Author Archives: Joan Alperin

Joan Alperin

About Joan Alperin

Joan was born in Brooklyn and spent many years working as an actress in New York City. Even though she traveled extensively, Joan couldn't imagine living anywhere else.. Well one day, she met someone at a party who regaled her with stories about living in L. A. specifically Topanga Canyon. A few weeks later she found herself on an airplane bound for Los Angeles. Joan immediately fell in love with the town and has been living here for the last twenty years and yes, she even made it to Topanga Canyon, where she now resides, surrounded by nature, deer, owls and all kinds of extraordinary alien creatures.. Joan continued acting, but for the last several years (besides reviewing plays and film) she has been writing screenplays. Joan was married to a filmmaker who created the cult classic films, (way before she knew him) Faces of Death. As a result of his huge following, they created a funny movie review show entitled Two Jews on Film, where Joan and her husband, John would review movies and rate them with bagels You can see their reviews by going to youtube.com/twojewsonfilm. Although it's now only one Jew - Joan is occasionally joined by her beautiful Pekingnese and Japanese Chin.

Pacific Resident Theatre Gives Life to a New Staging of Dorothy Parker’s Work – Marilyn Fox Talks About Creating “The Dorothy Parker Project”

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Joan Alperin

Marilyn Fox, longtime artistic director for Pacific Resident Theatre, is currently focused on a project in which she has contributed her writing, directing, and acting skills. “The Dorothy Parker Project” is a dramatization of short stories, poems and musings by … Continue reading →

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‘Bad Jews’ A Very Funny Biting Comedy About Family Not Being Jewish Enough

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Joan Alperin

“Bad Jews” written by Joshua Harmon is a savage and ferociously hysterically funny play about family, faith, legacy and a “Chai” (a gold ornament of the Hebrew word which means living), now playing at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. Self … Continue reading →

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‘South Pacific’ At La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts Gives Us A Very Enchanting Evening

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Joan Alperin

‘South Pacific’ is a musical that premiered in 1949 on Broadway. Richard Rodgers composed the music, Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the lyrics and the book along with Joshua Logan. It was definitely a progressive musical at the time as it … Continue reading →

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‘Avengers’: Hysterically Funny, Swamped With Super Heroes, And One Crazy Large Dude Who’s Concerned With Overpopulation

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Joan Alperin

I think writing excessively about the plot is really not necessary when it comes to this film, because everyone, fans or not, will probably go see it—and they should—because it is so much fun. Here’s the gist of the story; … Continue reading →

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‘Through The Eye Of A Needle’ A Beautiful, Moving Play About Loss

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Joan Alperin

I absolutely loved this play. It not only made me laugh out loud, but in the end, it moved me to tears, which always makes for a great theatre experience. “Through The Eye Of A Needle,” written by Jami Brandli … Continue reading →

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‘I Feel Pretty’ I Liked It … I Really, Really Liked It

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Joan Alperin

I’m sure there are a lot of people, reviewers in particular, who will find fault with this film-—but I’m not one of them. In fact, I totally enjoyed it. I laughed a lot, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that … Continue reading →

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‘The Madres,’ A Beautiful, Moving Play About The Power of Women

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Joan Alperin

Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina was a country filled with terrorism…terrorism performed by the government. People were taken off the streets, removed from their homes, tortured and killed for saying the wrong thing, talking to the wrong person or helping … Continue reading →

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‘A Quiet Place’ – If They Hear You, You Will Most Definitely Die

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Joan Alperin

‘A Quiet Place,’ directed by John Krasinski, who also wrote the script along with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, is one of the most terrifying and original horror films I’ve ever seen. Imagine giving birth without making a sound. Imagine … Continue reading →

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The Alamo: A Beautifully Written and Acted Play About the Difficulty of Change

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Joan Alperin

How many of us have returned to our childhood neighborhood and have had a hard time recognizing it? That’s especially true for me. I was born in Brooklyn in an upper middle class neighborhood. It was safe and everyone looked … Continue reading →

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‘El Nino’ Justin Tanner’s Hysterically Funny, Insightful New Play – Dysfunction Has Never Been This Much Fun

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Joan Alperin

I have seen practically every one of Justin Tanner’s plays, including “Pot Mom,” “Teen Girl,” “Wife Swappers,” and “Day Drinkers,“ just to name a few, and I am a major fan. His plays are about the human condition–the sadness that … Continue reading →

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