Justin Tanner

L.A. Weekly Theater Awards 2012: The Winners

​​L.A. Weekly 's 33rd annual theater awards took place tonight at the Avalon in Hollywood, honoring the best work on our small stages from 2011, as judged by our theater critics. Small Engine Repair presented by Rogue Machine at Theatre/Theater won production of the year, while Re-Animator The ... More >>

Top 10 Plays We Want to See in 2012

The venerable "best bets for the new year" critic's post always carries with it the uncertain odor of the racetrack tout. Even the seeming sure things -- the NYC-anointed, blue-chip transfers of Broadway hits -- are too often diminished by dispiriting changes in the cast or production design that ca ... More >>

Justin Tanner's AVE 43: L.A. Playwright's Scandalously Funny Soap Opera Parody Web Series

The call is for 11 a.m. at a quaint clapboard house on a quiet, suburban cul de sac in Highland Park just off the Avenue 43 exit of the Pasadena Freeway. I arrive at the set to find the crew in a blur of activity in a tastefully kitsch-festooned living room. The production is AVE 43, the most jaw-dr ... More >>

Top 10 L.A. Theater Experiences of 2011

Everything's Coming Up Noir

Stephanie Miller's Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour

Michael LamontThe Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity​Kristoffer Diaz's comedy about television wrestling, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, just opened at the Geffen Playhouse. Check back on Tuesday for the review, and for capsule reviews for all other shows seen over the weekend. Check back thi ... More >>

For the Record: The Coen Bros.: a Cabaret Show About Big Lebowski Filmmakers, and Other Reviews

​Anti-Semitic graffiti found on a market wall in central Houston last month is just one symptom of why The Merchant of Venice belongs on our shores. The Porters of Hellgate have their version running at the Whitmore Theatre in North Hollywood. See Theater feature on Wednesday​Capsule reviews of ... More >>

Justin Tanner's Day Drinkers and Cody Henderson's Wonderlust

Rules of attraction

L.A. Theater's Moment of Truth

In the national spotlight this summer, will we show we've grown up, or just embarrass ourselves?

Stage Raw: City Garage Bids Adieu to Fourth Street

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWS Cover Story on LATE's The War Cycle2011 MARK TAPER FORUM SEASON ANNOUNCED ​John Lithgow Photo by Nigel Perry John Lithgow will ring in the New Year spinning yarns in Stories By Heart, previously produced at the Lincoln Center and at the National ... More >>

Stage Raw: How Do Actors Do It?

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on My Penis, In and Out of TroubleHOW DO ACTORS DO IT? As told by Alan Mandell, who was among a dozen or so actors auditioning for the movie This Must Be the Place, starring Sean Penn. The role was for a man 94-years old. Mandell, being ... More >>

Stage Raw: James Gammon Memorial

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Opus, at the Fountain Theatre MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR JAMES GAMMON: Sunday, August 22, 2 p.m. at the MET Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Avenue in Hollywood. RSVP here Check back Monday night for reviews of: BOY'S LIFE, Howard Korder's 1988 ba ... More >>

Stage Raw: Summer Festivities

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on [title of show] and Dani GirlSUMMER FESTIVITIES Open Fist Theater Company launches its annual Fist Look Festival this weekend, with The Existents, a rock musical by Douglas Crawford and Jason Wooten, music and lyrics by Ty Taylor. T ... More >>

Stage Raw: Brewsie & Willie

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON LINDA PURL'S FESTIVALBREWSIE AND WILLIE ​Poor Dog Group's adaptation of Gertrude Stein's novella, is among the productions being reviewed this week. Photo by Scott Grolier Check back here on Monday night for reviews of THE BAKER'S ... More >>

Theater Reviews: The Rendezvous, Nano Nation, Brooklyn, U.S.A.

Also, Procreation, Phil the Void: The Great Brain Robbery and more

Procreation

Stage Raw: Pasadena Playhouse Back in Business

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Lieutenant of Inishmore PASADENA PLAYHOUSE BACK IN BUSINESS Sheldon Epps and Stephen Eich, respectively the Pasadena Playhouse's Artistic Director and Executive Director, have just announced production plans through January, 201 ... More >>

Stage Raw: James Gammon, Co-Founder of Hollywood's MET Theatre, Dead at 70

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Lieutenant of Inishmore JAMES GAMMON DEAD AT 70James Gammon, actor and producer, died July 16 in Costa Mesa, died July 16 of complications from cancer of the adrenal glands and liver. Gammon co-founded the MET Theatre in Hollywoo ... More >>

Stage Raw: California International Theatre Festival

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Lieutenant of Inishmore LOVE, CONNIE​The Nellie Olesons' John Cantwell has created a multimedia dance comedy thriller, which plays Fri.-Sat., 9 p.m. at Casita del Campo, 1920 Hyperion Ave., L.A.; thru July 24, cavernclubtheater ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Female of the Species

