SPACE
Saturday, July 30th, 2016
Disproving the oft-suggested notion that a playwright should never direct his own work, Stefan Marks not only scores a double bulls-eye at the Stella Adler; in never leaving the stage as Space’s riveting protagonist, the Ovation Award-winning director-writer-actor proves himself a bona fide triple-threat in this brain-teasing dazzler of a play.
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ONE OF THE NICE ONES
Tuesday, July 19th, 2016
Expect the unexpected—and then some—in Erik Patterson’s One Of The Nice Ones, an edge-of-your-seat dark comedy so filled with “I didn’t see that coming” twists that it’s almost impossible to review without revealing a spoiler or two, but I’ll do my best, while at the same time still providing a taste of the latest from one of L.A.’s most exciting contemporary playwrights now making his Echo Theater Company debut.
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CHURCH & STATE
Sunday, July 3rd, 2016
A North Carolina senator’s “Road To Damascus” conversion from staunch 2nd Amendment advocate to gun control champion may sound about as improbable as Barbara Boxer suddenly turning pro-life, but it makes for powerful, thought-provoking comedy (that’s right, comedy) in Jason Odell Williams’ Church & State, now being given a sensationally acted and directed NNPN Rolling World Premiere* by Skylight Theatre Company.
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THE ARMADILLO NECKTIE
Monday, June 27th, 2016
From the moment the lights go up on a mobile command center somewhere in the Iraqi desert where a hooded man finds himself strapped to a chair, a pair of jumper cables attached to his nuts by a military officer whose first words are “Whatsup, mothafucka?” you know you’re no longer at your grandparents’ Lonny Chapman Theatre as The Group Rep debuts Gus Krieger’s outrageously dark, outrageously foul-mouthed, outrageously funny The Armadillo Necktie.
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BIG SKY
Thursday, June 16th, 2016
Neil Simon meets Euripides in Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros’s Big Sky, a Geffen Playhouse World Premiere that ends up far more than simply the one-liner-packed comedic romp its first act would lead you to expect.
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A THORN IN THE FAMILY PAW
Monday, June 13th, 2016
Life’s many obstacles prove no match for the ties that bind—promises, responsibilities, guilt, laughter, and above all love—in Garry Michael Kluger’s heart-and-humor-filled A Thorn In The Family Paw, a Theatre West World Premiere that already feels like a contemporary classic.
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THE BOY WHO DANCED ON AIR
Monday, May 16th, 2016
As the centuries-old Afghan tradition of Bacha Bazi (i.e. selling boys from poor families to wealthy masters to serve as their private entertainment) continues well into the present day, a couple of teenage dancers fall into first love in Tim Rosser and Charlie Sohne’s gorgeous and powerful The Boy Who Danced On Air, the latest World Premiere musical from San Diego’s Diversionary Theatre.
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THE END TIMES
Saturday, April 23rd, 2016
A university student raised in a religious cult finds himself beginning to doubt his lifelong beliefs in Jesse Mu-En Shao’s World Premiere drama The End Times, an engrossing, thought-provoking first collaboration between Skylight Theatre Company and Playwrights’ Arena.
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