For fathers who fool themselves, violence is the only truth.

Deano’s crime-free life comes with a frustrating price: A wife who doesn’t excite him and a son whose softness is embarrassing. What’s an ex-heavy to do? With ill-health advancing, our patriarch is forced to take stock of his swapped life sooner than he thinks when the elder son bursts onto the scene with some demons of his own.

There is perhaps no relationship more complex and combustible than that between father and son.

It’s a life bond based on honor and tradition, as much as it’s steeped in envy and competition. But let’s not diminish the ‘dames.’ This is a domesticated gangster yarn where women quietly take control by falling apart at the calculated time.

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Get a true taste of NoHo at the second annual All-Day, All-Arts, All-NoHo “NoHo Scene” on Sunday, October 5 from 11 am until 8 pm.  Admission to all NoHo Scene events and activities is free.

Free theater performances, catered food and wine, kids scene, marketplace, live music and a whole lot more. Get there early - the tickets go fast!

Free theater performances take place between 11 am and 6 pm.  Tickets will be available at the Ticket Booth at Theatre Circle (on Lankershim Blvd., just south of Magnolia) and will be given away starting at 11 am on a first-come, first-served basis.

Relax at the Food and Wine Garden while watching great entertainment on the Outdoor Stage (no tickets required) between 11am and 8 pm.

Visual artists will take over Lankershim Boulevard, creating an Artists Village.  Walk through a beautiful blend of art and experience how art is made - LIVE! - at the demonstration booth.

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Why is popular culture so inundated with crazed housewives? Whether it be the ludicrous shenanigans of the fictional Wisteria lane women, the over the top blondes of Orange County, the blaze society climbers of New York or the soon to be outlandishly outrageous multicultural Atlanta group, American Society seems to be obsessed with upper class women and the men who love them, from a distance (i.e. off camera,) except of course for Simon…oh Simon.

With the phenomena of suburban domesticity reaching a definite peak, Kelly Ann Ford answers, through a satire on the popular fictional and twisted-reality housewife satires (making it a meta-satire?), with the world debut of “It’s the Housewives!:” a rock-n-roll musical staring, Terri Homberg-Olsen (Jerry’s Girls), Jamey Hood (The Shagg’s) Corrine Dekker (The Posession of Mrs. Jones) and Jayme Lake (Hillary Agonistes) as Aged Becca, Becca, Lynn and Lexie, respectively.

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UPDATED: We have the winner of our competition! And the winner is the prop master for the Music Man in Middle School.

Congratulations Jacky!

To everyone else, thanks for playing! Tickets are still on sale and you can buy them here. Very few things are as rewarding as an amazing live performance and this has got to be one of the best shows playing in LA.

A Bronx Tale, is a coming of age story about trusting your heart and reaching your potential. It is directed by four-time Tony Award®-winner Jerry Zaks and starred in by Academy Award - nominated actor Chazz Palminteri. Pamminteri returns to the stage in this unforgettable performance fresh from a successful run on Broadway, where it was praised by the critics and adored by the public.

LA.CityZine gave away two tickets for the September 14th show at 7:30pm. All you had to do to place was to leave a comment

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Maybe I should just die. Maybe I should stop seeing theatre.  Maybe L.A. theatre should die.

It’s not that this production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune is demonstrably bad, it’s that the production is just not good.  What is it then? I don’t know. I am tired of seeing sucky theatre.  Though I dare say there isn’t any other kind. At least I haven’t seen anything worth while. Except one piece about five years back. I don’t remember the name of the play but it was brilliant. That one was here and now gone, can’t get it on DVD. Aside from that I’ve only seen one other stand-out performance let alone an entirely notable production. That particular performance was by a talented young man who later popped up as a cast member on Judging Amy. I’m sure the lure of television and it’s big money was much more enticing than doing little Rilke plays in Venice. Even if Mr. Rahm liked doing little plays in little theatres he still wound up on Television.

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Theatre 40’s production of Lost in Yonkers is a heartwarming and thought provoking portrayal of Neil Simon’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play.

