MELT
Friday, June 12th, 2026A nerdy gay college theater kid and the school’s hunky hockey team captain take an instant (but definitely not permanent) dislike to each other when auditioning for a same-sex romantic two-hander in Shak Kanish’s promising new play Melt, playing this weekend only at the Lee Strasberg Institute’s Marilyn Monroe Theatre.
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ASCENT
Saturday, May 23rd, 2026
Henry Ong pays long overdue tribute to Qian Xuese, aka the “Father of Chinese Rocketry,” in Ascent, the much-missed playwright’s look back at not just one of the ugliest pages in American history but one with unmistakable parallels to today’s United States, brought to stunning life at the Skylight Theatre by director-dramaturg Diana Wyenn.
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MILLENNIALS ARE KILLING MUSICALS
Monday, May 4th, 2026There is so much talent on the Colony Theatre stage that it’s a shame they’re not starring in a better show than Nico Juber’s deceptively titled and almost certainly not New York-bound Millennials Are Killing Musicals.
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BLUE KISS
Monday, April 27th, 2026
All bets are off from the moment 17-year-old Susan arrives at 31-year-old Todd’s one-bedroom apartment for her first SAT tutoring session because if you think you know where things are going in Blue Kiss, Stephen Fife’s riveting two-hander now getting its World Premiere at the Ruskin Group Theatre, you’ve got another thing coming.
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FOR WANT OF A HORSE
Tuesday, April 21st, 2026
“Horsing around” takes on new meaning in Olivia Dufault’s For Want Of A Horse, Echo Theater Company’s provocative World Premiere look at a man with two loves, his wife Bonnie and a filly named Q-Tip.
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HELL MOUTH
Sunday, April 19th, 2026There’s some fine work being done on the Road Theatre stage, but unless you’re an art connoisseur, you’re likely to find the company’s latest World Premiere, Tom Jacobson’s Hell Mouth, too intellectual and esoteric to rank among the prolific playwright’s best.
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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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