You would be hard pressed to find me wanting to watch a Shakespeare production willingly. While I am painfully aware his works are considered the echelon of fine performance arts training, my distaste for it only grew as a vast majority of Shakespeare productions only utilize white actors for the meaningful parts.
Until now.
As in-person theatre is making more of a return throughout the United States and particularly in Los Angeles where I reside, there’s been a surge of plays that deal with traumatic topics of race when all or most of their cast members are that of Global Majority.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Celestial Events’”
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty takes viewers on a stylized journey through one of the most important times in the team’s legacy; the beginning of the 1980s. Known as the “Showtime Era,” this moment in NBA history changed the league immensely, revitalizing public interest in basketball, and introducing the world to the Lakers dynamo squad of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Norm Nixon. These star players ball alongside the rest of the packed Lakers team, coached by Jerry West, and led by Jerry Buss.
Continue reading “One on One with ‘Winning Time’ Stars John C. Reilly and Quincy Isaiah”
Every so often, when a new series is introduced, it is immediately compared to what people may consider to be the most related to that. This rings especially true for new sitcoms and comedies starring people of color. When NBC’s Grand Crew was first announced as a series surrounding the lives of a group of Black friends at a wine bar, there were so many comparisons to HBO’s Insecure and ABC’s Black-ish that it straight away was labeled as a “Black” show.
Continue reading “NBC’s ‘Grand Crew’ Doesn’t Want to be Compared to Other Shows”
Grab your purple and gold jerseys and a big tub of popcorn, it’s time to play ball. Or rather, it’s time to watch a bunch of other people play ball. Or… actually, it’s time to watch a guy buy a team of people who play ball. Point is, Lakers fans have a lot to be excited about.
Continue reading “It’s Showtime for HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’”
To be watching plays again inside a theatre after 18 months was certainly a strange experience considering that Poor Clare, now playing at the Echo Theater Company, was something I was supposed review right before the pandemic shut everything down and drastically altered our lives for many months to come. To finally be able to watch this play (written by Chiara Atik and directed by Alana Dietze) was made all the worthwhile in how utterly fantastic it was and how much its themes struck even harder after everything we experienced during this chaotic time.
Continue reading “Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Poor Clare’”
Since its debut on Netflix last month, the Korean survival drama Squid Game has become an obsession for everyone. With over 142 million households viewing the series, which helped Netflix add 4.38 million new subscribers, Squid Game‘s cultural phenomenon is not slowing down anytime soon.
Continue reading “Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Visited the Heart of Koreatown, Los Angeles”
Internet sensation Frankie Quinones arrives in a low rider with two of his most well known characters Creeper and Juanita in his first sketch and stand up comedy special on HBO in Entre Nos Presents: Frankie Quinones: Superhomies. Frankie takes us through musings and anecdotes of his life, his family, and the community he grew up in with a lovely celebration of how far he has come; however, he has a hard time withstanding the weight of sharing the stage with three strong personas.
Continue reading “‘Frankie Quinones: Superhomies’ is a Must-Watch Comedy Special Experiment”
2020 has been a hard year for the entire world and for some business owners, the complete loss of their livelihood. Poet/Rapper/Activist, Jason Chu, recently reached out to The Nerds of Color to tell us the story of one of his favorite Los Angeles Hot Spots and how his latest single “AYCE” shines the spotlights on ‘Hop Woo Chinese BBQ & Seafood Restaurant’ and why we should support this Chinatown institution.
Continue reading “Jason Chu Music Video Fights for Chinatown Restaurant”
They all have a million secrets. What’s so bad about this one? The St. Catherine’s drama club is struggling to put up its first school play – Sophocles’ “Antigone.” As if staging this tragedy in an all-girls Catholic school isn’t challenging enough, the cast’s beloved director ends up betraying them in an unforgivable way — and it’s almost opening night! The cast must figure out the right course of action, all while rehearsing a classic play about impossibly difficult choices. What is the right thing to do? And must the show go on?
Antigone, Presented By The Girls Of St. Catherine’s came with much eager anticipation. Presented by Sacred Fools (which put up a fantastic world premiere production of Gifted), written by Madhuri Shekar, and directed by Reena Dutt (who knocked it out of the park with her previously directed play Defenders), did the play met my expectation? More after the jump below:
Continue reading “Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Antigone, Presented By The Girls of St. Catherine’s’”
Earlier this month, I watched the opening premiere of West Adams at the Skylight Theatre Company and the first immediate thought I had when it finished was:
“Oh damn, this is Rich Liberal White People (And One Chinese Woman) Gone Crazy.”
