Anna Jensen
Anna Jensen has a Ph.D. in Theater Studies from UC Santa Barbara. She has translated and adapted plays by Henrik Ibsen, including Hedda Gabler and When We Dead Awaken. She has served as production dramaturg for many productions, some of her favorites include Macbeth (dir. Jonathan Fox), Good People (dir. Jenny Sullivan) and The Baltimore Waltz (dir. Tom Whitaker).
BWW Review: HUMBUG, A DOLL HOUSE, AND THE NINA VARIATIONS at Center Stage Theater
BWW Review: AMERICAN IDIOT at Center Stage Theater
BWW Review: PETER PAN at Marian Theatre, Santa Maria
BWW Review: THE CRUCIBLE at Marian Theatre, Santa Maria
BWW Review: TROUBLE IN TAHITI AND GALLANTRY at Center Stage Theater
BWW Review: MAMMA MIA! at Solvang Festival Theater
BWW Review: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME-A NEW MUSICAL at Solvang Festival TheaterBWW Review: HUMBUG, A DOLL HOUSE, AND THE NINA VARIATIONS at Center Stage Theater
December 21, 2018
Springing straight from its production of The Glass Menagerie, Lit Moon Theatre now brings three additional productions to Center Stage: First, Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, is retold as Humbug. Then, on January 4th, Lit Moon offers its visually arresting and emotionally captivating production of A Doll House. The next day, 38 actors from Lit Moon's over 25-year history will join together for a brand-new production of The Nina Variations by Steven Dietz.
BWW Review: PETER PAN at Marian Theatre, Santa Maria
November 25, 2018
BWW Review: VANITY FAIR at the Performing Arts Theater, UCSB
November 16, 2018
Santa Barbara theater-goers have had the opportunity to see two plays by Kate Hamill produced this fall. Westmont recently produced Hamill's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice. Now UCSB gifts us with Vanity Fair, based on William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel. Having seen how 'with-it' Pride and Prejudice's sensibilities were, I anticipated Vanity Fair's modern twists on its classic text. The depth of Vanity Fair was an unexpected delight.
BWW Review: AMELIE at Center Stage Theater
November 14, 2018
Out of the Box Theatre Company presents Amelie now playing at Center Stage, a musical based on the French film of the same name. The musical follows effervescent spirit and plot of the director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 film.
BWW Review: ARCADIA at Solvang Festival Theater
September 4, 2018
Cleverly plotted, delightfully comic, and incessantly thought-provoking, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, produced by PCPA, is showing now until September 9th in Solvang. The action takes place in a room of the Coverly estate in two different eras: the early 19th century and the present. The plots of the two periods interweave like the interlacing mahogany marquetry that covers the floor of the stately set. The production keeps the audience wondering how these two distinct worlds on their own linear trajectories of time will join together. When they do, they bend time and action into a twirling circle of recurrence.
BWW Review: MAMMA MIA! at Solvang Festival Theater
July 31, 2018
A musical comedy set to the ebullient music of Swedish pop group, Abba, Mamma Mia! takes audiences on a toe-tapping journey to a wedding on a small island near Greece.
BWW Review: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE at Solvang Festival Theater
July 17, 2018
On stage at Solvang's Festival Theater, PCPA presents the comic play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. The title, a list of the Russian names of the main characters, suggests that it parodies the works of the great Naturalist playwright, Anton Chekhov, author of Uncle Vanya, The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard. The very American-sounding name 'Spike' in the title tips us off to the oddball comic spin that writer Christopher Durang adds to Chekhov's melancholic themes.
BWW Review: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME-A NEW MUSICAL at Solvang Festival Theater
June 20, 2018
PCPA's production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame - A New Musical, now on stage in Solvang's Festival Theater, delights audiences with its overtly theatrical storytelling style. If you are only familiar with the Disney film based on Victor Hugo's epic novel, this Hunchback includes new music, deeper characterizations, and plot elements to suit the taste of today's theater audiences.
BWW Review: CRIMES OF THE HEART at SBCC Jurkowitz Theatre
April 20, 2018
A Delightful Southern Treat. SBCC's production of CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley, Directed by R. Michael Gros. April 11-28, 2018, Jurkowitz Theatre, SBCC West Campus, 900 block of Cliff Dr. 805-965-5935 or www.theatregroupsbcc.com for tickets and information.
