Put a Little Drama in your Life
KPBS AIRDATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 1999 By now, we've all had a bellyful of American mobsters… their contorted faces looming ominously on the small and large screen. Mafiosi with their Noo Yawk accents, their molls, their mothers and their murderous machinations. Now, we meet their transcontinental counterparts. The London underworld is the setting of the brutal and brutally funny "Gangster Read More →
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO 7/15/14 The shocking , incendiary -- and frequently banned – Frank Wedekind play, “Spring Awakening,” was written in 1890. Its Tony Award-winning musical adaptation debuted on Broadway in 2006. Between the two, premiering Off Broadway in 2000, is “bare: a pop opera.” All three penetrating Read More →
PAT LAUNER TIMES OF SAN DIEGO 6/1/15 How far would you go to please your parents? Would you lie? Would you hire an actor to impersonate your ideal (fantasy) boyfriend? That’s just what Sarah Goldman does in James Sherman’s 1989 comedy, “Beau Jest.” She invents a Nice Jewish Doctor that her parents will love (that’s because she’s continuing to date non-Jewish Chris Cringle – really! – on the sly). So she calls an escort service and fortuitously, gets Read More →
By Pat Launer www.sdtheatrescene.com 10/29/03 It's hard to think of performances and plays When the world around you is all ablaze. It's been a horrific time for all With fear, cancellations, and the breath-robbing pall But theater's a thing we can't do without And what's 'Nu' Read More →
By Pat Launer www.sdtheatrescene.com 06/23/04 Robots and Bach and murder, oh my! How local theater doth satisfy! Girl genius/science whizzes are proliferating on local stages. And it's about time. First there was "Kid-Simple," and now there's Jenny Chow (or more accurately, Jennifer Marcus). "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" is a delightful stretch for Read More →
By Pat Launer www.sdtheatrescene.com 02/23/05 Women’s place and the price of beauty: In ‘The Waiting Room’ and ‘ Cosi fan Tutte ’ And two haunting JCs from days long gone: ‘Jim Crow’ and the one in ‘Thunder at Dawn.’ WHAT A CROSS 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