Sara Porkalob in "Dragon Mama" at Geffen Playhouse (Photo by Jeff Lorch) Sara Porkalob has returned to the Geffen Playhouse with “Dragon Mama,” the second installment of her Dragon Cycle trilogy, written and performed solo by Porkalob. While the first play, “Dragon Lady,” told the story of her grandmother, “Dragon Mama” focuses on her mother's journey from a young queer woman searching for love and belonging to a young mother seeking the freedom to forge a new life for herself and her...

From left: Cole Massie (Boy) and Carene Rose Mekertichyan (Girl) in "Room by the Sea" at Outside In Theatre (Photo by Mallury Patrick Pollard Photography) Outside In Theatre, a new nonprofit stage in Highland Park, focuses on producing stories for and by traditionally marginalized groups and their allies. Its impressively restored venue boasts several performance spaces and a picturesque bar area. Together with Coin & Ghost and After Hours Theatre Company, its current staging of John Guerra’s...

Before piercing became a sterile, clinical business, Fakir Musafar celebrated it as a spiritual experience associated with sex, bondage, pain, pleasure, sickness and healing. Self-portrait "A Perfect Gentleman, 1959" by Fakir Musafar. Image courtesy of Fakir Musafar Estate. In 2026, it isn't uncommon to see bodies adorned with piercings and tattoos on people we interact with every day. Blue collar, white collar, business owners, food servers, lawyers, even cops can be found with some form of...