matter more hot-button than William Mastrosimone’s 1986 eco-terrorism thriller Cat’s Paw, updated by the author in 2011, more relevant than ever in 2017, and the terrific latest from Actors Co-op.
(read more)
STILL LIFE
Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
Questions of love and mortality propel Still Life, Alexander Dinelaris’s mostly compelling look at a couple of damaged souls with a shared belief in death’s imminent arrival, a Rogue Machine West Coast Premiere that proves most effective when centering on its two leads, stunningly portrayed by Laurie Okin and Lea Coco.
(read more)
33 VARIATIONS
Saturday, March 4th, 2017
Actors Co-op’s intimate revival of Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations is not only one of the year’s finest 99-seat productions, it is among the all-time best I’ve seen at the Co-op since first discovering the Hollywood theatrical gem over two decades ago.
(read more)
DIE, MOMMIE, DIE!
Friday, February 24th, 2017
Silver screen goddess Angela Arden lives again in Celebration Theatre’s hilariously over-the-top revival of Die, Mommie, Die!, Charles Busch’s affectionately acidic tribute to the bevy of fading female icons who made their last defiant stand in 1960s La La Land.
(read more)
DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD
Sunday, February 12th, 2017
Teens play teens, and winningly so, in Worst First Kiss Productions’ terrific intimate staging of Bert V. Royal’s hilarious, thought-provoking, ultimately transformative Dog Sees God: Confessions Of A Teenage Blockhead, a sold-out guest production this weekend only at Hollywood’s The Blank Theatre.
(read more)
PLASTICITY
Wednesday, February 1st, 2017
40something David Rosely lies comatose as his identical twin Grant and fiancée Kate find themselves in head-to-head combat over his right to live or die. If this sounds more like a Lifetime Original Movie than the year’s most spectacular one-man tour-de-force, think again. Solo-performance star Alex Lyras and his co-writing partner Robert McCaskill are back in Hollywood with their latest collaboration, the absolutely thrilling Plasticity, the very definition of must-see theater.
(read more)
Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
COPYRIGHT 2025 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY