KCRW's Opening the Curtain

The Veil of Youthful Comedy

Have you ever been trapped by a Midwestern summer, where the stale heat seems to stop time, the limitless sky is only juxtaposed by the prison of your space and the confines of expectation? Where the air stifles you with an electric desperation. It's that air that the Antaeus Theatre Company captures in William Inge's Picnic.

For the sixth year, the Hollywood Fringe Festival has taken over Hollywood with over 250 scrappy, boot-strap shows across three weeks -- and perhaps most compelling are the shows that wouldn't exist outside of the Fringe context and take LA's intimate theater to its logical extreme...

Harold Pinter's The Homecoming, currently being revived by Pacific Resident Theater, is frightening, funny, profound, and most importantly does honor to Pinter's "muscular" language. If you love Pinter, or just really good drama, don't miss this one.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has adapted Raoul Dahl's Matilda into a  delightful musical and, now, after stopping in New York to pick up some Tony Awards, it's at the Ahmanson Theatre.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has adapted Raoul Dahl's Matilda into a  delightful musical and, now, after stopping in New York to pick up some Tony Awards, it's at the Ahmanson Theatre.

What would a great Los Angeles theater community look like?

Act Two of the actors-union-versus-their-Los-Angeles-members' battle royale.

It's rare, while enjoying a play, for me to think, "gosh, I wish this was dinner theater!"But from the opening lobby serenade, complete with accordion, checkered table cloth, and wrapped Chianti bottle, Big Shot, the latest from Theatre Movement Bazaar, had me craving a good meatball.

Why do we go to the theater? If words like 'the human condition,' 'honesty,' and 'catharsis' pepper your answer - Mr. Bock's brutally beautiful play at the Echo Theater Company is a must see.

This is a story that pits local against national and art versus commerce. Nationally, LA's a liability to Actors' Equity because for all this 99-seat theater the union isn't collecting a penny. The union wants to get rid of a liability and standardize business practices.

In simplest terms, Anna Deavere Smith's latest piece at the Broad Stage is an exploration of the struggle of Civil Rights in America dating back to Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." In more complex terms? It's a study in the unexpected circumstances of virtuosity.

In simplest terms, Anna Deavere Smith's latest piece at the Broad Stage is an exploration of the struggle of Civil Rights in America dating back to Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." In more complex terms? It's a study in the unexpected circumstances of virtuosity.

There's a delicious moment in great dramas when the world comes into sharp focus for an instant and where you're not really sure how it's going to turn out. LA's 99-seat theater community had one of those moments last night at the first annual 1st Annual Stage Raw Awards.

There's a delicious moment in great dramas when the world comes into sharp focus for an instant and where you're not really sure how it's going to turn out. LA's 99-seat theater community had one of those moments last night at the first annual 1st Annual Stage Raw Awards.