Doug Haverty’s play, In My Mind’s Eye, takes place in San Jose, California between 1968 and 1981. I lived in San Jose as a boy part of that time. I have vivid memories of those years. In My Mind’s Eye is the true tale of a young woman, legally blind, who becomes a school teacher, … Continue reading “In My Mind’s Eye” at The Group Rep
Lee Blessing is a prolific, award winning and award nominated playwright. In my relatively short time as a Southern California theatre critic, I have seen and commented on three of his plays and am now adding a fourth. I have found his works to be stimulating, thought provoking and entertaining, about as much as anyone … Continue reading “A Body of Water” at Actors Co-op
Sometimes an actor is onstage when the house opens. Sometimes they are hidden, sometimes they are right down front in plain view. In the Loft Ensemble’s production of Art is Useless When You’re Being Mauled by a Bear, a new play by Alisa Tangredi, a woman in dim light (Jennifer Christina Derosa on the evening … Continue reading “Art is Useless When You’re Being Mauled by a Bear” at Loft Ensemble
There is a certain something about the Upper West Side of Manhattan, especially Riverside Drive with that ribbon of park, the Hudson flowing downstream, and the view of the New Jersey Palisades across the river. If you happen to live in a Riverside Drive apartment and are fortunate enough to have that river view, it … Continue reading “Between Riverside and Crazy” at The Fountain Theatre
As much a searing drama as a vocal concert, Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill is the story of Billie Holiday’s life, a life filled with the joy of music and the pain of living in a segregated society that scorned and punished black people for the sin of their very existence. … Continue reading “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill”at International City Theatre
Mitchell Bisschop had a hit with his solo performance of Pit of Goblins in this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival. Pit of Goblins has crawled out of that goblin-esque pit for a short run at The Complex’s Ruby Theatre. The show is not a rollicking comedy, nor is it quite a blood and guts horror scare. … Continue reading “Pit of Goblins” at The Complex (Ruby Stage)
The news out of the Middle East has been bad for a very long time now. It has been a hot bed of war and conflict since biblical times, with empires rising and falling, people enslaved, and tyrants in command. Paradoxically, it also happens to be the cradle of civilization—agriculture, writing, architecture, poetry, political organization, … Continue reading “Operation Ajax” at Little Fish Theatre
As I was absorbing Stephanie Alison Walker’s new play, The Abuelas, a song burbled up in my fevered brain. It was “Desaparecido,” from Spanish singer-songwriter Manu Chao’s debut album, Clandestino. Back in the miserable Seventies, a brutal military junta took power in Argentina. Anyone who opposed this coup were told “to make themselves invisible, or … Continue reading “The Abuelas” at Antaeus Theatre Company
The opening night audience for Daniel Pearle’s revised version of his 2013 play, A Kid Like Jake, was enthusiastic and laughed a lot. Although there is humor in the play, as all great drama needs comic relief (Macbeth’s drunken Porter; Hamlet’s Grave Digger), this production quickly sucked me into the trying problems of an upwardly-mobile … Continue reading “A Kid Like Jake” at IAMA Theatre Company
The Edgar Allan Show won my heart the moment the house opened and I entered into the snug little Two Roads Theatre in Studio City. There on stage a vigorous young woman (Nika H. Mabson) was tapping her heart out with shuffle-hop-step-fa-lap-ball-changes and a delightful array of many other well-known terpsichorean routines. In my enthusiasm, … Continue reading “The Edgar Allan Show” at The Two Roads Theatre
Paul Myrvold's Theatre Notes 