Daniel Johnson

The Others Theater Company returns to Hollywood Fringe this year with Smile, Baby – a smart and often hilarious show about the decidedly unfunny topic of street harassment. Through a brisk and breezy 50 minutes, the audience is presented with a multitude of sketches that highlight the damaging implications behind a simple “smile, baby.” While it appropriately addresses the seriousness of harassment, the show never forgets that its primary objective is to entertain. One memorable sketch – th... full review

In Scott Claus’ pop opera “Sin,” Satan is up to the old tricks, manipulating down-on-their-luck shmoes into giving up their soul - which they come to quickly regret. The specific shmoe in this case is Devlin (Christopher Robert Smith) who can only get his soul back if he can convince good, sweet Faith (Sarah Kennedy) to give hers up. This becomes increasingly harder when he starts to fall in love with Faith. It’s a standard tale, albeit with one unique twist: Satan is a woman named Santana (p... full review

While Lee loves Emily more than anything else in the world, Emily has one thing she loves more than Lee: the idea of having a biological baby. When Lee’s low sperm count makes the chances of them conceiving nearly impossible, Emily must choose between Lee or trying to create a family the way she always envisioned it. (Adoption isn’t an option, as Emily never felt her adoptive mother’s love.) Lee Turnbull wrote, directed, and stars in Love Is, and he is admirably accomplished at all three...... full review

This one-man show co-written and starring Derek Ringold explores a gay man’s quest for love despite being his own worst enemy. Ringold takes us through his personal struggle to “man up” to leave behind the empty hookups and self-involvement, and instead focus on his community and his better self. Ringold is a capable performer, able to adopt different personas to portray an array of characters. He moves nimbly across the stage... Please read the rest of the review at <a href="http://cines... full review

One of the most ambitious new works of the fest, A Prayer for the Infidel takes place in 1960s San Francisco amid a backdrop of social unrest. Lazaro, former participant in Castro’s revolution, reunites with his childhood friends Clio and Zeke (involved to varying degrees in the Civil Rights Movement) to report on the events surrounding Black Panther Huey Newton’s murder trial. Lazaro is writing a book about revolutions, “the people who lead them” and the ones “who fall victim to them.” As the... full review

Neil Labute effectively captures the portrait of a person who looks like an adult, and dresses like an adult, but is actually a child. Tom – stand-in for all men – has fallen in love with Helen, an overweight woman, and cannot keep from being embarrassed by that fact, despite knowing that he is wrong. His co-worker, frat boy Carter, takes particular delight in this while simultaneously trying to convince Tom to do better. Tom tries to be “what he believes,” to stand proudly by his woman, but u... full review

Ligature Marks is a story about our inability to escape our own worst habits – how we often intentionally choose the villains in our lives. Loser Terry is just released from prison after serving a sentence for stealing money in order to escape a destructive relationship with his ex, the pathologically overbearing Jill. It might be surprising, then, to learn that he spends his first night of freedom trapped, back in Jill’s apartment, sleeping on her couch. However, the play posits that this is ... full review

It’s a story as old as Hollywood. Four very different actresses are up for the same role as lead of a network television show: Margo, the classically-trained theatre legend; loose cannon/cautionary tale Belinda, beloved airhead and bombshell Teresa, and rising trashy reality star Desiree in the mold of NeNe Leakes. Each woman has her own reasons for desperately needing the job, despite the fact that the part they are fighting for is a turd – a silly over-sexed cartoon character of a role that t... full review

John finds himself trapped in a heaven of his own creation. For him, the afterlife is a bar in which he gets the same drink, “not another drink, not a second drink, the same drink.” He’s quickly joined by Lucifer (Louie) who is trapped in a “heaven” of his own, and while Louie has a better understanding of the history and rules of the afterlife, he’s just as lost as John. The play develops into an interesting rumination on the implications of perfection – familiarity breeds contempt, even w... full review

Based on the Funny or Die web series of the same name, this collection of verbatim craigslist posts serves as a fascinating kaleidoscope of humanity. The pieces range from relatable to silly to strange. Included in this production is a standard roommate search, a long-haired woman with a grooming fantasy, and a parachute for sale at a steal, though it admittedly failed to open on its last excursion. Each monologue seems hand-selected for its specificity; they could have only been written by t... full review