Culture Clash 25th Anniversary UCLA L.A. Times

This year, to mark its 25th anniversary, the group is tracing its artistic evolution in suitably frenetic but serious-minded style.

Over time, Culture Clash has transitioned from doing mainly sketch comedy (or “political cabaret,” in Montoya’s formulation) to nervy, full-blown scripted works. Typically based on extensive research and scores of interviews, they’re laced with historical cross-examining and brimming with audacious sociological slapstick.

The list includes “Chavez Ravine,” about the Latino community that was bulldozed aside by urban visionaries; “Water & Power,” a tragi-humorous take on the classic L.A. narrative of H2O and municipal corruption; and their latest work, “Palestine, New Mexico,” which deals with America’s shifting political landscapes and the parallel searches for identity and a homeland. . . .

But that’s only one act in a fall calendar that includes a tribute Friday at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Read the rest of this story by Reed Johnson in the Los Angeles Times . . .