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 ARSONISTS
Saturday, September 5th, 2026
Max Frisch’s 1950s absurdist gem The Arsonists gets a strikingly staged and marvelously performed 21st-century update at the Skylight Theatre that welcomes to the L.A. theater scene an exciting new collective appropriately called The Firebugs.
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F**KING STRANGERS
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026
Erik Patterson, L.A.’s master of “I didn’t see that coming” plot twists, is back at Echo Theater with his sexiest and most provocative play in years, the twisty-turny, edge-of-your-seat, and very sexy F**king Strangers.
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IF/THEN
Monday, July 13th, 2026
The production itself is a mixed bag, but at the very least Chromolume Theatre’s black-box staging of the Broadway musical If/Then gives L.A. audiences the chance to rediscover a show that didn’t deserve to vanish from sight after its National Tour played the Pantages ten years ago.
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THE GREAT CLOWN BANK SHOW
Monday, July 6th, 2026
Though Open Fist Theatre Company scores an “A+” for adventurousness, the often entertaining “immersive theater extravaganza” that is Hank Jacobs’ The Great Clown Bank Show proves somewhat of a hit-or-miss enterprise.
MAMMA MIA!
Thursday, June 25th, 2026
Mamma Mia!, the jukebox musical that started it all, has returned to the Ahmanson Theatre, its 25th-Anniversary Tour treating the Broadway mega-smash’s mega-multitude of fans to not only two dozen of ABBA’s Greatest Hits but a much-needed feel-good night or matinee of musical theater enchantment.
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MY ONE WOMAN SHOW (THE SEARCH FOR A TRUTHFUL MOMENT)
Saturday, June 6th, 2026
I’ve reviewed only 6 autobiographical solo shows over the past 5 years but acclaimed L.A. theater multi-hyphenate Stefan Marks’s exceptional My One Woman Show: The Search For A Truthful Moment has made it a very lucky 7.
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SOUL SACRIFICE
Monday, June 1st, 2026A 9-year-old Mexican American begins her journey towards adulthood in Boyle Heights circa 1970 in Consuelo G. Flores’s powerful autobiographical family drama Soul Sacrifice, a solid CASA 0101 World Premiere production that would be even better with a child actress in its leading role.
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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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