Bonjour,
Antigone<, adapted by Neil – Final Four weeks!/strong>
Critics an audiences agree: Antigone is a must-see production! It;’s entering its final four weeks so if you haven’t yet made your reservations, do it now!
“WOW!”
“The compelling, thought-provoking latest from City Garage….as timely and as it is relevant. Director Frédérique Michel once again displays her distinctive visual flair in staging LaBute’s adaptation’s U.S. Premiere….Michel signals from the get-go that this will definitely not be your ancestors’ Greek tragedy….City Garage scored a major coup last year with the World Premiere of Neil LaBute’s If I Needed Someone, and they’ve done it again with LaBute’s contemporary take on Antigone.” — Steven Stanley Stage Scene LA
TOP TEN! RECOMMENDED!
“Even after 80-plus years, it speaks clearly to the present political environment…The confrontation between Antigone and Creon reveals the complex heart of the play, where the rule of law — the authority of the state — collides with individual conscience and morality….The “why” compelling each character’s motivation and principles is brought into sharp relief for the audience to weigh on the scales of right and wrong. Director Frederique Michel shows her proficiency for flashy staging, skillfully blending music, movement and dialogue.” — Lovell Estell III, Stage Raw
“The show loses not one drop of its raw power, which is a considerable…..In a very real way one feels this fictional version of Thebes as real as Los Angeles in this, our year of the Lord 2025….The stakes feel real, the consequences vivid, powerful, and horrific. Familiar, too. Which is of course the point.” — David MacDowell Blue
“With Antigone, City Garage furthers the conversation about ethics and the role everyone plays in deciding when to obey and when to resist.” — Bridgette Redman, The Argonaut
“Directed by Frederique Michel, this Antigone brings a very old classic into the period of the moment….[a] marvel.” — Rich Borowy, AccessiblyLive
Antigone
By Jean Anouilh, Adapted by Neil LaBute
August 15 – September 21, 2025
Acclaimed playwright Neil LaBute brings a fresh edge to the classic tale of a fierce young woman determined to stand up to authority—even at the price of her own life. Working from the 1944 text by French playwright Jean Anouilh—written during the occupation—LaBute asks the same question here as Anouilh did under the Nazis: what price must an individual be willing to pay to defend their beliefs? Antigone faces down her uncle, the dictator Creon, insisting on proper funeral rites and burial for her slain brother, something Creon has forbidden on pain of death. In this deadly battle of wills, Antigone, one of the great classical heroes of Greek tragedy, refuses to compromise, even to the point of self-destruction. In a troubled time, where autocracy is on the rise and the free expression of ideas are under assault, Antigone speaks for all those unwilling to give in and go along.
Q&A this Sunday, September 7th after the 4:00pm show!
Join us for an informal Q&A session with the cast and director after the show this Sunday. Share your thoughts, ask your questions, and be part of the talk-back. See you there!
Merci,
Frederique, Charles, & everyone at City Garage
Pinter: The Homecoming
Bonjour,
It’s your last chance to see “The Homecoming!” The audience and critics are raving about it. It must close this weekend so if you haven’t yet made you reservations, do it today! Don’t miss it!
TOP TEN! RECOMMENDED!
“It’s been six decades since Harold Pinter’s enigmatic, controversial two-act drama about family conflict and dysfunction had its debut in London, yet it continues to lend itself to interpretative wrangling and ambiguous coloration. Still, the misogyny and male angst that are chiseled into it are oddly apropos to the times we now live in where critical attention has recently been focused on the subject of “toxic masculinity” and its destructive effects…. Director Frederique Michel has done an excellent job of regulating the aggressive tensions that continually arise in this play, as well as skillfully accentuating its sexual elements without overdoing them. The performances are excellent, especially Beyer whose turn as Ruth is flawless.” — Lovell Estes III
“WOW!”
