Ed Krieger News

Since I left the theater last Sunday, I have been singing 'Camptown Races' (sometimes referred to as 'Camptown Ladies'), a comic song written by Stephen Foster, known as the father of American music who was considered the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. Appropriately, the song was published in 1850 in Foster's Plantation Melodies, making it the perfect theme song for PURE CONFIDENCE, a play set in the high-stakes world of Civil War-era horse racing. This surprisingly funny and daring story takes a look at the complexity of race relations, love and dignity in the second half of the nineteenth century. Against a vivid backdrop of fast horses, gritty racetracks and high-stakes betting, it's an extraordinary tale of human triumphs and failings.

The world premiere of BUILDING THE WALL has extended through June 18.

A wave of new plays addressing social unrest are now hitting the stages of Los Angeles theaters. Last weekend I saw Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan's BUILDING THE WALL at Fountain Theatre, the first in a series of productions set to take place at theaters across the U.S. as part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. Written as a reaction to the dawn of the Trump presidency, Schenkkan offers a direct response to his immigration policies, revealing how those policies might lead to a terrifying, seemingly inconceivable, yet inevitable conclusion.

A new play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (The Kentucky Cycle, All the Way, Hacksaw Ridge), written in direct response to the immigration policies of the Trump administration, reveals how those policies might lead to a terrifying, seemingly inconceivable, yet inevitable conclusion.Building the Wall opens at the Fountain Theatre onMarch 18, the first in a series of productions set to take place at theaters across the U.S. as part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates the first opening of the Rolling World Premiere of Building the Wall by Robert Schenkkan. The latest play from the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright will Roll, with the support of Paul Prokop, through Core Members Fountain Theatre (Los Angeles, CA; March 18-May 21, 2017), Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO; April 4-19, 2017), and Borderlands Theater (Tucson, AZ; September 20-October 18), as well as Associate Members Forum Theatre (Washington, DC; April 27-May 27, 2017) and City Theatre (Miami, FL; September 20-October 8, 2017).

Attending this show is closer to sitting through a college philosophy lecture, taught by the campus' resident bat-shit insane tenured professor, than it is a night out at the theatre.

How can we understand and contextualize new information challenging what we take for granted as scientific fact? Disinherit the Wind, a play of ideas by Matt Chait that asks us to view the wonders of science through a different lens, opens March 3 at The Complex on Hollywood's Theater Row.

MainStreet Theatre Company begins the New Year with a stage adaptation of The Secret Garden, the beloved 1911 book by Frances Hodgson Burnet. The award-winning adaptation stays true to the original novel, which has been inspiring and delighting generations of children for more than 100 years. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

MainStreet Theatre Company begins the New Year with a stage adaptation of The Secret Garden, the beloved 1911 book by Frances Hodgson Burnet. The award-winning adaptation stays true to the original novel, which has been inspiring and delighting generations of children for more than 100 years. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

KPFK Radio's Arts in Review, Los Angeles's longest-running radio showcase on live theater and cabaret, presents its annual Holiday Drama Marathon, featuring the AIR Repertory Players under the direction of Irene Arranga, highlighted by the premiere of Christmas in Tinseltown by Julio Martinez, the encores of To All a Good Night: The History of Santa Claus, Dreidels and Donuts & The Christmas Eve Truce and the 13th annual concert presentation of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, featuring actor Al Alu. Also featured is the holiday music of Al Jarreau.

KPFK Radio's Arts in Review, Los Angeles's longest-running radio showcase on live theater and cabaret, presents its annual Holiday Drama Marathon, featuring the AIR Repertory Players under the direction of Irene Arranga, highlighted by the premiere of Christmas in Tinseltown by Julio Martinez, the encores of To All a Good Night: The History of Santa Claus, Dreidels and Donuts & The Christmas Eve Truce and the 13th annual concert presentation of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, featuring actor Al Alu. Also featured is the holiday music of Al Jarreau.

Theatre Planners presents the world premiere of WAITING FOR GRACE, an award-winning comedy by Sharon Sharth, as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre, directed by Lee Costello. Centering on a woman who wants to have it all, a great career, marriage and children with the perfect husband, but just seems to waste her life with men who don't want what she does. And when she finally meets the right man, what if her fear of abandonment prevents her from ever accepting she has finally found the right man?

What if true love never happens? Or worse… what if it does? Theatre Planners presents the world premiere of an award-winning comedy by Sharon Sharth. Waiting for Graceopens as a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre on November 12, directed by Lee Costello.

Given the uproar in our society today, it's the perfect time to get to the Ruskin Group Theatre for the World Premiere of IT'S TIME written and performed by Paul Linke and directed with great insight into personal acceptance and growth by Edward Edwards. I walked out of the theater in tears, convinced the way to celebrate and live my life in celebration is to look to the future with love and hope, and not live convinced the way to more forward is by focusing on the disappointments seen in rear-view mirror of my life.

CASA 0101 Theater, Josefina Lopez, Artistic Director and the newly formed production company, Angel City Theater Ensemble (ACTE), Vance Valencia, Founder, will present the Los Angeles Premiere of the critically acclaimed play, MARIELA IN THE DESERT, written by Karen Zacarias, directed by Robert Beltran (Star Trek:  Voyager; Zoot Suit; Eating Raoul).  The production will be presented for a five-week run on the theater's Main Stage located at 2102 East First Street (at St. Louis Street), Boyle Heights, CA  90033 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and on Sundays at 5:00 p.m., November 4 - December 11, 2016.  There will be no performances on Thanksgiving Weekend, November 25th, 26th and 27th.

The West Coast premiere of Cathy Lind Hayes' award-winning autobiographical show 'The Beauty, The Banshee & Me' has extended through November 6 at Whitefire Theatre.

In Cabrillo Music Theatre's new production of Evita, the role of Che, the narrator figure based on Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, is played by Marc Baron Ginsburg. A Philadelphia native, Ginsburg has enjoyed a varied career on both coasts prior to coming to Cabrillo. His favorite roles include Aaron (First Date,) Lord Farquaad (Shrek), Lawrence Jameson (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), and Quixote/Cervantes (Man of La Mancha), among many others. He also played Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh's First National Tour of Oliver! Marc and his wife Liza, who is also a performer, are recent parents of a son, Phoenix, who was born in June. We talked to Marc about his career and his approach to the key role he is playing in Evita.

The beloved book about a mouse named Stuart who is born into an ordinary New York family comes delightfully to life in this charming adaptation. Follow Stuart's many adventures in this classic tale about loyalty and friendship. For ages 4+

When October hits and Halloween horror movies begin to flood late night TV, you can always count on at least one station somewhere airing Mel Brooks' 1974 classic comedy YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. But this year, the situation is a little different. With the recent passing of Gene Wilder, who stars in the title role and also co-wrote the film with Brooks, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN has been making many more appearances than usual in tribute to Wilder's uncommon genius. As a writer and actor, the film was some of his finest work and will continue to make audiences laugh for years to come.

The heart of the story in Wendy Graf's world premiere play PLEASE DON'T ASK ABOUT BECKET centers on a young woman's journey to self-awareness as she learns to separate herself from her identity as the twin of a young man who should have been able to achieve greatness due to his social standing and upbringing as the "star" of his close-knit Jewish family. Seen through the lens of upper middle-class privilege where a favored son is seen as perfect in every way, we are taken on the journey through his life and how his presence affects each of his family members, both uniting and dividing them as they struggle to reconcile their relationships.