Paul Hoan Zeidler

It is a tribute to the inexhaustible talents of the Loft Ensemble that they're able to dive deep into the choked and polluted waters of fairy tale parodies, take an okay script and spin it all up into an enjoyable evening. Very strong ensemble work with many notable performances, including Bree Pavey as a minstrel of ceremonies, Tor Brown as a comfortably self-centered prince, April Morrow as a screechy peasant and a party-girl princess, and Cameron Britton as a servant and stage hand who's chal... full review

One of the greatest benefits of the Hollywood Fringe Festival is the wide variety of shows you can see in a short time. Selecting the right ones give you the ability to listen in on, and even become part of, the culture debating itself. Some may not agree with the opinions expressed here or perhaps not to the degree that they're expressed, but no one can refute their importance. That alone makes MUST BE COMFORTABLE WITH one of the essential shows of this year's festival.... full review

This Fringe show caught an early buzz and it pretty much lives up to it. A deeply disturbed middle school teacher going through a brutal divorce leads his young charges into a production of Shakespeare's most violent play. It's moment of personal revelation and revenge for him, and it could be more of one for some of his students, too. There's plenty of laughs, mostly in the early going, and behandings, betongueings, patricide, matricide, regicide, cannibalism and buckets and buckets of blood.... full review

A cool take on an old classic that makes it shine like new. Jen Albert's ferocious Kate, Dana DeRuyck's effervescent Lucentio and Tara Donovan's evanescent Bianca are more than reason enough to tie yourself down and let this SHREW slap you up.... full review

Jaime Andrews' fact-based fairytale, COOKIE AND THE MONSTER, stomps into humorous and disturbing life in this year's Fringe at Theatre of NOTE. While it's easy for audience members to root for Cookie as a kindergartner whose imaginary Monster inspires her to stand up to bullies and shout at hypocrisies, our identification with her--and willingness to laugh at her--grows more troubling when the Monster's advice eventually leads her into drugs, promiscuity and adult nightclubs. Ms. Andrews throws... full review

The self-absorption, the stagey spins to indicate another scene, the elderly African-American characters who are sources of perfect wisdom, the absurd amount of lighting and sound cues, these and more get gleefully cornholed in Jim Hanna's satire of one-man shows. The production is assisted by Caitlin Rucker's tight direction and a fistful of outstanding performances including Darin Toonder as returning champion Trent "the Soul Mirror" Isaacs and Forest Lancaster as the smooth and smarmy master ... full review

Megan Dolan's SNACK is a tightly constructed journey through the pot-holed and knotted roads of a SoCal childhood ... with the comfort of a stack of shortbread cookies. Director Chris Game tightens Ms. Dolan's finely interwoven tale with seamless blocking and astute stagecraft. Ms. Dolan inhabits everything from a lisping EST-like leader to feckless parents to a sarcastic older brother in an adept performance. Curtis Brooks' giant box of Lorna Doone cookies gives her the perfect launching pad.... full review

Lewis Carroll had to invent the Mad Hatter because he was the perfect reflection of the century Carroll lived in. In our era, we give nutjobs a camera, a microphone and a reality TV show, or put them on FOX News, or give them millions of dollars and let them run for the Presidential nomination of the Republican Party. In the 19th Century, nutjobs grabbed a pen. Ed Goodman's hilarious THE POE SHOW kicks them into life and smacks them down on the couch of the talk show where, really, they've alw... full review