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Articles by Ed Rampell
Gaza and “the Gaze of the Perpetrator”: Naza’s Nazis
In 1951, the French philosopher and author Simone de Beauvoir wrote Must We Burn de Sade? A similar question can be asked regarding the Israeli filmmakers whose latest documentary, only 80-minutes-long, has set off alarm bells from Tel Aviv to North Hollywood and beyond. To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies.
‘Saint Megan’ review: Sharp play raises questions about religion and devotion over centuries
Meg Cain, Caitlin Zambito, and Shannon Lee Clair| Photo by Jeff Lorch Rogue Machine—the L.A. stage’s exemplar of edgy, indie, intimate theater—strikes again with playwright Joy Gregory’s Saint Megan, the very first play to be produced that originated in the cauldron of Rogue Machine’s Playwright’s Roundtable. Saint Megan is a (presumably loosely) fact-based drama about the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, misled by Rev.
‘Everybody to Kenmure Street’ review: A rousing pro-people power documentary
A still from the film ‘Everybody to Kenmure Street’| Courtesy of Conic Film After you attend the Left Coast Forum this weekend in L.A., don’t miss Everybody to Kenmure Street. Directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra, the son of a Chilean exile, this is a stand-up-and-cheer documentary about a provocatively timed dawn raid during the Islamic celebration of Eid by the United Kingdom’s Immigration Enforcement of two Muslim men in Glasgow, Scotland, that is thwarted by spontaneous resistance.
‘A Killer Night in Studio City’ play review: Controversial and somewhat entertaining
Anthony Carro (l.), Brittany Pirozzoli, Noan Blake| Photo by Wes Chappell Sometimes when a journalist sets out to cover a story, the ink-stained wretch has absolutely no idea what he/she is getting himself into. As I approached Vitello’s in Studio City, a reporter for L.A.’s CBS news affiliate with a cameraman asked to interview me—I believe it was Laurie Perez. In any case, she wanted to know what I thought about the controversy re: the play I was about to cover, A Killer Night in Studio City.
Hollywood ponders movie remake of “Hawai‘i Five-0” directed by Ha‘ikū helmer Destin Daniel Cretton
If produced, this wouldn’t be the first time Tinseltown tried to bring the iconic CBS-TV crime series shot in the 50th State to the big screen. Ed Rampell September 16, 20265 min read Logo for the original Hawai‘i Five-0 TV show.
‘Antigone’ play review: An amazing anti-Trump adaption with focus on resistance
Esperanza América and Pollo| Photo by Craig Schwartz Photography The Latino Theater Company and Getty Villa Museum’s stunning co-presentation of Antigone: In the Language of Kings is arguably the theatrical event of the year for Los Angeles’ theatergoers.
‘A Case for the Existence of God’ theater review: Well-crafted but ill-named play
Carlo Mancasola, Nicholas Anthony Reid| Photos by Jeff Lorch Before this atheistic aesthete indulges, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, in a rant about this play’s egregiously pompous hifalutin name, I feel compelled to confess that: 1.) A Case for the Existence of God is certainly a well-written, well-acted, and well-directed drama, and I recommend that serious theatergoers see it; 2.) The award-winning playwright Samuel D.
Pro-Surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb rides the wild surf in new doc shot at Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Tahiti and Beyond
“A Marble in the Jar” debuts on 10 screens across the Mainland this Friday. The doc includes eye-popping, jaw-dropping camerawork above the pounders and underwater, as Weston-Webb rides the waves from Hawai‘i to French Polynesia to Australia to Bali to Mexico to France to Portugal to California and beyond on the pro-surfer circuit, in search of championships and the ideal tube.
‘The Arsonists’ play review: Absurdist theater takes on evils of capitalism
Brian Wallace in 'The Arsonists'| Photo by David Esquivel I strongly suspect that when the Swiss-German playwright Max Frisch wrote The Arsonists during the 1950s, he fully intended it to be mounted in a wildly over-the-top manner.
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ play review: A soulful and haunting must-see performance
Amber Liekhus| Photo by Craig Schwartz A Noise Within’s production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is ANW’s seventh mounting since 2019 of August Wilson’s 10 “American Century Cycle” plays, directed by Gregg T. Daniel, and in my humble opinion, it is the best one I’ve seen so far. Wilson’s wide-ranging decalogue of dramas about African Americans is also known as the “Pittsburgh Cycle” because each of the 10 productions occurs in a different decade of the 20th century, mostly in that Pennsylvania city.
