Press

"Ably directed by local theatre veteran Derek Long, this sharply written play by Kevin Daly highlights two days for the Alman family, beginning with a fireworks-laden Labor Day during which strong emotions simmer briskly before boiling over."

from Signal Tribune Newspaper

"Director Derek Long’s casting and staging could hardly be improved upon, delivering straightforward and candid emotions while meshing a standard family drama with tragic historic events."

from Orange County Register

"Long’s A.J. is a rambunctious good-old-boy with an irrepressible love of life, but when the scenario he desires begins to slip from his grasp, he shows surprising wellsprings of affection and dignity."

from Orange County Register

"Long’s hearty, confident Poseidon is all hubris and macho vigor, with a huge, booming voice and a seen-it-all, done-it-all air of boredom. He can’t believe Medusa would push him aside in favor of her loyalty to Athena, and his fiery anger is as chilling as Athena’s icy retribution."

-from OC Register review

"Long creates an almost schizophrenic persona. His murderer moves slowly and deliberately and is animalistic in a simian way, speaking in a low growl. His typical spouse is overly solicitous of Nancy while also a parody of cheerful husbands of 1950s TV, comically characterized by the sappy daily greeting 'Honey, I’m home!'"

-from Backstage review

"Derek Long always stands out to me in whatever film I seem him in. He’s a good actor, and he’s totally hot in a daddy sort of way. I think he draws on that perception of him well in this movie, using it to establish Cooper as protective, sensitive, and little weary."

-from This Gaudy Gilded Stage review

"In supporting roles, Derek Long is a strong presence as King Edward..."

-from StageSceneLA review

"Perceptible promise, with particularly fine work offered by Derek Long as the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, who appears bathed in Jaymi Lee Smith's sufficiently ethereal lighting along the distant wall of the park’s signature celebrity-filled mausoleum."

"The Gleasons, neighborhood newbies whose eccentricities are the play's most interestingly peculiar elements. Pat (Derek Long) suggests a David Lynch aesthete, Mary Helen (Meeghan Holaway) is a bone-dry sophisticate."

-from LA Times review

"The show features some strong comedic talent that deserves better — Ben Brannon and Heather Corwin as a neocon neighbor and his horrible pregnant wife; Long’s sneering lech, Pat Gleason, and Waisbren’s opportunistic babysitter with a penchant for playing dumber than she is."

-from LA Weekly+ review

"Derek Long plays the hammy silent filmstar (and former male escort) King Carslile, with skill and a full complement of plummy Delsarte gestures."

-from Backstage review