DRIVE
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011RECOMMENDED
Drive, Laura Black’s World Premiere comedy-drama running Wednesdays at Open Fist Theatre, starts out as its title suggests with a road trip, its lead character Peggy (Jane Hajduk) traveling up the I-5 with a pair of longtime lesbian friends. Only her frequent asides to the audience cue us in to the fact that things may not be as clear-cut as they might seem on the surface.
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I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER
Friday, April 29th, 2011
As long as there are parents and children and their accompanying relationship ups-and-downs, Robert Anderson’s I Never Sang For My Father will remain every bit as relevant to our times as the latest World Premiere drama. For proof positive, do not fail to catch The New American Theatre’s superb revival at the McCadden Place Theatre.
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THE TEMPERAMENTALS
Friday, April 15th, 2011
Wikipedia calls the 1969 Stonewall riots “the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities” and “the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.”
Sorry Wikipedia, but you’ve got it wrong. The movement for gay rights actually began about two decades earlier right here in Los Angeles, the brainchild of a man named Harry Hay, and Jon Marans’ The Temperamentals sets the record straight (or gay, if you wish).
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THE SONNETEER
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Nick Salamone’s exquisite The Sonneteer has the look and feel of a theatrical classic, yet it is one that could only have been written by a contemporary playwright.
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THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA
Friday, April 1st, 2011
The love that dare not speak its name remains conspicuously unspoken in Horton Foote’s 1995 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Young Man From Atlanta, at long last getting its splendid Los Angeles Premiere, directed by August Viverito for the multi-award winning The Production Company.
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GIRLS TALK
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
What screenwriter/playwright/director Roger Kumble did to wealthy New York teens in the movie Cruel Intentions, he does now to four (Very) Real Housewives Of Bel Air in the hilariously venomous Girls Talk, a World Premiere production at the Lee Strasberg Theater.
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LOVE SUCKS
Sunday, March 20th, 2011
When Rob Mersola’s Backseats & Bathroom Stalls debuted in 2008, the pansexual sex farce had me laughing out loud through its eighty-five minutes of outrageous surprises. With an eleventh hour “I didn’t see that one coming” twist I called “the best since The Crying Game or The Sixth Sense,” the entire package ended up winning four Scenies—for Best Production Comedy (Small Theater), Best Direction (Comedy), Best Ensemble (Comedy), and Best Performance By A Featured Actress (Comedy). Popular demand brought the production back for a second run at the tiny Lyric Hyperion Theatre, after which, as most shows do, it vanished into nostalgic memory, but not before catching the attention of a group of producers who saw its potential for even greater success.
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GLORY DAYS
Saturday, March 19th, 2011
For many of us, the best days of our lives start after high school, and if anyone doubts this, a quick look at the thousands of It Gets Better videos available for online viewing on will correct that misperception. At the same time there are those like Will in the Broadway musical Glory Days, who may spend the rest of their post-high school lives remembering how much better things were back then.
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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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