As LGBTQ+ visibility faces new threats, the Hollywood Queer Short Film Festival opens in October with a sense of urgency. Under Jim Hoffman's direction, this year's theme - “Visibility is Resistance" - serves as both rallying cry and curatorial theme. The festival offers substantial submission discounts to film students, framing participation as an act of cultural preservation. This places HQSFF in a tradition of queer film festivals that have long defended cultural expression. Hoffman explicitly... Read more →
In "Ophelia's Refrain," Sheila-Joon Azim brings Shakespeare's Ophelia into the realm of contemporary identity politics. This solo performance follows a half-Iranian woman's journey from Seattle's streets to Amazonian ceremonies. Azim's work defies categorization, combining theatre, movement, song and punk rock to explore identity breakdown. The production challenges modern ideas about belonging through classical references. Under Shyamala Moorty's direction, Azim turns personal confession into universal questions. The show asks, "What if Ophelia took acid?”, reframing psychological... Read more →
Shelley Cooper's solo musical "Rag Doll on a Bomb Site" brings to life a crucial moment in theatre history clearly and purposefully. Set in 1928 Berlin, the piece shows Lotte Lenya facing a crisis minutes before the premiere of "The Threepenny Opera." Her name is missing from the playbill, and her husband Kurt Weill demands the show be cancelled. The drama unfolds in Lenya's dressing room as she tries to calm Weill while revealing fragments... Read more →
In the intimate setting of The Zephyr Theatre, Maria Fagan Hassani becomes Marilynn, an educational therapist whose weekly support group reveals struggle, resilience, and unexpected connection. "Atypical Grace" avoids the tearful sentimentality that often spoils single-performer shows about disability, instead offering a clear-eyed look at how learning differences affect entire families. Hassani's performance works on two levels: as Marilynn, she guides and participates, helping parents face their children's challenges while confronting her own unresolved issues.... Read more →
Catalina Swinburn's "Devotional Landscapes" explores the spiritual terrain of Zawiyas - Sufi sanctuaries that dot North Africa's religious landscape. Through her precise paper weavings, she turns archaeological fieldwork into art that connects physical materials with spiritual experience. Swinburn's exhibition stands out through her skillful blend of cultural research and artistic creativity. Her sculptural works don't merely represent Zawiya sites; they embody the meditative processes inherent in both Sufi spiritual practice and traditional craftsmanship. Her collaboration... Read more →
"Corktown '39" thrusts audiences into a taut political thriller rooted in a little-known chapter of history: an Irish Republican Army plot to assassinate the King of England in 1939. The play unfolds over just four days, creating an intense environment where ideals, loyalties, and personal relationships collide. The production rises above mere historical curiosity by confronting thorny ethical questions about political violence. When does resistance become terrorism? Can morally questionable tactics serve the pursuit of... Read more →
In "Earth, Wind & Car Fire," Janora McDuffie turns her personal story into universal insights in a tight 60-minute solo performance. McDuffie, known for her television work and as the voice announcer for the 94th Academy Awards, brings her storytelling talents to the intimate stage of El Centro's Main Space. The show explores Black and queer identity skillfully, mixing humor with serious moments. Building on her work with No More Down Low TV - an... Read more →
In "Me, Myself and Other," Diana Romero turns personal struggle into compelling theater, creating a solo performance that refuses to be defined by limitation. The 50-minute piece, directed by Maggie Whittum, examines identity, disability, and resilience with refreshing candor. Romero traces her evolution as a first-generation American woman navigating cultural boundaries before and after doctors diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis at 32. This production stands out for its honest approach to disability - neither maudlin... Read more →
In "Reservoir Dolls," Lani Harms delivers a sharp, meta-theatrical solo comedy that cleverly enters Quentin Tarantino's bloody cinematic universe. As both writer and performer, Harms tells the story of Atlanta Springfield, a barefoot call girl who suddenly realizes she's trapped in Tarantino's tenth and final film and must flee for her life while meeting the director's previous female characters. The concept compels because it works as both homage and critique. By making her protagonist self-aware... Read more →
Natasha Mercado's three new works at Hollywood Fringe 2025 show a director who freshly combines vulnerability with absurdity. Having built her reputation through solo performances and directing, Mercado now brings her "Soft Clown" approach to three productions: "Funeral Show," "The Birth of Disco," and "El Mago Loco." What connects these works is Mercado's commitment to emotional honesty within surrealist settings. Her directing avoids the ironic detachment that often plagues experimental theater. Instead, she creates spaces... Read more →
