Ed Rampell

Ed Rampell is an L.A.-based film historian and critic, author of Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States, and co-author of The Hawaii Movie and Television Book. He has written for Variety, Television Quarterly, Cineaste, New Times L.A., and other publications. Rampell lived in Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and Micronesia, reporting on the nuclear-free and independent Pacific and Hawaiian Sovereignty movements. Rampell’s novel about the Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement for Indigenous rights, The Disinherited: Blood Blalahs, is being published this year.

LATEST ARTICLES BY Ed Rampell

Culture

‘Argonautika’: Ode on a Grecian epic (with togas!)
March 28, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Although it goes over the top and misses the boat at times, Argonautika is still well worth embarking on a voyage of discovery.
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Culture

‘The Elephant Man’ on stage: Being Human 101
March 27, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Overall, this fine Elephant Man is among the most moving meditations I’ve ever seen staged about the beauty within the beast and the human spirit.
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Culture

‘Blues for Mr. Charlie,’ further James Baldwin ruminations on race
March 20, 2019 By Ed Rampell
This lofty, must-see, powerful production of Blues for Mr. Charlie is the latest in a list of a revival of works by author/playwright/polemicist James Baldwin.
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Culture

Rink(wo)manship in ‘For the Love Of (Or, The Roller Derby Play)’
March 11, 2019 By Ed Rampell
The revival of this rollicking roller skating romp is part of Center Theatre Group’s annual “Block Party” that celebrates the L.A. stage by re-mounting several intimate theatre productions at the 317-seat Culver City playhouse.
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Culture

‘The Clemency of Titus,’ Mozart’s morality play about the enlightened leader
March 7, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Mozart’s The Clemency of Titus (La Clemenza di Tito), dramatizes part of the life and reign of the Roman emperor Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus.
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Culture

Wrap-up of the 27th annual Pan African Film Festival
March 4, 2019 By Ed Rampell
The L.A.-based Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) continued to emit a dazzling light of brilliant positivity and hope.
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Culture

An ‘Othello’ for our time: Was Shakespeare a white supremacist or anti-racist?
February 20, 2019 By Ed Rampell
Fresh from that championship season, A Noise Within’s Spring 2019 season blasts off with a must-see modern dress Othello.
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Culture

‘An Inspector Calls’: A super supernatural socialist show
January 28, 2019 By Ed Rampell
As the British emerged victoriously from WWII, having fought a “people’s war,” the masses wanted something to show for their six-year-long struggle.
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