Stephen Caffrey

There is nary a more unifying social experience than receiving horrid, mind-bogglingly bad service at a restaurant. It cuts across class, background, geography, ideology, upbringing, and every other imaginable social divide. With minimal effort we can all probably recall a recent experience in which we were out to dinner with friends or significant others and had a server who was slow, rude, invasive, negligent, easily distracted, too chatty, or-in the case of Stephen (Danny Vaccaro), the waiter in Wendy MacLeod's 'Slow Food', currently on stage at Geva Theatre-all of the above. And while it might trigger flashbacks of dining horror and peak hangry-ness, it makes for a truly entertaining stage comedy.

Geva Theatre Center presents Slow Food, by Wendy MacLeod and directed by Skip Greer, in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from January 14 through February 9. 

Geva Theatre Center presents Slow Food, by Wendy MacLeod and directed by Skip Greer, in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from January 14 through February 9.

Digital arts journal Stage Raw announces the nominees for its fifth annual Stage Raw Theater Awards, to be held Monday night September 9, 2019, at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday August 7, 2019. The Stage Raw Theater Awards honor the finest work performed on Los Angeles area stages of 99-seats or fewer, and are selected by a jury of Stage Raw critics. This year's awards celebrate work performed between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019.

The Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company (Tom Oppenheim, Artistic Director) has announced a limited engagement of William Shakespeare's King Lear. Under the direction of Nike Doukas, the production will feature H. Richard Greene in the title role, Mark Bramhall as Gloucester, Stephen Caffrey as Kent, and David Sussman as The Fool. Opening is set for Thursday, July 18, at 8pm.

Summer is the best time of year to get out and see a Shakespeare play, especially in Southern California. Whether it's under the stars, staged in a unique performance space, or revived in a traditional theater, you can't go wrong when it comes to the world's greatest writer. Here's what we've currently got on our radar. Go see a show!

The Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company (Tom Oppenheim, Artistic Director) has announced a limited engagement of William Shakespeare's King Lear. Under the direction of Nike Doukas, the production will feature H. Richard Green in the title role, Mark Bramhall as Gloucester, Stephen Caffrey as Kent, and David Sussman as The Fool. Opening is set for Thursday, July 18, at 8pm.

To close out its 55th season, Orange County's Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory is mounting David Henry Hwang's intriguing and mysterious play M. BUTTERFLY, using the playwright's much more layered and riveting 2017 Broadway revival as its source material. Marked assuredly by powerful, gripping performances, this admirable OC staging---directed with clarifying precision by Desdemona Chiang that continues through June 8 in Costa Mesa---keeps you at the edge of your seat, as it unpacks a story filled with wobbly uncertainties and vague declarations. A beautifully complex production that echoes sentiments of gender conformity/fluidity crossed with geopolitical issues that still resonate in today's ever-changing world, M. BUTTERFLY---particularly with this strong new update instituted by the original playwright himself---is definitely worth seeing.

David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, a tale of obsession, perception and the allure of fantasy, will conclude South Coast Repertory's 2018-19 season. Hwang's break-out hit-a Tony Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist-is about more than steamy seduction and fantasy; inspired by a true account, it's a compelling story of espionage, East-West relations and betrayal. Desdemona Chiang, in her SCR debut, directs the show on the Segerstrom Stage, May 11-June 8. Tickets are available online at www.scr.org.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the hilarious and harrowing, politically incorrect comedy FUDDY MEERS by playwright DAVID-LINDSAY-ABAIRE. In this outrageously funny roller-coaster ride of a play, Claire, an amnesiac. wakes up each day having forgotten the details of her life. This morning, like all mornings, her seemingly devoted husband Richard greets her with a cup of coffee and a scrapbook of memories. But when he steps away, a limping, lisping man claiming to be Claire's brother pops out from under her bed and says he is there to save her. He takes her to her mother's home in the country, where Claire meets a naive man with a foul-mouthed puppet, discovers her husband and son have kidnapped an aggressive lady cop, and comes face-to-face with her past.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the hilarious and harrowing, politically incorrect comedy FUDDY MEERS by playwright DAVID-LINDSAY-ABAIRE.

