Out of the Box Gets Us Out of Our Heads
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 8, 2022

Out of the Box founder Samantha Eve has always exhibited an enduring fondness for contemporary or offbeat musicals, as indicated by the nonprofit community theater company’s past productions over the last dozen years of everything from Bare to Bonnie & Clyde, and Carrie to Heathers. But in the wake of the turmoil of the last […]

Spring-ing Back to Lincoln Land 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 18, 2022

Given that Abraham Lincoln might be the most popular president in U.S. history, one whose story is the stuff of legends, it would seem there isn’t a whole lot left to tell about Abe. And even less likely, that a practicing insurance litigator would be the one to tell it.  Yet, here’s Terrence L. Cranert, […]

 

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ETC Presents ‘Carmen Jones’
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 11, 2022

People have been bewitched and beguiled by the story of Carmen as consistently as the fiery gypsy seduces the brave men she encounters. Bizet’s opera remains wildly popular worldwide, almost 150 years since it premiered in Paris, and countless adaptations in dance have spun the tale through musical movement.  Even Oscar Hammerstein fell under Carmen’s […]

A Brilliant Thing Coming to Town
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 27, 2022

Every Brilliant Thing starts off as the story of a seven-year-old boy whose mother has been hospitalized with suicidal depression. In an effort to lift her spirits, he begins creating a list of the joys of life from his perspective, from ice cream, water fights, and badgers, to, as time goes by, Christopher Walken’s voice, […]

Equinox Revelry
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 20, 2022

In recent years, Santa Barbara Revels has used the season change from summer to fall to offer its annual Equinox Concert, with a wide-ranging selection of music that marks its own transition from last year’s to this year’s productions of The Christmas Revels, the organization’s biggest event of the year. To that end, the Equinox […]

Herb Your Enthusiasm
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 13, 2022

PCPA Theaterfest could hardly have found a more appropriate director than Catalina Maynard to helm Native Gardens, Karen Zacarias’ 90-minute play in which a battle between formerly friendly new neighbors over cultivating gardens in their separate yards echoes the polarization and cultural wars currently characterizing the country. Maynard has previous PCPA experience as an actor […]

A Cosmic Shift
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 13, 2022

The concept behind Almost, Maine, written by Tony-nominated actor John Cariani best known for playing forensic expert Julian Beck on Law & Order, is very simple on the surface, according to Stephanie Coltrin, Rubicon Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, who is helming RTC’s production this month. The play is composed of nine vignettes featuring nine different […]

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  • State Street Ballet
    By Steven Libowitz   |   September 6, 2022

    It’s no accident that Rodney Gustafson landed in Santa Barbara to launch his State Street Ballet dance company almost three decades ago. The company’s executive and artistic director had targeted returning to town ever since he’d performed as a dancer with the famed American Ballet Theatre (ABT) at the Arlington Theatre many years before. “I […]

    Theater Talk: Launch Pad Already Firing Rockets 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   July 19, 2022

    The summer reading series from UCSB’s laudable Launch Pad program – which pairs playwrights’ new or underproduced works with professional directors and student performers – is an enviable experiential environment for professionals and students to participate in the creative process as it takes shape. In addition to acting, students get to explore stage management and […]

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    An Adventure Made Up in Real Time
    By Steven Libowitz   |   July 12, 2022

    In recent years, Santa Barbara Improv (SBI) has added long-form format opportunities, in both workshops and performance, to its longstanding tradition of hosting weekly short-form classes and a monthly performance of the format most folks might be more familiar with via Whose Line Is It Anyway?  Now, SBI is trying something brand new for the […]

    A Rotten Spectacular
    By Steven Libowitz   |   July 5, 2022

    If campy and clever is your path to pleasure – at least in the theater – you can do no better than the mirth-making musical Something Rotten. The show, which earned 10 Tony nominations on Broadway just five years ago, takes place in the 1590s when the theatrically-minded Nick Bottom, whose lot is a lot […]

    Case Closed on ETC’s Big Season
    By Richard Mineards   |   June 21, 2022

    Ensemble Theatre Company has concluded its 42nd season at the New Vic with an absolute cracker! Anthony Shaffer’s Tony Award-winning 1970 play Sleuth, directed by Jenny Sullivan, staged on a magnificent baronial set, is an absolute old-fashioned delight with two perfectly chosen British actors, Daniel Gerroll and Matthew Floyd Miller as the principal characters of […]

    The ShapeShifters’ Solstice Concert at the Luke
    By Montecito Journal   |   June 21, 2022

    The Marjorie Luke Theatre is proud to present The ShapeShifters band collective as they celebrate Solstice at The Marjorie Luke Theatre on June 25th beginning at 7 pm, located at 721 East Cota Street.  The evening will feature a two-set concert composed of Santa Barbara’s premier musicians and vocalists accompanied by a courtyard celebration with […]

    Sleuth: Theater’s Biggest Brain-twister is Back
    By Steven Libowitz   |   June 14, 2022

    The New Vic sounds like a theater in England, but the downtown venue is actually an old, converted church, although Ensemble Theatre Company’s lavish remodeling left few of those attributes visible inside. But there’s no way ETC’s old digs at the antiquated Alhecama Theater could have supported the sets and stagecraft required for its next […]

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