Shari Barrett

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.

Given the divisive political climate in our country right now, when I heard about the new play TH IR DS being presented at the Zephyr Theatre, I decided to speak with Co-Story Creator/Playwright/Actor Ben Edlin and Co-Story Creator and Multi-award-winning Casting Director Deborah Aquila about the creation of such a timely piece of theatre.

Dennis Mashevsky (pictured) is producing the premiere of Completeness at Los Angeles’ brand new Eastwood Performing Arts Center, opening Friday, September 20, 2024. Read our interview!

The Colony Theatre in association with producers Christine Russell (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Head Over Heels), Robert Ulrich and Jay Paul Deratany are presenting the Reel Red Entertainment production of The Civility of Albert Cashier, a new musical about notable queer history figure Albert Cashier, born Jennie Hodgers, who served alongside the men of the 95th Illinois Volunteer Infantry with distinction throughout some of the fiercest fighting of the Civil War. While not alone as a woman serving on the battlefield during the war, Cashier never revealed himself as anyone other than a man dedicated to serving his country on the battlefields during its greatest time of need. He was recognized as such by his comrades in arms and those surrounding him and retained his identity as a man throughout his later life. Transgender musician and actor Cidny Bullens (Pictured) portrays the older Cashier in the play with Dani Shay taking on the role of the younger Cashier. I decided to speak with Cid about his own road to self-discovery and what led him to the role of a transgender man.

When I heard about the West Coast premiere of Abby Rosebrock’s Dido of Idaho by The Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre starring Alana Dietze (pictured), I knew I had to speak with her about the “wonderfully off-beat, darkly hilarious (in a truly cringeworthy way) comedy about female identity and the lengths to which some women will go for the love of a man.”  

Produced by Klutzy Dragon and Paper Starship Studios, Expatriated is a poignant new play written and performed by Dominique Roberts and Candace Leung that explores contrasting experiences of migration, centered around the stories of an LA lawyer who finds herself in the vibrant city of Hong Kong, while on the other side of the world a Hong Kong lawyer faces the crushing reality of starting a new life in Los Angeles. I decided to speak with them about the decision to create the play, how it reflects their own experiences, their experience presenting it before and at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and what plans they have for its future.

In May 2014, I heard about the new solo show Coming Out Kinky written and performed by Jean Franzblau in which she related her personal journey to sexual self-acceptance. In it, she portrayed 20 characters in her sexual memoir adventure story for curious and open-minded adults to enjoy. So when I heard Jean was bringing her updated play My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m Kinky to the Hollywood Fringe Festival this month, I decided to speak with her about how it’s has been updated, how much her mother really does know, and her plans for taking it around the world as a way to spread the word about how important it is to “know thyself.”

Every so often, a new play or musical being done in Los Angeles catches my eye with a big dose of curiosity. Such is the case with the musical The Translucent Frogs of Quuup with Book by Chris Larner and Music by Mark Stevens, produced by Alchemy Theatre Company and directed by Brian Pirnat with music direction by Brigitte Bellavoine at the Westchester Playhouse from June 14-22. Since I had never heard of it, I decided to speak with the director about the musical and his interest in directing it.

ArtsUP! LA is presenting Broadway Bound: Songs & Scenes from Tony Award-Winning Musicals, a new jukebox musical created and directed by Laurie Grant, featuring Rex & Friends, all extraordinary musicians with different disabilities and perfect pitch. Rex & Friends will take you on a fantastic trip of a young man hearing Broadway music for the first time, featuring songs and scenes from acclaimed musicals that you know and love. The show opens May 3rd and runs through May 18th at The Blue Door in Culver City, CA. I decided to speak with Laurie about the creation and history of Rex & Friends, her experience working with people with disabilities, what motivated her to create this new jukebox musical, and the format for the show.

Dr. Noreen Green, the Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony has spent 30 years presenting music of the Jewish experience. I decided to speak with Maestra Green on her history with the LAJS, conducting past concerts, and the group’s recent 30th Anniversary celebration on Sunday, April 14 at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Brentwood.

For over a decade, The Getty has hosted its Villa Theater Lab series, an exciting forum for reinterpreting classical theater. These workshops feature new translations of Greek and Roman plays and contemporary works inspired by ancient literature. Their latest offering, Aristotle/Alexander, explores the real-life relationship between Aristotle and a teenaged Alexander the Great in 342 BC. As a former teacher of Greek Mythology and history, I could not resist asking Alex Lyras, the play’s writer and director, about his background studying the two great men, the play’s creation, and what audiences can expect to discover about these two ancient heroes.

Founded in 1993 by Adilah Barnes and Miriam Reed, the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival holds the distinction of being the oldest Annual Solo Festival in Los Angeles celebrating powerful women performers. The 31st annual Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival, directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson, has a roster of accomplished co-hosts as well as performers during its six programs March 28-31, beginning with a Gala on Thursday night. I decided to speak with Jessica to find out more about the event and the honor being bestowed upon her at the event’s Gala.