Shari Barrett

Inspired by conversations Rosenbaum had with Israeli violin maker Amnon Weinstein, the International City Theatre in Long Beach is presenting the American premiere of The Violin Maker, a new play based on the true story of how he gathered and restored ruined violins that survived the Holocaust to create the remarkable collection known throughout the world as the “Violins of Hope.” I decided to speak with playwrights Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum and Ronda Spinak (artistic director of The Braid) about the play’s creation and history, especially why it is so important to tell the Violins of Hope maker’s story.

Josefina López, the celebrated Mexican-American award-winning playwright and screenwriter best known for creating and authoring the play and co-authoring the film Real Women Have Curves, was an undocumented five-year-old immigrant when she migrated with her family from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to the United States in 1974 to settle in Boyle Heights. And on April 27, she will be making her Broadway debut when Real Women Have Curves: The Musical opens on Broadway!

Broadway stars and real-life couple and triple-threat performers Nicolas Dromard and Desiree Davar are making their debut at the Catalina Jazz Club with Nic & Desi: From Broadway to Hollywood on Thursday May 10. I decided to speak with them about their illustrious careers, how they met, and what led to bringing their new show to Los Angeles prior to taking the show on the road.

Mystery and romance abound in one of the most thrilling Gothic romance novels ever written – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The heart wrenching tale of an orphaned girl’s self-determination, adapted by Elizabeth Williamson, continues at A Noise Within in Pasadena, helmed by the theater’s artistic director Geoff Elliott. I spoke with him about his vision for the show.

Navigating any relationship is difficult enough. But what happens when you factor in politics and rising prejudice? Such is the storyline in One Jewish Boy by British playwright Stephen Laughton who I decided to speak with about his biting, bittersweet story of two young people in love confronted with the world's unpredictable cruelty.

The title role in Shakespeare’s enduring tragedy Hamlet is on the bucket list for many actors wishing to challenge their range of emotions while offering their own interpretation of the iconic role. And in his new solo play, Hamlet (Solus), creator and performer David Melville (pictured), co-founder of Independent Shakespeare Co., plays all the roles while intertwining the text with original songs. I decided to speak with David about his interpretation of the role he has played many times, including why he decided to stress the grief in the story as well as making (the skull of) Yorick an important character, and how the production evolved.

Based on real events, Pulitzer Prize Nominee Here There Are Blueberries from Tectonic Theater Project (creators of The Laramie Project) is conceived and directed by Tony and Emmy nominee Moisés Kaufman and co-written by Emmy nominee Amanda Gronich. I decided to speak with cast member Scott Barrow (pictured) who has been working with Tectonic Theatre Project since 2005 about his career with the group as well as more about the creation and production of Here There Are Blueberries.

All Roads Theatre Company’s (ARTCO’s) 2025 Season kicks off with the World Premiere musical One For My Baby, which features Broadway stars Lana Gordon and Luba Mason leading a cast of 28 performers, supported by a 12-piece Big Band. I decided to speak with ARTCO’s Fred Barton and Scott Thompson who wrote the musical’s book, with conductor Barton also creating the music arrangements and Thompson directing and choreographing the production.

International City Theatre (ICT) is opening its 40th Anniversary Season on February 21 with the Los Angeles premiere of the musical comedy Desperate Measures (inspired by Shakespeare's Measure for Measure). The rest of the season features all premieres, something ICT is not usually known to do. I decided to speak with the theater’s Artistic Director caryn desai (sic) (pictured) about that decision and the challenges faced over the years.

In 1942 during World War II, 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry - two-thirds of whom were American citizens - were unjustly incarcerated in concentration camps within the United States. Inspired by these events, and given how the rise of bigotry is rearing its ugly head in the world today, it’s most appropriate that a new American opera titled The Camp is making its world premiere in Los Angeles. I decided to speak with director Diana and The Camp’s associate director John Miyasaki about this world premiere opera and what inspired her to direct it, how she envisions staging it, and what messages they hope reach audiences.

Unconditional: A Musical Memoir, written by and starring Margot Rose is a true story of dedication, loss, community, and love, in which two women, already in their mid-forties, go to extraordinary lengths to have kids. Presented at the Skylight Theatre 2/15 thru 3/9, I decided to speak with Margot about her experience as a gay mother and the grief which led to the creation of it.

Center Theatre Group is presenting the world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It, a farce by LA based Larissa FastHorse (pictured), the first Native American playwright to be featured at the Mark Taper Forum through March 9. I decided to speak with her about her life in the Sicangu Lakota Nation and the creation of the play.

Here’s my interview with director Casey Stangl on her vision for Alabaster, a darkly comic Southern drama by Audrey Cefaly about two women dealing with physical and emotional scars that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, opening at the Fountain Theater on February 16.

Oklahoma native Kelli O'Hara won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the Lincoln Center Theater revival of The King and I. She then went on to win accolades for reprising the role in London and Tokyo. A frequent performer on PBS's live telecasts, The Kennedy Center Honors, as well as with The New York Philharmonic and The New York Pops, Kelli is now set to perform in Los Angeles on February 1 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I decided to ask her about her varied career and her decision to perform here.

Sandra Tsing Loh is an American writer, actress, radio personality, and former professor of art at the University of California, Irvine, who was raised in Malibu and went on to take the comedy world by storm, is returning to the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. with an encore performance of I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It (An Hilarious Self-Immolation by Sandra Tsing Loh) as part of the Odyssey’s Thresholds of Invention. I spoke with her about the show!

Emma Andres is a professional ballet dancer and contemporary/classical ballet choreographer who also has experience working in the techniques of jazz, contemporary, and modern. In 2023, she established Little Women Ballet, creating a series of dance works leading up to the company’s full-length ballet about the classic Louisa May Alcott tale. I decided to speak with Emma about it.

On October 19, Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills is presenting a reading of All These Women, written and directed by Melanie MacQueen. Centering on the newly elected president Woodrow Wilson, the story delves into how the Women’s Suffrage Parade pushed him to finally agree to Voting Rights for All. I decided to speak with Melanie about how the play came into being, her plans to present it as a reading, and how she plans to keep presenting it in the future.