“Directed to laceratingly sharp effect by Frédérique Michel and performed by a cast of seasoned City Garage vets and a couple of talented newbies, The Homecoming adds up to a whole lot of fun-and-games of the vicious, venomous sort. Rarely has there been a nastier family patriarch than Dunn’s Max, and it’s great fun to see how he keeps the always dependable Frank’s Sam under his thumb. Equally terrific are Marr’s cowed and cuckolded Teddy, Langsam’s brutal, conniving Lenny, and Cannata’s coarse, not terribly clever Joey. Still, this is City Garage stealth weapon Beyer’s show all the way, whether tantalizing the boys with tales of her adventures as a “model for bodies,” or tempting them with crossed and uncrossed legs that could give Basic Instinct’s Catherine Tramell lessons in seduction, or breaking her marriage vows in full view of them all….A blast!”
— Steven Stanley, Stage SceneLA
“This cast, under the direction of Frederique Michel, makes every glance or smile or silence work….The experience proves eerie, fascinating, a little bit disgusting, often quite funny, and it crawls under one’s skin. Bravo!
— The World Through Night Colored Glasses
“Directed by Frederique Michel, The Homecoming is a play that only gets better over time….[It] still packs a punch.”
— Accessibly Live Off-line
The Homecoming by Harold Pinter
May 9 – June 15, 2025
Fridays, Saturdays 8:00pm; Sundays 4:00pm
One of Nobel-prize winning playwright Harold Pinter’s greatest plays, this darkly comic, hauntingly ambiguous, play follows a family of men in a seedy house in North London: Max, the aging, crude patriarch, his ineffectual brother Sam, and two of Max’s three sons, both unmarried, Lenny, a small-time pimp and Joey, who dreams of success as a boxer. Returning to this oppressive household, one simmering with bottled-up anger and barely concealed hatreds, is the oldest son Teddy, now a successful professor of philosophy in America. After six years abroad, he brings his wife Ruth, to meet the family for the first time but the visit quickly turns into an ominous game of cat and mouse. In this unsettling drama of insidious manipulation, subtle power struggles, and sexual game-playing, nothing is quite what it seems.
A New Pledge of $20,000!
As we told you last week, a very special patron (who wishes to remain anonymous) has made an incredibly generous pledge of $20,000 to support the work at City Garage! Can you help us match this amount by the end of the summer so that we can fully benefit from our angel’s wonderful pledge? Thanks to these kind people below, we’ve already raised $11,214. More than halfway there!
Roger Director
Joanne Leslie
Ricky Lee Grove and Lisa Morton
Ann Bronston
Tom Laskey
Anonymous
Steve Diskin
Martha Duncan
Bo Roberts
Anonymous
Lindsey Carlsen
Holly Dunnigan
Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Greenberg
Michele and Curt Wittig
Tom Patchett
Michael Intriere
Roger Marheine and Carol Wise
Please join them and help us get the rest of the way. Any amount, small or large is welcome!
Merci, and see you soon at City Garage!
Archie, Frederique & Charles
Bounds / I Want a Country
Bonjour,
FINAL WEEKEND!
It’s your last chance to see “Bounds” and “I Want a Country!” Both shows are in their final weekend, with “Bounds” on Thursday and Friday at 8:00pm, and “I Want a Country” on Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 4:00pm. Don’t miss these critically acclaimed productions!
Special Performance of both plays on Sunday, March 9th! – Followed by Q&A
Join us on Sunday, March 9th to see both plays on the same evening! “Bounds” will be at 4:00pm, followed by “I Want a Country” at 6:00pm. Afterward, we’ll have a Q&A with the cast and the creative team. Buy a ticket in advance for either show on that date and you can see both—or pay-what-you can at the door.
“Bounds” by Tino Caspanello
Buy tickets for “Bounds”
“I Want a Country” by Andreas Flourakis
Buy tickets for “I Want a Country”
See both plays, and save $10!
Buy tickets for Both Plays
What the Critics are saying:
TOP TEN! RECOMMENDED!
