Joel Beers on Muck Rack

Joel Beers

Verified
Fullerton
As seen in: LA Weekly, American Theatre, Voice of OC, Fullerton Observer, Stage and Cinema, Culture OC, Orange Curtain Review
Covers:  theater, news, sports, features, politics, human interest, all of it
Writer, Reader, Explorer, Journalist, Internet ninja, Educator, Reluctant cell user, Catlover, Footsoldier in #waragainsttheimagination #question #dothework

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Joel Beers’s Biography

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Journalist, playwright, teacher, bon vivant.

Joel Beers’s Journalist Portfolio

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The Santa Ana River Is Ready for Its Renaissance | OC Weekly

The Santa Ana River Is Ready for Its Renaissance | OC Weekly

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great fl…

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Fat Like Me | OC Weekly

Fat Like Me | OC Weekly

Photos by Mark StoufferJohn B. Good, Fullerton bartender and aspiring magician, strolls through Disneyland's …

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Our Theater Critic Went to Trump's Orange County Rally to Review the Spectacle of It All | OC Wee...

Our Theater Critic Went to Trump's Orange County Rally to Review the Spectacle of It All | OC Wee...

When you are dealing with such a yuge primordial force like Donald J. Trump, apparently not even an Internet …

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Our Theater Critic Went to Trump's Orange County Rally to Review the Spectacle of It All | OC Wee...

Our Theater Critic Went to Trump's Orange County Rally to Review the Spectacle of It All | OC Wee...

When you are dealing with such a yuge primordial force like Donald J. Trump, apparently not even an Internet …

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"Dear Harvey" Shows That We All Still Need Milk | OC Weekly

"Dear Harvey" Shows That We All Still Need Milk | OC Weekly

Patricia Loughrey wrote Dear Harvey in 2008, in large part because Dan Kirsch, the former director of the Div…

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Joel Beers' Rube! Returns to an OC Stage for a Third Time After 15 Years

Joel Beers' Rube! Returns to an OC Stage for a Third Time After 15 Years

A locally written and produced play, which is about one of the most colorful characters in Major League Baseb…

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Articles

It’s a Boom Season for New Plays in Orange County

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By Joel Beers 
| Culture OC
A wave of nearly 30 new plays hits Orange County, fueled by collaboration, diversity and a post-pandemic creative surge. Rori Flynn and Kallie Pong in “The Messenger," which was written by Chance Theater's 2016 playwright-in-residence Jenny Connell Davis. The Chance's recently closed production was the play's West Coast premiere.
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Why A Mortuary Is Hosting One Of Fullerton’s Most Unusual Cultural Events

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By Joel Beers 
| Culture OC
Denied her mother’s story for decades, Jill Lloyd returns to Fullerton for a special May 3 music and movie event that honors others’ stories. Martin Anthony performs at a 2024 Elvis Presley gospel event in the mausoleum at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana. Photo courtesy of Jill Lloyd Jill Lloyd spent much of her childhood waiting for her mother to come home.
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A Full-Course Theatrical Meal That’s Doesn’t Go Down Easy

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By Joel Beers 
| Culture OC
REVIEW: South Coast Repertory’s ‘Eat Me’ serves up obsession, identity and consumption in a feast that lingers uneasily. From left, Jake Borelli, Jeorge Bennett Watson, Sheldon D. Brown and Anne Gee Byrd in South Coast Repertory's 2026 world premiere production of "Eat Me" by Talene Monahon.
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Interview

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What was your first job as a journalist?

Sports reporter.

Have you ever used a typewriter?

yes.

How is social media changing news?

for the worse.

Awards

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Orange County Press Club

2020 - Best arts and culture story

Had to write an obituary for STAGES Theatre, the place where all but a handful of my plays were first produced.

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Southern California Journalism Awards

2021 - Entertainment News

Third place (and don't tell anyone, but it's for the same story that I won first place for in Orange County...)

Orange County Press Club

2015 - REal OC

An award given out to the one story that best captures some aspect of Orange County. In this case, it was the story I may have been born to write: a trek along the path of the Santa Ana River from the San Bernardino Mountains to the ocean and all spots in between. I grew up about nine football fields from the river in Riverside.

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Southern California Journalism Awards

2015 - Environmental Reporting, second place

The Santa Ana River story

Southern California Journalism Awards

2013 - Sportwriting, 2nd place

Profile on the fascinating Muffin Spencer-Devlin.

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National Association of Alternative Weekly Awards

2012 - Arts criticism, Silver Medal

Basically second place. National award though...

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Southern California Journalism Awards

2008 - Arts Criticism first place

Don't remember what reviews I won for. But I still have the plaque!

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