International City Theatre’s production is poignant and funny. This review was originally published in the Long Beach Post, a nonprofit news organization, on February 26, 2026. From left: Will Riddle and Erika Schindele in "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" at International City Theatre. Photo by Jordan Gohara. The first play of International City Theatre’s new season — “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” by Joe DiPietro with music by Jimmy Roberts — is an unexpec

From left: Cole Massie (Boy) and Carene Rose Mekertichyan (Girl) in "Room by the Sea" at Outside In Theatre (Photo by Mallury Patrick Pollard Photography) Outside In Theatre, a new nonprofit stage in Highland Park, focuses on producing stories for and by traditionally marginalized groups and their allies. Its impressively restored venue boasts several performance spaces and a picturesque bar area. Together with Coin & Ghost and After Hours Theatre Company, its current staging

Before piercing became a sterile, clinical business, Fakir Musafar celebrated it as a spiritual experience associated with sex, bondage, pain, pleasure, sickness and healing. Self-portrait "A Perfect Gentleman, 1959" by Fakir Musafar. Image courtesy of Fakir Musafar Estate. In 2026, it isn't uncommon to see bodies adorned with piercings and tattoos on people we interact with every day. Blue collar, white collar, business owners, food servers, lawyers, even cops can be found w