Dec. 1-7

By Ryan Torok
Published on November 28, 2012

He yells so you don’t have to. Best known for his curmudgeonly commentaries on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Black returns to SoCal with more social and political rants. Sat. 8 p.m. $39.50-$49.50. Terrace Theater, Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. (800) 745-3000. ticketmaster.com.

Nov. 22-29, 2012

By Ryan Torok
Published on November 21, 2012

Pulitzer Prize finalist Jon Robin Baitz’s first Broadway play unfolds in Palm Springs on Erev Christmas.

The Winding Road to ‘Other Desert Cities’

By Tom Teicholz
Published on November 21, 2012

In Hollywood, the logline for this story would be: A playwright who has outwitted his demons to find balance in his life, has, after a devastating TV experience, returned to the stage with a play whose plot twist is as transformative to its actors, and to the audience’s assumptions about the characters, as writing it was for the playwright. The play is a success off-Broadway and then a bigger success on Broadway. And then, as validation and final vindication, he brings it to Los Angeles.

Coming Full Circle

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on April 6, 2000

Before Robbie Baitz was Jon Robin Baitz, the playwright, he was, in his words, "a smart-ass little spoiled Beverly Hills snot" who worked as a gofer for a couple of Hollywood con artists. Rather than sensibly going East to college, he had elected to remain in Los Angeles to glean some life experience, and so had fallen in with "a den of thieves," he says.