“Blueprint for Paradise”: A polished drama about Nazis for our time
The ruins of the Murphy Ranch, an abandoned pre-WWII Nazi compound in Pacific Palisades, have inspired a new play.
“The Suitcase”: Europe’s and America’s Holocausts seen from the Shawng Zeleezay
The ambitious Echo Theater Company is now staging the United States premiere of a surrealistic Polish play about the Holocaust.
Two plays about “command rape” - in war and in the office
Two plays about how men use rape to exert power over the women they conquer, command, and employ.
Molière’s madcap merriment amuses
"The Imaginary Invalid" pokes fun at doctors and the class system with ribald humor.
Black comedy “Armadillo Necktie” exposes open wound of U.S. in Iraq
A new self-described "jet-black comedy" takes on the national American character at the apogee of its foreign "nation building" enterprise.
Anti-slavery classic revived for the stage as “Tom”
A nineteenth-century American classic, re-imagined for the stage as a tale of racial injustice.
“Home/Sick” stages the 1970s Weathermen movement with explosive impact
In the waning days of the Vietnam War, democracy itself seemed to have ground to a halt. A newly re-staged play delves into that period.
Staceyann Chin takes Chicago by storm in one-woman show: “MotherStruck!”
The Chicago-based one-woman show brings audiences to tears of laughter and pain.
Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape”: A shocking protest against capitalist barbarism
It's a product of the post-World War I Expressionist school, with exaggerated characters, writ in bold strokes, often with harsh, mordant commentary.
The power of music: Alexander the Great and Handel in wartime
Handel composed Alexander's Feast in early 1736; it became one of his most popular and most often revived works during his lifetime.
