THE VISIT
Tuesday, September 15th, 2026
How far would you go if someone offered you an outrageous sum of money on one condition? And if you were willing to go that far, how would you rationalize your decision to do the unthinkable? These are the questions at the heart of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, now being revived at the Pasadena Playhouse in a production so spectacular, you’d think you were seeing it on Broadway.
(read more)
THE TRAIL TO OREGON
Saturday, September 12th, 2026
Western Expansion has rarely been as fraught with fun, frolic, and fantasy (not to mention music, dance, and audience participation) as it is in The Trail To Oregon!, the irresistibly entertaining guest production now rib-tickling audiences at the Wisteria Theatre.
(read more)
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
Thursday, September 10th, 2026
Death-defying aerial performances and breathtaking acrobatic feats, stunning animal puppetry, and forbidden love at its most forbidden, Water For Elephants, now dazzling Pantages Theatre audiences, has them all.
(read more)
THE PEOPLE OF POMPEII
Monday, September 7th, 2026
All bets are off when a sextet of native and transplanted Topangans get together for a couples’ dinner in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire in Bernardo Cubría’s The People Of Pompeii, as laugh-out-loud funny as it is deeply perceptive of the political, economic, and social divides that polarize us and the humanity that binds us together.
(read more)
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.
(read more)
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Friday, September 4th, 2026
Even last-minute improvised emergency lighting couldn’t dim the opening night excitement at Altadena Music Theatre’s all-around fabulous open-air revival of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s Little Shop Of Horrors.
(read more)
AUGUST WILSON’S MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
My mind may have wandered during the second half of Act One of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but when all is said and done, it’s a pretty darn spectacular season opener for A Noise Within.
(read more)
PERICLES
Sunday, August 30th, 2026
Ten strangers seeking refuge from a storm in a disaster relief center find much in common with their displaced Shakespearean counterparts in Boston Court Pasadena’s thrillingly inventive staging of Ellen McLaughlin’s modern verse translation of Pericles.
(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 2026 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY