A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Ascent’

May 11, 2026 Edward Hong

Henry Ong‘s final play Ascent, now having its world premiere at the Skylight Theatre Company, is an urgently relevant production from Plain Wood Productions based on a true story about Chinese aerospace engineer Qian Xuesen. Though the play’s pacing is bogged down by far too many short scenes coupled with laborious scene transitions and the second half of Qian Xuesen‘s fascinatingly complex life in China unfortunately omitted, it has tremendous heart that is filled with incredible performances from their ensemble cast.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Hungry Ghost’

August 31, 2023August 31, 2023 Edward Hong

Written by Lisa Sanaye Dring and directed by Jessica Hanna, the world premiere of Hungry Ghost at the Skylight Theatre Company is easily one of the best Los Angeles plays of 2023 with some of the most innovative acting, stage, and lighting design I’ve seen this year.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘West Adams’

February 24, 2020February 25, 2020 Edward Hong

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’”