Without Walls, Indeed!
The La Jolla Playhouse calls its site-specific program "Without Walls" and "WoW." For Paul Stein's Car Plays, both apply. Actors perform 10 minute pieces inside a car. Also inside: two audience members. Scenes unfold. Some, like the mother learning her …
Coffeeshop Art: Filter Cafe North Park
Every year, for the past ten years or so, 38-year-old Cory Immele has taken a week off to camp and hike in the Sierra Nevadas – alone. No hotels, no restaurants. "The first year," he admits, "was kind of scary.” …
God's Trombones at Ira Aldridge Repertory Players
Director Calvin Manson fills the stage with music and dance, but the show's star is James Weldon Johnson. If he never wrote a word, Johnson (1871-1938) would have lived a life of distinguished service. He taught at NYU and Fisk …
Operation Game On: Injured Troops Benefit Today, Feb. 25 @Flying Elephant
On Saturday, February 25, the Flying Elephant Pub in Carlsbad will host a fundraiser event for Operation Game On, a nonprofit that provides golf lessons, apparel and equipment to injured combat troops and their families for rehabilitation and to improve …
William Virchis: A Most Worthy Tribute
On Thursday, February 23, the Sweetwater Union High School District will honor a San Diego icon. In a dedication ceremony beginning at 4:30 p.m., the district's Visual and Performing Arts Department will become the William Virchis Visual and Performing Arts …
Next Fall at Diversionary Theatre
Young Luke is Christian and gay. His partner, 40-year-old Adam, says that's a contradiction. As their relationship grows, it works on every level except core beliefs. Their names reflect the split: Luke, from the New Testament; Adam, the Old. Luke …
In the Wake at San Diego Rep
If Ellen never had to choose, she'd have it all and demand more. Thanksgiving, 1999: Ellen, her hyper-attentive lover Danny, his sister Kayla, and her spouse Laurie prepare dinner at Ellen's fifth floor, East Village walk-up. They're so chipper, supportive, …
Education of a Theater Lover: The Quick-Changer
René Millán with the cast of La Jolla Playhouse’s production of AMERICAN NIGHT: THE BALLAD OF JUAN JOSÉ, by Richard Montoya, developed by Culture Clash and Jo Bonney, directed by Jo Bonney. Photo by Craig Schwartz. Lisa Wylie calls her …
RE:Generation Musical Documentary - Local Screenings Tonight/Feb. 16
The musical documentary RE:Generation looks at the history, songwriting and studio process of different musical genres through the eyes of five of the most influential electronic producers/DJs in music today, each of whom writes and records a brand new track …
Acting in the Moment (of Uncertainty), Part Two
At the San Diego Theater Critics Awards ceremony, Claudio Raygoza, artistic director of Ion Theatre, filled what looked to be a black hole with style and ease. Brian Mackey was to receive the "Actor of the Year" award for an …
Japanese Friendship Garden
The first time I went to the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, I was a tad disappointed that I could easily walk through the entire garden in five minutes. I’d been hoping for acres and acres of koi ponds …
Acting in the Moment (of Uncertainty), Part One
When someone hands you a lemon, make lemonade. When live theater hands you a lemon, make art. Actors perform "in the moment," making scenes appear spontaneous. At the same time they must be on alert for the unexpected. Must "cover" …
Guys and Dolls at Lamb's Players
In this classic American musical, Frank Loesser's songs run like New York cabs; another's always just around the corner, often a great one at that. Lamb's Players included a personal favorite that sometimes gets cut. Arvide Abernathy, leader of the …
Unexpected Beatles Art: Fab 4 Turns Up in the Oddest Places
More of my Unexpected Beatles Art collection at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2629730699175.194023.1132560467&type=3&l=fd29d6381a Related Story: Weird Beatles Merchandise http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2010/nov/26/weird-beatles-merchandise-when-johnny-met-yoko-mah/
Education of a Theater Lover: The Broken Light Board
“Lighting supplies an enormous amount of subconscious information. It illuminates, but it also tells the audience where to look,” says Luke Olson, who created the lighting design for A Raisin in the Sun, currently showing at Moxie Theatre. He offers …
Squidling Brothers Bring Freakshow to Shakedown
Traveling dare-devils The Squidling Brothers are currently touring Europe before making their way the Shakedown on Midway to court death with their entourage of rock and roll sideshow freaks. In anticipation of the preternatural pageant, Matterz The Impenetrable Music Man …
Craig Noel Award Recipients for 2011
Dramatic Production: August: Osage County, Old Globe Theatre Direction of a Play: Sam Gold, August: Osage County, Old Globe Ensemble: August: Osage County, Old Globe Lead Performance in a Play, Male: Manny Fernandes, Of Mice and Men, New Village Arts …
2011 Craig Noel Awards at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
If you were out gallivanting through San Diego last night, you may have noticed the absence of local theater people in the city streets. This is because they were all gathered (and dressed quite fancily, I might add) at the …
Theater Critics Circle Awards: Backstage Last Night
It's 7:15. Our annual Craig Noel Award ceremony begins in 15 minutes, and no one's seen Brian Mackey. He'll receive the "Actor of the Year" award - for a truly impressive body of work: Ion Theatre's Bash: The Latter Day …
Golden Child at Chinese Pirate Productions
David Henry Hwang knocked Broadway for a loop with M Butterfly (1988). The play explained itself: a male French diplomat, disguised as an opera diva, had a 20-year relationship with a man. For Golden Child (1998), Hwang did a 180: …
Olympic Training Center
When I head for the Olympic Training Center, I have dreams of watching gymnasts fling themselves around on the uneven parallel bars or catching sight of some hulk of a dude sprint in tight shorts while his coach times him …
A Raisin in the Sun at Moxie Theatre
Is wonderful! Lorraine Hansberry's breakthrough drama (1959) is in loving, unflinching hands. Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, the ensemble and design-work are first-rate. And outstanding performances by Mark Christopher Lawrence, as conflicted Walter Lee Younger, and Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson, as …
An Enemy of the People at Intrepid Shakespeare Company
In the movie Jaws, the police chief wants to close the beaches because a great white shark's been spotted cruising local waters. The city council raises a ruckus: who cares about lost limbs or lives; what about the tourist trade? …