Dreams are in short supply on the island of Inishmaan, especially for Billy Claven, orphaned and crippled since birth. Antaeus Theatre Company presents The Cripple of Inishmaan, a darkly comic Irish yarn by master storyteller Martin McDonagh. Steven Robman directs a partner-cast ensemble for a Jan. 24 and Jan. 25 opening (one opening night for each cast) at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances continue through March 11. Low-priced previews begin Jan. 17.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE presents the third show in its 98th season with the perfect show for Halloween, the Tony Nominated Best Play, THE SEAFARER, written by Conor McPherson (The Weir) and directed by Ovation Award winner Michael Matthews (The Graduate).  Executive Director Ellen Richard comments, "I love the writing in this play so much and we are thrilled to be presenting it, especially at this time of year." Adds Artistic Director Ann E. Wareham, "I've looked forward to producing this play for 10 years and the moment has arrived.  An exceptional cast, an extraordinary director and a play that is funny, chilling and a perfectly spooky Irish ghost story for the season!" THE SEAFARER will begin previews on Wednesday, October 17; will open on Sunday, October 21 at 5:30pm and perform through Sunday, November 4, 2018 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Drive in Laguna Beach.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE presents the third show in its 98th season with the perfect show for Halloween, the Tony Nominated Best Play, THE SEAFARER

Playwright Amy Freed has always been a Shakespeare fan. Her breakout hit, The Beard of Avon (SCR-commissioned and premiered, 2001), was a smart, funny look at the controversy surrounding the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Now comes SHREW! (March 24-April 21, Segerstrom Stage), in which Freed has re-imagined The Bard's play, The Taming of the Shrew, as a wickedly funny love story of two people who find their way to true, deep and mutual love. Art Manke directs SHREW!, which is an anchor production of the 2018 Pacific Playwrights Festival. Tickets are available at www.scr.org.

Witty, enchanting, and joyously self-referential, the original film version of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE fantasizes a story involving a young, virile William Shakespeare in his prime, who quells a bout of writer's block by secretly romancing an engaged lady named Viola---which apparently becomes the inspiration for the Bard's infamous star-crossed tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet.' The plot of the film remains fairly intact in Lee Hall's mostly delightful if slightly diluted stage adaptation, now continuing performances in a gorgeous-looking new regional production at Orange County's Tony Award-winning theater South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through February 10, 2018. This spunky love letter to the theater is chockfull of stagecraft-insider amusements and fun-to-find Shakespearean Easter Eggs that both aficionados and casual fans will appreciate. But, shockingly, despite the spectacular production values and the beguiling, gusto-bathed performances of its large ensemble cast, this stage adaptation somehow loses some of the inescapable romanticism that is so much more prevalent in the original film.

Romance, mistaken identities, ruthless scheming and backstage theatrics served up with a generous dash of comedy are at the heart of Shakespeare in Love, adapted by Lee Hall from the Oscar-winning film written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, with music by Paddy Cunneen. South Coast Repertory Artistic Director Marc Masterson directs the production on the Segerstrom Stage, Jan. 13-Feb. 10. Tickets are now on sale: www.scr.org.

Romance, mistaken identities, ruthless scheming and backstage theatrics served up with a generous dash of comedy are at the heart of Shakespeare in Love, adapted by Lee Hall from the Oscar-winning film written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, with music by Paddy Cunneen. South Coast Repertory Artistic Director Marc Masterson directs the production on the Segerstrom Stage, Jan. 13-Feb. 10. Tickets are now on sale: www.scr.org.

The world premiere of Robert Allan Ackerman's two-hander TOLSTOY IN SUFFOLK receives a strong mounting from Studio C Artists and Combined Artform. Ackerman's intricate, smart and very descriptive script depicts the meeting of theatre producer Greg and playwright Brendan at Brendan's remote cottage in Suffolk. Stephen Caffrey wows as Brendan. JD Cullum embodies his role of Greg.

Studio C Artist and Combined Artform present TOLSTOY IN SUFFOLK, written and directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, featuring Stephen Caffrey & JD Cullum, opening October 20th running through November 19th at Studio C - 6448 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90038.