Gary Soto Pens Play for Latinx Teens in Distress by Robert M. Gardner In Gary Soto’s “The Afterlife,” two Fresno teenagers, Chuy and Crystal, die in the opening minutes. Chuy is murdered for an unintended slight, and Crystal kills herself. They are the victims of an alarming spike of teen deaths from violence and…
Kate Cortesi’s Exploited Women Demand Pay-Back by Patricia L. Morin “Love” swims in the gray area of consensual versus manipulated sexual relations. Playwright Kate Cortesi asks profound questions about honesty, morality, and reciprocity. In 2004, Penelope (Clea Alsip), a smart-ass Stanford grad who talks way too much, applies for an intern job, letting the…
Lydia R. Diamond’s Spectacular Play Embodies Our Herstory by Barry David Horwitz Toni Stone was a real live woman who yearns to play baseball. But she’s female and Black. She manages to overturn every prejudice, joke, and stupidity—until she plays with the San Francisco Sea Lions, and then, the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953. Toni…
Michaela Goldhaber Revives First Female Playwrights by Lynne Stevens My friend and I thoroughly enjoyed “The Lady Scribblers” and I think any woman who has felt inhibited in her work will enjoy the comedy, too. Michaela Goldhaber’s neo-Restoration comedy, produced by Custom Made Theatre and Those Women Productions, has all the rhymes and reasons…