GEOMETRIES OF EXILE In this land of fractured light I recognize myself - divided, city upon city stacked, mathematics of separation. Orange flames consume the borders, blue waters rise against the night. Who taught us to build these walls when earth belongs to no one? Between two fragments lies a path, black and wordless. Call it the passage of those who cannot return. Call it home. We walk through cities made of memory, grids that... Read more →
"Hellas" resurrects ancient Greek theatrical traditions with ambition and vision. Christopher William Johnson's production, with fight coordinator Jen Albert's combat sequences, follows the Greek tradition of a single-day performance. This world premiere honors classical roots while testing modern audiences' appetite for immersive storytelling. Twenty-three performers portray the birth of Western democracy, showing both social change and personal conflicts. "Hellas" stands out through its authentic form—verse, mask, rhythm, dance and combat create an experience beyond typical... Read more →
In "Blackout - No Hard Feelings," Kerri Van Auken crafts a darkly comic journey into the mind of Mary Lynn, a woman whose sunny disposition masks a life in free fall. Van Auken's one-woman show deftly navigates the troubles of middle-aged disappointment with humor and psychological depth. This production stands out for its fresh take on emotional avoidance. Rather than merely depicting escapism, Van Auken takes us inside her protagonist's head, creating a psychological landscape... Read more →
Rejyna Douglass-Whitman transforms personal struggle into theatre in "Trans Mom vs. Family Court." Set in 1990s Los Angeles, this one-woman show chronicles a transgender musician's fight for custody of her daughter while navigating gender identity, conservative attitudes and legal prejudice. The production avoids easy sentiment and predictable political messages. Douglass-Whitman, making her solo acting debut after years as a musician, brings authenticity to a story that balances personal revelation with social commentary. The show examines... Read more →
In "Hooligani," Venessa Verdugo becomes Tetyana Komisaruk, a Russian madam on trial for trafficking Ukrainian women into prostitution in 1990s Los Angeles. The solo performance unfolds as a courtroom plea where Tetyana attempts to secure leniency by recounting her journey from Moscow orphan to criminal. The true crime narrative compels not just through its topicality but by casting the audience as both jury and voyeur. Drawing on her training at Cal State Fullerton and Stella... Read more →
Rheagan Wallace's solo show reveals a common paradox in performing careers: those who push you toward the spotlight often cast the longest shadows. In "Stage Mamma," Wallace transforms her progression from Texas child actor to Hollywood professional into a universal story about finding independence within complex family relationships. The production goes beyond simple memoir by using a sophisticated multimedia approach. Wallace doesn't just tell her story - she embodies it through multiple character transformations, while... Read more →
In "Reveal," ArtCenter College of Design's first graduate exhibition explores the concept of unveiling. Co-curated by Gerardo Herrera and James Meraz, the exhibition reveals how artists create, not just their finished works. Nine graduate students from Industrial Design to Film have transformed the new Graduate Studies Gallery into a workshop of visible creation. The exhibition shows how artists make things, not just what they finish. Installations, augmented reality elements and models connect disciplines that might... Read more →
"Jump or Fall" shows a moment of human connection at the edge of despair. Playwright Rich Nagle balances darkness and possibility as two strangers meet at a bridge, each seeking an end to their troubles. It's not just a story about suicide, but about chance meetings and how people move between isolation and connection. Director Yunyi Zhu handles these difficult emotions with actors Gina Elaine and Larry Coleman, who show the tentative dance between vulnerability... Read more →
After losing his home to Los Angeles fires, director Andrew Weyman finds refuge in staging “Fostered” at Pacific Resident Theatre. This contemporary comedy marks a departure from PRT’s usual classical repertoire, offering instead a timely look at authenticity in a world of pretense. Set during the 2016 election and its aftermath, Chaya Doswell’s play follows the Foster family of Scarsdale. Parents Karen and Sandy try to embrace change until their adult children return home with... Read more →
Odalys Nanin's reimagined "Frida - Stroke of Passion" transforms the traditional theatrical experience into a sensory journey that collapses the boundary between audience and art. This immersive staging resurrects Kahlo’s final days with haunting immediacy. The production doesn’t sanitize Kahlo's complex reality: her physical agony, her sexual fluidity, and her defiance of social conventions emerge unvarnished. The narrative architecture balances historical accuracy with artistic interpretation, particularly in exploring the mysterious circumstances surrounding Kahlo's death. Nanin's... Read more →
