Ed Rampell

Ed Rampell is an LA-based film historian and critic, author of "Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States," and co-author of "The Hawaii Movie and Television Book." He has written for Variety, Television Quarterly, Cineaste, New Times L.A., and other publications. Rampell lived in Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and Micronesia, reporting on the nuclear-free and independent Pacific and Hawaiian Sovereignty movements.

LATEST ARTICLES BY Ed Rampell

Culture

‘Frida, Stroke of Passion’: Kahlo’s lives, loves and leftist politics
February 21, 2020 By Ed Rampell
Mexican painter and revolutionary Frida Kahlo is getting the Nanin treatment in Frida, Stroke of Passion, starring Nanin herself, who also, coincidentally, directs.
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Culture

‘Can’t Pay? Don’t Pay!’ a madcap anarcho-socialist direct action slapstick sitcom
February 21, 2020 By Ed Rampell
Pay! creates a heady anarchic concoction mixing loads of laughs and antics with a tumbler of leftwing politics, as Groucho Marx mingles with Karl Marx.
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Culture

Pan African Film & Arts Festival returns to L.A.
February 20, 2020 By Ed Rampell
One of the top ways to celebrate Black History Month—and the moviegoing experience in general—is to attend the Los Angeles-based 28th Annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival.
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Culture

The things we do for love: Styx and Stones in new opera ‘Eurydice’
February 19, 2020 By Ed Rampell
This jaw-dropping modern update of a myth dating back to antiquity is an eye- and ear-popping operatic extravaganza that’s not to be missed by opera lovers.
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Culture

‘The Father’: Alfred Molina in a meditation on dementia
February 18, 2020 By Ed Rampell
Today’s America seems to be suffering from people dominating the public sphere who appear to be experiencing mental diseases and self delusion and a complete, total lack of self awareness.
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Culture

The ‘West Adams’ family: There goes the neighborhood!
February 4, 2020 By Ed Rampell
Skylight Theatre Company’s world premiere of Penelope Lowder’s West Adams is a great new play.
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Culture

A Sam Shepard double bill, a hilarious send-up of film conventions
January 28, 2020 By Ed Rampell
"This venerable mainstay of L.A.’s live stage scene is presenting the “Circa ’69” season, with revivals “of significant and adventurous plays."
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Culture

Futuristic world premiere play ‘Disposable Necessities’ mixes up race, gender, sexuality
December 19, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Rogue Machine scores again with Disposable, which is in line with the venerable company’s pursuit of new, quirky, envelope-pushing productions.
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