“Without Annette” – newest theater review for Stage Raw – Los Angeles theater review

Dear #LAThtr fans!
Here is my newest theater review for the critical website Stage Raw — which contains the latest arts and theater coverage from our intrepid team of journalists & critics.

Happy reading!

Without Annette by Hope Juber and Jeff Doucette.

In this tepid comedy, a motley crew of wanna-be actors, writers and comedians gather weekly at Sam’s Improv Workshop to develop their performance skills. The class is populated by the usual stereotypes and we soon get to know a bit of each of their backstories. Trevor (Andrew Villareal) is the loud and proud sassy gay barista, Donna (Angie Jaree) the self-deprecating ‘Mom’ type, Jackie (Kersten Haile) is a cute young blonde starlet while her geeky roommate Libby (Julia Morizawa) lurks in her shadow. Kyle (Kyle Klein) is a ‘emo’ teenager with issues and CJ (Gary Robinson) is a cranky former footballer, and so on. None of the actors portraying these students is particularly gifted, comedically or otherwise. There’s a loose and woefully underdeveloped plot stringing together the mostly scripted “improvised” scenes that constitute this limp two-act evening.

Go here to read the rest of this review…

Without Annette is playing Thursday nights only at the Whitefire Theatre.

13500 Ventura Blvd.,

Sherman Oaks CA 91423.

Runs through October 2, 2014.