Susan Rubin News

This week (June 7-13) in live streaming: Matthew Morrison visits Backstage Live, the Next on Stage Season 3 finale, Show of Titles premieres, and so much more!

La MaMa has announced programming for June 2021, which includes the previously announced La MaMa Loves Cabaret with host Sasha Velour; Lottie Platchett Took a Hatchett, written and directed by Justin Elizabeth Sayre; La MaMa Kids: Nostalgia, A Toy Theatre Presentation, and more.

Looking for something new to read while stuck inside, but still need your Broadway fix? We've rounded up 10 MORE of our favorite theatrical biographies to fill the void!

Over halfway through DECONSTRUCTION, Jonathan Leaf's remarkable play about Paul De Man, Mary McCarthy (Fleur Alys Dobbins) tells Hannah Arendt (Karoline Fischer) that she sees no morality 'worthy of the name' in the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. 'There's a need to find authenticity,' McCarthy concedes, 'But it seems to me that you can be genuinely and perfectly evil.' However one feels about deconstruction as a method of reading--I happen to be a fan--we should all agree that De Man was a bad guy: a thoroughgoing liar, a bigamist, a swindler, a manipulator, and the author of some 200 pieces for the Nazi publication in Belgium, Le Soir. I've lingered over this literary-historical context (ironic, given that deconstruction deemphasizes extra-textual material, including authorial intent) because while Leaf's play works beautifully as a story about the (alleged) affair between De Man and McCarthy, the play's real triumph is how deftly it evokes the intellectual minefields on which these personal relationships developed. DECONSTRUCTION is far better, to say nothing of smarter, than most of the ideologically-driven caricatures of the play suggest. This is all the more remarkable given the play runs a mere 75 minutes.

Circle X Theatre Co.'s world premiere of playwright Susan Rubin's LIANA AND BEN presents one of the best technical productions I've seen in small LA theatres. Walking into the Atwater Village Theatre, more than a number of entering audience members do a double take at the optical illusion right in front of their faces. The lighting design of Dan Weingarten combined with the very basic, very clever set of set designer Alan E. Muraoka lead one to believe they're looking...

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play, LIANA AND BEN, written by Susan Rubin and directed by Mark Bringelson.  LIANA AND BEN will preview on Thursday, February 16 & Friday, February 17 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, February 18 at 8pm and run through Saturday, March 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play,LIANA AND BEN, written by Susan Rubin and directed by Mark Bringelson.  LIANA AND BEN will preview today, February 16 & Friday, February 17 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, February 18 at 8pm and run through Saturday, March 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play,LIANA AND BEN, written by Susan Rubin and directed by Mark Bringelson.  LIANA AND BEN will preview on Thursday, February 16 & Friday, February 17 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, February 18 at 8pm and run through Saturday, March 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Members of the 'Pro99' movement of Actors' Equity Association have issued an open letter to AEA's newly elected president, Kate Shindle, in response to her victory and to her inaugural address as president of the national union for actors and stage managers. The open letter is signed by over 400 Equity members (listed below), including such notable names as Ed Asner, Francis Fisher, Sally Kirkland and Alfred Molina. The 'Pro99' movement formed in late 2014 in opposition to AEA's rollout of a new plan that will effectively force 'intimate theaters' in Los Angeles to pay Equity actors minimum wage, go 'non-union' or even close - despite an overwhelming vote against the plan by 66% of the Los Angeles membership on an advisory referendum. 'Pro99' members around the nation, who take their name from the current AEA '99 Seat Plan' that allows members to volunteer in smaller venues, oppose AEA's new promulgated plan. They are requesting that Equity leadership put a moratorium on the plan until local members' voices can be heard, and that the union work with its members to develop an alternative plan that will more realistically address the needs of the Los Angeles theater community.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center, Victoria Mudd, and Elizabeth Yng-Wong have announced the world premiere production of Stanley Ann: The Unlikely Story of Barack Obama's Mother. The one-woman play, written by Mike Kindle and directed by Mark Bringelson, chronicles the life of Stanley Ann Dunham from her young adult years in Hawaii to her later professional life in Indonesia. Starring Ann Noble (The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?), Stanley Ann will play two preview performances on July 7 and 8 at 8pm and opening is set for Thursday, July 9 at 8pm at the Center's Davidson/Valentini Theatre.

Experience the epic sound of CHESS. Based on the 1972 'Match of the Century' between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, CHESS details the trials of two champions and one female assistant who become pawns wrapped up in political plots, competitive gamesmanship, and romantic rivalries. Follow the cast from Bangkok to Budapest as players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA.

Based on the 1972 'Match of the Century' between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, CHESS details the trials of two champions and one female assistant who become pawns wrapped up in political plots, competitive gamesmanship, and romantic rivalries. Follow the cast from Bangkok to Budapest as players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA.

Based on the 1972 'Match of the Century' between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, CHESS details the trials of two champions and one female assistant who become pawns wrapped up in political plots, competitive gamesmanship, and romantic rivalries. Follow the cast from Bangkok to Budapest as players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA.

Missyng Pictures, in cooperation with the Los Angeles TheaterEnsemble and Powerhouse Theatre Company, presents: Stanley Ann: The Unlikely Story of Barack Obama's Mother.

Missyng Pictures, in cooperation with the Los Angeles TheaterEnsemble and Powerhouse Theatre Company, presents: Stanley Ann: The Unlikely Story of Barack Obama's Mother.

Missyng Pictures, in cooperation with the Los Angeles TheaterEnsemble and Powerhouse Theatre Company, presents: Stanley Ann: The Unlikely Story of Barack Obama's Mother.

Pacific Stages Ovation recommended production of "Lobby Hero," by award winning writer Kenneth Lonergan will end its run March 21st.

Pacific Stages Ovation recommended production of "Lobby Hero," by award winning writer Kenneth Lonergan has been extended through March 21.