‘Conscience’ play review: Great political art focusing on McCarthyism of past and present
Sharon Gardner| Photo by Jordan Gohara In the 1954 Best Picture winner On the Waterfront, washed-up boxer Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) muses: “Conscience… that stuff can drive you nuts!” Ironically, the eight-time Oscar-winning labor drama shot on the docks of Hoboken was written and directed by people who “named names,” snitching to the House Un-American Activities Committee, collaborating with the dictatorial Hollywood Blacklist.
All Together Now: The Collective Hero Stars in Who Moves America
Still from Who Moves America. An Interview with Yael Bridge As socialism makes a comeback in public consciousness, Who Moves America zooms in on union organizing and working class struggle. The 87-minute documentary focuses on the 2023 showdown between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and United Parcel Service, as workers gear up for a possible strike.
‘Enemy of the People’ theater review: Topical adaptation loses none of its bite
Jay Paulson and Dennis Dun| Photo by Cooper Bates Bart DeLorenzo, one of L.A.’s most prolific, award-winning directors, has adapted Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 An Enemy of the People, setting it in contemporary America. As I recall, the contours of the Scandinavian scribe’s play—which he reportedly wasn’t quite sure whether it was a drama or a comedy—remain largely the same in DeLorenzo’s adaptation.
Hawaiian martial arts master inaugurates “Warrior Women” exhibit at L.A. Museum
At the August 22 ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Martial Arts History Museum, black belt Michelle Manu, a practitioner and teacher of lua, the ancient Hawaiian martial art, “open[ed] something that, to my knowledge, has never existed before: a permanent museum exhibit devoted to warrior women… A declaration that the warrior woman belongs in the historical record.
The latest made-in-Hawai‘i movie world premieres at L.A. Film Festival, Native Hawaiian actress wins award
LOS ANGELES — "KāhalaSunset," a crime drama shot on location in O‘ahu with an all-local cast and crew, premiered at the Los Angeles Tribune International Film Festival on August 15. Screenwriter/producer Colby Haines, who also stars as HPD detective Sandra Whitsome, flew out from Honolulu to attend "KāhalaSunset’s" opening, as did co-producer Jacob Kamhis.
Who Acted the ‘Craziest’ at the Sunset Marquis? Q&A with ‘If These Walls Could Rock’ Directors
By Ed Rampell | August 14, 2026 | 0 Reply Like the 1970 film Woodstock, Tyler Meason and Craig A. Williams’ If These Walls Could Rock is a star-studded rock doc that focuses not on an individual musician but on a sense of place. However, unlike Yasgur’s farm in Upstate New York, the Sunset Marquis is a hotel located just south of fabled Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California.
‘Matt and Ben’ theater review: Ancient Greek and the absurd collide for clever comedy
Spring Ferrara (in baseball cap), Genevieve Lerner in "Matt & Ben"| Photo credit Max Downs Much is being made now of Matt Damon’s starring as the Greek character Odysseus in the Homeric epic The Odyssey, but in the comedy Matt & Ben, a plot device derived from ancient Greek theater, the deus ex machina, plays a pivotal role as it did in tragedies by Aeschylus and Eumenides.
‘The People of Pompeii’ theater review: A relevant, hard-hitting tragicomedy
Bernardo Cubría and Willow Geer| Photo by Ian Flanders Multi-talented playwright Bernardo Cubria’s topical The People of Pompeii is among the best original plays I’ve seen in quite a while. The action takes place in 2025, after the Palisades Fire almost wiped out Topanga Canyon, just as Mount Vesuvius did to the eponymous ancient Roman city of Pompeii when that volcano blew its top in 79 AD.
‘Applause’ musical review: An impressive revival
'Applause' cast L-R: Melissa Strauss, Mia Catalano, Judy Rosenfeld, Tom Allen, Leslie Stevens, Zak Hermain, Angie Lin, Savannah Mortenson, Jennifer Skiffington, Allison Jakubowski, and Avan Seals.| Photo by Doug Engalla In his satirical 1961 novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller wrote: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” This could be the tagline for The Group Rep’s revival of Applause, which is set in the social milieu of the Broadway theater.
