Put a Little Drama in your Life
KPBS AIRDATE: June 3, 1992 Maybe you remember it -- a talk-show spoof on Saturday Night Live. It was called "The Problems of Women," or "Women's Problems" or something like that. And it was an all male show. There were absolutely no women involved. They just talked pseudo-knowledgeably about, well, as they said, the Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: May 27, 1992 It's no secret that "The Glass Menagerie" is an autobiographical play. Tennessee Williams did indeed live in St. Louis , where the piece takes place, with his difficult mother, a former Southern belle, and his withdrawn sister, who, with his mother's consent, was later lobotomized. His classic Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: May 20, 1992 What've you got when you have Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Paul Robeson together in one room for a big-time meeting? A bunch of really heavy-hitters. Oh, and don't forget the guy who made it all happen -- Branch Rickey, the crusty Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager. Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: May 13, 1992 If you're feeling oppressed by information overload, by the constant barrage of media hype, celebrity status and political polemic, maybe you shouldn't go see John Fleck in "A Snowball's Chance in Hell." On second thought, maybe you should. In the prologue, Fleck appears dressed as a gnome-like monk, on his Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: May 6, 1992 What, exactly, is Normal ? And who are any of us to say? If a psychiatrist "cures" a disturbed adolescent by robbing him of his passion, his faith and his mythos, will he then be Normal ? And what will his life be like -- Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: April 29, 1992 David Mamet can't write women. In his pointed, satirical plays, he often -- wisely -- leaves them out. Or he gives them insubstantial characters, enigmatic and unfulfilled. Seeing a double-bill of Mamet one weekend night, at two different theaters, I was struck most by his misogyny. I'd Read More →
“San Diego is a hotbed of theater. Every year, I see 200-250 productions. This is fertile ground for new work. In addition to the prodigious local talent, theatermakers from around the country come here to premiere their latest creations. San Diego sends more shows to Broadway than nearly any other city in the U.S.”
-Pat Launer