Josh BaxtSan Diego,
The immigrant experience is a storied piece of American lore: huddled masses, etc. Wave after wave have come to the U.S., many recently from the Middle East. Writ large, they arrive and gradually adjust to American life. But what ...
Emily S. Mendel
It’s no wonder that William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is the most-produced of his tragedies. “The Scottish play” has all the elements that have appealed to broad audiences for over four hundred years: weird witches, exciting battles, blind ambition, and violent ...
Emily S. MendelSan Francisco,
Caryl Churchill’s superbly written and acted 1982 drama, “Top Girls” is a view of women in London in the early days of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister (1979-1990), when her Conservative Party emphasized achieving individual success, rather than ...
Emily S. MendelBerkeley,
“The Great Wave” should have been a great play. It seemingly has all the right ingredients: a spine-tingling story based on real geopolitical events involving a captured young Japanese woman imprisoned by the totalitarian dictatorship of North Korea, while ...
Lynne Friedmann
In the 16th century, a bungled kidnap attempt triggers a domino cascade that nearly foils the future of the teenager princess destined to become Queen Elizabeth I. How young Bess keeps her wits, not to mention her head, will ...
Karen WeinsteinLos Angeles,
Here is the question: What would you think if you saw “A Play is a Poem” and did not know it was written by Ethan Coen? If you had been living under a rock and had never heard of ...
Nancy S. BishopChicago,
"Howards End," the stunning new production by Remy Bumppo Theatre, weaves together strands of three families. The wealthy and elite Wilcoxes—father, sons and daughter—the Schlegel sisters, who belong to the intellectual gentry, and poverty-stricken Leonard Bast and his ...
Lynne FriedmannSan Diego,
The Old Globe's artistic director, Barry Edelstein, has crafted a memorable production of "Romeo and Juliet" that melds the timeless love story with pop and rock music, switches the gender of some of the supporting ...
Karen WeinsteinLos Angeles,
In what can be construed as a forward or prelude, John Leguizamo announces he is about to “undue your entire education.” Had you used some of that education to peruse the program you would have come across a daunting ...
Emily S. MendelBerkeley,
The good news and not-so-good news is that Shotgun Players’ production of “The Flick” is three hours long (including a ten-minute intermission). Good news, because this brilliant 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner takes the time it needs to reveal naturally ...
