VALLEY OF THE HEART
Thursday, November 8th, 2018Epic in scope, educational in intent, and exquisite in design, Luis Valdez’s Valley Of The Heart examines America’s WWII internment of its Japanese-American citizens and their foreign-born family members in ways both familiar (the Broadway musical Allegiance played L.A. just ten months ago) and original (our narrator is Mexican-American). If only the Zoot Suit playwright proved more adept at creating authentic-sounding dialog. If only Valley Of The Heart didn’t so often feel like Wikipedia on stage.
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QUACK
Tuesday, October 30th, 2018
Allegations of medical advice turned fatal threaten to destroy TV’s most beloved physician in Eliza Clark’s Quack, a Center Theatre Group World Premiere that proves as hilarious as it is timely as it is button-pushing and thought-provoking.
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BABY EYES
Tuesday, October 16th, 2018Playwright Donald Jolly takes us back to 1950s Baltimore via Ancient Greece in Baby Eyes, a Playwrights’ Arena World Premiere that scores points for ambitious intentions if not for its campy mix of ancient myth, Greek tragedy, ’50s melodrama, and men in drag.
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EVERYTHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED
Monday, October 8th, 2018
Playwright Sarah B. Mantell rights centuries of wrong done Shakespeare’s Jessica, Lorenzo, and Shylock in The Theatre @ Boston Court’s adventurous, challenging Everything That Never Happened. But be forewarned and forearmed. The more familiar you are with its Merchant Of Venice protagonists, the greater the rewards of Mantell’s World Premiere romcom will be.
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SHOWPONY
Saturday, September 29th, 2018
Workplace tensions explode when the acquisition of an African-American-owned company by a major New York advertising agency adds racial sparks to already rampant sexism in Judith Leora’s scathingly funny World Premiere comedy Showpony, the latest from Burbank’s Victory Theatre Center.
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THE RESCUED
Saturday, September 22nd, 2018
Abuse survivors living in a group home would seem unlikely to inspire a comedy as sweet and touching and funny as Julie Marie Myatt’s The Rescued, but the Road Theatre Company’s latest World Premiere proves an utterly charming if still-a-bit-in-need-of-a polish gem.
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THE UNTRANSLATABLE SECRETS OF NIKKI CORONA
Friday, September 14th, 2018An intriguing premise and promising first act are sabotaged by a ridiculous post-intermission trek to the hereafter that bodes little to no regional theater afterlife for José Rivera’s The Untranslatable Secrets Of Nikki Corona, a Jo Bonney-directed Geffen Playhouse World Premiere.
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I GO SOMEWHERE ELSE
Monday, August 27th, 2018An emotionally abusive childhood provides the backstory to the celebration of survival that is Inda Craig-Galván’s memory play I Go Somewhere Else, a playwrights’ Arena World Premiere as superbly acted as it is strikingly designed. If only it were easier to figure out who’s who and what’s what.
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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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