The La Jolla Playhouse’s Come From Away opened last Sunday at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th Street. The Irene Sankoff/David Hein musical tells the upbeat story of over 6700 airline passengers stranded in …

Diversionary Theatre’s Lisa Kron double feature must close this Sunday (March 19). Though written eight years apart (2.5 Minute Ride premiered in 1996, Well in 2004), the pieces have a common theme: how to portray …

Youth and gun violence: the topic’s so unthinkable, a saint’s empathy couldn’t reach its bottomless agony. Nick Gandiello’s world premiere of The Blameless uses a multi-genre approach to the subject. But it’s several drafts and …

When he learns the cabin has no wi-fi, he shouts, “I can’t get online. People will think I’m dead!”

Actor, writer, director, and cofounder of the Roustabouts, a new theater company: Ruff Yeager Titus, Titus Andronicus, by William Shakespeare. “First, you need to understand that I’m not a fan of the horror genre or …

Lisa Kron’s mother Ann has been chronically ill for decades. So why can’t she get better? Come on. Other people do. They have ailments for years then suddenly heal and move on with their lives. …

LAST CALL. Moxie Theatre’s excellent production of Tanya Barfield’s Blue Door must close this Sunday. It’s said Moxie is a “women-centered” theater. That’s not completely true. Here’s an exception. In Leo Tolstoy’s novella The Death …

Last call: Theater in January and February usually begins in slow motion. Not this season. One show must close this Sunday. Two have been reprieved. An Iliad at New Village Arts. Homer’s epic poem in …

Moxie Theatre is conjuring African-American history from Tanya Barfield’s healing nightmare Blue Door. When you enter Moxie’s intimate space, you won’t see a door or the color blue. Instead, five pale gray, diaphanous panels stretch …

She enters through the loading-dock doors at New Village Arts. Behind her, cars gleam under parking-lot lights and music drifts in from a nearby nightspot. She wears a strange coffee-brown helmet and sweat-soaked military togs, …

It may be critic-proof. Bridget Carpenter’s (book), Tom Kitt’s (music), and Brian Yorkey’s (lyrics) new musical comedy is undemanding and thoroughly predictable — even if you haven’t read Mary Rogers’s 1972 novel, seen the 1976 …

If You’re Making Art and Getting Paid for It... “People used to say, ‘Oh, I love your music; I put it on when I go to sleep.’ At first, I was insulted: ‘Thanks a lot. …

San Diego has an international reputation for quality theater. And far too many locals aren’t aware of it. In the past 25 years, we’ve sent at least 45 shows to Broadway. We average around two …

The San Diego Theater Critics Circle held its 12th annual awards ceremony on February 4. Congratulations to the winners, the nominees, and the entire community of theater artists for one heck of a year. Designer …

Craig Noel Awards A reminder: The San Diego Theater Critics Circle will hold its annual awards ceremony on Monday, February 6, at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation at 404 Euclid Street, in Lincoln Park. …

The title screams for attention. And through most of Joshua Harmon’s 90-minute comedy/drama, two cousins scream at each other. To each, the other deserves the play’s title. Liam Haber says his cousin Daphna has a …

At the beginning of Shakespeare’s soaring tragedy, Marc Antony tells Cleopatra: “Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours, let’s not confound the time with conference harsh. There’s not a minute of our …

Says Javier Velasco: “Bucket list. Hmmm... At this point in my life, I would rather do new pieces I create with my collaborators, but there are some existing pieces I would love to explore.” Pajama …

Bob Schroeder is an actor. Have we seen him in a movie? “That depends on where you sit.” Bob has done shows, even Fiddler. Plus, his new part-time job’s a bit like theater. He works …

I’m asking actors and designers to name five dream roles/projects and say why. The answers not only reveal aspirations, they may put an idea in the minds of artistic directors and producers — even choices …

Three recruits train for a new job. Brash Jamie’s in a custody battle for her three children; timid Sheri works the night shift at El Taco but needs a day-job, too, and sleeps at most …

Actors get asked one question more than all the others. Not about a favorite play or character, or actor. Not how they played a certain scene so effectively. It’s much more basic. "How do you …

Musical Direction Charlie Alterman, October Sky, Old Globe Theatre Mark Danisovsky, Sunday in the Park with George, Ion Theatre Tony Houck, Oklahoma! New Village Arts Don LeMaster, Ragtime, San Diego Musical Theatre Elan McMahan, Titanic: …

For San Diego Theater in 2016, I wish everyone could have seen the following: 1918 at the Fringe Festival. La Moana, a dance troupe from New Zealand, arrived with no fanfare and blew audiences to …

