155 stories by "Margaret Gray"
John Iacovelli, the Emmy-winning prolific scenic designer for stage and screen and invaluable collaborator for L.A. theater artists for many decades, died Friday. He was 64.
Ex-cons trying to find meaning in life. A boss who just might be the devil. Lynn Nottage's comedy brings amusing ingredients to the Mark Taper Forum.
On the night American women lost their federal right to abortion access, the theater once again became a focal point for protest.
The Actors' Gang opted not to reopen productions until theatergoers could attend shows in person. The interplay between actors and audience is an especially important part of its latest effo…
The writer-actor behind "Wiesenthal" is back with the solo show "The Ghosts of Mary Lincoln," channeling the stories and spirit of Abe's widow.
Nilo Cruz's 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Anna in the Tropics," is set in 1929 at a cigar factory in Florida, but the Anna of the title is Anna Karenina. Tolstoy's adulteress never actu…
Kim Rosenstock, a writer for the Fox sitcom "New Girl," launched her career with the play "Tigers Be Still," first produced in New York in 2010. As Chance Theater's regional premiere of this…
The Economist recently called disruptive innovation " an idea that changes a whole system " the most influential business theory of the early 21st century. Not to front, but theater people g…
Ask theater director Jo Bonney to describe playwright José Rivera's new work " "The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona," a world premiere that begins previews Tuesday at the Geffen Play…
Reviving a beloved musical can be a daunting proposition. Do you keep faith with tradition, or do you try something new? If you opt for a little of both, how much of each? It's hard to find …
In the first scene of the play "Steel Magnolias," Robert Harling's 1987 love letter to small-town Southern women, two Louisiana friends share favorites from their recipe boxes. Cuppa Cuppa C…
If you can't get out to see Southern California's super bloom before tourists trample it flat, don't despair: L.A. theater has its own spring fever, with productions celebrating love, youth,…
La Virgen de Guadalupe " an apparition of the Virgin Mary " is an icon of the Catholic faith, the patron saint of Mexico and a symbol of Mexican independence venerated throughout the America…
There are only so many seats in a theater, only so many performances in a run, and once the set is struck, a production won't exist in exactly the same form again. How can we cope with the e…
William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past" " which rings particularly true in the theater, where plays remind us of lost joy, exorcise pesky ghosts, heal wounds, so…
The national tour of director Jerry Zaks' exuberantly received revival of "Hello, Dolly!" has finally reached the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. And though it brings us neither Bette Midler, wh…
The holidays are over, and we've gotten the memo: For the next 11 months, SUVs may not wear reindeer horns and people must coexist without eggnog. L.A. theaters have packed away the Dickensi…
Forget "The Nutcracker" and "Christmas Carol," at least for a minute. L.A.'s small theaters serve up a drag Tupperware queen, musical Jane Austen, Sandra Tsing Loh and an all-female "Julius …
If you could communicate with dogs, what would you ask them? Having pondered this problem more than I should probably admit, I think my first question would be: "Why do you roll on dead worm…
On a country estate in mid-19th century Russia, the aristocrats play cards, drink vodka, take snuff and philosophize, the servants do all the work, and everybody is imprisoned in a private h…
This week at L.A.'s small theaters: New American's comedy "Meanwhile, Back at the Super LairÂ…," Boston Court's family drama "Her Portmanteau," Celebration's take on "Cabaret" and Theatri…
There was a time, not too long ago, when it seemed like you could barely sit down in New York City without watching one of Wendy Wasserstein's plays. The writer, who died in 2006 at only 55,…
In one of the most entertaining numbers in the musical "School of Rock," which opened Thursday at the Hollywood Pantages theater, a substitute teacher rallies his 10-year-old students to "st…
This week in L.A.'s small-theater scene: "Opening Night: The Improvised Musical" moves to the Second City, "Cardboard Piano" plays in Long Beach, "Olive Kitteridge" writer Jane Alexander's "…
A beat-up 10-speed bicycle leans against the wall in Michael Ritchie's office on the second floor of the Center Theatre Group's annex building in downtown L.A. Befitting a theater company ar…
