Previews

PREVIEW: The mammoth masterwork returns: “ANGELS IN AMERICA” Parts 1 and 2 at Cygnet Theatre

PREVIEW: The mammoth masterwork returns: “ANGELS IN AMERICA” Parts 1 and 2 at Cygnet Theatre

by Pat Launer March 2019 San Diego Jewish Journal http://sdjewishjournal.com/sdjj/march-2019/the-ever-relevant-mammoth-2-part-masterwork-returns/ Jews, WASPs, Mormons, angels, ghosts and global warming. “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” has it all. And a whole lot more. The first part of the masterwork by Tony Kushner won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991, and garnered Tony Awards for Best Play in 1991 and 1993 for each of its two mammoth halves: Part I “Millennium Approaches” and Part II “Perestroika.” When “Millennium” premiered in Read More →

The Wagner New Play Festival at UCSD

The Wagner New Play Festival at UCSD

5/11/18  I just saw a terrific play in the Wagner New Play Festival at UCSD . “How to Defend Yourself,” by Lily Padilla, a third year MFA student in the playwriting program, is a knockout. Another of her works was in the La Jolla Playhouse WoW Festival (“And Then You Wait”). This one has an offstage centerpiece: a campus rape, which engenders all manner of feelings, among seven fellow students who know the victim and the perpetrators Read More →

PREVIEW: “SOUL DOCTOR” at the Lyceum Theatre

PREVIEW: “SOUL DOCTOR” at the Lyceum Theatre

The “Soul Doctor” comes to San Diego: First Stop on the Singing Rabbi Musical Tour by Pat Launer February 26, 2018 San Diego Jewish Journal   He’s been called the Rebel Rabbi, the Rock & Roll Rabbi, the Folk-Singing Rockstar Rabbi, the Peace and Love Troubadour, even a life-changing cult figure. You can judge for yourself at the upcoming production of “Soul Doctor, The musical journey of Shlomo Carlebach” (April 3-22 at the Lyceum Theatre). Reb Shlomo, as he was known Read More →

“PREVIEW: “THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES” at InnerMission Productions

“PREVIEW: “THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES” at InnerMission Productions

Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 2/11/18 RUN DATES: 2/16/18 -2/17/18 VENUE: Diversionary Black Box In February, our thoughts turn to VD. That would be Valentine’s Day. But there’s another kind of V-Day commemoration happening in San Diego and worldwide. This is the 20th anniversary of “The Vagina Monologues,” by playwright/performer/activist Eve Ensler. Ensler herself starred in the original Off Broadway production. In 1998, she and others launched V-Day, a global non-profit movement that has raised over $100 million for groups working Read More →

“LETTERS FROM THE WALL/CARTAS DESDE EL MURO” at Coronado School of the Arts and Bayfront Charter High School

“LETTERS FROM THE WALL/CARTAS DESDE EL MURO” at Coronado School of the Arts and Bayfront Charter High School

Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 1/23/18 Everybody’s talking about immigration and deportation. Some people are doing something to enrich the conversation. For the first time in local history, two high schools are coming together to collaborate on a timely, topical theater production. It all began with theater teachers Kim Strassburger (Coronado School of the Arts) and Linda Libby (Bayfront Charter High School in Chula Vista). They had worked together before (Strassburger has directed Libby several times), but they’ve never Read More →

PREVIEW: “BRUNDIBAR” at Bodhi Tree Concerts

PREVIEW: “BRUNDIBAR” at Bodhi Tree Concerts

RUN DATES: 6/11/16 VENUE: Bodhi Tree Concerts at Qualcomm Hall The year was 1943. The Jewish composer Hans Krása was already incarcerated in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. He gathered together the children who had performed his opera, “Brundibár” (the name comes from a Czech colloquialism for a bumblebee) when they were in a Jewish orphanage in Prague. After 55 successful performances of the musical fable in the camp, the Führer requested a special presentation of Read More →