Lisa Wolpe’s solo show brings wry humor and Shakespearean insight to a range of wrenchingly difficult subject maOers, including sexism, domes-c abuse, suicide, and the Holocaust. Weaving monologues from her favorite male Shakespeare roles—Lear, Hamlet, Shylock—with reflec-ons on her family history, Wolpe explores her fascina-on with upending gender conven-ons as a way to reclaim power in the face of a trauma-c past. Many of her family members died in the Holocaust; her father, who confronted Nazis in baOle, commiOed suicide when she was four. Several surviving rela-ves similarly self-destructed, while, for Wolpe, founding the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare
Company became a form of salva-on. … it’s hard not to credit Wolpe for fearlessness, sincerity, and good humor.