Eric Cire

Goddammit, there's magic here. Every relationship is a type of small magic. Unlike the magic "tricks" and psuedo-scientific forms of magic we see in grandiose displays, the magic of relationship demands the same change, the same transitions from one state to another, with the especially astonishing aspect of all parties involved not knowing how or why it occurred. Instead of the trick itself, the magician is the one that stays hidden, and the tricked are left scratching their heads and wondering... full review

A really terrific show. The sense of professionalism and craftsmanship on every level of this play is as vital as its sense of playfulness and humor. The dialogue sparkles, the jokes land perfectly without fail, the pace never lulls, the performers manage a balance of bombast and believability that hammers home the theme of our changing and frequently confusing world while managing not to preach or be pedantic. It's a rare thing that even a play this well written comes together as well as this on... full review

Last year, one of my two favorite pieces produced at the Fest was It's Important to Leave, As Well, the debut piece by Joshua Morrison and an intricate and beautiful examination of the way that art can operate as both a way to mark distance between people, a barrier to hide behind, and a way to bring people together on both intimate and broad terms. Yoshiba carries some similar themes, and while I feel the production is a bit more raw than last years show, it loses nothing in terms of theme, cle... full review

Midway through this show, I was a bit upset, under the assumption that I knew where it was going, and it wasn't a direction I cared for. Making that assumption was a mistake, on my part, as the messages of the play and the tendencies of the characters in it are blurrier than I had assumed, and while I worried it might try to tackle this issue with simplistic moralism and a clear-cut resolution in a situation where there clearly is none, it proved to be an even more impressive piece of art than I ... full review

Two years ago at Fringe I saw Katie Molinaro perform a piece from her show "On The Rag To Ritches" and loved it enough that I've wanted to see a full set ever since, but have always managed to miss the opportunity. I finally managed to correct that by seeing RSVP: RIP tonight and can honestly say it was worth the wait. Despite a fairly light crowd, Molinaro performed like the entirety of Los Angeles was crowding the room, completely giving a 100% performance over to every single member of the aud... full review

Color and Light is infuriatingly great. After last years wonderfully hilarious "Pokemusical", an incredibly talented creator, crew, and cast has returned to top themselves. There are new faces and many returners as well from last years project, but it's largely beside the point as everyone involved in the show is a delight to watch, to listen to, and to giggle at over the course of an hour. The show beats out Pokemusical in ways I wouldn't have predicted in a million years, with an incredibly i... full review

I've seen this show many, many times over the past several years, and enjoyed it each time, though I can say without reservation that this is my favorite iteration of the series thus far. The cast is engaging and talented, and the shorts deliver on their promise of tight, speedy stories told at a machine-gun pace. As soon as you feel like you might be settling into one, they bounce right along into the next, which makes it all the more impressive that the talented group of folks is able to make r... full review

Another great Fringe showing from Will Play for Food, Riot Grrrl Saves the World will be a hard one for a lot of people to describe accurately, but I would like to give it my best shot: referencing this show to any of the films dedicated to a punk-rock upbringing doesn't really do it justice, as this play out-punks the lot of them. The setting is as stripped-down and raw as a dive-bar venue and the play focuses tightly on it's stars. This not only props up the "this is who we are" punk ethos that... full review

I really enjoyed this show overall, with a lot of strong, edgy comedy balancing out incredibly dark and tricky moral issues. The actors handle the subject matter in a way I found totally convincing, jumping between comedic and dramatic lines in ways that should be hard but that they make seem easy, and the script is handled elegantly and gives the excellent performers a lot of chances to shine. The only major issue I have is with the transitions, which as of the show I saw absolutely need to be t... full review

"You're a good liar. I wish I could lie as well as you." This particular line of dialogue nicely summed up my feelings about Will Play for Food's production of It's Important to Leave, as Well. If that doesn't sound like a compliment, it is, though in the same way the show itself goes about delivering it's message. The play uses the essential dishonesty of theatre (which is just professional pretending, after all) as a way to address the ways that people are dishonest with one another and with t... full review