‘Waiting in the Wings’ theater review: Women led play boldly tackles taboos on death and old age
Cynthia Kania, Jane Macfie, Susan Angelo and Katherine Griffith in the play 'Waiting in the Wings' | Photo by Ian Flanders The multi-talented London-born actor/playwright/composer Sir Noël Coward was renowned as the very soul of sophisticated Brit wit.
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young, A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
Bernardine Dohrn (left), Bill Ayers (right), Zayd Ayers Dohrn (center) with his brother in Harlem, after a long drive through the underground in 1980. (Courtesy of Peter Clapp) All HALE the Conquering Heroes Zayd Ayers Dohrn has quite a story to tell, and fortunately for readers, he is a stellar storyteller.
‘Peter Asher: Everywhere Man’: Co-Directors Dayna Goldfine + Daniel Geller Q&A
By Ed Rampell | July 10, 2026 | 0 Reply The title of Dayna Goldfine and Daniel Geller’s Peter Asher: Everywhere Man is, at least in part, inspired by the Beatles’ 1965 song “Nowhere Man,” from the Rubber Soul album. This is a crafty bit of nomenclature, considering that – as the co-directors discuss below – Asher repeatedly crossed paths with the Fab Four, including helping to launch one of rock’s most storied romances.
‘The Great Clown Bank Show’ theater review: A satirical takedown of the capitalist class
Clara York, Bethany Koulias, and Carmella Jenkins in 'The Great Clown Show'| Photo by John Dlugolecki I can’t stand to watch shows such as HBO’s Industry and Succession. I did view an episode of Succession once, and, to be sure, the highly acclaimed, award-winning HBO series was indeed extremely well written and well acted. But Succession was such a truthful representation of the capitalist class and how they operate that it was unwatchable for me.
‘HomeTown Hero’ film review: Hard-hitting drama focusing on Samoan struggles
Still from the film 'HomeTown Hero' As the big-budget, live-action Moana prepares to hit the screen, co-starring part-Samoan actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, director/screenwriter/producer Julian Cepeda’s low-budget indie HomeTown Hero is the latest development in South Seas Cinema, the film genre about Pacific Islanders and their Islands.
‘Treasure Island’ theater review: Classic novel adapted with new feminist touch
Ruben Jones and Willow Geer in 'Treasure Island'| Photo by Ian Flanders Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate novel, Treasure Island, is absolutely good fun. Audiences today are used to watching action stories on screens, but beholding the WGTB troupers leap off the page onto the stage to enact duels, chases, pistol, musket, and cannon fire live and in the flesh, en masse, is deliciously delightful to see in person.
The Welcome Table’s Socialist Vision for Climate Refugees Original
The Welcome Table’s Socialist Vision for Climate Refugees Published June 23, 2026 Josh Fox’s first documentary, the Oscar-nominated and 2010 Sundance and Emmy Award–winning Gasland tackled fracking with unforgettable images of people lighting methane-filled tap water from their faucets on fire.
‘The Revolutionists’ theater review: An edgy guillotine-tinged satire
Nondumiso Tembe, Sarah Pierce, Lyndsi LaRose and Amie Farrell in 'The Revolutionists'| Photo by Jordan Gohara Set in Paris in 1793, award-winning playwright Lauren Gunderson’s très droll 2016 play The Revolutionists is a comedy about France’s Reign of Terror, with aristocrats and assorted enemies of the people quite literally laughing their heads off.
‘Cassatt’ play review: Must-see with themes of feminism and women-led art
Brianna Burnside (l.), and Samantha Gregory in the play 'Cassatt'| Garry M. Kluger Playwright/director Arden Teresa Lewis’ outstanding Cassatt is simply a must-see for theatergoers enraptured by plays regarding artists, feminism, period pieces, art history, and more.
‘The Magic Flute’ review: Mozart’s opera puts us on a path of enlightenment
Miles Mykkanen as Tamino in LA Opera's 2026 presentation of The Magic Flute.| Cory Weaver LA Opera’s current production of The Magic Flute is a revival of a unique reinterpretation of Mozart’s masterpiece by the Australian and British co-directors Barrie Kosky and Brit Suzanne Andrade, with Welsh filmmaker/animation designer Paul Barritt, which last graced the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 2019.
