(Originally published in LA STAGE Times) Playwright Brian Golden may have set his play Cooperstown on the day when Jackie Robinsonwas inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but his inspiration came from a decidedly un-sentimental source. Golden participated in a Chicago Dramatists workshop in early 2009 in which each playwright would write a play for five provided actors, he says. During one […]
If you’ve ever peered, unnoticed, through a crack in your backyard fence, spying on the neighbors, you’ve got the essence of any standard character study novel. But just imagine you could also read those neighbors’ minds as well, and go inside their house uninvited. Now you’ve got Dawn Powell’s fairly brilliant 1936 satire Turn, Magic […]
(Originally written for Steve Magagnini’s Journalism class, UC Davis, November 2011) It’s hard for Scott Simmon to contain his enthusiasm for movies. He bounds around his spacious English department chair office in Voorhies (guarded by his assistant, Mary, and a bowl of candy) grabbing books he’s written about early Westerns and the great director King […]
(Originally published in LA Weekly) Turn on your spaceships and fire up the jukebox. In writer-director Paul Bunnell’s supremely ridiculous tale, 1950s-style rebel Johnny X (Will Keenan) and his coed gang of dropouts, the Ghastly Ones, are exiled to Earth from their faraway planet. Their crime, it seems, is performing selfish deeds involving a powerful […]
(originally written for Steve Magagnini’s Journalism class, UC Davis, November 2011) Late one night last winter, anyone studying in the basement of Shields Library would have borne witness to an unusual sight: A tall, lanky guy running around the stacks holding a video camera. That was senior Technocultural Studies major Kyle Dickerson making his second-ever […]
(Originally published in LA STAGE Times) On a recent Monday, producer Andrew Carlberg rattles off his schedule: meetings about his latest film and television projects, a casting session, lunch with a reporter and a rehearsal for a theater workshop top the list. For the busy Carlberg, it’s a typical weekday. “I don’t know when he sleeps,” says […]
(Originally published in LA STAGE Times) Peter Pan, the flying boy from Neverland, may never grow up, but with the looming West Coast premiere of Michael Lluberes’ play Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers, his story has officially left the kids’ table. Blank Theatre is opening Lluberes’ adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s original play and novel, directed by Ovation winner Michael […]
The lights haven’t even dimmed in the theater yet as Adam Pascal strides onto the stage, toting a guitar. He sits down and begins to strum quietly, with only an amp, table, a few chairs, and a towering set piece made out of scrap metal for company. This is scene one, act one of Rent. […]
Dear Rex, Do you like movies? I ask because your latest reviews suggest that you think most movies are anything but enjoyable. That except for a select few, today’s films exist solely to disgust, annoy and aggravate you personally. And that if you, Mr. Rex Reed, don’t like a film, it doesn’t deserve an […]
(Originally published in LA STAGE Times) At this year’s 37th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, KY, arts journalists will work as a team to report on the festival’s plays, artists and culture. They’ll publish their written and multimedia pieces online and engage visitors through social media, under the auspices of the LA-based USC Annenberg […]
Robin Migdol 