The Twentieth Century Way
written by Tom Jacobson
directed by Michael Michette
Rattlestick Theatre
July 9, 2015
Production website     💉💉 out of 5.

The premise of the The Twentieth Century Way holds incredible promise – HELD incredible promise.  Based on a fascinating piece of history of 1914, The Twentieth Century Way tells the true story of two actors, Warren and Brown, who where were hired in 1914 by the Long Beach Police Department to entrap gay men in the public bathrooms.  Brown, a young man with markedly sweet looks and Warren, an older man with classic ruggedness set about to flirt with men that were giving them the eye.  They would lead them into the stalls of the men’s rooms and silently encourage them to to place their penis through a small hole  – “glory hole” between the stalls.  Once the “pervert” inserted his penis.  The actors, now vice detectives, would mark their penis with indelible ink and thus secure their arrest. Continue reading The Twentieth Century Way →

Awake and Sing!
by Clifford Odets
directed by Stephen Brown-Fried
The Public Theatre
July 8, 2015
Production website     💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

Here’s a crazy idea! Let’s take the American classic Awake and Sing!, written by Clifford Odets, that tells the story of three generations of an immigrant Jewish family struggling with economic, political and familial issues – – and let’s take this oh-so-Jewish story and cast it with an all Asian cast. Crazy, huh? That is exactly what the Public Theatre did with the combination of Awake and Sing! and the National Asian American Theatre Company!

And it worked! Oh boy did it work! Continue reading Awake and Sing →