Pearl Louise Gets Pulled into Parents’ Duplex Dream in 80s East Oakland by Mary Lou Herlihy –first published at Theatrius on March 25, 2026. “Pass the Nails and Shame the Devil,” is a love letter to Pearl Louise’s powerful mom. Small in stature and monumentally ambitious, her mom fights against poverty, drugs, and racism…
Sharr White Shows Corporate Greed Eroding Fragile Family by Mary Lou Herlihy For so many dads of the 50s generation, my own dad included, the message was clear: “Work hard for Corporate America and you will be rewarded with “SUCCESS.” But was it ever true? In his search for truth, Larry Sultan creates a…
Neil Simon Tempers Jewish Immigrants’ Grief with Youthful Laughter by Mary Lou Herlihy Generations of bitterness cast a pall over the Kurnitz family. But the unexpected arrival of an estranged son with two teenage boys renews hope for these Jewish immigrants as they chase the “American Dream.” Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers” is set…
Eboni Booth Casts Light on Black Invisibility by Mary Lou Herlihy Crafty Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Eboni Booth humorously examines U.S. values that place profit over people. In the “mostly white” and seemingly idyllic suburb of Cranberry, outside Rochester N.Y., life feels precarious for a young black man with no family. With creeping gentrification…