Orange County Theatre Reviews

Lake Forest, Modjeska Playhouse, News, Press Releases, Theater, Uncategorized Comments Off on Help Support Modjeska Playhouse Theater Company |

Help Support Modjeska Playhouse Theater Company

Written by Patrick Chavis

Taken from Modjeska Playhouse Newsletter:

“Hi everyone!

It’s been a while. We hope this message finds you safe and well. We’ve missed seeing your faces and entertaining all of you.

As you can imagine, this pandemic did a number on all of us at Modjeska Playhouse. We were in the middle of our run of Murder at Modjeska Manor in March 2020 when state and federal governments across the country mandated all live theater venues be shut down to combat the coronavirus.

Unfortunately, “Two weeks to stop the spread” turned into 18 months (and counting) of being completely dark and unable to conduct our normal theater operations. Continue Reading

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interview, Lake Forest, Modjeska Playhouse, News, Uncategorized Comments Off on The Boys of Modjeska : The Modjeska Playhouse Story |

The Boys of Modjeska : The Modjeska Playhouse Story

(photo credit Patrick Chavis)

Written by Patrick Chavis 

A few years ago, I met up with two of the founders of Modjeska Playhouse, Christopher Sullivan and Joshua Stecker. In the interview below, we discussed the founders’ history and how they decided to start the challenging — especially in an area with very little theatre presence — endeavor of creating a theatre. Even now the Modjeska Playhouse stands as the only performing arts theatre in the city of Lake Forest.  Despite these challenges, the Modjeska Playhouse has consistently released a wide variety of scripted and unscripted shows for Lake Forest and the surrounding communities.  Continue Reading

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The Glass Menagerie @ Modjeska Playhouse in Lake Forest – Review

Written by Alina Mae Wilson

It’s kind of funny that even though I remember reading the play for school, before last night, I don’t think I would have been able to tell you that much about the story.  Perhaps I only partially read the script.  Or perhaps I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been.  I suppose it would be fitting then for me to only recollect part of it, because, as the narrator and leading man Tom is kind enough to inform us at the start, this is not a true-to-life depiction of the events as they happened in his life.  This is, as he says, a “memory” and an “illusion.”  More specifically it’s his memory, and he’s weaving the illusion.  Needless to say, a plot that starts off so clearly committed to pondering the question “What is real?” is a story that promises to be interesting, if not downright thought-provoking.   Continue Reading

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Modjeska Playhouse, News, Press Releases Comments Off on Orange County Playwrights Alliance New Play Event – October 13, 2018 |

Lake Forest, Modjeska Playhouse, Review, Theater, Uncategorized Comments Off on The Understudy @ The Modjeska Playhouse in Lake Forest – Review |

The Understudy @ The Modjeska Playhouse in Lake Forest – Review

Written by Patrick Chavis 

Plays are a great medium for focusing on one subject. You’ve got a stage, actors, a few props, and –potentially–maybe only a few scene changes. For the most part, plays are very good at stripping away the excess of the exterior and uncovering the inter-workings of the people and ideas right in front of you. Theresa Rebeck’s play The Understudy (running now at The Modjeska Playhouse) is one of those plays. However, it tries to walk a tightrope between comedy and drama, with jokes that fail to bring laughs and dramatic moments which lack weight.    Continue Reading

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Modjeska Playhouse, Review, Theater, Uncategorized Comments Off on Durang Strikes Again: Beyond Therapy @ The Modjeska Playhouse in Lake Forest – Review |

Durang Strikes Again: Beyond Therapy @ The Modjeska Playhouse in Lake Forest – Review

Written by Scotty Keister 

It’s Christopher Durang season in OC, and that just makes me happy. After a hilarious run of his most recent work, “Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike” recently at Stages Theater in Fullerton, February finds “Beyond Therapy,” at the Modjeska Playhouse in Lake Forest. Though not probing as deeply into human fallibility, “Beyond Therapy” shares the same Durang penchant for silliness and terrifically funny wordplay. Continue Reading

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