Solving the Queer Problem Play*
In search of a queer dramaturgy outside of the hegemonic, heteronormative model.
*part two of a three-part essay
Part Two: The Hegemony Strikes Back
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This Flute Has Plenty of Magic
The Magic Flute, one of the most popular operas of all time, receives a cinematic makeover in the LA Opera’s stunning production, playing now at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Swan Still Stuns
When art becomes transcendent, it is unlike anything else. There is something sublime, something transportive, as if one is suddenly and rapturously catapulted into a meditative trance, invited into the imaginative rendering of an auteur and his truth. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake: The Legend Returns, playing now at the Ahmanson, is a work of such beauty that its exquisiteness lies in the sheer audacity of its own existence. The re-telling of the classic ballet through the ingenious queer lens of a master storyteller is awe-inspiring.
Solving the Queer Problem Play*
In search of a queer dramaturgy outside of the hegemonic, heteronormative model.
*Part One of a Three-Part Essay.
A Play is a Poem is A Play about America.
Five short plays, meant to create a pastiche of Americana comprise Ethan Coen’s A Play is a Poem, and it’s having its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum.
Beckett Appreciation 101
Few writers are able to capture the imagination through irony, metaphor, and despair as startling or as vividly as Samuel Beckett. His prose has proven as deeply layered and richly textured as a perfectly aged bottle of wine. And much like wine, it is definitely an acquired taste.
John Leguizamo Gives a Long Overdue, Passionate and often Hilarious History Lesson
Most American History textbooks are lying to us. The Eurocentric, xenophobic, and excruciatingly myopic view of this land we call America gets a proper re-telling by the hilariously entertaining John Leguizamo in his solo show Latin History for Morons, playing now at the Ahmanson Theatre.
Confounding Witch Leaves Much to Be Desired
At some point recently, the theater, at least in Los Angeles, has changed from a medium of thematic exploration and development to one of undisguised political posturing and heavy-handed morality. The latest victim of this sophomoric writing style is Witch, written by Jen Silverman and playing now at the Geffen Playhouse.
Deconstructing Female Empowerment in 1930s New England
By Patrick Hurley
Considered a feminist classic, an avant-garde trailblazer, and a groundbreaking theatrical experience Fefu and her Friends by Maria Irene Fornes, playing now at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, is at once confounding, inquisitive, and thought-provoking.
Wrong Proves Sometimes To Be Sort of Right.
By Patrick Hurley
Somewhere between a Vegas show and a Theme park experience sits The Play That Goes Wrong, a Mischief Theatre Production- playing now at the Ahmanson theatre.