I sometimes get asked “Who’s your favorite writer?” “What’s your favorite play?” Well, Shakespeare and Chekhov certainly, Michel de Montaigne, whose wisdom grows as I grow older. But what about Homer or Simone Weil, or …

One of the best, most moving shows of 2016 must close this Sunday, December 23. In many ways, Ion Theatre’s intimate space is the perfect site for Larry Kramer’s bulging epic about the early years …

I’m asking actors and designers to name their five dream roles/projects and say why. The answers not only reveal aspirations, they may put an idea in the minds of artistic directors and producers — even …

Christy Martin wore pink as a boxer and posing for the cover of Sports Illustrated. When her husband and trainer for 20 years thought she was having an affair, he stabbed her three times in …

Not quite ready for the holiday barrage? Here are two provocative pieces that must close this weekend. Seven Spots on the Sun, InnerMission Productions An old saying goes, “out of the mud grows the lotus.” …

“The appetite grows with eating.” Many in the late 19th Century applied the French proverb to an insatiable urge to filibuster: to conquer foreign territories with private armies. If appetite grows, then Captain John H. …

In a solo performance, Ron Campbell plays numerous guests at a wedding reception, plus all the characters in The Dybbuk: or Between Two Worlds, S. Ansky’s “realistic play about mystical people.” The task requires a …

In 2014 San Diego State University’s School of Theatre, Television, and Film combined with the School of Music and Dance for an epic concert of Les Miserables. Over 200 musicians, singers, and performers roared into …

In the last half of the 19th Century, aliens eagerly crossed the U.S./Mexico border — into Mexico. Burning with what historian William B. Scroggs calls “filibuster fever,” they felt entitled “to swallow up every few …

‘There’s not a good word to be said about anyone’s behavior in this whole mess.” The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer’s fierce drama about the early years of HIV/AIDS, pulls no punches. Practically everyone was an …

Moises stopped practicing medicine at San Ysidro, a small, Central American village. Civil war lacerates the region — first the rebels, then forces backed by gringo “advisors.” Then back, then forth. All kill the same. …

I’m asking actors and designers to name five dream roles/projects and say why. The answers not only reveal aspirations — they may put an idea in the minds of artistic directors and producers — even …

Margot and Nate have dinner at Darcy and Leigh’s condo in Chicago. Before the two lesbian couples have dessert, Leigh wants to “wind down” the conversation — twin tirades about Michael Jackson’s place in American …

Miss You Like Hell, world-premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse, tells the reunion of Beatriz and her estranged daughter Olivia. They ride a beat-up blue Datsun pickup from Philadelphia to Yellowstone National Park. On the …

Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013 and is the most-produced play in America. There’s still time to see why. The San Diego Rep’s top-shelf production must close this Sunday. The …

One of the characters in Bill Cain’s Equivocation, at Lamb’s Players, is William Shagspere, aka “Shag.” He’s the Bard, with one of his names many different spellings. Another character, Judith, is Shag’s daughter. In the …

Cygnet Theatre’s commendable achievement, staging August Wilson’s Seven Guitars and King Hedley II in repertory, must close this weekend. One of America’s finest playwrights, Wilson makes rare visits to San Diego. In this sense, Cygnet …

Donald Trump has no problem with racial profiling. He’d love to stop every Muslim at the border. And, hey, if the police “see somebody that’s suspicious,” he said in a speech, “they will profile. Look …

In an interview many years after his legendary Your Show of Shows (1950–1954) went off the air, Sid Caesar compared his writing staff to having all the great Impressionist painters collaborating in one room: “all …

Annette Raleigh: “How many parents standing up for their children become infantile themselves?” The Raleighs and the Novaks meet to solve what seems a minor issue. Not long after these words, their skins thin out. …

In Act Five, scene one, Hamlet tells the Gravedigger, “We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.” “By the card” could refer to Matthew 5:37: “Let your yes be yes and your …

Theater critic Jeremy Gerard said August Wilson “writes plays not for Broadway, but which Broadway simply must have — even if it means getting them last.” Those expecting prepackaged emotions and a tidy take-home message …

I’m asking actors and designers to name their five dream roles/projects and say why. The answers not only reveal aspirations, they may put an idea in the minds of artistic directors and producers — even …

Praise Cygnet Theatre! Without this company’s ongoing efforts, San Diego might not have seen August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, The Piano Lesson, Fences and, currently in repertory, Seven Guitars and King Hedley II. That’s …

I’m asking actors and designers to name five dream roles/projects and say why. The answers not only reveal aspirations, they may put an idea in the minds of artistic directors and producers — even choices …

If you decide to see the Old Globe’s October Sky, take your seat early. Kevin Depinet’s set has the composition and texture of a quality painting. A massive half-circle hovers over the stage. It’s what? …