Anna Jensen

“It Ends With Guinea Pigs” opens this weekend in the Elysian’s intimate 40-seat Vault space. Playwright-performer Diana Gitelman takes the audience on a path that begins with a minor parenting problem, the care and feeding of two high‑maintenance guinea pigs, and then winds its way through grief, ancestral trauma, and transformation.

Out of the Box Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins” opens at Center Stage this Friday night. Expect a rogue’s gallery of America’s presidential assassins (and try-hard assassins) who feel no remorse whatsoever for their crimes. And, in a way that only Stephen Sondheim’s musicals can finesse, it’s a comedy. It also shows the continuity and change of political violence in America. 

What to expect from JAGGED LITTLE PILL at Center Stage

The names of the divas—Garland, Piaf, Cline, Holiday, Callas—sparkle like the dangling lights on Solvang’s Theaterfest stage. But PCPA’s production of “Songs for Nobodies” gives equal voice and light to the stories of its titular “nobodies.” The constellation of all these characters revolves around actor-vocalist Bethany Thomas, its sole performer. 

Many years ago, a TV commercial imagined how Reese’s peanut butter cups were invented. A handsome man with peanut butter crashes into a beautiful woman with chocolate:  

With a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, “Holmes and Watson” begins. The new PCPA production on Solvang’s outdoor stage offers twisty delights to hardcore Sherlock fans and regular theater goers alike. 

Out-of-the-Box Theatre brings 'Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812' to Santa Barbara in a bold, immersive production at Center Stage. This electro-pop, folk-rock musical, inspired by Tolstoy’s War and Peace, blends contemporary energy with a classic tale.

What did our critic think of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at PCPA: Marian Theater?

What did our critic think of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at PCPA: Marian Theater?

PCPA’s production of “Cabaret” delivers musical and dramatic thrills as two ill-fated couples try to dance around ascending brutality of the rising Nazi party in Berlin. 

The Play That Goes Wrong is a side-splittingly funny production not to be missed. The laughs begin as you enter the theater and last to the final bows. It’s a play that goes wrong by design, of course, and then goes more wrong in service of our amusement as the Cornley Drama Society puts on the murder mystery The Murder at Haversham Manor.

Little Shop of Horrors director/choreographer Keenan Hooks blends camp sensibilities with emotional honesty in his staging of this musical. The theatricality of the puppeteering in this send-up of B-horror flicks like “The Day of the Triffids” or “It Came from Outer Space” and 1960s pop tunes make it worth the price of admission.

A warm and tender tale of resilience and the power of imagination.

What did our critic think of THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT at Rubicon Theatre Company?

What did our critic think of THE THANKSGIVING PLAY at ETC?

'Nunsense,' now playing at SLO Rep, delivers an evening of heavenly harmonies and gentle comedy to tempt even novice theater-goers. 

What did our critic think of EMMA at Marian Theater? A confectionary morsel of Regency romance!

The chaperone has hit the bottle pretty hard and is 'napping.' The young lady she's meant to watch over has cold (or are they itchy?) feet about her impending nuptials. What could go wrong? Everything--in the most musical and zany way possible, of course. The screwball Broadway hit, The Drowsy Chaperone opens at the Marjorie Luke's stage this weekend.

In an unnamed mountain town, two neighboring couples share the last name, 'Jones.' As they become better acquainted with one another, they discover further commonalities, both comic and poignant.

What did our critic think of CINDERELLA at PCPA's Marian Theater?