BWW Review: TROUBLE IN TAHITI AND GALLANTRY at Center Stage Theater
April 18, 2018
A rare treat this weekend only, Opera Santa Barbara presents an evening of one-act comic operas in the intimacy of Center Stage Theater. Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti will be performed along with Douglas Moore's broadly comic work, Gallantry. Both showcase the talents of Opera Santa Barbara's Chrisman Studio Artists (Chelsea Melamed, Byron Mayes, Elle Valera, and Jonathan Walker-VanKuren) in featured roles. Opera Santa Barbara's Artistic Director, Kostis Protopapas, praises these singers for their 'charisma and charm combined with impeccable comedic timing.'
BWW Review: THE INVISIBLE HAND at New Victoria Theater
April 16, 2018
Entrancing but, as the kids in theory class say, 'problematic'
BWW Review: AMERICAN IDIOT at Center Stage Theater
April 11, 2018
The punk rock musical American Idiot, now on stage at Center Stage, gives Green Day fans an opportunity to immerse themselves into the titular album through dance, imagery, and, of course, music. American Idiot does not tell a story so much as it performs the gesture of punk rock: a clench-fisted rebellion against the banality of American society and culture.
BWW Review: THE CRUCIBLE at Marian Theatre, Santa Maria
February 21, 2018
It's 1692, 1953, or 2018, or any year, as you see it...
BWW Review: THE CITY OF CONVERSATION at Ensemble Theatre Company
February 13, 2018
Sharon Lawrence stars in The City of Conversation
BWW Previews: EARTH DUET AND OTHER STORIES at Center Stage Theater
February 1, 2018
DramaDogs presents 'Earth Duet and Other Stories,' a compelling drama of the earth in a musically-informed, physically-centered theatrical presentation.
BWW Review: KING LEAR at UCSB: Performing Arts Theater
November 24, 2017
Critic A.C. Bradley claimed that of all of Shakespeare's tragedies, King Lear was too sublime for the stage. For Bradley, King Lear's depiction of madness, stormy landscapes, filial deception, and treachery went to extremities best conjured by a reader who can imaginatively fill in the breadth of Shakespeare's vast tragic landscape. The turn-of-the-century stage practice that Bradley would have experienced, however, aspired to visual verisimilitude. In trying to depict everything for the audience's eyes, these theaters could only betray the expansive world of Lear.
BWW Review: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at San Marcos High School
November 18, 2017
Murder and mystery staged by San Marcos High School under the direction of Riley Berris
December 21, 2018
Springing straight from its production of The Glass Menagerie, Lit Moon Theatre now brings three additional productions to Center Stage: First, Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, is retold as Humbug. Then, on January 4th, Lit Moon offers its visually arresting and emotionally captivating production of A Doll House. The next day, 38 actors from Lit Moon's over 25-year history will join together for a brand-new production of The Nina Variations by Steven Dietz.
BWW Review: PETER PAN at Marian Theatre, Santa Maria
November 25, 2018
BWW Review: VANITY FAIR at the Performing Arts Theater, UCSB
November 16, 2018
Santa Barbara theater-goers have had the opportunity to see two plays by Kate Hamill produced this fall. Westmont recently produced Hamill's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice. Now UCSB gifts us with Vanity Fair, based on William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel. Having seen how 'with-it' Pride and Prejudice's sensibilities were, I anticipated Vanity Fair's modern twists on its classic text. The depth of Vanity Fair was an unexpected delight.
BWW Review: AMELIE at Center Stage Theater
November 14, 2018
Out of the Box Theatre Company presents Amelie now playing at Center Stage, a musical based on the French film of the same name. The musical follows effervescent spirit and plot of the director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 film.
BWW Review: ARCADIA at Solvang Festival Theater
September 4, 2018
Cleverly plotted, delightfully comic, and incessantly thought-provoking, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, produced by PCPA, is showing now until September 9th in Solvang. The action takes place in a room of the Coverly estate in two different eras: the early 19th century and the present. The plots of the two periods interweave like the interlacing mahogany marquetry that covers the floor of the stately set. The production keeps the audience wondering how these two distinct worlds on their own linear trajectories of time will join together. When they do, they bend time and action into a twirling circle of recurrence.