Q&A: Jim Windolf on New Book ‘Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and The Beatles Changed Each Other — and the World’
Jim Windolf 'Where The Music Had to Go' -- Bob Dylan and The Beatles show Share: When Worlds Collide: The Cross Pollination of the Maestros of Rock and Folk Music Jim Windolf’s Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other — and the World (Scribner) is a tale of the convergence of popular music’s polar opposites in the sixties and beyond.
The Zany Survival of “The Physicists” Spoofs the Atomic Era and More
The Actors’ Gang captures the tenor of our strange times with the troupe’s revival of Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Physicists, which is set in a German sanatorium, or what’s called an “insane asylum” or “madhouse” for poorer patients. The well-heeled inmates at Les Cerisiers appear to be scientists who have adopted bizarre personas, including: Herbert Georg Beutler aka Sir Isaac Newton (a goofy Brian T.
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival: Highlights and reviews
"I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden" film still.| LAAPFF The 42nd annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival took place April 29-May 3 at various LA venues. LAAPFF is arguably America’s main gateway for Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander productions to gain access to the U.S. movie market and, in particular, to Los Angeles, the world’s capital of cinema.
Ken Burns Makes the Case for the Greatness of 1776
Ken Burns I’m not sure I’d agree that it has fallen out of favor. But that said, I’m not particularly interested in historiographic fads. I’m interested in experiences and stories, in all of their diversity. I think you can tell a full story — and often a hard, contradictory story — and still highlight what speaks to us in a singular voice across time. I’ve said, and continue to believe, that the American Revolution was the most important event in history since the birth of Christ.
‘Colored People’s Time: A History Play’ theater review
Jah Shams, Autumn Renae in the play Colored People's Time: A History Play| Photo credit: Kermit Carlyle Photography The Robey Theatre Company’s production of Leslie Lee’s circa 1983 Colored People’s Time, A History Play, recounts 100 years of African American life. Through a series of 13 vignettes presented more or less in chronological order, Lee traces the evolution of Black people from the 1850s to the 1950s, as they strive to survive and thrive in America.
LA Opera’s ‘Falstaff’ is a comedy delight about life and passion
Sarah Saturnino as Meg Page, Craig Colclough as Falstaff, Nicole Heaston as Alice Ford and Hyona Kim as Mistress Quickly in LA Opera's 2026 production of Falstaff| Photo credit: Cory Weaver Following LA Opera’s Falstaff, at a post-performance talk, the English actor and raconteur extraordinaire Stephen Fry stated that Queen Elizabeth I so enjoyed the character of John Falstaff, who appeared in both Part I and Part II of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, that she told the Bard to write yet...
Media Bits and Bytes - April 28, 2026
Media Bits and Bytes — April 28, 2026 Published April 28, 2026 Data Center Movement in Focus Israel Targets Reporters in Lebanon Profile in Courage: Amy Goodman Profile in Pilferage: Sam Altman How the Tech World Turned Evil Children’s Publishing in the MAGA Era Independent Media and the Hungary Election Here Comes the AI Money Squeeze Hasan Piker: All the Rage Palantir Rallies the Troops Data Center Movement in Focus By Nicholas Rabb, Common Dreams While data centers may seem an unlikely...
‘Master Harold’…and the Boys: Theater review
L-R: Nyasha Hatendi, Ben Beatty and John Kani in "Master Harold"...and the Boys at Geffen Playhouse. Co-directed by Emily Mann and Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney.| Photo by Jeff Lorch Recently, at the Pan African Film Festival, I saw Rico Speight’s superb documentary Rediscovering Fanon, about the revolutionary psychiatrist who wrote 1952’s Black Skin, White Masks and 1961’s The Wretched of the Earth.
What Makes Amy Goodman Run?
To make Steal This Story, Please! Co-directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin spent about three years wearing out the proverbial shoe leather tailing Amy Goodman, that journalistic scourge of the status quo, for their documentary about her and the daily Pacific Radio and TV program she hosts. As Democracy Now! – which touts itself as […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here.
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Wisconsin FIlm Festival's ‘Cycle’ tackles controversial police shooting in Racine
Cycle is a new award-winning documentary about the shooting of a Black teenager by a Mount Pleasant. Wisconsin, white policeman. Co-directed by Racine-born filmmakers Laura Dyan Kezman and William Howell, Cycle recounts the fatal encounter on Juneteenth, 2019, between bicyclist Ty’rese West and Sgt. Eric Giese. Cycle screens at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 12 at Music Hall. “It all happened in 90 seconds,” Kezman tells Isthmus.
