Guest Contributor

Usually, an abandoned car dealership would be on the list of least likely places to ever see contemporary opera. But in the case of Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands, it is the only place. Directed by O-Lan Jones, the opera was developed over the course of seven years. It is a large-scale production that showcases the work of 13 composers, 21 librettists, a company of more than 20 actors, an orchestra of seven musicians and a list of collaborators that exceeds 100. No one would argue that it was a big production, but Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands proved to be an example of artistic quantity over quality.

Aarti does a demo at The Grove (Photo courtesy The Food Network/Used with permission) For its sixth season, The Next Food Network Star was shot in Los Angeles, and among the 12 finalists vying for their very own Food Network show are 3 locals, including food blogger and LAist alum Aarti Sequeira. Each week, Aarti will give us her take on the episode, from her unique insider's perspective. Will she be named The Next...

Host Bobby Flay and Episode 4 guest judges (l-r) Jonathan Waxman and LA chefs Susan Feniger and Eric Greenspan (Photo courtesy The Food Network/Used with permission) For its sixth season, The Next Food Network Star was shot in Los Angeles, and among the 12 finalists vying for their very own Food Network show are 3 locals, including food blogger and LAist alum Aarti Sequeira. Each week, Aarti will give us her take on the...

King Lear, Shakespeare’s play about an old, unfortunately unwise monarch who learns to value the worthwhile people in his life too late, is generally performed as a simple tragedy, squeezing pathos from the disconcerting velocity of the high being brought low. There’s nothing wrong with that approach—it works and has worked for centuries—but the new production by the Antaeus Company offers something different...

At 8 am, as many of the inhabitants of Los Angeles sit gridlocked in traffic or languish a few extra minutes in bed before facing a day of waiting tables and waiting for the phone to ring, the Santa Monica Farmer's Market exists as a tranquil gem. As the waves lap the empty beach only a block away, California farmers unpack their vans and trucks at Arizona and 2nd, piling tables high with fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and flowers...

If you’re wondering what happens when an AWOL soldier, his agoraphobic sister, a strung-out artist/socialite, and a life-sized voodoo doll combine, look no further. The Fringe (and world) premiere of L.A.-based Australian playwright Sarah Doyle's Shiny White Diamonds borrows elements from the theater of the absurd to boldly and frankly explore the nature of reality and sanity while maintaining a caustic wit.

Eve eats a polar bear. Ophelia dishes about the other man. A downsized middle-aged woman blackmails her employers to get her job back. Head Over Heels joins the long list of Fringe shows with something to say, but kind enough to allow the audience to have fun while it does so. A laugh-out-loud funny yet thought-provoking piece on what it means to come into existence as a woman, this series of vignettes features an array of characters both infamous and unknown confronting their fears, heartaches and own sense of power.

The murky swamps of the the Louisiana Bayous brings a surprisingly sweet smell -- and even better music -- to Hollywood as That Great and Dreadful Day: Tall Tales from the American Swamp joins the lineup at this week's Fringe Festival. A soulful, acoustic "swamp operetta," the show is a bluesy journey through the life of musician Laurence Douglas Miner and his band from their Depression-era beginnings into the free-spirited 60s. The production utilizes a narrator format, as an elder Laurence tells tales that are inter-weaved with flashbacks and original songs.

Aarti has her red carpet interview moment (Photo courtesy The Food Network/Used with permission) For its sixth season, The Next Food Network Star was shot in Los Angeles, and among the 12 finalists vying for their very own Food Network show are 3 locals, including food blogger and LAist alumn Aarti Sequeira. Each week, Aarti will give us her take on the episode, from her unique insider's perspective. Will she be named The Next...

Fringe festivals around the world, typically abundant in small stages and frighteningly short load-in times, are always especially good venues for one-person shows. The three of these that we've caught so far during the opening days of the new Hollywood Fringe--though very different from one another--are each perfect specimens of the quintessential Fringe solo show genre in all its glory.