Put a Little Drama in your Life
PAT LAUNER - THE SAN DIEGO JEWISH JOURNAL NOVEMBER 2015 It seemed like a typical night on Broadway, 1923. But all hell was about to break loose. The vice squad not only closed down the production of “God of Vengeance,” they arrested the producer and 12 actors, and booked them on obscenity charges. It was a travesty, and it dogged the writer, Sholem Asch, for the rest of his life. His play had a profound effect on another Read More →
PAT LAUNER - THE SAN DIEGO JEWISH JOURNAL Feature: “Golda’s Balcony” OCTOBER 2015 She may have looked like a Yiddishe Mama, but she was a tough-as-nails leader and the indomitable Mother of a nation. That would be Golda Meir and the State of Israel. Golda’s story is expansive and impressive, and a small part of it is depicted in the 2003 stage-play, “Golda’s Balcony,” by William Gibson. Golda was born in 1898 in Kiev, Ukraine, the daughter of a poor Read More →
PAT LAUNER - TIMES OF SAN DIEGO.COM 9/29/15 “BLUEPRINTS” TELLS FORGOTTEN CIVIL RIGHTS STORY AT LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE One part inspiration, one part indignation. “Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin” is about the lead-up to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The brilliant ‘prophet for social change,’ he who taught Martin Luther King non-violence, served as Deputy Director and Chief organizer/architect of the March, the biggest protest ever seen in America to date. But more Read More →
Pat Launer, Center Stage on KSDS JAZZ88 September 18, 2015 Some plays are tailor-made for a small, intimate theater. That kind of setting enhances the claustrophobic feel of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which makes it just right for The Broadway Theatre in Vista. Adapted in 1955 by screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, from Anne’s published journal, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play is set in the cramped Amsterdam Annex, upstairs from Otto Frank’s business, where 13 Read More →
Pat Launer, Center Stage on KSDS JAZZ88 September 11, 2015 An early work by William Shakespeare, “The Comedy of Errors” is so silly, with its multiple mixups and mishaps, that setting it almost anywhere can’t harm it. The two sets of identical twins, each matched pair bearing the same name, is separated pretty much at birth, growing up in disparate places – Syracuse and Ephesus. So, why turn Ephesus into New Orleans? Well, why not? The place Read More →
Pat Launer, Center Stage on KSDS JAZZ88 September 4, 2015 Nobody makes it through life unscarred. But Violet wears her wounds more prominently than the rest of us. A native of rural North Carolina, she was facially disfigured by a wayward axe blade at the age of 12. Taunted and rebuffed all her life, she’s become tough, insightful and resilient. Her faith, her father and her late mother’s Bible have helped her survive. Now an adult, Violet Read More →