From left: Ben Beatty (Hally) and John Kani (Sam) in "'Master Harold'...and the Boys" at Geffen Playhouse (Photo by Jeff Lorch) South African playwright Athol Fugard’s “’Master Harold’…and the Boys” was first staged in 1982, before apartheid ended in 1990, but set in 1950, two years after that racially segregationist policy was implemented. The play features two Black South African men and the younger white “Master Harold” (or Hally) who is buddies with them — to a point. The

From left: Richard Baird and Louis Lotorto in "The Maltese Falcon" at Laguna Playhouse (Photo by Aaron Rumley) Using more contorted similes and metaphors than an English professor teaching romantic poetry to hard-boiled detectives, “The Maltese Falcon” at Laguna Playhouse delivers chuckles with a side of noir. A new commissioned play by Matthew Salazar-Thompson that recently premiered at North Coast Rep, “The Maltese Falcon” sends up Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel while remain

Scene from MUSE/IQUE's "Back to Oz" at the Mark Taper Forum (Photo by Haoyuan Ren for MUSE/IQUE) Local orchestral ensemble MUSE/IQUE — whose goal is to produce accessible, live, immersive music for all — has achieved that mission with “Back to Oz” at the Mark Taper Forum. “Back to Oz” offers a polished showcase of the enduring cultural impact of “The Wizard of Oz” — from L. Frank Baum’s original 1900 novel to the 1939 MGM musical film starring Judy Garland to “The Wiz” in 197