louise on the left (coast)

May 21, 2011? Better put down your headsets, people.  See that cynical woman above? SHE didn't put her headset down, did she?  Nooooooo.   She smoked cigarettes and was a big, fat doubter who had sex just for the fun of it and so she will soooooo go to hell now.    Her soul was defective due to "poor choices" and she found all this out the hard way.  You know, The Hard Way. Like on the last day of the world, at the end of Gabriel's trumpet, staring into an eternal abyss of pain and regret, "the hard way." That is so not good. So, yep.  This is it:  May 21, 2011:  Today is "The Rapture" but only some of us will be joining Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny for it. "The Rapture."  1991.  What a completely creepy movie that was. Well, It's been a few years since I saw it, but, hey!  Sounds like a fun movie, no?  Rent it.  Make popcorn.  Kick back.  Relax.  And then repent your ass off. OMG -- But, those creepy trumpets!

South Coast Repertory's superb revival of "The Weir" is a frothy concoction of both ghost stories and unexpectedly tender tales, each as engaging as they are chilling. And as is true of any eerie yarn contains an unexpected twist that sneaks up on you without warning, a twist leaving a haunting memory in place of the spooky tales preceding it. Such is the stuff of which Conor McPherson's wonderful award-winning play is made, all of it taking place on one forlorn night in a small-town pub in the Irish countryside.  On this particularly moody night, when the wind is lashing at the shutters and whistling at a darkened window, a few local characters meander their way into this colorful pub to warm up over a pint and perhaps even share a joke or some lively conversation with a familiar face.  As each of the play's colorful characters enter the stage, we discover that there's a very thin line between what can be seen and that which can never really fully be co

Seriously, SCR's "Midsummer Night's Dream" really  rocks .  Literally.  South Coast Repertory's newest offering, " Midsummer Night's Dream ," under the masterful direction of Mark Rucker, both dazzles the eye and grabs you by the heart, spiriting the audience on a whirlwind tour of fantasy and festivities which never once fails to entertain from start to finish.  I can promise, like any great party, you'll never want this show to end. This show has truly become my new sparkle pony.  It's pure magic from the moment the lights go up, I mean, pop up.  This is a show that immediately grabs the audience and transports them far away, somewhere magical where everyone's interesting, they all do funny things, the music just gets better and better and absolutely no pharmacueticals were involved! What else can you say  that  about?  It's like a long rave at Coachella but, one where you actually care

Sometimes you see something so perfect, so comfortable and real that you have to remind yourself that parallels to your own world are entirely a coincidence. " Circle Mirror Transformation ," now running January 9th to 30th at SCR. So it was last week as I watched “ Circle Mirror Transformation ” at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. I had to constantly remind myself that the characters on the stage do not know me. They don't know I come from a small town in Vermont (the setting of the play) or that I've also spent countless hours in wacky acting workshops, as well. Still, as this play brilliantly tapped into a goldmine of truths about the circumstances at the heart, I had moments of extreme déjà vu. But, this is a tribute to fine dramatic storytelling, not a “Twilight Zone” episode. And sadly, the playwright, Annie Baker, doesn't know me from Adam (or Eve, in this case), even though as the production unfolded on stage at the Julianne Argyros Stage, I could