Belleville Bewilders
By Patrick Hurley
What is happening to theater? Why do so many theatrical experiences end in a shrug of bewilderment? The elements of dramatic tension, conflict and drama are better served on Netflix these days. Read more 
Our Town Still Theatrically Reflects Our Selves
By Patrick Hurley
The Theater. The invention of this spectacle-fueled construct that revels in artificiality serves as the setting, motif and thematic launching pad for Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-Prize Winning masterpiece Our Town, playing now at the Pasadena Playhouse. Read more
Truths Speaks Volumes
By Patrick Hurley
Jeanne Sakata’s solo show Hold These Truths, playing now at the Pasadena Playhouse, recounts the remarkable journey of Gordon Hirabayashi (Ryun Yu) who was a young Japanese man at the start of World War II, and whose defiance and determination to oppose the United States Government’s orders to incarcerate Japanese-American citizens in internment camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor, leads him on a forty-year journey of self discovery, racial identity, and what it means to fight assimilation. Read more
Pasadena Celebrates Tennessee with Reading Series
By Patrick Hurley
The Pasadena Playhouse will be hosting Four By Tenn, staged readings of Tennessee Williams plays in conjunction with the Playhouse’s development production of God Looked Away, a play about Williams at the end of his career and starring Al Pacino and Judith Light. Read more
Pasadena’s Pygmalion: A Creation Worth Falling in Love With
By Patrick Hurley
Written over a hundred years ago, George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, playing now through April 12 at the Pasadena Playhouse, seems unlikely to be a relevant piece of theatre. You might think something so dated can’t be exciting. You would be wrong. Director Jessica Kubzansky has deftly and sumptuously reimagined the staging of the early 20th century masterpiece, and has actually brought it into the 21st century with wit, charm, and a surprising, but resounding spark of feminism. Read more
Stop Kiss Should be on Your List
By Patrick Hurley
Falling in love is a powerful experience. And it is the exploration of what love means that is at the heart of Diana Son’s Stop Kiss, playing now at the Pasadena Playhouse. This exploration finds an unlikely pair of women in the throes and immediacy of love. Callie (Angela Lin) and Sara (Sharon Leal) meet each other through a mutual friend. They spark a friendship that turns into a close relationship that turns into something more. And it is in the very idea of “something more” where the dramatic universe of this plays resides. Read more
New Take on Familiar Kate
By Patrick Hurley
Cole Porter’s iconic musical Kiss Me, Kate is competently remounted at The Pasadena Playhouse, playing now through October 12th. Read more
