L.A. Stage Insider
Celebrating the Best in live Theater and Cabaret in the Greater Los Angeles Area
L.A. Stage Insider
Written by Julio Martinez
July 23, 2025
AROUND TOWN
The Group Rep presents the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-Winning comedy, “The Heidi Chronicles,’ written by Wendy Wasserstein, exploring women’s struggle for independence, respect and recognition in a post-1960’s world, directed by Brent Beerman and produced by Melissa Strauss for The Group Rep. The cast in alphabetical order features the talents of Kathi Chaplar, Amy Goldring, Hudson Long, Michelle McGregor, Maxwell Oliver, Alex Scyocurka and Amy Shaughnessy. The play runs July 25-Aug 31. The performances are: Fri/Sat (8pm); Sun (2pm). To buy tickets and for information visit thegrouprep.com or call (818) 763-5990.The Group Rep Theatre is located at 10900 Burbank Blvd., NoHo, CA 91601.
WESTCHESTER PLAYHOUSE
The Westchester Playhouse is presenting She Kills Monsters, a comedic romp into the world of fantasy role-playing games, written by Qui Nyugen, directed by Shawn Summerer, produced by Alison Boole and Elizabeth Summerer. Cast includes Lucy Gilbert, Caitlin Callahan, Marcus Escobar, Adelynn Paik Lilith, Elora Becker, Bejamin Paul Wheeler, Asher Hagler, Myesha Wiliam (narrator); fight ensemble - Asher Hagler, Iloma Concetta. Finley Gaedke, Harrison James Srecklerh. Now open, running through Aug 9 (Fri/Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm). Westchester Playhouse is located at 8301 Hindry Drive, L.A.90045. For tickets and more information, call 310-645-5156 or go online to: www.kentwoodplayers.org
PREMIERE
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble is presenting the Los Angeles premiere of “Just Another Day,” a love story about the complex nature of aging. Following successful runs off-Broadway and in Ireland. Written by Dan Lauria, who's also starring alongside Patty McCormack, will run Aug 30-Sep 28 at West L.A.’s Odyssey Theatre, with New York director Eric Krebs at the helm. In this romantic comedy, a couple in their seventies, who now have dementia, meet daily on a park bench to exchange wits and barbs, wax nostalgic about old movies...and to try to remember how they know, and love, one another. The production features original music by Lord Graham Russell. Pete Hickok designs the set at the Odyssey, based on an original design by Christopher Swader and Justin Swader, and Michael Blendermann is the lighting designer. Video and sound are designed by Lauria. performances take place Fri/Sat (8pm), Sun (2pm). The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 477-2055 or go to OdysseyTheatre.com.
SOLO MOJO
BACKSTORY
a bi-monthly evening of true stories, poetry, and flights of fancy.
Using the title of a classic stage play or movie as inspiration, storytellers and poets write poems and stories to be read aloud. Writers may pen a personal story inspired by the themes of the play. They may write in the voice of a character from the play and tell his or her back story. Or they may simply riff on the words in the title. The storytellers include: Don Anderson, Betsy Burr, Anne Cherion, Alec McNayr, Zakia Warner, Brandon Cesmat & Randy Vasquez. Upcoming on Aug 10: The Odd Couple. 7:30 pm PST in the Victory Theatre Center's Little Victory and on ZOOM! Sign up for your spot to watch LIVE on our website, go here.
INSIDE L.A. STAGE HISTORY
I am preparing a book on the history of live theater in Los Angeles to be published in 2026. During the summer months of 2025, I will be including excerpts from the book in my weekly column. This week: Theatre West.
Los Angeles has been a mecca for professional actors since Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Squaw Man” (1914). But for many East Coast thesps who made the journey west, the perceived lack of a true live theater community made them yearn for their board-treading days on Manhattan’s stages. In 1961, Joyce Van Patten, Charles Aidman and Scott Marlow petitioned noted director/acting coach Curt Conway to become artistic director of a professional actors’ workshop that would allow stage-oriented performers to work on their craft on a regular basis. In January, 1962, the newly dubbed Theatre West held its first official meeting, founded as “a democratic artistic cooperative dedicated to the artistic growth of its members.” Betty Garrett was among the original members. Nothing succeeds like success.
In 1963, the company’s staging of Edgar Lee Masters’ 1915 epic collection of free-form poems, “Spoon River Anthology,’ adapted by Aidman with music arranged by company member Naomi Caryl Hirschhorn, featuring an ensemble that included Aidman, Garrett, Van Patten and Robert Elston, was so successful it moved from Theatre West’s miniscule 40-seat space on Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills to a fully staged rendering at UCLA’s Theatre Group (forerunner of the Center Theatre Group). A year later, it continued on to Broadway’s Booth Theatre for a critically lauded run that was spotlighted by Life Magazine. Since then, Aidman’s adaptation has been performed worldwide, including two revivals on its home stage. As Theatre West grew, it sought greater room at a converted post office substation in Van Nuys and, in 1967, moved to its current home, a 200-seat facility on Cahuenga Blvd. West, nestled between the Hollywood Bowl and Universal Studios. Over the years, it has sent another work to Broadway (Aesop in Central Park) and has fed tinseltown’s film industry (A Bronx Tale, Faithful). Today, Theatre West, the oldest continually running theatre company in Los Angeles, has not veered from its original mandate, along the way mentoring over 2,000 industry pros, conducting over 5,000 workshops and producing more than 250 plays (two-thirds of them original). In May 2009, Theatre West celebrated Betty Garrett’s 90th Birthday Bash. “I’m still very active in the company,” Garrett affirms. “In fact, I teach a musical comedy workshop every Wednesday evening.” Betty Garrett passed away on February 12, 2011 at the age of 91, but creativity continues. For the last 40 years Theatre West’s StoryBook has provided live theater experiences for young audiences. Also, Writers In Residence is a Theatre West Program that began in 2014 and selects two original plays, written by two of our playwright members, workshopped over time in our Writers Workshop, and given a fully realized, main stage production. The two plays run back-to-back over several months. Since its inception, ten new plays have been introduced to theatre audiences in Los Angeles from Theatre West’s stable of writers...The beat goes on!
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Arts in Review, hosted by arts journalist Julio Martinez, celebrating the best in theater and cabaret in the Greater Los Angeles area, airs on KPFK90.7fm on Fridays (2-2:30pm), streamed live around the world in real time over KPFK.org. On July 25, Arts in Review spotlights the two-person chonicle of “Just Another Day,” starring Dan Lauria and Patty McCormack.