In "Lost Cellphone Weekend," Emmy Award-winning composer Stephen Gilbane adapts Billy Wilder's noir classic about alcoholism into a dark comedy about our addiction to screens. The premise is simple: Don Birnam spends a weekend without his phone, making audiences face their own tech habits. Gilbane's musical, directed by Darrin Yalacki, uses film noir's shadowy style to show our dependence on technology. The production explores how technology has changed our relationships and identities. The work stands... Read more →
Jordan R. Young's one-woman show "Bela Lugosi Meets Edna St. Vincent Millay" creates an unlikely but fascinating intersection of two cultural figures who never actually met. Rose London shifts effortlessly between roles - the narrator, Millay herself, and Lugosi - while revealing surprising parallels between the vampire actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Both achieved fame early, spoke against fascism, and struggled with addiction. The show places these historical figures within a story about an actress... Read more →
In "The Promise," Bashir Makhoul turns Zawyeh Gallery into a meditation on displacement through simple architectural forms. His work rebuilds houses as containers of memory. The recurring motif - a cube with door and window - creates a visual vocabulary both minimal and rich with meaning. The exhibition strikes a balance between aesthetic beauty and political urgency. His electroplated 3D prints give the dense house formations a crystalline quality, making them appear both fragile and... Read more →
"Tasty Little Rabbit" explores how art, morality and political persecution intersect in a story that feels eerily relevant. Tom Jacobson's new play, directed by George Bamber, examines the 1936 Fascist Italian investigation of Wilhelm von Gloeden's photographs, revealing deeper secrets from the 1890s involving von Gloeden, poet Sebastian Melmoth, and a young Sicilian model. The production refuses easy categorizations. It doesn't just rehash debates about art versus pornography but shows how moral panics serve political... Read more →
In its reimagining of L. Frank Baum's world, "The Enemy of Oz" transforms Oz from a fairyland into a hotbed of political intrigue and conflict. Christopher Ureña's script weaves contemporary themes of power and corruption into the familiar Oz tapestry, creating something both nostalgic and new. What makes this production revolutionary isn't just its story but its performers. Theatre by the Blind - the only all-blind theater company in the United States - gives this... Read more →
In "Augenblick," Katrin Korfmann disrupts our conventional understanding of the photographic moment through compositions that collapse multiple temporal dimensions. Her work deliberately subverts Henri Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment" by creating layered visual narratives where urban spaces become stages for human performance and social interaction. Korfmann's images of freerunners navigating Amsterdam's architecture and surfers riding artificial waves in Munich reveal how citizens reclaim and transform public spaces in unexpected ways. These works function as documentation and artistic... Read more →
In "Sound Formations," the Claremont Lewis Museum of Art bridges sonic utility and visual aesthetics. Co-curated by Michael Kotzen and Martin Maudal, this exhibition reveals Claremont's rich musical heritage while celebrating craftspeople who turn instrument-making into fine art. The show doesn't just display instruments; it reveals the relationship between maker and musician, material and sound. The curators go beyond mere display. They've created a sensory journey that shows how these handcrafted objects work as both... Read more →
A Conversation with Responsible AI Researcher Swaptik Chowdhury, "AI for Artists," RabbleRouse News, by James Scarborough
March 21, 2025
Swaptik Chowdhury's column "AI for Artists" serves as a critical bridge between rapidly evolving AI technologies and a creative community caught in their crosshairs. His approach is twofold: he explains the technical underpinnings of generative AI and contextualizes them within the real challenges artists face. What makes Chowdhury's perspective valuable is his dual positioning as both an AI researcher and an advocate for artistic integrity. The column walks a tightrope between technological enthusiasm and ethical... Read more →
Caridad Svich's "Red Bike" uses a simple narrative to explore American identity through a child's eyes. Director Alana Dietze brings this poetic text to life in CalRep's intimate Players Theatre. The production marks CalRep's return to small venues, with the 82-seat theatre serving as the perfect setting for this personal journey. Svich's text creates a landscape where childhood innocence meets harsh economic reality. "Red Bike" turns a child's bike crash into a window on contemporary... Read more →
