ion Theatre plunges into ‘This Wide Night’

This Wide Night, Chloë Moss’ two-hander about women attempting to cope with a return to civilian life after serving time in the same British prison, is a subtle character study that eventually evolves into the examination of the dynamics of the women’s relationship. It’s a play that raises more questions than it answers, leaving the actresses to carry its emotional weight…

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Shakespeare your groove thing

As the disco ball spins and drinks flow, a sexed up cast recreates the tale of star-crossed lovers in a disco night club. There is simulated debauchery and the spell that makes Bottom have the head of an ass. And most notable, the audience is encouraged, nay, bewitched into disco dancing on the dance floor. This could be the campiest, most interactive show ever.

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Ion Theatre Stalks a Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Among the ghosts roaming the battered streets of post-invasion Baghdad is the late tiger exhibit at the zoo, in Rajiv Joseph’s surreal play now at the Ion Theatre. It’s a double triumph for actor/director Claudio Raygoza and the make-believe marines look and act like the real thing…

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Grey Gardens is Strangely Beautiful

Grey Gardens is a strangely beautiful musical about people who are both strangely beautiful and more than eccentric. In a way, it’s the perfect musical for ion Theatre, which is presenting its Southern California premiere through April 20.

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ion’s Mystery Plays is for Genre Junkies

The Mystery Man

Mystery Plays were medieval pageants that were acceptable to church authorities because they were moral fables based on Biblical tales. Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa’s mystery plays are also moral fables, but his Bible is the horror genre itself, as taken from its most populist master practitioners: Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone,” Alfred Hitchcock, H. P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King.

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