Duke Cunningham Can't Have Gun
Don Bauder 9:47 p.m., May 25
Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith has been a theater critic for the Reader since 1980. He also writes a local history column. He has a Ph.D. in literature and critical theory from the University of California, Irvine, and wrote his doctoral dissertation on Shakespeare. He was the original writing director of two University of California freshman composition programs: the Humanities Core Course, at Irvine, and the Revelle Humanities/Writing Program at UCSD. Over the years, Jeff has dramaturged dozens of shows. Favorites include Sam Shepard’s Tooth of Crime, Peter Barnes’s Red Noses (both at the San Diego Rep), Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia (North Coast Rep), Things May Disimprove: Samuel Becket One-Acts (L&L Productions), and Shakespeare’s Hamlet (New Village Arts).
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Jeff Smith's Stories
The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part One
Unforgettable: Long-Ago In San Diego
About a hundred years ago, the Wobblies labor movement boiled over in San Diego.
Last One Standing
“A truck to a Texan is just like his hat.”
Hands on a Hardbody at La Jolla Playhouse.
Lynch Fever
The Scottsboro Boys at the Old Globe
The nine served time on death row — and heard the electric chair screech when in use.
Jeff Smith's Blog Entries
Behind the Grand Drape
During the Restoration era, two of the reigning actresses, both named Elizabeth, couldn't hate each other enough. They played a scene in which one would wave a knife - a prop, the audience assumed. But ...
Nobody Loves You at the Old Globe
TV's most damning expression reigns when the jobless rate's rarely been higher. Viewers wait an hour to hear what's-his-hair shout "you're FIRED!" Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter's featherweight musical comedy freatures an expression even more ...
"The Funniest Man I Ever Saw"
In The Scottsboro Boys, Haywood Patterson is condemned to the electric chair for a crime he didn't commit. In the Old Globe production, Clifton Duncan plays Patterson and sings "Nothin'" two ways: he blasts out ...
Master Harold...and the Boys at Lyceum Theatre
For its inaugural production, Living Light Theatre performs Athol Fugard's autobiographical drama. The intermissionless piece talks about an unexpected twist in a short story - then delivers a shocking one on stage. The twist is ...
Arts Left Behind?
Nilaja Sun's No Child opens this Saturday at Mesa College's Apolliad Theatre. It's based on her experiences directing a play during No Child Left Behind. Kevin Six, former arts administrator and arts education advocate, offers ...
The Cast Looks at Brownie Points
On the surface, Janece Shaffer's comedy-drama sounds pleasant enough. Girl Scouts go camping in the Northern Georgia pines. Five mothers tag along: two are troop leaders, three want to watch their daughters earn Brownie points. ...
The Hound of the Baskervilles at North Coast Rep
I saw a preview of Phil Johnson and Cynthia Stokes' work-in-progress. Johnson, in fact, was performing before his first live audience. So this won't be a "review" in any formal sense. Just two heartfelt plugs. ...
