“Berta, Berta,” a two-character play by Angelica Chéri, was inspired by a prison work song from Parchman Farm, the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary whose harsh conditions and history of forced labor extended the nightmare of antebellum slave plantations into the 20th century. The play, which is receiving its West Coast premiere in an Echo Theater…

The Crystal Palace, a music and dining joint in Bakersfield launched by Buck Owens — which hosted just about every country music star in America over the years — has abruptly shut its doors. The closure of the temple of country music, an important piece of San Joaquin Valley history, prompted an outpouring of grief…

Thrillers, thrillers, thrillers, so many thrillers. Every third show I review seems to be one, and even if that math is not perfectly correct, the seeming is real enough. Sometimes they are full of interesting characters and ideas, sometimes full of posturing stereotypes with nothing to say, sometimes mostly smoke and noise, and often just…

Jimmy Kimmel revealed he has his Italian passport ready, just in case. During an interview with comedian Sarah Silverman on her podcast, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host discussed how “much worse” the president’s second term has been for the country, without getting into specifics. He said he has obtained Italian citizenship as a result. Kimmel’s…

Nearly two decades ago, Nic Novicki was another young comedian living in Queens, testing his mettle in the competitive New York City comedy scene. There, he shared not just an apartment, but a living room separated by a sheet with another up-and-comer trying to make a name for himself: Nate Bargatze. They shared an apartment…

This year’s Emmy Awards, airing Sept. 14 on CBS, are set to shine a spotlight on 25 different categories in the main broadcast. This undertaking could take over three hours. But it would take much, much longer to honor every great scene, performance and quirky coincidence to appear on TV in the last year. There…

There’s only one thing more shocking than your favorite TV show pulling the rug out from under you with a plot twist you didn’t see coming: Not getting spoiled about it beforehand. It’s a feat several of this year’s Emmy nominees miraculously pulled off. Did you cover your mouth when one show killed off a…

For the first episode of “Saturday Night Live’s” 50th season, Bowen Yang dressed up as Moo Deng, a baby hippo the internet was then obsessed with. Yang’s all-in appearance during the series’ “Weekend Update” segment conflated Moo Deng’s journey with that of reluctant pop star Chappell Roan — a surprising combination that captivated the audience….

There are people who keep reliving their glory days, and then there’s Dean Cain. The film and TV actor is best known for his work in the 1990s series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” He was no Christopher Reeve or Henry Cavill. But enough people remember Cain in blue tights and a…

Over the course of her three-decade career, Chloë Sevigny has built an eclectic résumé playing complex women whom she describes as “the moral compass” or “the salt of the earth” in a story. But in the second season of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s “Monsters,” which reexamines the story of the Menendez family for a…