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTHIS WEEK'S STAGE FEATURE on Palestine, New MexicoFEMALE OF THE SPECIES The Geffen Playhouse just announced that Anette Bening will star in Joanna Murray-Smith's comedy, The Female of the Species along with David Arquette, Mirielle Enos, Merritt Weve ... More >>

Stage Raw: ZAR

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSTHEATER NEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on producer Sir Cameron MackintoshStage Raw: ZAR Theatre ZAR from Wroclaw, Poland has been in Southern California for over a week, conducting workshops of their choral-physical technique at UC Irvine and UCLA. Their Tryptich opens next w ... More >>

Stage Raw: Impacted Wednesday

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSTHEATER NEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Charles Duncombe's The Trojan Women and Julie Hebert's TreeIMPACTED WEDNESDAY​ Equivocation: Photo by Michael Lamont Three big openings on Wednesday: The  U.S. premiere of TR Warszawa's T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T. (Polish director Grzego ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Liquid, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, The New Testament/Helter Skelter

Also, This Is My F-Ing Wedding, Influences of the Spirit and more

Stage Raw: As You Like It

THE LATEST NEW REVIEWS ARE EMBEDDED IN THIS WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSAlso see this week's STAGE FEATURE on Polish theater unmaskedNEW REVIEW GO AS YOU LIKE ITAs You Like It Photo courtesy of Aquila TheatreSummer is in full heat across the Southland, which brings out amphitheater producti ... More >>

THEATER REVIEWS: CARVED IN STONE, THE HOSTAGE, KILL ME DEADLY

Also, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mutiny at Port Chicago, Nevermore, Wife Swappers and more.

Stage Raw: Clowntown City Limits

THE LATEST NEW REVIEWS ARE EMBEDDED IN THIS WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW REVIEW THEATER PICK CLOWNTOWN CITY LIMITSPhoto by Ed RachlesImagine a personable, grimy, makeup-smeared, cigar-chomping guy in a tank top, not unlike Tommy Lee Jones, playing cards outdoors on the porch of some tra ... More >>

Stage Raw: Mr. Merkin's Review of Spamalot

THE LATEST NEW REVIEWS ARE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSWelcome to the new home of Stage Raw. For a short time, you can access Stage Raw archives at its former home (http://blogs.laweekly.com/style_council/stage-news) in L.A. Daily, but those archives are in the process of bein ... More >>

Voice Lessons

Stage Raw: Stick Fly

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: THE WEEKEND'S NEW THEATER REVIEWS EMBEDDED WITHIN THIS COMING WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSand this week's THEATER FEATURE: an Off-Broadway roundupReviewed this week: the world premiere of Richard Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair at South Coast Rep; the west coast ... More >>

Stage Raw: NEA and John Fleck, Back Together Again

THIS COMING WEEK'S COMPREHESIVE THEATER LISTINGS ARE EMBEDDED WITH THE LATEST NEW THEATER REVIEWSAlso at your fingertips, this week's THEATER FEATURE: an Off-Broadway roundupLUMINOUS BIRCHRandy Sean Schulman applies the convention of silent film to live theater. With a group called The Collective, ... More >>

Stage Raw: Lodestone Says Goodnight and Good Luck

Check back here Monday after noon for the upcoming weekend's NEW THEATER REVIEWS of The Little Dog Laughed, Douglas Carter Beane's comedy about being oneself in Hollywood and elsewhere, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; Deborah Pryor's mystical Appalachian one-act The Love Talker at Son of Semele Ens ... More >>

Stage Raw: Critic-O-Meter

CRITIC-O-METER In case you're wondering what Rob Kendt has been up to in New York City, since leaving his post as editor of Back Stage West, first look no further than his byline - now Rob Weinert-Kendt. That's what a wedding can do. He's also been having bowls of matzoh ball soup at the Polish ... More >>

Stage Raw: Broadway Cares

BROADWAY CARES This Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 10 p.m., the cast of Spring Awakening (currently at the Ahmanson ) will perform a special show at L.A.'s Upright Cabaret with proceeds to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and other local charities here in the southland. Mark’s Restau ... More >>

Theater Reviews: The Color Purple, High School Musical, Bob's Holiday Office Party

Also A Doll House, Paging Dr. Chutzpah, Seven Santas and more

Theater

Theater Listings

For the week of May 26 - June 1

Does Dr. Dolittle Talk to Zombies?

Dam Christmas

A Mulholland Christmas Carol tours the Owens Valley

Identity Crises

Mirror, mirror on the wall . . .

Music Men

Of cover bands and gospel truths

New York Marquee

Now playing in the big town

Fool's Paradise Lost

When misery finds company

Queer As Rock

Edited by Kateri Butler

Bart DeLorenzo, the Evidence Is In

Baudelaire’s Children

Alyson Croft’s comedy about the latest lost generation

Mirror, Mirror/Liar, Liar

A pair of comedies set in a ghouls' paradise

The Prisoner of El Centro Avenue

The rise and stall of playwright Justin Tanner