Blake, Charles before disciples Photo by John Szura

Though the gospels tell us of the apostle doubting Thomas; for the sake of drama, it is actually more interesting to contemplate Judas, not so much as a betrayer of Jesus than as a person who also had doubts about the divinity of Christ as well as the inchoate Christian movement. What's more, it is a challenge to the conscience to be asked to re-consider Judas as a sympathetic... FULL STORY

Mask

Glendening, Read Photo by Ed Krieger

By Joseph N. Feinstein

The book by Anna Hamilton Phelan, music by Barry Mann, lyrics by Cynthia Weil, and the direction of Richard Maltby, Jr. all work together beautifully to create a world premiere musical, Mask, that will knock your socks off. Stirring music, clever lyrics and vibrant performances by a young, energetic cast of twenty make the former Universal hit movie, Mask, into an engaging, live-wire musical... FULL STORY

Culture Clash in AmeriCCa

Salinas, Montoya, Siguenza Photo by Henry DiRocco

By Ben Miles

Culture Clash has returned to The OC. This statement isn't an assessment of social tensions behind the Orange Curtain. Rather, Culture Clash is the name of the three-man performance troupe that specializes in so-called site-specific theater. For 15-years the trio--Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza--has been generating performances powered by the local ethos, ethnicities, and idiosyncrasies of various American population centers... FULL STORY

No Child...

Sun Photo by Craig Schwartz

By Ben Miles

No Child… is Nilaja Sun's awarding-winning, solo show. Written and performed by Sun, this multi-character monodrama is a theatrical account of Sun's experience as a "teaching artist." T.A. status is an actual payroll designation made by the New York City schools. Teaching artists are brought into classes to directly convey their creative skills to students. The extensive learning interaction typically culminates... FULL STORY

In the Wings

Sroka, Reid, Hartley, Schaub, Hager Photo by Ed Krieger

By Joseph N. Feinstein

Using the play-within-a-play technique, Jerry Sroka's In The Wings opened to a packed crowd at the Whitefire Theater on April 4 for a five week run. Stars Annette Reid as Julie and Daniel Hagan as Sam, the director, carry the imprint of the semi-autobiographical play's infertility theme to its logical conclusion... FULL STORY

Dancing in the Dark

Leavel, Heller Photo by Craig Schwartz

By January Riddle

You know it’s going to be a good night when the overture makes you think of Fred Astaire, and you squirm in your seat for wanting to leap up and dance in the aisles. And so it was. The pit orchestra, directed by Don York, was enthusiastic and engaging. Scenic Designer John Lee Beatty’s gauzy, brightly-hued curtains alternated easily with simple furniture to facilitate an easy mood and quick set changes. David Woolard’s clever costumes included the realistic, the amusing, and the hilarious. Gary Griffin’s skilled direction brought out the best of a wonderful cast, and Warren Carlyle’s choreography made dancers... FULL STORY

Strauss Meets Frankenstein

York and Company Photo by Keith Ian Polakoff

By Michael Van Duzer

Long Beach Opera continues its iconoclastic season in miniature with Strauss Meets Frankenstein.The production is not a long-lost Richard Strauss opera based on Mary Shelley's work but a combination of two shorter, unrelated pieces. A sort of post-modern Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci pairing for the 21st Century--although it’s hard to consider either piece to be truly operatic in scope... FULL STORY

Crime and Punishment

Friedline, Hunter, Witten Photo by Ed Krieger

By Joseph N. Feinstein

If you've ever read Dostoyevsky's intense, bewitching book, Crime and Punishment, you will remember the journey into Raskolnikov's mind. His conscience, thoughts, and guilts return, again and again, as the master storyteller digs a tunnel between the reader and the protagonist, attempting to help us understand the reasons... FULL STORY

Orange Lemon Egg Canary

Newman, Schneider Photo by Ed Krieger

By Joseph N. Feinstein

Rinne Groff has come up with a "Great" idea: Brett Schneider has just the right look, feel, and voice to become "Great." Somehow, the Orange Lemon Egg Canary play becomes one rather insipid exercise and leaves its audience sitting in suspended animation, waiting...waiting... FULL STORY

Alice-By-The-Fire

Wigell, Mills Photo by Keith Stevenson

By Ben Miles

Alice By-The-Fire is a play that just won't grow up. Still staged in three-acts, with the traditional two ten-minute intermissions, the show is mandated by its structure and essential elements to remain forever as it was when initially scripted, in 1905, by J.M. Barrie. It was in the previous year that Barrie created his master-fantasy, Peter Pan. Through its various theatrical and cinematic permutations, Pan has become a perennial international favorite, and Barrie has... FULL STORY

Carnage

Zsebe, Porter, Foster, Adeli Photo by Jean-Louis Darville

By Joseph N. Feinstein

The American Heritage Dictionary defines carnage as "Massive slaughter, as in war; massacre." So how do you make a play entitled Carnage into a comedy? If you're Adam Simon, you team up with Tim Robbins, you have Beth Milles to direct, and V.J. Foster as your lead (Rev. Cotton Slocum). That creates something very special, touching, and, yes, humorous. The play returns to the Actor's Gang Theatre in Culver City after a generation's hiatus, the same as it was, except for some minor alterations in the first ten minutes. The dozen stalwarts in the cast bounce... FULL STORY

The Brig

Herbert, Greer, Nash Photo by Enci

By Ben Miles

Playwright Kenneth H. Brown has created a unique drama. It's an autobiographical footnote from his experience as a United States Marine. But that's not what distinguishes the play. What does make The Brig remarkable is that Brown has crafted visceral and vivid theater out of the brutal monotony of a military stockade. It's March, 1957. In Japan, at the base of Mount Fujiyama, sits a U.S. Marine Corps... FULL STORY

1776

Stephenson, Lederman Photo by Ed Krieger

By Joseph N. Feinstein

As a former American History teacher, all I thought about while watching the fabulous performance of 1776 at the Crossley Theatre was how absolutely important it would be for any and every high school student to see this show in order to understand the excruciating pain and difficulty it took to create our country's independence. With an ensemble of thirty actors ... FULL STORY

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune

Cooper, Cooper

By Joseph N. Feinstein

The search for love may well be the most popular theme in the arts. And the 1987 Terrence McNally play, now in revival at the Hudson Mainstage, starring Lisa Lee Cooper and Darin Cooper (unrelated), and directed by Silas Weir Mitchell, offers two hours of wisdom, pathos, and hilarity while portraying that search.