I’ll definitely go more into this after the break as there were tremendous things to be praised for this show (acting, directing, and production design aspects) but at the core of it was a very troubling and, at times, a baffling story. Who was the intended audience? That aspect remains unclear but more on this later:
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘West Adams’”
Co-written with Edward Hong
What do you do when you’re born with a superpower but it’s really not that super? Especially if it’s a power that can accurately pinpoint the success or failure of any romantic relationship? Gifted, which is currently playing at the Sacred Fools till February 29, explores this question in a world not at all too different from our own. Written by Bob DeRosa and directed by Rebecca Larsen, the play takes a somewhat absurd premise into a truly in-depth and touching story that is a feast for the eyes, ears, and the heart.
In the realm of Los Angeles intimate theatre, efficiency and constraint are often unfortunately emphasized as budget limitations become the all-too familiar factor hovering over anyone who dreams of doing anything grandiose. So when I heard about a World War II play written by Cailin Maureen Harrison that was going to have its world premiere with the Pandelia’s Canary Yellow Company, I was intrigued because my burning question was: How exactly do you stage a WWII story in a black box setting and do so compellingly??
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Defenders’”
This marks my second NOC Theatre review since Hannah and the Dread Gazebo performed at the Fountain Theatre a few months back and it was here that my key interest in doing so was a commitment/announcement of sorts. For as much as I can, my focus will be to review plays & musicals with the qualifying criteria that the director, writer, and/or one of the main cast members (not supporting/ensemble but one of the leads) MUST be a non-white artist. The more PoC in the cast/production team, the better I’ll want to review it as I’ll give a glaring stink eye to all things tokenism.
Attention Los Angeles NOC’s! Do you love Stephen King? Do you love The Shining, or its sequel Doctor Sleep? Want to attend the red carpet premiere of Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep? If you said “Yes” to all three questions, read on to see how!
Continue reading “Win Tickets to the Redrum-Carpet World Premiere of ‘Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep’”
It’s not often we here at The Nerds of Color review theatre performances but once in a while, there comes a production so wonderful, magical, and full of heart that it must be told for all to know. That production is Hannah and the Dread Gazebo, performing in Los Angeles at the Fountain Theatre (in association with East West Players) from now till September 29.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Hannah and the Dread Gazebo’”
Step right up, step right up! The Deadlights are beckoning you to visit a piece of Derry in Hollywood, where Pennywise the Dancing Clown and Fun House of Surprises have set up shop from August 15 to September 8.
Continue reading “Derry Comes to LA: Photos from the ‘IT Chapter Two’ Experience!”
Pennywise has missed you! And we know you’ve missed Derry! And so, the geniuses at Gallery 1988 invite you to come back, through their exclusive IT: Chapter Two Art Exhibit!
Located in the heart of Los Angeles on Melrose, you may recall IT featured a gorgeous exhibit at 1988 back in the fall of 2017. In the grand tradition of that film, the Gallery has decided to feature another exhibit, just in time for you to witness “The End of IT” when IT: Chapter Two hits theaters September 6, 2019.
Take a look at some of the gorgeous pieces below featured at the gallery. And feel free to check out the exhibit at Gallery 1988 (7308 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046) this week!
Continue reading “Inside the ‘IT: Chapter Two’ Gallery 1988 Exhibit”
Attention Los Angeles NOC’s! Do you love Stephen King? Do you love IT? Want to attend the red carpet premiere of IT: Chapter Two? If you said “Yes” to all three questions, read on to see how!
It’s the first week of July and for the third time in a row, my fellow NOC writer Josephine Chang and myself will be back in the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center among thousands of others (last year had 110,000 attendees) from July 4 to July 7!
The Conjuring creep show is coming to your town with a new immersive touring experience: The Annabelle Comes Home Artifact Tour Truck experience!
Starting in LA and working its way down to Las Vegas before hitting Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, the haunted caravan of horrors simulates the Warrens’ Artifact Room from the hit Conjuring Universe films, ending with a terrifying encounter with the creepy doll herself, Annabelle!
Continue reading “Photos from the ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ Artifact Tour Truck”
Last week Fox, IW Group, and The Nerd Reactor teamed up to put on a pretty x-citing event to commemorate 19 years of the X-Men film legacy at Downtown Los Angeles’ Wisdome LA! The event featured three EDM musical acts, including up-and-coming rising star Wenzday, as well as some amazing fire dancers and, of course, the immersive art pieces that you could only see at the Wisdome. Check out the photos from the event below:
Continue reading “Photos from 20th Century Fox’s “COSMIX” X-Men Event!”
Admit it. You’ve wanted to join the X-Men since you were a kid! You’ve wanted the cool powers, the costumes, and the chance to be X-Traordinary (not that you’re not now, everyone’s special — but like, I mean superpowers special, dude)! Well now’s your chance to rock your X-Men best and party like a mutant!
Continue reading “Calling LA NOCs: Join Us for a ‘Dark Phoenix’ Party”
