A Play is a Poem is A Play about America.

Five short plays, meant to create a pastiche of Americana comprise Ethan Coen’s A Play is a Poem, and it’s having its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum.

Photo by Craig Schwartz

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‘Sweat’ Still The Standard

By Patrick Hurley

The lingering racial tensions of an ever shifting America takes center stage in Sweat, the 2017 Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Lynn Nottage, playing now at the Mark Taper Forum. 

This Water Ain’t Flowin’

By Patrick Hurley

In desperate need of human connection, a group of people navigate love, loss and addiction in the surprisingly dated and sluggish Water By The Spoonful, playing now at the Mark Taper Forum.

Phylicia Rashad Is Something of a Miracle in Head of Passes

By Patrick Hurley

Faith, that ubiquitous and imperfect belief, wherein trust and confidence take the place of facts or proof, is placed into extreme focus in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s new play Head of Passes, playing now at the Mark Taper Forum.

Strong Performances Make Certain Impression for Uncertain Heisenberg

By Patrick Hurley

The uncertainty of our relationships is placed into tight focus in Simon Stephens’ charming and evocative Heisenberg, playing now at the Mark Taper Forum.

A Deliciously Dank and Dirty Beauty Queen

Martin McDonagh’s darkly twisted comedy The Beauty Queen of Leenane  comes to dank and dirty life in this production, playing now through December 18 at The Mark Taper Forum.

Ma Rainey Stuns at The Taper

By Patrick Hurley

August Wilson’s blues masterpiece Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom comes to vivid life in director Phylicia Rashad’s stunning production, playing now at the Mark Taper Forum.

A Mesmerizing and Powerful Father

By Patrick Hurley

A lyrical theatrical odyssey is beautifully pieced together by Suzan-Lori Parks in her epic new play Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1,2 &3).  Blending Homeric allusions, meta-theatricality, and Parks’ incomparable gift of language, Father is the first three parts of a proposed nine-part series that will deal with the African-American experience during wartime in American history.

No Easy Answers for These Christians

By Patrick Hurley

The personal need for religion in people’s lives, and how that shifts with time, is at the center of Lucas Hnath’s new play The Christians playing now through January 10 at the Mark Taper Forum. 

When it Finds its Focus, Bent Becomes Beautiful

By Patrick Hurley Taking its cue from the gay rights movement of the late 1970s, when it was written, Martin Sherman’s play Bent, playing now through August 23 at the Mark Taper Forum, wants to make a statement to the gay community.