bG Gallery's "Regenesis – Phase Two" presents a powerful narrative of resilience through female artistic voices. The exhibition, which coincides with Women's History Month, chronicles transformation rather than merely showcasing art. The collected works show a progression from devastation to renewal without sentimentality. The diverse media on display - paintings, sculptures and mixed media - serve as different languages expressing similar themes. Each artist brings her personal experience of adversity to the work, translating emotion... Read more →
Terrence McNally's "Love! Valour! Compassion!" at Kentwood Players explores gay male identity at the crossroads of desire and mortality. Set across three summer weekends at a lakeside retreat, the production creates an intimate space where eight men's lives intersect in moments of raw vulnerability. Director Aric Martin orchestrates these encounters with a delicate hand. He allows the humor to emerge naturally from the characters' foibles rather than forcing comic relief. The ensemble cast moves through... Read more →
In "Directors Tell The Story," veteran television directors Bethany Rooney and Mary Lou Belli have opened a window into the world of directorial decision-making. This third edition builds upon their established framework with crucial updates that reflect the industry's evolution, including sections on directing apps, intimacy coordinators, and virtual production. This book abounds with practical wisdom, gleaned from the authors' combined decades behind the camera. Rooney, whose career spans from "St. Elsewhere" to current procedurals... Read more →
In "Regenesis," bG Gallery presents a timely exploration of renewal and resilience through the lens of contemporary art. The exhibition convenes diverse artistic voices, including Danielle Eubank's work, in a narrative that speaks to both personal and collective recovery. Set against the backdrop of Los Angeles's ongoing dialogue with natural disasters, the show transforms bG Gallery into a space where art becomes a vehicle for community healing. The exhibition serves dual purpose: while serving as... Read more →
In the rugged terrain of Hebei Province, Zhuang Shen's Aranya Jinshanling A... Read more →
Li Jun's exhibition "Purple Air Coming from the East" reveals an artist who... Read more →
Ben Abbott's "Buddies" tackles the deceptively complex terrain of adult male friendship with humor and depth. The play zeroes in on David, a man whose social life revolves around obligatory hangouts with his wife's friends' husbands. Then he meets Adam, his sister-in-law's new boyfriend. Their immediate connection sparks what Abbott calls a "bromantic comedy" that chronicles their fumbling attempts to forge a meaningful friendship. Abbott's work recognizes a rarely acknowledged social phenomenon: the difficulty men... Read more →
In "The Little Match Girl Isn't Going to Die," playwright Kevin B. flips the script on Hans Christian Andersen's tragic tale with a metafictional twist that's both playful and poignant. The play poses an intriguing question: what happens when a character refuses their preordained fate? This podcast production, directed by Bernadette Armstrong for Open-Door Playhouse, transforms a nineteenth-century tearjerker into contemporary commentary on narrative agency and self-determination. The casting reflects the play's boundary-crossing sensibility. Gloria... Read more →
In Angela Beloian's paintings, fantasy and reality intertwine in a mesmerizing underwater ballet. Her mixed media works reveal a vision of ecological harmony where microscopic and macroscopic worlds coexist. Drawing from both scientific precision and imaginative freedom, she creates luminous aquatic dreamscapes that pulse with life. Her delicate line work traces jellyfish tendrils, sea anemones, and coral formations against watercolor-like backgrounds that shift between cerulean blues and misty grays. The paintings function as both biological... Read more →
In "The Land and I" at Zawyeh Gallery Dubai, Palestinian artist Nabil Anani transcends conventional landscape painting through his innovative use of organic materials. His work transforms the physical elements of Palestine - wood, straw, herbs, seeds - into powerful statements about identity and belonging. Anani's technique of incorporating these natural materials directly into his paintings creates a literal and metaphorical fusion of art and earth. This materiality serves dual purposes. It grounds the work... Read more →
Eugene O'Neill's "Hughie" shines as a masterful study in human loneliness, brought to life in Two Roads Productions' intimate staging. Set in a seedy 1928 New York hotel lobby, this one-act play strips away the veneer of social pretense to reveal raw human need. Dan Frischman embodies Erie Smith, a small-time gambler whose façade of success crumbles as he confronts the death of Hughie, the night clerk who validated his existence through patient listening. The... Read more →
