THE BOTTOMING PROCESS
Friday, May 19th, 2023Nicholas Pilapil’s The Bottoming Process may start off as an engaging contemporary gay romcom in the same vein as Fire Island and Bros but what it ends up being is a playwright’s rancor-fueled diatribe.
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ON THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD
Wednesday, May 17th, 2023The performances are sparkling, the melodies are tuneful, and the show’s heart is in the right place, but without a plot, dialog, or interconnected characters to keep an audience spellbound, a nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time is much too long for a song cycle like Paulo K Tiról and Noam Shapiro’s On This Side Of The World.
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JACK CRADDOCK IS HAVING A PARTY
Saturday, May 13th, 2023
Actor Harrison Harvey proves himself an accomplished first-time playwright with Jack Craddock Is Having A Party, an incisive, insightful look at three Millennials and a Zoomer, ninety real-time minutes that start out bright and breezy, then gradually darken as lies get exposed and secrets revealed.
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SCINTILLA
Monday, April 24th, 2023
A grown son’s visit to his semi-estranged mother’s woodsy abode soon turns into a matter of life or death as a raging forest fire advances in their direction in Scintilla, Alessandro Camon’s gripping, suspenseful gut-puncher of a Road Theatre Company World Premiere.
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TORNADO
Saturday, April 22nd, 2023Three very different women comb the wreckage of a devastating natural disaster in Chris Cragin-Day’s Tornado, a largely engaging Actors Co-op World Premiere, but one that ties things up rather too abruptly to be entirely satisfying.
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MIDNIGHT SCREENING
Monday, April 17th, 2023
Take two or more complete strangers, trap them in a single location, and watch the fireworks fly. It’s a formula that worked for John Hughes in his 1985 classic The Breakfast Club and six years later in his not-so-classic Career Opportunities, and it’s a concept that proves every bit as effective at the Zephyr Theatre in Tim Schildberger’s World Premiere winner Midnight Screening.
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AVA: THE SECRET CONVERSATIONS
Saturday, April 15th, 2023
Elizabeth McGovern proves herself as accomplished a playwright as she is a gifted actress in Ava: The Secret Conversations, the Academy Award nominee’s fascinating look at the life and loves of screen goddess extraordinaire Ava Gardner.
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COLONIALISM IS TERRIBLE, BUT PHỞ IS DELICIOUS
Monday, April 10th, 2023
You don’t have to be a Vietnamese food fan to fall for Dustin H. Chinn’s culture clash comedy Colonialism is Terrible, But Phở is Delicious, now getting a tangy World Premiere production at Anaheim Hills’ Chance Theater.
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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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