In an attempt to eulogize his father, a son is haunted by their complicated relationship. He takes on the high stakes task of liberating himself while hoping to redeem his fallen idol. Leaving us wondering, are we destined to become our fathers or can we dig deep enough to become our own man.

Birding connects a father and daughter whose relationship is strained by different views of the world in Odyssey Theatre Ensemble's Los Angeles premiere of Birds of North America. In this funny, poignant and nuanced two-hander set against the background of nature and climate change, John and Caitlyn scan the skies over a backyard in suburban Maryland looking for elusive birds, even as the years go by and both they and the world around them change in small and vast ways.

Racial tensions erupt in an explosive ensemble drama based on a real-life incident at a Louisiana high school. Open Fist Theatre Company presents Blood at the Root, a "choreopoem" infused with hip-hop and movement, written by Dominique Morisseau and inspired by the true case of the "Jena Six."

Living in a world doomed to end in exactly 80 years, Marc and Steph think that's just enough time to have a baby. Meanwhile, Krista and Tom can't even decide whether or not to adopt a cat. When Krista catches feelings for Marc and Steph's surrogate, the layers of impending doom only get more complex.

After being falsely accused of killing a neighbor's dog, Christopher-who is brilliant but has difficulty dealing with the sounds and stresses of everyday life-decides to investigate the crime. The secrets he unearths prompt him to leave his trusted teacher and the familiar streets of his hometown for a life-changing train trip to London.

In the heat of the moment, the notorious Don Giovanni (aka Don Juan) murders the father of one of his conquests, unwittingly unleashing an ominous force from beyond the grave that can't be stopped. Accustomed to getting away with anything and everything, he must now face the music as years of cruelty and debauchery come due.

Worlds created, maintained and destroyed while you wait." The world premiere of Elephant Shavings, written and directed by Odyssey Theatre Ensemble artistic director Ron Sossi and set within the walls of West L.A.'s Odyssey Theatre complex, is "a lazy person's guide to enlightenment." The stage is set for drama, humor and absurdity when one member of a theater's acting ensemble finds herself challenged to confront the common dreams we have about the nature of reality.

"Ice cream." "Water fights." "Peeing in the ocean and nobody knows." A boy's handwritten list to cheer up his despondent mom becomes a surprisingly funny and poignant ode to humanity. Daniel K. Isaac (Billions) takes audiences on a transcendent and tender coming-of-age journey that reminds us to pay attention to life's smallest joys-and to each other.

Trust me, I’m a doctor.” Jonathan Slavin (Santa Clarita Diet, Dr. Ken, Better Off Ted) stars in Freud on Cocaine, an outrageous new comedy based on the documented letters, notes, dreams, and recollections of neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud that attest to his decade-long use of cocaine, both in his practice and personal life.

The play is made up of three, interconnected stories: a soldier dealing with combat trauma; a family trapped in the war zone whose home is invaded by a pair of Russian soldiers; and the third, a girl who survives a Russian torture cellar. The brutal reality of the war is mixed with fictional and even mystical ideas about suffering, violence, idealism, and the hunger for peace. True to the Ukrainian literary tradition from Gogol through Bulgakov to today, the play, despite its grim material, works in a dream-like, hallucinatory way that is poetic, powerful, blackly comic, and hauntingly beautiful.

HADESTOWN intertwines two mythic tales - that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone - as it invites you on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell's beguiling melodies and Chavkin's poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers and singers, HADESTOWN is a haunting and hopeful theatrical experience that grabs you and never lets go.

On a dark night, in the middle of America, four young conservatives gather to toast the newly inducted president of their tiny Catholic college. Their reunion spirals into chaos and clashing generational politics, becoming less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood. Will Arbery's haunting Pulitzer Prize Finalist play speaks to the heart of a country at war with itself, offering both grace and disarming clarity.

Fill your soul with laughter, music, and good energy at the Hot Coffee Comedy hour. Hot Coffee is an LA-based sketch/improv group ready to fill your evening with a good time. Join us every fourth Friday of the month at The Pack Theater for a night of laughs from the Hot Coffee team and featured guests.

The Echo Theater Company presents the West Coast premiere of How It's Gon' Be, a poetic exploration of missed connections and feelings too great to speak aloud. With adulthood looming in the distance, Jahaan and his friends enjoy the last precious moments of summer vacation. When Jahaan's father returns after a year away, the world stops spinning for a moment - and lines are drawn in the sand.

A fresh and heartfelt play about love, time and the infinite directions in which two lives can travel. Hope and Charles are a pair of lonely twenty-somethings about to end a supremely uninteresting first date. But just as they say good night, the myriad possibilities of their futures and a life shared together come rushing to meet them. From their first kiss to their first child, from a horrible tragedy to a second chance, each moment moves with breath-taking speed. A love story told with theatrical flair, An Infinite Ache is as dazzling as it is insightful.

A classic of mid-20th century theater, the Hitchcockian suspense drama AN INSPECTOR CALLS centers on the Birling Family - Arthur, Sylvia, Sheila, and Eric - who live in a comfortable home in the fictional town of Brumley, "an industrial city in the north Midlands." The family is visited by a man calling himself Inspector Goole, who interrogates the family about the suicide of a young working-class woman in her mid-twenties, Eva Smith. During his questioning, all members of the family are lightly or deeply implicated in the girl's undoing, including Sheila's fiance Gerald Croft. What begins as a parlor drama with polite banter quickly becomes acid and hateful. Everyone is not who they seem to be, including the inspector, thanks to a Twilight Zone-inspired plot twist.

Colleen manages an open-admissions, government-funded animal shelter. This means her shelter accepts all animals. When animals prove unadoptable because of advanced age, illness, injury, or aggressiveness, they may be subject to euthanasia. Overcrowding at the shelter may also put animals in line for euthanasia. Colleen is a compassionate animal lover whose duties put her at odds with her instincts.