Scenic Design

Patty Briles, a Santa Monica College student, has won the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival award for her scenic design in the college's production of "The Miser." Briles, who competed with students from throughout the nation, is the first Santa Monica College student to receive the top honor.

What if you had experienced the defining moment of your life - but couldn't remember it? Sharr White's remarkable two-person play, “Annapurna,” now at the Odyssey, deals with just that dilemma, as well as other imponderables such as the vagaries of love and the philosophical clarity of impending death. From White's poignant script to Bart DeLorenzo's faultless direction to Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman's beautifully centered performances, “Annapurna” is a lovely theatrical construct from the ground up. PHOTOS: Hollywood stars on stage The production's slice-of-life specificity begins with Thomas A. Walsh's scenic design, a squalid trailer in the Colorado foothills bespeaking hopelessness in every filthy detail.  The magnificent Rockies, looming just outside, stand in ironic counterpoint to this “purgatory,” a sort of sick animal's burrow where once-celebrated poet Ulysses (Offerman)

PLAY "Doubt" MUSICAL "Monty Python's Spamalot" REVIVAL OF A PLAY "Glengarry Glen Ross" REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL "La Cage aux Folles" SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT "Billy Crystal 700 Sundays" LEADING ACTOR, PLAY Bill Irwin "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

At a time when talk of “death panels” commands headlines, George Bernard Shaw's “The Doctor's Dilemma,” recently revived in London to critical acclaim, is a particularly timely satire about a celebrated physician who has just discovered a life-saving treatment for tuberculosis. Solomon-like, he must decide whether to use his serum to save an absolute scoundrel who is an artistic genius or an honorable associate who is an undistinguished mediocrity. The fact that he is in love with the genius' wife makes his decision even more problematical.

Just when it seemed local fans of the Bard might have to settle for less, Shakespeare Orange County opened its second summer season Friday with a radiant production of "Much Ado About Nothing" that easily fills the void created by the recent demise of GroveShakespeare.

The costume worn by ballet master Kolenkhov in Cal State Fullerton's revival of Kaufman and Hart's classic "You Can't Take It With You" is the only glaring error in the staging's authenticity. Even the anachronistic portable typewriter Penny uses to write her plays can be forgiven, but not the moujik boots and blousy shirt. Kolenkhov is a gentleman, one who socializes with the nobility; his suit and flowing tie in Act III finally have him in the proper attire.

At a time when talk of “death panels” commands headlines, George Bernard Shaw's “The Doctor's Dilemma,” recently revived in London to critical acclaim, is a particularly timely satire about a celebrated physician who has just discovered a life-saving treatment for tuberculosis. Solomon-like, he must decide whether to use his serum to save an absolute scoundrel who is an artistic genius or an honorable associate who is an undistinguished mediocrity. The fact that he is in love with the genius' wife makes his decision even more problematical.

What if you had experienced the defining moment of your life - but couldn't remember it? Sharr White's remarkable two-person play, “Annapurna,” now at the Odyssey, deals with just that dilemma, as well as other imponderables such as the vagaries of love and the philosophical clarity of impending death. From White's poignant script to Bart DeLorenzo's faultless direction to Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman's beautifully centered performances, “Annapurna” is a lovely theatrical construct from the ground up. PHOTOS: Hollywood stars on stage The production's slice-of-life specificity begins with Thomas A. Walsh's scenic design, a squalid trailer in the Colorado foothills bespeaking hopelessness in every filthy detail.  The magnificent Rockies, looming just outside, stand in ironic counterpoint to this “purgatory,” a sort of sick animal's burrow where once-celebrated poet Ulysses (Offerman)

Just when it seemed local fans of the Bard might have to settle for less, Shakespeare Orange County opened its second summer season Friday with a radiant production of "Much Ado About Nothing" that easily fills the void created by the recent demise of GroveShakespeare.

"The Book of Mormon," the exuberantly foul-mouthed hit show about comically mismatched missionaries in AIDS-ravaged Africa, won the award for best musical, along with eight other awards, and Nick Stafford's "War Horse," starring a life-size puppet of a noble steed, won five awards capped by the best play trophy at Sunday's Tony Awards ceremony in New York. As was widely predicted, Sutton Foster won as actress in a musical award for Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," the best musical revival winner.

