Nathan Rabin of the Onion A.V. Club coined the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" to describe the quirky, anachronism-obsessed creation of a lonely male writer's fevered imagination whose appearance litters romantic comedies. She exists, mostly, for the Neurotic Boy Outsider whom she inevitable encounters to pour his passions into, as she teaches him valuable lessons about what life is really all about. She can be bubbly, or she can be prone to fits of melancholy, but most importantly, she lacks a true inner life, and her emotions are only ever dictated by the actions of the people who are in love with her. more ›

There’s the pleasure of watching tragedy. There’s the pleasure of being tragic. And then there’s the pleasure of watching characters taking pleasure in their own tragedy - which is a lot like comedy. Steven Gridley’s new play Post-Oedipus somehow manages to work effectively on all these levels, making it difficult to know exactly how to react to this genre-bending revision of Euripides’ Phoenician Women. But it also allows this genuinely unsettling show to be genuinely fun (and funny) to watch. more ›

Jean Paul Sartre's Hell is other people, but the people onstage in Carboni's production of Sartre's No Exit are less effective at creating the discomforting environment one would expect from eternal damnation than the distraction-laden Domy Books gallery, a block off the highway on East Cesar Chavez. more ›