‘The Color of Rose’ explores life of Kennedy matriarch
By Cynthia Citron BEVERLY HILLS, California — In the hands of playwright Kathrine Bates, even history’s certified villains get a sympathetic hearing. Take, for example, Lucrezia Borgia. Bates penned...
View ArticleThree faces of Rose viewable in Beverly Hills
By Cynthia Citron BEVERLY HILLS, California — For those of us who have lived much of our lives in the Kennedy Century, The Color of Rose is a poignant revisit with the fabled family that always...
View Article‘In Darkness’ portrays Holocaust victims hiding in Polish sewers
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES– Many people judge Stephen Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List to be the definitive Holocaust movie. Until now. Giving Spielberg a run for his money is Agnieszka Holland’s...
View Article‘A Separation,’ from Iran, is heart-wrenching movie fare
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — A Separation is probably one of the best films of the year. But it should come with a warning label, because it is not for the faint of heart. It is so intense that it...
View ArticleHelen Hunt is stage manager in new production of Wilder’s ‘Our Town’
By Cynthia Citron SANTA MONICA, California — There must be at least half a dozen people in L.A. who have never seen Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town. If you are one of them, you couldn’t do...
View ArticleDrama, tension, suspense at ‘The Water’s Edge’
By Cynthia Citron NORTH HOLLYWOOD, California– As Winston Churchill might describe it, Theresa Rebeck’s play The Water’s Edge is “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” There re more mixed...
View ArticleThe odyssey of little Lula
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — Quick! Who is Luiz Inacio da Silva? Or do you know him as “Lula”? Would it help if you were told that Time Magazine had named him one of the Most Influential People in...
View Article‘The Lonesome West’ deserves its adjective
By Cynthia Citron SANTA MONICA, California — If there is a loaded shotgun hanging on the living room wall just below the crucifix, you sort of get a hint of the kind of household you’ve entered. In...
View ArticleTheatre professionals analyze role of modern Jewish theatre
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — To paraphrase a very old joke: seven Jews sat down at the table to express 14 different opinions… In fact, they were the opening panel convened by the 31st annual...
View ArticleOne-man show reveals life of Simon Wiesenthal
By Cynthia Citron VENTURA, California –Playwright/director/actor Tom Dugan is in the process of writing his sixth one-man show, The Ghosts of Mary Lincoln. “I’m not playing Mary,” he says, “but I...
View ArticleSpinoza’s trial and excommunication subject of new play
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — A few days ago, the West Coast premiere of a play by David Ives demonstrated that that imposition of certain religious convictions on the differing beliefs of another...
View ArticlePlay depicting Simon Wiesenthal worth a standing ovation
By Cynthia Citron VENTURA, California– It’s well worth the trip to the Rubicon Theatre, believe me. Tom Dugan is absolutely brilliant as the Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal. And completely Standing...
View ArticleBarbara Bain of ‘Mission Impossible’ fame to star in ‘Why We Have A Body’
By Cynthia Citron SANTA MONICA, California — Barbara Bain, who’s about to open in Why We Have a Body at the Edgemar Center, probably will never top the excitement of her first premiere — her own entry...
View ArticleIf you romanticize writing, check out this Chekhov play
By Cynthia Citron NORTH HOLLYWOOD, California — Medvedenko the schoolteacher is in love with Masha, the daughter of the manager of a country estate. Masha is in love with Konstantin, a would-be...
View Article‘Footnote,’ Israeli film that won Academy Award nomination, tells of...
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — Two men, one in a suit and the other in a sweater, sit side by side in folding chairs in a small auditorium. They are listening to an unseen speaker introducing a new...
View ArticleOf three one-acts, one definitely needs a rewrite
By Cynthia Citron NORTH HOLLYWOOD — As ratings go, two out of three isn’t bad. And so, two good plays out of three new one-acts making their debut with the Vagabond Players makes for an entertaining...
View ArticleVolok and Lazarev, friends from Russia, team in Hollywood
By Cynthia Citron WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — “A really good actor knows something the writer doesn’t know,” Ilia Volok says. “The actor brings his life –the life of a human spirit — to the stage,...
View Article‘Diary of a Madman’ tends to get tedious
By Cynthia Citron Cynthia Citron WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — Diary of a Madman is considered one of Nikolai Gogol’s greatest short stories. As an 80-minute monologue, however, it’s a bit much. But...
View ArticleTwo Davids share a new love: ‘Laura’
By Cynthia Citron BEVERLY HILLS, California — Two Davids met as freshmen at St. Gregory’s, which was then a community college in Shawnee, Oklahoma. After two years, they moved on — David McClendon to...
View Article‘Magic Bullet Theory’ goes beyond tasteless
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — Those of us who voted for John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1960 were fortunate enough to experience the exhilaration, the hope, and the joyful anticipation that his election...
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