Through distinctive performance, artful direction and graceful staging, Expecting to Fly merges regret, longing, affection, memory, appreciation, warmth and absolution into a single gem of a play. more ›

Miguel Pinero's penetrating, taboo-breaching prison drama Short Eyes is currently at Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC). Co-produced by the Latino Theater Company and Urban Theatre Movement, this exciting production is dark, exhilarating, and utterly glorious. Pinero flaunts violence and poetry while navigating delicate moral, ethical, and social dilemmas contextualized by power dynamics and incarceration culture. more ›

New Yorker journalist George Packer's engrossing Iraq War drama Betrayed is in its last weekend at Lyric Theatre. Packer's work is based on true accounts of Iraqi citizens working as translators in the Green Zone. more ›

Lauren Smerkanich's masterfully crafted, thoroughly enjoyable drama, Amongst the Trees, is making rounds throughout the city as part of cARTel's Living Room Tour. The produciton features exceptional writing, direction, and performance in a unique, unpretentious, and welcoming atmosphere. more ›

Geoffrey Nauffts' dramatic tear-jerker, Next Fall brings the emotional crux of the Gay Rights Movement to the Geffen Playhouse. Presenting homophobic family dynamics, tragic endings, and a realistic religious debate that tackles the incongruities and salves of faith, the play features charged performances, careful direction, and a bold script. more ›

Roger Guenveur Smith's energetic one-man biopic, Juan and John, is at Los Angeles Theatre Center. The show transverses the Civil Rights Movement, local Los Angeles history, and the relationship between baseball legends John Roseboro and Juan Marichal following their on-field fight in 1965. more ›

Ted Ryan's urban-cowboy drama, Pulling Leather, is currently playing at Actors Forum Theatre in North Hollywood. The plot follows a good-natured competitive rodeo rider through a low point in his career as he uncovers a dark family secret and falls in love. more ›

RJ Colleary's underdog drama, Addition by Subtraction, is currently playing at El Centro Theatre. The plot follows a misunderstood and unlikely avenger as he attempts deliverance through vigilante tactics. Addition by Subtraction lacks originality but does feature capable performers, emotionally charged monologues, and a thoughtful set. more ›

Carmageddon has brought out the resourcefulness of some local agencies, and the inventiveness of some business owners. For many, though, "Carmageddon" is simply an overwrought battle cry of the politically beaten-down. Much ado about nothing, if you will. In fact, it is proof that we've all turn into pussies. more ›

Applause is a truly sobering character study. This is not to make light of the Danish film's portrayal of alcoholism, but to testify how realistic it gets, and how low it goes. You'll think twice before stopping for drinks afterward. But Applause is no heavy-handed buzz-kill. There's a real clarity amidst the pain, and an impressive lead performance seizes all empathy and never lets go. more ›

Being popular can be a bitch, and apparently so can would-be LudoBites diners who lashed out at Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his wife Krissy yesterday evening as the reservations system went live for the pop-up restaurant's sixth installation. more ›

An uncomfortably familiar drama about navigating the minefield of family secrets, Four Places will extend its run in Theatre Theater through July 25. A West Coast premiere from playwright Joel Drake Johnson, Four Places invites the audience along as two adult children confront their septuagenarian mom about what happens behind closed doors when nobody else is home. more ›

Principal Dad has a message for the Sophomore Class of West Beverly Hills High School: ZERO TOLERANCE. In a cheesy video he obviously roped his "actress" daughter into co-starring in with him, he informs the school--well, actually, just the Sophs, that if they get caught at an After Prom Party with alcohol they will be suspended, and if they're suspended, they'll have to go to summer school. Basically "One party can ruin your whole summer." They had a T-shirt made. Also, next week's Season Finale is called "One Party Can Ruin Your Whole Summer," (thanks, DVR!) which leads me to believe that this will indeed happen to one of "our" kids. Uh oh. I can't wait to see how a behavioral infarction is disciplined academically...isn't summer school, like, courses you take? WBHHS, you perplex me. Also: SOPHOMORES? WTF? more ›

An ad for NBC's Southland in last week's LA Times became the focus of controversy. Nevertheless, the show got some good play out of that and did pretty well in the ratings. more ›

Donna Martin (Tori Spelling) was never my favorite character on the original Beverly Hills 90210, but damn if she didn't last the whole ten-year-run, and damn if all these years later I am beyond jazzed that Spelling got whatever deal she needed to get her and her fake boobies on the new 90210. I'm so ready. Bring her on! more ›

When you sign up for an evening with a Henrik Ibsen production, you know what you’re getting into: The drama, the heaviness, the repression oozing from the script. But what you don’t always expect is a good production with impeccable acting. But that’s exactly what LAist found with A Noise Within’s production of Ibsen’s 1891 play Ghosts. more ›

You know what's more exhilarating than Valentine's Day Beverly Hills teenager style? How about a show that includes sneak previews of the Jonas Brothers' 3D Movie? Ohhh, yeah, baby. more ›

While yesterday in America was all about out with the old and in with the new, 90210 for the most part took the opposite tack. In with the old! Old characters, old plotlines, and the old Egyptians (that will make sense later). more ›

Kids, this week was more than just back to the grind after a good, long, break. It was also back to new episodes of the shiny new 90210 on the CW--which means back to LAist's love-to-hate it, hate-to-love it relationship with the show that is so wrong it's...well, okay, it's wrong, but it's good for a laugh, so grab your sense of humor, a can of delicious Dr. Pepper, and welcome back to our recaps. more ›

If there is ever a time to get people out of their house and into movie theaters, it is now. The weather is turning colder, Oscar season is fast approaching, and a large amount of turkey makes it hard to want to do anything besides sit in plush chairs with 40 oz. of liquid crack within easy reach. The problem, though, is that everyone knows this, from the big picture houses on down to the independent filmmakers trying to earn a living. And most people, like it or not, will go see the American film with star power and an 8-figure budget that gets wasted on sending plumes of smoke and fire into the air. It’s a tough season for the independent outsiders. Just ask Ron Paul. more ›

I distinctly remember the detention bad-boy turned "gourmet" chef (he made grilled cheese) tell Naomi he didn't play games in last week's episode, but she's a girl who only changes her hairstyle, not her stripes, so it's games, games, games for the kids of West Bev. And we're not talking Candyland. more ›

Eight years ago, loyal fans (because after 10 years on the air, that's all that were left) watched onetime geek David Silver marry longtime love Donna Martin on the series finale of Beverly Hills, 90210. The zip code was silenced, along with the eternal and rotating love triangles, the token bitch, the--gasp!--shocking family secrets, and the pulpy remains of what began as an edgy teen drama about fraternal twins from Minnesota trying to fit in at West Beverly Hills High. more ›