Matt Richter

The Crucible

The Fool & the Red Queen

The Spidey Project -- a low-rent musical parody of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and more new reviews

​Celebration Theatre's intimate-theater rendition of the musical, The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker's novel, ​ is this week's Pick of the Week. Warm reactions also for a revival of Patrick Marber's Closer, presented by Ghost Players at the Avery Shreiber Theatre; for Malibu Stage's renditi ... More >>

Stage Raw: Othello

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS (after the jump) NEW THEATER REVIEWSStage FEATURE on Merry Wives of Windsor in Topanga Canyon and Griffith ParkBrian HelmOthello​On a care-free, car-free Carmageddon weekend, all of our critics got to their shows. Among the favorites, Lovell Estell III's warm apprai ... More >>

Stage Raw: Loveland

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTheater Feature on La Razon Blindada and A Wolf Inside the Fence and NEW REVIEW GO LOVELAND ​Photo by Leland Auslender What a rare experience it is, when a character that's as maniacal, sexually overheated and as transparently off the rails as a ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Titus Andronicus, Debbie Reynolds: Alive and Fabulous

Also, The Phantom of the Opera, State of the Union and more

Stage Raw: Take Me Out

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTheater Feature on Tim Robbins' Break the WhipNEW REVIEW GO TAKE ME OUT ​Photo by Michael Calas Baseball star Darren Leming (Ary Katz), the central figure in Richard Greenberg's provocative 2002 comedy-drama, is a paragon of talent, skill and vi ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Other Festivals

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCurrent STAGE FEATURE on Anton Chekhov's 150th Birthday BashTHE OTHER FESTIVALS Running concurrently with the Hollywood Fringe (June 17-27) is Arts Olympus (June 17-20) on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach. AO includes a contemporary Russian exhib ... More >>

Stage Raw: Lease Subsidy Program Gets Another Lease

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT FEATURE ON BORN TO BE ALIVE and THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACELEASE SUBSIDY PROGRAM GETS ANOTHER LEASE A recommendation by L.A.'s Chief Administrative Officer Miguel Santana to restructure (eliminate) the city's Lease Subsidy Program for non- ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Blank, Palomino, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Also, Four Places, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, 1951-2006 and more

Stage Raw: Four Places

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT STAGE FEATURE ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY WAYNEW REVIEW GO FOUR PLACES​Photo by John P. FlynnThe family outing on display in Joel Drake Johnson's unsettling comedy resembles a gathering of ornery, wounded jackals. Siblings Warren (Tim Bagley) a ... More >>

Theater Reviews: In a Garden, Through the Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Also, Playing Jordan Goldman, The Diviners and more

Stage Raw: In a Garden

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on gay politics in Halam Iran and Salam Shalom THE 31ST ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDSNEW REVIEW GO IN A GARDEN ​Photo by Henry DiRocco/SCR In 1989, a foreign bureaucrat (Mark Harelik), representing the Ministry of Culture in some (ficti ... More >>

Stage Raw: Film

FILM is this week's Pick of the Week. Photo by Darrett Sanders Failing Better The Absurdists' convention Local playwright Patrick McGowan's new play, Film, has no right to be as good as it is. The central character is the late theater director Alan Schneider (Bill Robens) -- known for stagi ... More >>

Stage Raw: Candida

CANDIDA Candida at the Colony Theatre is this week's Pick. Photo by Michael Lamont. At your fingertips: The 30th Annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards NOMINEES.Tickets for nominee's guests and for the general public can now be purchased via  http://tinyurl.com/theaterawardsReviewed this we ... More >>

Stage Raw: Phil Newby

PHIL NEWBY A memorial service was held at Sacred Fools Theatre on Sunday for that company's young and beloved actor who was found in his apartment last week. More on Phil to come in the print edition one week week from Thursday. At your fingertips: This week's Theater Feature on Jim Leonard' ... More >>

Stage Raw: Monsters and Prodigies

Reviewed this week: Pippin at the Mark Taper Forum; Jack Chandlers' new comedy-mystery, Murder on the Bounding Main, at Sierra Madre Playhouse; a dance-rock fusion, Vibrating Sun, at Unknown Theatre; Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble's staging fof Macbeth; Echo One-Act Festival at Stage 52; Furious Th ... More >>

Stage Raw: Unpronouncable

THEATER AWARDS UPDATE Here is the complete list of NOMINEES for the 30th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards, being held Monday, March 30 at the El Rey. Admission for nominees is free; nominee RSVPs are now being accepted at (310) 574-7208. Tickets for guests and members of the public go on sale ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Biggest Thank You Ever Given

The Biggest Thank You Ever Given I'm thunderstruck and deeply moved by the outpouring and quality of your appreciations to me in your emails and in the comments to Friday's posting on the elimination of the L.A. Weekly's Theater Editor position. What a privilege: to read all that, to have served ... More >>

Stage Raw: Arts Freeze

ARTS FREEZE FOR THE HOLIDAYS In a cost-cutting measure, the Los Angeles Unified School District has frozen district funds until the state legislature returns to Sacramento in January to sort out the State budget gridlock. Arts for L.A. has been quick to point out that the freeze includes existin ... More >>

Stage Raw: New Troupes on the Block

NEW TROUPES ON THE BLOCK Under the umbrella of Cornerstone Theatre Company, a new company called Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras (Day Laborer Theater Without Borders) launches at the Hollywood Community Job Center, 5669 De Longpre Avenue; December 20 at noon. The 15-member troupe will voice the s ... More >>

Theater Reviews: My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, Scrooge Must Die!

Plus, A Grand Guignol Children's Show, A Chicago Christmas Carol and more

Stage Raw: Leslie Jordan's Trip Down the Pink Carpet

This Week's Theater Pick Leslie Jordan's Autobiographical Trip Down the Pink Carpet If a zest for life is infectious, there's probably no more delightful a carrier than Leslie Jordan. A diminutive stage, film, Emmy Award-winning TV actor, and fugitive from the Bible Belt, Jordan regales us ... More >>

Ghosts in the Machine

Exhuming American history