MYSTERIOUS SKIN
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
Mysterious Skin, Scott Heim’s powerful 1995 novel about two teenagers with a shared secret almost too horrendous to talk about, is the kind of book that would seem unadaptable to screen or stage, if only for its scenes of child sexual abuse. Still, miracle of miracles, Mysterious Skin The Movie and Mysterious Skin The Play did end up written, produced, and presented to audience bravos, the former by film maker Gregg Araki and the latter by playwright Prince Gomolvilas. It’s Gomolvilas’ ingenious stage adaptation that now gets an absolutely stunning Los Angeles Premiere at Little Tokyo’s East West Players in a production easily the Asian-American theater’s finest non-musical since Durango, three years ago.
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LIVE NUDE GIRL
Monday, September 13th, 2010RECOMMENDED
Monica Himmel is Deanna, an actress in search of professional and personal fulfillment in Monica Himmelheber’s Live Nude Girl, now playing Mondays at Hollywood’s Lounge Theatre.
If Live Nude Girl has an autobiographical ring to it, it’s probably because Himmelheber is a writer in search of professional and personal fulfillment, and Himmel … Well, if you haven’t yet guessed, Himmelheber and Himmel are one and the same.
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NEIGHBORS
Saturday, September 4th, 2010
How would you feel if your worst nightmare—the family from hell—moved into the house next door to yours? This is precisely the dilemma faced by African American adjunct college professor Richard Patterson when the Crows take possession of the suburban tract home across the street from his in Neighbors, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ provocative though imperfect new comedy-drama now playing at the Matrix Theatre.
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UNDER MILK WOOD
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Most theater majors graduating from college and beginning their professional careers end up relying on the kindness of strangers (i.e. producers, directors, and casting directors) to get themselves cast in a play, TV show, commercial, or movie. Then there are the talented Cal State Fullerton grads who have taken matters into their own hands by forming Coeurage Theatre Company.
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OPUS
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
Tales of rock bands’ acrimonious breakups are the stuff of legend—think Smashing Pumpkins, The Doors, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, and of course The Beatles. Michael Hollinger’s Opus, now in its Los Angeles premiere at the Fountain Theatre, makes it clear that the world of classical music is no less volatile—and perhaps even more so.
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TOWN WITHOUT PITY
Monday, June 28th, 2010
In that brief period between the “Lollipop, Lollipop” 1950s and the British Invasion of 1964, teen idols like Dion, Ricky Nelson, and Bobby Vee were topping the charts with their blend of All American good looks and bubblegum pop.
And then there was singer-songwriter Gene Pitney.
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OKLAHOMA!
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Musical Theatre Of Los Angeles follows its much praised downsizings of Ragtime The Musical, West Side Story, and Cabaret with one of its biggest challenges yet, a 99-seat production of Rodgers And Hammerstein’s very first collaboration—1943’s Oklahoma!
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SHAHEED: THE DREAM AND DEATH OF BENAZIR BHUTTO
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Say the name Benazir Bhutto to a cross-section of Pakistanis and you’ll probably get as many different points of view as those expressed by the characters who people Anna Khaja’s Shaheed: The Dream And Death Of Benazir Bhutto.
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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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