The theme of a family struggling and pulling together to survive during times of war, and the poverty and uncertainty that war brings with it, is just as relatable and timely as that of the family members’ personalities differences, motivations and histories creating a dysfunction that affects the family’s growth. The play is set in Yonkers, New York in 1942 during WWII, although Simon published it as America was entering into the Gulf War in Middle East in 1991. The story uncovers many tragic moments of this family’s past and the oppressive effects it has on each members’ present and future, expertly written under the guise of a comedy.
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Hillbilly hilarity: Less teeth - More cartwheels. Easy targets flattened like roadkill that have nowhere to hide.

The ‘play within a play’ can be an inventive canvas, albeit, when the former has something relevant to convey that impacts the latter. Not the case here. There is nothing to be learned, revealed or pondered. It’s just a hick sitcom for hick-sake.

As the playbill states, ‘It’s an intimate look at clashing egos on and off-stage, as a cast of misfits prepare to mount the story of small-town boy’s attempt to win a cheerleader’s heart.’ The boy, being the playwright, directing his upbringing for the stage.

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The Rubicon Theater on Main Street in downtown Ventura has outdone itself for this season, promising to renew its fabulous International Theater Festival again next summer. If you missed it this time, start marking your summer calendar for 2009 now. The festival offered twenty-three striking events in sixteen days, most at moderate prices. The two that I attended were among four sessions offered absolutely free. Bi-lingual Spanish romantic comedy, Ivory Coast political intrigue, Israeli “Spanish Inquisition” drama, scholarly Beckett interpretation, soul-searching cabaret sing-out in the round, a former Cirque du Soleil French mime, and much more grace a variety of Ventura’s most delightful settings. This festival is for lovers of seaside towns, charming architecture, quality theater, and international flavor.

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Somewhere inside of me I hear a voice warning ” Respect your elders!” I have to ignore that voice because all the actors playing in Long Day’s Journey into Night are elder than I. Maybe I can go about this in a respectful way But I’ve heard that the truth shall set me free Argh! What to do?

The set for this piece was astonishing. I was so overwhelmed by the stage and set design that I took several pictures on my phone. I wanted to revisit these later like a handful of shells collected during a day at the beach. These pictures of the beautiful set would be a nice reminder of a wonderful experience. I was so excited by the scenery and set that my expectations jumped even higher than they already were. I mean this is an American classic; a heartbreaking look into a family’s struggle to deal with substance addiction. I’ve been looking for someone to bring the pain. Here it was; the perfect play for some pain to be brought. Sadly the set was the most painful (astonishingly good) part of this production.

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Contrary to popular belief, tragedies and comedies do not have to be separate dramatic entities. It only takes a glance at this weekend’s theater picks to see that not every play can be classified in specific genre boxes (OK, so it’s pretty pretty easy to deduce given the title of “The Comical Tragedy…”). Go ahead and blur the theater lines by checking out The Next Big Thing, The Comical Tragedy or the Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch, Marx in Soho, and Dupe!

The Next Big Thing - Show tunes either come in the variety of tacky, cheeseball Julie Andrews dancing through grassy fields or tongue-in-cheek campiness a la “Hairspray” and “Dreamgirls,” right? “The Next Big Thing” defies those expectations, however, by featuring a soundtrack of 1980s rock. The story of a teenager striving to write a song that transcends a one-hit wonder, this breezy play takes the liberty to play with 1980s conventions while addressing timeless themes of creating immortality through music.

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Love Hurts: May I have another? Love Hurts: May I have another?

Suicide- Abortion- Homosexuality: Aaahh youth!
Like a stiff salesman traveling thru Tulsa: Teens needs sex no matter what the face of fate.

This highly imaginative production paints a moral space as an illuminated womb where the only way out is by kicking and screaming. Is there anything more sensual than curiosity? A trio of youths rage to find romance hoping to conquer what their parents feared most: Satisfaction.

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Celebrate the power of the individual this weekend with a slew of original and traditional shows that show how it can take only one person to tell a story or make an impact. It may sound cheesy, but in theater, one actor can tell a more effective story than a stage of twenty. Read below for more information about It’s Great 2B_N American, Happy Hour, Assassins, and Shift Happens: A (Piece of) Work in Progress!

It’s Great 2B_N_American - Living as a minority in America can be tough, but returning to one’s home country as an American can be even tougher. In a one-man show, Dan Kwong tells the story of his travels in Asia and how his identity as an Asian-American shaped not only his perspectives upon Asia, but the perspectives Asians had of him. Chock full of props, video, and sound effects, this show’s 21st century intentions create a universally appealing show.

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