The letters of Testuzo Hirasaki, a Japanese American interned at the Santa Anita racetrack (dubbed “Santa Japanita”) following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
August 29, 2012
Prosperina
Les Miserables at Civic Theatre
August 31, 2012 · Jeff Smith
A touring "mega-musical" is almost a contradiction. By the time some reach San Diego they have the pared-down look of a road show designed more for mobility than performance. The 25th Anniversary's touring Les Miz has a cramped, letterbox quality: …
Letters from the End of the World, Part One
Truth Attack — God of Carnage at the Old Globe
Before God of Carnage begins at the Old Globe’s White Theatre, Robert Morgan’s set makes a quiet suggestion. Dark objects stand on the perimeter of a circular living room. A small wet bar and sofa …
August 8, 2012
Divine Rivalry at the Old Globe; Cygnet Theatre's Man of La Mancha
As a youth, the poet William Wordsworth crossed the Alps. He hiked the Simplon Pass, a “steep and rugged” road over a mile above sea level. When he reached the other side he stopped cold. …
July 18, 2012
The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Eight
Three years after San Diego’s free-speech fight began, vigilantes stood at the ready.
July 11, 2012
Pop Quiz Answered
August 17, 2012 · Jeff Smith
Who wrote the novel and when? Another hint: "Once books appealed to ...people. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths...Films and radios, magazines, books leveled down to a sort of paste …
La Jolla Playhouse stages An Iliad
One of the best features of An Iliad is how contemporary references function like Homer’s similes.
August 22, 2012
Anything Goes at Moonlight Theatre
The S.S. America sails into Porterland, a place so sacred, the faithful feel like removing their shoes.
August 29, 2012
An allegiance
September 25, 2012 · Jeff Smith
Longtime fans of San Diego theater will recognize her name. For years, Linda Castro was one of our leading lights and award-winners. She moved away almost a decade ago. Since we no longer wear opposing theatrical hats, she has become …
Allegiance, an important musical at the Old Globe
Everything became extreme, chaotic, life-threatening for over 120,000 Japanese Americans.
September 26, 2012
Sharks in Swampland
La Jolla Playhouse stages David Mamet's blowtorch comedy Glengarry Glen Ross.
October 3, 2012
Good People at the Old Globe; Exit Interview at the Rep
Margie’s lived all her life in blue-collar South Boston. Now 30 years since she was a teen, she recounts the fates of former “Southies.” Sheila Sheen od’d. And Marty McDermott’s doing time in Walpole prison. …
October 10, 2012
Julia at Ion Theatre
October 7, 2012 · Jeff Smith
August Strindberg died 100 years ago. To celebrate the Centennial, Ion Theatre's 50th production is its fifth world premiere. Claudio Raygoza's Julia is not an adaptation. It was "inspired" by Strindberg's Miss Julie. Written in 1888, Miss Julie is one …
So Long
It had to end sometime. Now’s as bad a time as any. After thirty-eight years of them — commencing with a typo-marred encomium on Hickey and Boggs dated November 2, 1972 — this is to …
November 10, 2010
Sophocles
October 17, 2012 · Jeff Smith
An old question asks: If you could invite five historical figures to dinner (and could speak their language), which five would you pick? My answers change all the time. The Greek tragedian, Sophocles, remains on or near my short-list. He …
Through Pity and Terror
Ira Aldridge Players' The Gospel at Colonus; The Sugar Witch at OnStage.
October 24, 2012
Robert Smyth: Lamb's 12 most important shows (one through four)
November 8, 2012 · Jeff Smith
Around the World in 80 Days is Lamb's Players Theatre's 300th production. Robert Smyth has been with the company since 1976, when it was a touring troupe based in El Cajon. He became producing director (under Lamb's founder, Steve Terrell) …
Head for the Hills
Presidio Hill, the “Plymouth Rock of the West” is also the “cradle of golf in San Diego.”
October 31, 2012
Plaid Tidings at New Village Arts
November 30, 2012 · Jeff Smith
Bad news on the Heaven Front: for many, acceptance doesn't guarantee tenure. The Our Lady of Harrisburg bus did the Four Plaids in, decades ago, before they had a chance to strut their tight harmonics. They had their chance, in …
OnStage Playhouse has Persuasion
Jane Austen’s characters read each other like novels. They inspect qualities, every human chapter and verse, and sum them up in lists of checks and balances. In Persuasion, Austen writes, “Her manners were open, easy, …
December 12, 2012