Ngozi Anyanwu’s Big Brother/Little Sister Tale Moves Us by Kheven Lee LaGrone Berkeley Rep’s production of Ngozi Anyanwu’s “The Monsters” seduced me from its beginning. Anyanwu has created an intense, beautifully written sibling love story. While she sets the play in the world of competitive mixed martial arts (MMA), it is not just…
Terry Guest Intertwines Black History & Growing Up, A Saga by Kheven Lee LaGrone “The Magnolia Ballet” tells a part of American history through the eyes of a Black gay teenager finding himself inside his Southern roots. It’s a moving 21st century tale about the “tough love” between a father and his son. By…
Reflections David Henry Hwang Reflects Blackface for White America by Kheven Lee LaGrone Shotgun Players presented David Henry Hwang’s “Yellow Face,” which won an Obie Award for Playwriting and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2008). Inspired by real life events, Hwang’s play is well-written, intelligent, and fast moving. In this semi-autobiographical work,…
Nina Ki Embodies Queer Women as Loveable Furries by Kheven Lee LaGron Gumiho, a creature in traditional Korean folktales, appears as a nine-tailed, shapeshifter fox who can disguise itself as a beautiful woman. The gumiho deceives and seduces men to better eat their hearts and livers. The creature appears in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese…