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Hollywood Fringe Festival—“In the Valley of the Shadow” at Rogue Machine Theatre

The tension in Katherine Cortez’ new play, In the Valley of the Shadow, starts right at the top with an unsettling, chaotic soundscape. A young man named Rafi (Dylan Arnold) sits on a stool in a t-shirt with faded, red stains, gotten, perhaps, from careless painting or brushing up against rusted metal. Soon a policeman … Continue reading Hollywood Fringe Festival—“In the Valley of the Shadow” at Rogue Machine Theatre

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“Species Native to California” at Atwater Village Theatre

Dorothy Fortenberry’s new play, Species Native to California, produced by IAMA Theatre Company at Atwater Village Theatre, is as current as yesterday, or more to the point, last fall, when politics ruled the collective consciousness. She forges new meanings out of some old tropes. Loosely inspired by Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, the play also dips … Continue reading “Species Native to California” at Atwater Village Theatre

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“The Monster Builder” at South Coast Repertory

The title of Amy Freed’s The Monster Builder conjures up some classical allusions, certainly to Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder with its ego driven Solness, an architect who builds high and falls low, as well as, perhaps, to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, with another driven genius whose creation goes awry. The Monster Builder, however, is a … Continue reading “The Monster Builder” at South Coast Repertory