Rediscovering Fanon
As “Trump-erialism” unleashes the dogs of war on the Third World, the fiery prophet of anti-colonial revolt is back, just in the nick of time. Director Rico Speight’s Rediscovering Fanon is a rabblerousing, thought-provoking documentary that pays tribute to the centennial of the 1925 birth of the author of The Wretched of the Earth, which […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here.
‘Akhnaten’ review: A timely opera regarding upheaval in the Middle East
John Holiday in the title role of LA Opera's 2026 production of Akhnaten.| Cory Weaver Right on cue, as the mad wannabe-pharaoh unleashes yet another cataclysmic war in the Middle East, LA Opera’s first operatic production of 2026 is about upheaval and regime change in that part of the world. Innovative minimalist composer Philip Glass’ Akhnaten is a lavish aural luau and visual feast that reimagines ancient Egypt.
‘Rediscovering Fanon’ review: A must-see revolutionary film
'Rediscovering Fanon' promotional art| Courtesy of Watermelon Pictures The 34th Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF), America’s largest Black-themed film festival, took place February 16–22 in Los Angeles, California, at the Culver Theater and the Cinemark Crenshaw Baldwin Hills.
Smalltown Factions Highlight Our Divisions
In An American Pastoral, film director Auberi Edler focuses on a school board election and book banning brouhaha in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to give us a microcosm that encapsulates the disunity that comes with pitting Americans against each other. The French filmmaker’s documentary follows the 2023 school board race in Elizabethtown, population 12,000, as far-right candidates run against moderate Republicans and Democrats.
‘Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It’ Shines the Limelight on the ‘Fifth Beatle’: Q&A with Director Paris Barclay
Share: The director/executive producer of the new 105-minute Billy Preston nonfiction biopic is a two-time Emmy Award winner and nine-time Emmy nominee who has helmed 200-plus TV episodes. The oeuvre of the multi-talented Paris Barclay, who attended Harvard, includes NYPD Blue, ER, Lost, Law & Order, Glee, CSI, Scandal, The West Wing and much more.
Top 11 Fifth Beatles - and Others Closely Tied to the Fab Four
Share: Since the tidal wave of Beatlemania swept the world in the early 1960s, a variety of second bananas have been closely tied to the Fab Four, and some have even been dubbed “Fifth Beatles.” They have included musicians, photographers, managers, producers, disc jockeys, lovers, relatives, etc., linked to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and/or Ringo Starr.
‘The Love That Remains’ review: A film filled with whimsy, sly wit, and surrealistic style
Still from 'The Love That Remains' film| Courtesy of Janus Films Located in the North Atlantic, Iceland is one of the Nordic nations. So, a Yankee Doodle Dandy moviegoer could be forgiven for (stereotypically) expecting Icelandic cinema to be in the probing, dour tradition of that Swedish master, Ingmar Bergman. For the most part, the Swedish auteur’s films, like 1974’s searing Scenes from a Marriage, starring Liv Ullmann, were shot in a naturalistic style.
Oscar-Nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab Leads the “Watermelon Wave” of Palestine Pictures
As a film historian I can categorically say that the Academy Award-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab is one of the most heartbreaking movies ever made in the entire annals of cinema. While the Jewish people have Anne Frank, the Palestinian people have Hind Rajab, whose untimely death inspired student protesters to rename a building […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here.
‘Sirāt’ film review: A philosophical film not for the faint of heart
A still from the film ‘Sirāt’ | Courtesy of BTeam Pictures French director/co-screenwriter Oliver Laxe’s Oscar-nominated road trip movie Sirāt is a real trip.
Ms. Sawant Goes to Washington? An Interview with Kshama Sawant
It would be easy to dismiss Kshama Sawant as just some far left radical with pie-in-the-sky dreams – except for the fact that she was elected three times to Seattle’s City Council, survived a recall campaign, and won numerous victories while in office. Now Sawant, who was born 1973 in India, moved to America in 1996, and describes herself as a “revolutionary socialist” and “Marxist,” has tossed her hat in the ring to run for the U.S. Congress.
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