Two questions immediately presented themselves when it was announced that "The Exorcist" was going to be done onstage: How? And why? At the show's premiere Wednesday at the Geffen Playhouse, the creators seemed to be searching for answers to these challenges. God doesn't appear to be on their side. The how, at least on a visual level, turns out to be far more interesting than the why, which leads to all kinds of armchair moralizing and faux philosophizing. But fans of William Friedkin's 1973 film - a work that has caused more bad dreams than any other movie in Hollywood history, if my childhood is any guide - shouldn't expect any ostentatious spinning of heads.

"The Book of Mormon," the exuberantly foul-mouthed hit show about comically mismatched missionaries in AIDS-ravaged Africa, won the award for best musical, along with eight other awards, and Nick Stafford's "War Horse," starring a life-size puppet of a noble steed, won five awards capped by the best play trophy at Sunday's Tony Awards ceremony in New York. As was widely predicted, Sutton Foster won as actress in a musical award for Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," the best musical revival winner.

PLAY "Doubt" MUSICAL "Monty Python's Spamalot" REVIVAL OF A PLAY "Glengarry Glen Ross" REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL "La Cage aux Folles" SPECIAL THEATRICAL EVENT "Billy Crystal 700 Sundays" LEADING ACTOR, PLAY Bill Irwin "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Taking the concept of grounding drama to literal extremes, a thick layer of soil transforms the expansive Open Fist Theatre stage into a bleak tableau of rural English farmland for the West Coast premiere of Caryl Churchill's "Fen." The striking "flat earth" visual focus is shrewdly appropriate for a play set in a region of eastern Britain with a long history of controversy over the use of its land, and where the present-day inhabitants lead impoverished lives bordering on indentured servitude.

The worst moment in the generally fine Universal Ballet production of "La Bayadere" is the moment the audience wants most to see: the celebrated entrance of 32 women, one by one, down a ramp at the beginning of the Act 3 vision scene. This sequence has become a touchstone of classicism because of its stark simplicity: the same step endlessly multiplied by a growing number of dancers as a metaphor for eternity.

A giant clock hangs high above the kerchief-covered heads of young women slaving away at factory looms, ticking away the final moments of toil. Within a few beats, the workday is done and the captives spill out and make their way to a fairground. To the strains of the "Carousel Waltz," the scene fills with barkers and townspeople shedding their reserve as they lose themselves in the whirl of the spring carnival.

Two questions immediately presented themselves when it was announced that "The Exorcist" was going to be done onstage: How? And why? At the show's premiere Wednesday at the Geffen Playhouse, the creators seemed to be searching for answers to these challenges. God doesn't appear to be on their side. The how, at least on a visual level, turns out to be far more interesting than the why, which leads to all kinds of armchair moralizing and faux philosophizing. But fans of William Friedkin's 1973 film - a work that has caused more bad dreams than any other movie in Hollywood history, if my childhood is any guide - shouldn't expect any ostentatious spinning of heads.

A giant clock hangs high above the kerchief-covered heads of young women slaving away at factory looms, ticking away the final moments of toil. Within a few beats, the workday is done and the captives spill out and make their way to a fairground. To the strains of the "Carousel Waltz," the scene fills with barkers and townspeople shedding their reserve as they lose themselves in the whirl of the spring carnival.

Patty Briles, a Santa Monica College student, has won the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival award for her scenic design in the college's production of "The Miser." Briles, who competed with students from throughout the nation, is the first Santa Monica College student to receive the top honor.

The costume worn by ballet master Kolenkhov in Cal State Fullerton's revival of Kaufman and Hart's classic "You Can't Take It With You" is the only glaring error in the staging's authenticity. Even the anachronistic portable typewriter Penny uses to write her plays can be forgiven, but not the moujik boots and blousy shirt. Kolenkhov is a gentleman, one who socializes with the nobility; his suit and flowing tie in Act III finally have him in the proper attire.