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Alisa Hayashida
Alisa Hayashida is an arts and culture columnist and critic for South Pasadenan News, covering the greater Pasadena Metro area and Los Angeles Metro area. She is a valuable arts advocate in South Pasadena, with an extensive background in theatre arts. She has been a proud South Pasadenan for over 27 years.
ART! MUSIC! OKTOBERFEST!
It was a balmy and beautiful fall evening as multiple generations of South Pasadenans descended on our downtown area for the 2018 Fall Arts Crawl and Oktoberfest. Once again the genuine bonhomie was in...
Irresistible BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Young Stars Theatre
From the moment Belle walks into her light clutching a book and sings, “Little town, it’s a quiet village, every day, like the one before”, this irresistible production of Beauty and The Beast takes...
Electric Opening Night for Dear Evan Hansen
The Tony Award winning smash hit Dear Evan Hansen had a star studded opening night at The Ahmanson friday evening and the show was met with thunderous applause, a few times stopping the show,...
THE WOMAN IN BLACK Promises Chills and Thrills
“If you like mysteries, if you like suspense, if you like to try to figure out what happens next, this show is for you!” So says veteran theatre actor Bradley Armacost of the experience...
EVERYTHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED Takes New Look at Merchant of Venice
A fresh and poignant look at the story of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is now on stage at Boston Court Pasadena with the world premiere of Sarah B. Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened.
Mantell has...
Take A Big Bite of THE CAKE!
A refreshing and very moving production of THE CAKE is now playing at The Geffen Playhouse with a stellar cast. The emotionally naked and exquisite performance of Debra Jo Rupp is worth the price...
SPARC Delivers Glorious Afternoon Celebrating The Arts
The stunning estate of Bill and Mary Urquhart was brimming with music, art, and lots of good vibes as SPARC held their annual fundraising gala for the arts in our community and gave out...
Police and Fire Open House Drew a Crowd
South Pasadena Police Officer Chris Perez and Department K-9, Barry, were on hand to greet local South Pasadena children and residents coming to the hugely popular Police and Fire Open House today. The big...
NATIVE GARDENS – Topical, Funny, Spectacularly Good Time
Native Gardens, the witty, new play by Karen Zacarias is currently blooming into a bona fide hit at the Pasadena Playhouse. Directed with a keen sense of comedy and rhythm by Jason Alexander, the...
BELLAND – Variety Musical Charity Event at Fremont Centre Theatre
Brittany Belland is back in South Pasadena to share a funny, entertaining and powerful ensemble variety show, BELLAND, to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The show takes place at Fremont Centre Theatre...
Local Actress Jessie Mobley is The Baker’s Wife in INTO THE WOODS
Once upon a time, Jessie Mobley was in high school and she played the baker’s wife in the school’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s INTO THE WOODS. It has been on her bucket list to...
An Electrifying AIN’T TOO PROUD at The Ahmanson
There are not enough superlatives to accurately describe the raucous and simply irresistible speed train of joy that is Ain’t Too Proud, The Life and Times of The Temptations. The epic, sometimes tragic rise...
A Triumphant “Mary of The Avenue” Opens at Fremont Centre Theatre
Theatre Americana’s production of the original Neil Scanlan and Greg Wood musical Mary of The Avenue had a triumphant opening night on Friday August 17. It was the culmination of many years of hard...
Manuel Lozano Talks Green Brooms $10 Lesson Day For SPEF
Manuel Rafael Lozano is the kind of person who elevates the energy of whatever room he walks into; handsome, charming and rather bursting with positivity and kindness. Lozano is father to a fierce and...
LYMAN The Musical | A Chance Encounter Inspires a Musical That Puts a Face...
Anne Johnstonbrown confesses that for most of her life, she never considered the homeless; she says she always walked hurriedly by them and is sad to admit that she felt they had made that choice....
A Word With Greg Wood | Co-creator of “Mary of The Avenue”
Singer Songwriter Greg Wood and writer Neil Scanlan come to us by way of the advertising world of the 1970’s where they met and worked in the creative and market research departments at a...
SPARC Gallery Artist Reception for Shelley Stephens
The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) held an artist reception for Shelley Stephens to officially open Stephens’ show entitled It’s About Time at SPARC Gallery located at the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce on...
The Humans | The Ahmanson
Stephen Kazam’s Tony award winning play The Humans, opened Thursday evening at The Ahamanson with most of the original Broadway cast. The Humans is a searing family drama, devastating in its everyday banality, chockfull...
Nine Ten Thirty debuts at Fremont Centre Theatre
Normal Rockwell town? Check. Parrots? Check. Love lost and found? Check. Athens garbage truck?! Check! So much of what makes South Pasadena unique is featured in Brad Colerick’s new CD entitled “Nine Ten Thirty”,...
SPARC South Pasadena High School Juried Art Show
An artists’ reception was held Saturday June 2 to open the Annual South Pasadena High School Juried Art Show at the SPARC Gallery in South Pasadena.
The annual art show was begun by the South...
Explore, Discover, Connect! Summer Camps at Beyond The Classroom
Beyond The Classroom Summer Camps 2018 are underway at the innovative and fun-filled BTC right here in South Pasadena. Campers can jump in for a week, two or all of them. As school comes to...
BORDERTOWN NOW Speaks Truth To The Wall
Something special is happening at Pasadena Playhouse right now not to be missed; The “Bad Hombres” of Culture Clash have unleashed Bordertown Now, a bold, crackling, whip-smart examination of real lives at the Mexican-American...
GRAD NITE 2018 A Huge Success
On Tuesday June 5, 2018 at approximately 5:50pm, 372 South Pasadena High School seniors moved their grad cap tassels to the left indicating that they were officially graduates! They then sang the alma mater...
SPHS Baccalaureate | Mr. Blue Sky
On a day that most certainly reflected ELO’s lyrics “sun is shinin, in the sky, there ain’t a cloud in sight, it’s stopped rainin’ everybody’s everybody’s in a play, and don’t you know it’s...
First Ever TASSEL Benefit A Success
Congresswoman Judy Chu was the featured speaker at the first annual South Pasadena TASSEL benefit that was held at the beautiful Brookside Golf Club on May 20, 2018. A live jazz band played as...
SOFT POWER Delivers at the Ahmanson
What starts as a thought provoking play about cross cultural perceptions turns into a time traveling hallucination by way of a sumptuous musical in the world premiere of David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s...
Accidental Poet Rick Leddy
Local author and poet, Rick Leddy, has lived in South Pasadena for 17 years, having come into the area in 2000 after living in downtown Los Angeles for 10 years. Leddy and his wife...
Cool Jazz for SPARC Night at Blue Guitar
The Blue Guitar, located at the Arroyo Seco Golf Course, was at maximum capacity as the sold out crowd thoroughly enjoyed the cool jazz stylings of drummer extraordinaire, Jaz Sawyer.
The evening was a fundraiser...
ALICE IN WONDERLAND Success Leads to New Slate of Shows Next Season
South Pasadena High School dance department produced a lush, whimsical Alice In Wonderland for it’s final show of the year that was a smashing success. Choreographed by Courtney Cheyne, Joey Leon, Melinda Sullivan, and...
TWELFTH NIGHT – Love is in the Air at Parson’s Nose
For those still swooning over the Royal Wedding, the delightful crew at Parson’s Nose is here to carry you on to more heights of romance, love and music with their current production of Shakespeare’s...
