SAN DIEGO -- A modern interpretation of a classic text -- La Jolla Playhouse/Berkeley Repertory Theatre's production of “An Iliad” -- swept its nominated categories to receive five Craig Noel Awards on Monday night.

Moxie Theatre parlayed three strong 2012 productions to take home the Braunagel Award for outstanding contribution to the San Diego arts scene by a small-budget theater.

A total of 22 productions from nine theater companies were honored at the awards ceremony and reception, held Feb. 4 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, in La Jolla.

“Never doubt that a few committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -- Margaret Mead

The recent, seemingly endless roller-coaster ride of an election cycle reminds us that the outcome isn’t always determined by the biggest spender. Sometimes the people take back the power that has always been theirs.

San Diego Repertory Theatre presents a new, slimmer one-act version “A Hammer, A Bell, And A Song To Sing” – a tribute to the power of citizen action and the importance of protest songs – through Dec. 2 on the Lyceum stage.

San Diego Repertory Theatre opens its 37th year with its most spectacular production to date: Luis Valdez’s 1978 Chicano classic “Zoot Suit.”

Cast your mind back to the early 1940s, when the world was at war in Europe and Japan, and Americans back home were dancing the swing and listening to Duke Ellington.

In Los Angeles, the problem for Chicanos was assimilation rather than immigration, illustrated by this line that now provokes audience titters: “I’m taking my wife and kids and moving to Arizona.”

The American dream collides with the American immigrant dream – in more ways than one – in the world premiere of Matt Spangler’s “Tortilla Curtain.”

Based on the novel by T.C. Boyle, “Tortilla Curtain” plays through April 8 at San Diego Repertory Theatre. Sam Woodhouse directs.

Delaney Mossbacher (Mike Sears), liberal nature writer for Wide Open Spaces magazine, lives in a nice gated condo community in the hills above Topanga Canyon with his go-getter Realtor wife Kyra (Lisel Gorell-Getz), dogs Picasso and Hemingway, and Siamese cat Gertrude Stein.