In Will Arbery's "Evanston Salt Costs Climbing," the mundane task of salting icy roads becomes a metaphor for our complex relationship with environmental change and technological progress. Director Guillermo Cienfuegos brings a compelling touch to this meditation on existential dread, crafting a production that balances humor with underlying tension. The play transforms everyday municipal workers into prophetic figures. Through the interactions of salt truck drivers Peter and Basil, we witness the human cost of progress... Read more →
In "Beatnik Girl," playwright Leda Siskind scripts a fascinating narrative that intersects with the cultural zeitgeist of 1957 New York's Lower East Side. Through the character of Edie Gordon, Siskind explores the complexities of artistic ambition colliding with societal constraints. The play's setting during the Beat Generation provides more than mere historical backdrop; it serves as a mirror that reflects contemporary discussions about gender equality and artistic freedom. The production, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky,... Read more →
Charles Morogiello's Spacefuzz project “Crush Depth” emerges as a transformative sonic journey that navigates the depths of personal isolation. Through a fusion of psychedelic experimentation and symphonic structure, this double album crafts an underwater soundscape that mirrors the artist's emergence from crisis into connection. Morogiello builds upon the influence of Brian Wilson's contrapuntal innovations. He develops what he terms "counterpoints of counterpoints" to articulate the competing realities within mental health experiences. The album's four sides... Read more →
In "Last Night at Mikell's," playwright Larry Muhammad paints an intimate portrait of James Baldwin's return to New York City that weaves jazz, literature, and friendship into a meditation on legacy. The play transforms Theatre 4 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center into Mikell's, the legendary jazz club where Baldwin's brother David tends bar. Muhammad's script positions Baldwin at a crucial moment: after two heart attacks, he seeks solace in familiar surroundings, only to find... Read more →
Jaxx Theatricals' revival of "Cabaret" marks Jeremy Lucas's return to the stage as the Emcee after a seven-year performing hiatus. This dual role - as both artistic leader and performer - adds an interesting layer to the production's dynamics. The production, directed by Sasha Travis, places the decadent world of 1929 Berlin's Kit Kat Klub against the ominous rise of Nazi power. This juxtaposition creates a haunting resonance that feels relevant to contemporary audiences. Travis's... Read more →
In Dipika Guha's "Yoga Play," directed by Reena Dutt at CSULB's University Theatre, commerce collides with spirituality in a razor-sharp examination of authenticity in our brand-obsessed world. The play follows Joan, a crisis management expert tasked with salvaging a yoga brand's reputation after a PR disaster. Through Joan's journey, Guha crafts a multilayered critique of how Western capitalism commodifies Eastern spiritual practices. Dutt's direction navigates the fine line between satire and substance. Her experience with... Read more →
“You Cannot Know the Hour” plunges into the murky waters of guilt, innocence, and psychological manipulation. Director Trace Oakley, known for his deft handling of complex narratives, brings Katrina Wood’s new psychological thriller to unsettling life at the Sherry Theatre. The play centers on Mr. Brown, a cantankerous widower whose world becomes increasingly unstable with the arrival of a mysteriously adversarial nurse and visitations from his deceased wife’s ghost. Raquis Da’Juan Petree embodies Brown’s deteriorating... Read more →
"UNCONDITIONAL, A Musical Memoir" chronicles the journey of two women who, in their mid-forties, embark on a quest to build a family. Margot Rose's autobiographical musical delves into the complexities of queer parenthood, capturing both the determination required to create a family and the devastating aftermath of loss. The narrative unfolds through a blend of original music live with a four-piece band on stage, and personal storytelling to explore how life continues even when traditional... Read more →
Lisa Adams’ haunting composition "The Master Narrative" presents us with a dramatic confrontation between the mathematical precision of geometric abstraction and the raw, indifferent force of nature herself. Against a turbulent sky of both light and menacing clouds, a fractured mechanical form ascends – or perhaps plummets – like some fallen angel of the industrial age. Adams deploys a stark color palette that seems to mock the very notion of natural harmony. The sharp reds... Read more →
Rajiv Joseph's "Gruesome Playground Injuries," directed by Wolfgang Bodison at Playhouse West, weaves a tapestry of human connection through physical trauma. The production strips away theatrical artifice to expose the raw essence of friendship's persistence across three decades. Through the characters of Kayleen and Doug, portrayed by Marilyn Bass and Grant Terzakis, the play explores how physical wounds mirror emotional scars. Bodison's direction, complemented by his set design, creates an intimate space where time becomes... Read more →