Mia Bonadonna

Steve Connell and Sekou Andrews in 'The Word Begins' (photo courtesy of Signature Theatre). The RADAR LA International Festival of Contemporary Theatre is the fruit of the combined efforts of the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), the folks from Public Theatre's Under the Radar Festival, and the Roy & Edna Disney/ CalArts Theatre (REDCAT). This year's RADAR LA prominently showcases works that obscure the traditional parameters of theatre. Indulgences for both the eyes and...

Sam Anderson and Corryn Cummins in 'Blackbird' (photo by John Flynn). David Harrower's taboo exploring drama, Blackbird, is currently at Rogue Machine. This single scene one act depicts a tension wracked meeting between Una and Ray, 15 years after their pedophilic sexual affair when Una was still a child. Throughout the course of the plot, the characters of Harrower's script slowly reveal opposing emotional complexities that are both ugly and compelling in nature. Blackbird...

Jodi Fleisher and Barry Alan Levine in 'South of Delancey.' (Photo by Dove Huntley) South of Delancey, a new history inflected docu-drama play by Karen Sommers, is currently at Fremont Centre Theatre. Based on an actual 1940s rabbinical arbitration radio program, the play enacts real family crises from archival radio audio and imagined fictional back stories. South of Delancey features relatable characters, vintage audio, competent performers, and a period set that gives the audience...

Hugh Leonard's dry humored, The Au Pair Man, is playing at Raven Playhouse in conjunction with the Celtic Arts Center. Through unusual circumstances surrounding the employ of a young Irish man by a creepy English matron, this dialogue heavy period piece is a social commentary on the traps of classism and ironic cruelty.

Will Beinbrink and Mackenzie Austin in 'Caught.' (Photo by Michael Lamont) David Ray's intense and heartening family drama, Caught, is playing at Zephyr Theatre. Now in its 25th week, Caught is currently the longest running play in Los Angeles. This eight month run is remarkable considering the substantial competition for Los Angeles audiences and the pervasive theatrical disinterest that haunts the city. Caught uses emotionally charged writing, excellent performances, instinctive direction, and a rich...

Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays is currently playing at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. The show features nine short one-act plays from nine distinguished and notable playwrights including Jeffrey Hatcher, Jordan Harrison, Moises Kaufman, Joe Keenen, Neal LaBute, Wendy McLeod, Jose Rivera, Paul Rudnick, and Doug Wright. A rotating cast that changes each week performs each piece as a staged reading.

John Fleck in 'Mad Women.' (Photo by Ed Krieger) John Fleck's whirlwind one-man show about two women -- his mom and Judy Garland -- is currently playing at Skylight Theatre is Los Feliz. Fleck's narrative concurrently enacts Garland's last performance in Los Angeles and sentimental moments with his own mother, Josephine, near the end of her life after an Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. The performance features multi-media, a rare Garland recording, and audience participation. Fleck...

Ian Nelson with Juju the lamb in 'Curse of the Starving Class.' (Photo by Maia Rosenfeld) Sam Shepard's dark melodrama Curse of the Starving Class is currently playing at Open Fist Theatre on Hollywood's Theatre Row. Shepard uses biographical references to his own childhood on an avocado-and-sheep ranch in Duarte, CA as a device to highlight the virtual impossibility for social mobility in the United States. Through tragic and utterly unstable characters, the play...

Adam Shapiro in "Rent." (Photo by Kat Hess) Jonathan Larson's celebrated rock musical, Rent, is currently running at a secret warehouse location in Mission Junction. Perfectly contextualized in an atmospheric, industrial setting, this production of Rent features hearty, resonant voices, emotionally charged performances, live musical accompaniment, and appreciable direction by Kate Sullivan and Caitlin Hart that remains true to the 1996 Broadway original. Each member of the large ensemble cast of is capable and...

Alive Theatre's current production at MADhouse is the silly and deranged Entropy General. The tone of playwright Ryan McClary's hilarious script falls somewhere between M*A*S*H* and the late 1970s satire Soap with its off-color, often physical humor spliced with deep philosophical speculation about the meaning of...