Mia Bonadonna

True to their mission—presenting theatre in unconventional spaces—this Chalk Repertory (Chalk Rep) production takes place within a stately sacred space within the Masonic Lodge that previously was not open for women to enter. Slither features intriguing plot twists, charismatic performers, and an alchemistic take on theatrical space.

From a literary perspective, these poems could and do hold their own, but fully staged the choreopoem is transformed into a meaty, passion-filled series of interconnected monologues that deal with rape, domestic violence, sex, abortion, consciousness, and god. This production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf features an exceptionally talented cast, live music, and engaging direction.

While the infamy of the subject matter presented could have resulted in a gripping historical drama, and while it is clear that writer and director John Power meant well, this production is painfully slow and untheatrical. In fact, it bears more resemblance to a class presentation of a history project than a play.

This atmospheric production of Brilliant Traces features extraordinary actors, expressive direction, and gripping dialog reminiscent of a hectic night shift at a psychiatric facility.

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.

Amid the downtown cacophony of armored truck traffic, bustling pedestrians, coffee cups clinking against saucers, and an overheard gypsy curse, LAist talked to Short Eyes director and Artistic Director for Urban Theatre Movement, Julian Acosta.

The complex staging of No Good Deed must be a nightmare to direct, but Damaso Rodriguez smoothly orchestrates the entire production with raw grace and a little kitsch. In fact, Rodriguez has crafted an indie-version of Broadway's , minus all of the Spiderman failures, of course.

Playing Lee Harvey Oswald, Perez's performance is wonderfully engaging, direct, and full of vitality. He keeps the audience on their toes, never fully indicating whether Oswald is a manic, defiant assassin or the only sane man in the room. The role of Oswald appears to be incredibly challenging, but Perez never once lets the audience down.

Vanessa Cate's dapper murder mystery, Absolute Black, is currently playing at Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre in North Hollywood. This homage to film noir whodunits follows a nameless, witty private eye and two bumbling police officers as they try interrogate suspects after the untimely death of an up-and-coming Hollywood starlet.

The left coast premier of the biopic work Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins is currently playing at the Geffen Playhouse. The ever-smoky Kathleen Turner resurrects the saucy journalist through this staged adaptation by twin-sister playwrights Margaret and Allison Engel.

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.

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.