“A surreal journey that serves as a lament for unexpected loss, a skewering of global capitalism, and – perhaps – a metaphor for what awaits the U.S. as it embarks on its potential imperial collapse….Director Frédérique Michel has crafted an absurdist setting and cryptic characters into a sometimes confusing yet compelling narrative that depicts reluctant migrants in a quest for a new home….Michel’s crafty, artful staging befits the nature of this lost tribe…. One telling line would be appropriate for any of the characters to utter: “We’re a group of indignant, frustrated people. We’re not a county.” If that is not a suitable definition of a country, I do not know what is.”
— Martín Hernández, Stage Raw
“WOW! As strikingly stylized as it is unapologetically political….Like Andrei Kureichik’s Insulted. Belarus, Andreas Flourakis’s I Want A Country spotlights City Garage’s knack for bringing innovative European theater to American audiences….Dynamically staged…thought-provoking and topical, I Want A Country is well worth an hour of your time.”
— Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA
“A startling, even haunting piece of theatre….Director Frederique Michel along with her cast brought what doesn’t seem like it should be very dramatic to a fiercely vivid life….A simple but profound dance amid hopes, fears, rages, and attempts to make sense of it all–a collection of human beings living through disaster with no end nor rescue in sight. What else is there to do but wait, endure, and try to understand?“ — David MacDowell Blue
“Both of these plays are timely, especially amidst the rising threats of mass deportations of immigrants, unreasonable searches and incarcerations, and increasingly militarized borders. Once again, and per their thirty-five year record, City Garage Theatre has produced plays that speak to the times and encourage people to have empathy and compassion for what it means to arrive in a country that may pummel you into the ground.”
— Allie Rigby, SeeFilm LA
“Bounds” by Tino Caspanello
Translated by Haun Saussy
February 6 – March 14, 2025; Thursdays, Fridays 8:00pm
Five women are stranded on a beach in an unknown country. They might be displaced persons, refugees, unhoused, undocumented immigrants. What we do know is that they are unwanted. They pass the time by playing games and singing songs, they fantasize about belonging, and they compete. One of them, they know, will be selected. But who will that be? While they wait, bonds are created, ties of affection. “Bounds” is a story about us, about the truths we take for granted, and about a society unable to exist without bonds. It is also about “the others,” about those to whom we open our doors—or refuse. It is a story about cages, violence, dreams, a story that reflects our time, a time when we struggle with the rules, obligations, and prejudices that keep us from looking in the eyes of our neighbors.
“I Want a Country” by Andreas Flourakis
Translated by Eleni Drivas
February 8 – March 16, 2925; Saturdays 8:00pm, Sundays 4:00pm
A group of people huddle in the darkness, clutching suitcases and umbrellas. They have lost their country. Where did it go? They wander in search of a new one. They complain, argue, debate, talk about what makes a place feel like home. Together, they imagine what the country of their dreams would be like: a place where they could find peace, justice, and kindness at last. Though written by Flourakis about the Greek financial crisis of the early 2010s, this haunting and poetic text speaks just as powerfully to our own political moment here in the United States where so many long to replace division and enmity with connection and understanding.
Links for Tickets:
Buy tickets for “Bounds”
Buy tickets for “I Want a Country”
Bounds
I Want a Country
Merci, and see you at City Garage!
Frederique & Archie & Charles
Community
Bonjour,
Last week was a terrible one for so many in Los Angeles. Our hearts go out to everyone affected and to all those who are still at great risk. We fear that many of our audience members who come from Pacific Palisades or other areas that have been devastated are now struggling with catastrophic losses. We hope everyone can stay safe and that this nightmare will soon come to an end, though, for so many, the hardships will continue for a long time to come. Our immense gratitude and appreciation to all the first responders who continue to work so hard to save lives and protect us all.
Theatre is about community. Sharing stories that move us, inform us, unite us, and sometimes, in times of grief or loss, can comfort. We hope that when times are better, we willl see you all again at City Garage.
Thinking of you an sending our love,
Frederique, Charles and everyone at City Garage