BWW Review: MAMMA MIA! at Solvang Festival Theater
July 31, 2018
A musical comedy set to the ebullient music of Swedish pop group, Abba, Mamma Mia! takes audiences on a toe-tapping journey to a wedding on a small island near Greece.
BWW Review: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE at Solvang Festival Theater
July 17, 2018
On stage at Solvang's Festival Theater, PCPA presents the comic play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. The title, a list of the Russian names of the main characters, suggests that it parodies the works of the great Naturalist playwright, Anton Chekhov, author of Uncle Vanya, The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard. The very American-sounding name 'Spike' in the title tips us off to the oddball comic spin that writer Christopher Durang adds to Chekhov's melancholic themes.
BWW Review: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME-A NEW MUSICAL at Solvang Festival Theater
June 20, 2018
PCPA's production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame - A New Musical, now on stage in Solvang's Festival Theater, delights audiences with its overtly theatrical storytelling style. If you are only familiar with the Disney film based on Victor Hugo's epic novel, this Hunchback includes new music, deeper characterizations, and plot elements to suit the taste of today's theater audiences.
BWW Review: CRIMES OF THE HEART at SBCC Jurkowitz Theatre
April 20, 2018
A Delightful Southern Treat. SBCC's production of CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley, Directed by R. Michael Gros. April 11-28, 2018, Jurkowitz Theatre, SBCC West Campus, 900 block of Cliff Dr. 805-965-5935 or www.theatregroupsbcc.com for tickets and information.
BWW Review: TROUBLE IN TAHITI AND GALLANTRY at Center Stage Theater
April 18, 2018
A rare treat this weekend only, Opera Santa Barbara presents an evening of one-act comic operas in the intimacy of Center Stage Theater. Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti will be performed along with Douglas Moore's broadly comic work, Gallantry. Both showcase the talents of Opera Santa Barbara's Chrisman Studio Artists (Chelsea Melamed, Byron Mayes, Elle Valera, and Jonathan Walker-VanKuren) in featured roles. Opera Santa Barbara's Artistic Director, Kostis Protopapas, praises these singers for their 'charisma and charm combined with impeccable comedic timing.'
BWW Review: THE INVISIBLE HAND at New Victoria Theater
April 16, 2018
Entrancing but, as the kids in theory class say, 'problematic'
BWW Review: AMERICAN IDIOT at Center Stage Theater
April 11, 2018
The punk rock musical American Idiot, now on stage at Center Stage, gives Green Day fans an opportunity to immerse themselves into the titular album through dance, imagery, and, of course, music. American Idiot does not tell a story so much as it performs the gesture of punk rock: a clench-fisted rebellion against the banality of American society and culture.
BWW Review: THE CRUCIBLE at Marian Theatre, Santa Maria
February 21, 2018
It's 1692, 1953, or 2018, or any year, as you see it...
BWW Review: THE CITY OF CONVERSATION at Ensemble Theatre Company
February 13, 2018
Sharon Lawrence stars in The City of Conversation
BWW Previews: EARTH DUET AND OTHER STORIES at Center Stage Theater
February 1, 2018
DramaDogs presents 'Earth Duet and Other Stories,' a compelling drama of the earth in a musically-informed, physically-centered theatrical presentation.
BWW Review: KING LEAR at UCSB: Performing Arts Theater
November 24, 2017
Critic A.C. Bradley claimed that of all of Shakespeare's tragedies, King Lear was too sublime for the stage. For Bradley, King Lear's depiction of madness, stormy landscapes, filial deception, and treachery went to extremities best conjured by a reader who can imaginatively fill in the breadth of Shakespeare's vast tragic landscape. The turn-of-the-century stage practice that Bradley would have experienced, however, aspired to visual verisimilitude. In trying to depict everything for the audience's eyes, these theaters could only betray the expansive world of Lear.
BWW Review: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at San Marcos High School
November 18, 2017
Murder and mystery staged by San Marcos High School under the direction of Riley Berris
