Looking for a New Year's resolution? Try seeing more LA theater in 2020. It might be necessary to show some resolve in the face of the growing number of distractions.
Beyond the usual complaints about LA distances, traffic and the price of tickets, LA theaters currently face competition from the increasingly urgent televised drama from Congress, the White House and the upcoming most-important-election-ever. And then there are the proliferating temptations of streaming movies and TV. Even stage devotees might be lured to sprawl on the sofa for the wonderful Canadian theater-centric TV series "Slings and Arrows" -- instead of going to see actual LA theater.
Still, for those of us who believe in that live-person-to-person alchemy that happens on stages but can't happen on screens, Los Angeles continues to offer enviable opportunities.
"M. Butterfly." Speaking of the ever-growing conversation about gender ambiguity (see "IAMA," above), it was a great idea for South Coast Repertory to bring us David Henry Hwang's revival of his landmark play, somewhat re-written for the current times. Desdemona Chiang's direction was the first time the play was staged by an Asian-American woman.