small PARTS

“One of the funniest, freshest shows we’ve seen in Hollywood this year, Small Parts… is the one-man show about Hollywood to end all one-man shows about Hollywood.” 

-- Xaques Gruber, The Huffington Post

[To read the full review, click here.]

“If you live in the LA area you MUST MUST MUST see Richard Tanner’s one man show “Small Parts” before it goes to Broadway and gets a whole lot more expensive! Both hilarious and touching, Richard describes in great detail what it’s like to grow up determined to be an actor and therefore suffer through all the indignities that follow in New York and Hollywood. It’s sweet and sentimental and very real.”

— Janet Charlton, Janet Charlton’s Hollywood

“With exquisite skill and comic timing, Richard has taken his set-backs and turned them into a brilliant show, where tears of laughter and empathy flow unbidden.”

-- Patricia Danaher, The Daily Mail

“His voice was fantastic...he needs a Broadway play!”

- Joan Quinn, the Joan Quinn Profiles

Richard Tanner's show is just great ! He’s beautifully intelligent, funny, quick, smart, warm, witty, and so much more. It would be great to see someone with his talent as writer and actor have his own show on television. What fun it would be to see his rich imagination at work every week.”  Small Parts is a “must see.” This is theatre at its very best. Go, by all means, GO!!!

— George Chakiris, Academy-Award® winner

“Tanner does the impossible; he shows that, if it is really well-written, deeply felt and magnificently performed, there is actually room for one more one-man show about being an actor in L.A.”

-- Craig Wallace, The Wallace Audition Technique

“If I had a show on right now, I'd beg you to skip it and see this astonishingly adroit one-man show which on the surface is a comedy about an actor's life of auditions and disappointments but in depth will strike you as being all about YOU!”

— Robert Patrick, playwright, Kennedy's Children

“Richard Tanner is a master at drawing an audience into his world . Just a few adjectives that come to mind – ‘charming’, ‘hysterical’, ‘poignant’ . As a theater person myself, it was great fun trying to figure out if he’s improvising or sticking to the script. Whoever has any interest in solo performance should get their butt over to the Lounge Theater to see Master Tanner.”

— John Fleck, award-winning performance artist

“Loved this show! It would be so easy to think, “Oy, a one-man show about being an actor?!” but thinking that would be a huge mistake. It is funny, relevant, beautifully paced, relate-able (even if you’re not in Show Business) and, despite its light subject matter, has great humanity and depth. Richard Tanner is a huge talent and this show is not to be missed!”

— Hillary Rollins, producer, “The Right to Cabaret”

“Richard Tanner makes a big splash with ‘small PARTS!”

-- The Tolucan Times

“'small PARTS' has something for everyone. In his one-man show, Richard Tanner tells the story of his life as a struggling actor, and NOBODY tells a story better than he does. His humorous anecdotes about growing up wanting to be an actor, and his eventual heartbreaking endeavors to make it in Hollywood are amusing from beginning to end. Everyone can identify with his touching and hilarious moments. This is a very special show – when it's over you just want to be Richard’s best friend.”

— Janet Charlton, Janet Charlton’s Hollywood

Baby with the Bathwater

“By rights, Actors Lab Arizona should have a hit on its hands…  It is an artistic success.  All of the performances are good, some of them much more than good….  The [other] stunning performance is that of Tanner, whose low-key playing is masterful and moving.”

-- Anne Bendheim, The Phoenix Gazette

The Road Home

“CRITICS CHOICE”

“The remarkably talented cast members infuse their characters with a raw and rousing intensity that is admirable and memorable.  [The play] crackles with power thanks to the casts’ uninhibited, naturalistic performances.  These actors have completely invested themselves in their characters and the utterly convincing results generate a handsome dividend.”

-- Clifford Gallo Los Angeles Reader

Joined at the Head

“… almost as much fun as Richard Tanner’s portrayal of the eventually reluctant salesman of a shop selling crystals…  This is something very different, very special, and (surprisingly) very funny.  Don’t miss it. “

-- Linda Rose, ABC Radio Network   

“Solid acting performances and moving dialogue…  A talented ensemble of six actors… Two of the play’s funniest moments are courtesy of Richard Tanner.”

-- Steve Dreyer, Poway News Chieftain

Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral

“Funeral is to die laughing over…  [The] bona fide script – created by the original company – [is]organic and cannily laid out…  The characters have dimension and subtlety.  There are so many actors and so little space here that I can only say they are all wonderful company, totally into their alternate personae.”

-- Dick Lochte, Los Angeles Magazine

“Interactive theater reaches new levels of participatory chaos with “Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral.”  This is environmental comedy that stretches the form further yet.  The comedy’s strength is 233 distinct characters and a narrative anchor…

-- Ray Loynd, Los Angeles Times

“Irreverent…  this show has an appealing (and underplayed) thread of dark humor that kicks in at the get-go…  “

— Jan Breslauer, LA Weekly

“[An] ambitious interactive production…  Richard Tanner, playing an alienated grandson and censored performance artist, performs an inventive and even touching work-in-progress attacking hypocrisy and traditional family values…”

-- Eric H. Roth, Village View

“A colorful interactive theater piece…  The characters are members of every family… the most outlandish is Richard Tanner as skyBoy/Stuart Grossman, Grandma’s avant-garde artist-grandson, who pays tribute with a performance piece involving fruit.  Amid the many laughs are reminders of why most people don’t see their families too often.  This funeral will make you feel like a dysfunctional child again.”

-- Arlene Schindler, Los Angeles Reader