Michael Chabon is a storyteller on a mission. He is a man who
has brought literary respectability to subjects as varied as
bisexuality, baseball, pot-smoking professors and comic books.

Some cultures believe that when a person’s photograph is
taken, their soul is stolen. Well beyond the advent of the camera,
British painter Lucian Freud’s portrait painting simply
borrows his subjects’ souls, mixing them with his own, and
subsequently transforming their minds and bodies into art that
lives on its own.

A woman in dark blue hugs her arms around her body, crouched and
writhing. At her side a man tears at his hair in angst. Then with a
surge born of invisible motivation, the figures heave themselves
forward in a silent scream.

For those who know the work of Richard Price, it may seem a leap
of the imagination to picture him seated comfortably behind a small
table, autographing books for his admirers amid the ritz and
glamour of Brentwood.

The Los Angeles-based BOTHarts theater company, including writer
and actor Chris Wells, is fighting to keep “Liberty!”
alive in the city of angels.
“Liberty!,” a one-act play, turned ensemble
production, written by Wells and performed by BOTHarts, opens Jan.

Murder, insanity, sex and a robotic monkey had the crowd
standing in applause last night at the premiere of
“Woyzeck,” which will run through Dec. 15 at the Freud
Playhouse.

UCLA students are merging theater and film, word and image to
bring fresh stories to the dark heart of Los Angeles.
Beginning tonight and running through Dec.

Twisting the expectations of genre, the Mark Taper Forum’s
new production of the musical “Big River ““ The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” aims, at least in part, to
fall on deaf ears.

Consider for a moment the dusty and dreary sounding title of the
“National Book Award,” and then read Harryette
Mullen’s poetry, and you will immediately be taken aback by
this UCLA professor’s vibrant and punchy poetic lines.

Dave Eggers’ name alone conjures images of literary
superstardom, and the dread of a sophomore slump.
Eggers began his career welcoming readers into his life in the
memoir, “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.”
Two years later, that book’s shadow continues to envelop the
author’s movements.