Cynthia Citron

Cynthia Citron

Cynthia Citron is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.

Her published books, available on Amazon, include:

Salome Jens’ one-woman play focuses on life of poet Anne Sexton

By Cynthia Citron NORTH HOLLYWOOD, California–“Anne Sexton saved my life,” Salome Jens says.  The actress, still beautiful in her 70s, sits munching her salad in a trendy outdoor cafe.  Her words are startling as they float in the bright California sunshine.  “At 46,” she continues, “I was suicidal and alcoholic.  Just like Anne.  But I […]

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Cynthia Citron, Travel and Food

The thin line between madness and genius was generational in James Joyce household

By Cynthia Citron   NORTH HOLLYWOOD — “Shakespeare was God, and so was my father,” Lucia Joyce says.   Then she adds, by way of explanation, “God comes down to earth and forgets who He is.”  Lucia (Meg Wallace), the passionate, obsessive daughter of James Joyce is eventually consumed by her desperate hunger for his attention.  He (Ian Patrick Williams), for his part,

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Cynthia Citron

A witch in time

By Cynthia Citron BURBANK, California — There are certain witches that everyone remembers.  Macbeth’s three brewed toil and trouble in a steaming cauldron.   Bewitched’s Elizabeth Montgomery did the dishes by twitching her nose.  The Wicked Witch of the West melted when Dorothy threw a bucket of water on her.  But unless you are a movie

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Cynthia Citron

‘Terre Haute’ probes Oklahoma City murderer Tim McVeigh

By Cynthia Citron HOLLYWOOD–Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman still stands as the monumental and definitive portrait of a man of the post-World War II generation, angst-ridden, driven, and ultimately crushed by the nightmarish underside of the American Dream.  In a comparably brilliant play, Edmund White brings that portrait up to date with a harrowing

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Cynthia Citron

‘K2’: A mountain top drama

 By Cynthia Citron HOLLYWOOD –Imagine being stranded with a broken leg on the narrow ledge of a 600-foot ice wall, in minus 50-degree weather, just 1,000 feet from the summit of the second highest mountain in the world. That’s the terrifying premise of Patrick Meyers’ play, K2, that opened this week at the Underground Theatre

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Cynthia Citron

‘Becky’s New Car’ audience helps her decide whether to start up

By Cynthia Citron  LOS ANGELES –Becky sells expensive cars.  Her husband Joe is a roofer.  They have been married for 28 years.  Their 26-year-old son Chris is still in school and lives in their basement.  A demonstrably ordinary and relatively contented family.  What could possibly go wrong? The play is Becky’s New Car,  a dramedy

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Cynthia Citron

'Love, Sex and Violence' more charming than name implies

By Cynthia Citron SHERMAN OAKS, California — Sometimes a book of short stories is a welcome diversion from the usual industrial-strength novels.  Just as an evening of short one-acts can provide a satisfying evening at the theater.  And that’s just what playwright Helena Weltman and producer/director Pavel Cerny have brought to the stage of the

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Cynthia Citron

'Waiting for Lefty' portrays Depression-era exploitation

By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — As a passionate piece of 20th century history, it works.  As a parable for the present day, not so much.  Clifford Odets’ 1935 Depression-era play Waiting for Lefty is a rabble-rousing tirade against big business and its heavy-handed control of the “downtrodden masses.”  A situation that might resonate with

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Cynthia Citron