There is a special kind of joy to be had when I learn about a theatre company for the first time mixed with a certain kind of strange embarrassment when that said theatre company has been around for over thirty years. This is the case with The Robey Theatre Company, which was organized in 1994 and co-founded by Ben Guillory and Danny Glover.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Last Night at Mikell’s’”
I’ve only seen two productions directed by Zi Alikhan, the first being Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts just two months back which riffed Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie into a wild and excellent adventure. Now, with the world premiere of Keiko Green‘s You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! at the South Coast Repertory, I’ll make it a point in the future to watch any play he will direct as well as any play written by Green because it’s just that good.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!’”
Normally I hate, haaaaaate watching trauma films of global majority folks because I fully believe that we are more than our tragedies and have many stories of joy, silliness, and delight within us. But the world, particularly the western world, still cannot comprehend the tragedies continuously endured by the Palestinian people.
Continue reading “‘The Teacher’ is an Invaluable and Stirring Drama of Occupied Palestine”
Echo Theater Company presents the The Enabler Monologues, a searing, darkly comedic, two-night-only theatrical protest event that exposes the enablers of fascism — the politicians, billionaires, media moguls and power players who paved the way for Trump’s return.
Continue reading “‘The Enabler Monologues’ is a Two-Night Only Theatrical Protest Event”
What exactly happened during the student protests at Columbia University last year and similar universities in the United States and worldwide? What were they fighting for? Was it as truly antisemitic as the Democratic Party, mainstream media, and now the MAGA-led Trump administration say it was?
Continue reading “‘The Encampments’ is an Essential Documentary for the Ages”
With the current genocide of the Palestinian people and an intense global scrutiny of the Israeli government’s ongoing war crimes, one of the western responses to that is to show antisemitism is also rapidly on the rise.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘One Jewish Boy’”
PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share the lineup for Best of PlayGround(LA) ‘25.
Continue reading “PlayGround Presents Season 13 ‘Best of PlayGround-LA’”
You can’t knock the ambition of All Roads Theatre Company as they launch their first production of 2025 in a big way with the world premiere of One For My Baby for a very short two week engagement at the El Portal Theatre. But clocking in at over three hours, 24 songs, and 10 lead characters, this overly stuffy and long musical could use some serious plot focusing and trimming before it is “Broadway bound.”
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘One For My Baby’”
I’m a huge fan of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, and if there’s one area of North American filmmaking I hardly see many talents of Asian descent in, it’s in genre. But with the creature body thriller Last Call now just having its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Midnight Short Program on Sunday, March 9, writer & director Winnie Cheung created one hell of a mark as a visionary filmmaker to look out for with this incredible short film that is an homage to David Cronenberg, David Lynch, and Wong Kar-wai while creating an indelible unique stamp of her own.
Continue reading “Winnie Cheung Creates an Unforgettable Creature Thriller with ‘Last Call’”
Suzan-Lori Parks‘ Topdog/Underdog is a riveting play that is as powerful and vibrant now as it was when it premiered off-Broadway back in 2001. It is a play much deserved in its accolades with the work winning the 2002 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Times calling it “The Greatest American Play of the Past 25 Years.”
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Topdog/Underdog’”
John Anthony Loffredo’s Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts, which just had its world premiere at Boston Court Pasadena, is an extraordinary piece of theatre unlike any other where not only does it take the storyline of Tennessee Williams‘ The Glass Menagerie and completely riff off from it in wildly provocative ways, but makes a very compelling case that if a theatre company must depend on putting up classic works over and over again, why not present a thoroughly refreshing and updated take on it?
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts’”
L.A.’s Latino Theater Company will celebrate its 40th Anniversary in 2025 with an ambitious, culturally diverse season of plays, tours and other events. Founded in 1985, Latino Theater Company has operated the City of Los Angeles-owned Los Angeles Theatre Center, housed in a former bank building in Downtown’s historic core, since 2006.
Continue reading “Latino Theater Company Announces 40th Anniversary Season”
The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival will take place March 27 to March 30 with the overall theme of the festival this year being STRONGER TOGETHER. This year marks the theatre festival’s 32 years of producing over 700 extraordinary multicultural and multidisciplinary solo performers from around the globe.
Continue reading “Celebrating the 2025 Awardees for the 32nd Annual Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival”
Once in a while, you come across a play that has a message so important that you wish to see it succeed higher in future productions as its current iteration needs a bit more work. That is the case for Laura Shamas’ Four Women in Red, which had its world premiere at the The Victory Theatre Center.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Four Women in Red’”
Ever since the world premiere of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band at the South Coast Repertory back in 2018, there have been nothing but hype and rave reviews as it quickly became an immensely successful and popular production that had many others take place around the United States, with its most significant ones being at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Signature Theatre in New York.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Cambodian Rock Band’”
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child finally arrives in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, and for what I watched at opening night yesterday, the jaw-dropping wonder of seeing the incredible special effects and experiencing the fantastic soundtrack by Imogen Heap cover up the over-the-top forced acting from most of the main cast and the rushed blitz pace of the first act.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’”
I do have a sincere (and most likely minority) belief that Shakespeare plays need to be retired as more often than not, it just does not need to be done. It is however an often safe and boring choice for many PWI theatres and a guarantee to hire mostly white actors dishing out their favorite monologues to varying amounts of success.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Macbeth’”
The satirical farce genre isn’t commonly utilized for global majority stories but it is always most welcome to see. Such is the case for the world premiere of Larissa FastHorse‘s Fake It Until You Make It at the Center Theatre Group (in association with Arena Stage) which sets its story in the Indigenous non-profit sector in the most wacky manner. While it is occasionally rough and uneven in terms of the comedic writing, the play is overall a romping good time that has some wonderful physical comedy moments to be remembered for.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Fake It Until You Make It’”
The West Coast premiere of Sanaz Toossi‘s Wish You Were Here at South Coast Repertory is a resounding play with its stunning writing, its beautiful simplicity & grace from director Mina Morita, and the incredible ensemble cast who have such endearing chemistry with each other.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Wish You Were Here’”
One of my biggest goals for the 2025 year is highlighting and amplifying more works of art by Palestinian artists around the world.
Continue reading “World Premiere of Palestinian American Play ‘The Cave’ at A Red Orchid Theatre”
On the day before Christmas, I present to you all a rather intriguing horror short film I caught from filmmaker Ramone Menon. As a kid, Menon always thought the birth of Jesus must have been terrifying so he decided to make a horror film about it.
Continue reading “Ramone Menon’s ‘Virgin’ Infuses Horror in the Birth of Jesus”
I was about a week old when I learned there was a staged musical version of the 1996 Disney animated classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame (this still ranks as the best Disney animated film opening of all time, with The Lion King being a close tie) so when I learned that a 99-seat theatre company called CASA 0101 was going to mount their own production of it with a largely Latino cast, I knew I had to check it out.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’”
I’ve come to realize that the longer I’ve been reviewing theatre, the more exasperated I get in reviewing works written by dead white men when there are so many incredible and undiscovered global majority artists out there.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’”