SMALL BUT AGGRESSIVE – Greenway Court Theatre Main Space
Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck
Greenway Court Theater celebrates 25 years of genuine deep engagement with its community – producing and presenting theater, spoken word, media arts, and dance performances. They represent and reflect the unheard voices and reach diversity of LA.
Presently their Main Space is occupied by a solo show, written and performed by Denise Moses, SMALL BUT AGGRESSIVE, a multi-character, one-widow’ dark comedy. This show is about GRIEF and it’s for anyone who has been touched by loss … and that’s just about everyone.
In her personal and inspiring story of resilience in the face of deepest adversity and finding hope and joy in unexpected places when the grief finds a residence in your home and your heart many years ago, when the doctors discovered a small but aggressive malignant tumor in her husband’s brain, that was treatable but not doable for operating, the new unwelcomed guest occupied her space. GRIEF became her companion for many years to come.
It takes courage to go back and talk about it. She had a long-distance relationship with her husband for most of their lives, because as a ballet dancer he traveled a lot. He was also a teacher, and he lived in the ballet studio most of the time. We know there are stages we go through when unfortunate things happen like that. Denial and anger, depression and refusal, acceptance and grief come to us in stages. And the final step is moving on without him. When you are left alone, and you have no longer that person in your life you don’t know how to breathe. Losing a partner is so specific for everyone. The studio he was teaching at is named after Craig. To remember him, she takes treats to Studio on his birthday. The major moments in our lives like this produces miracles; the moment his brother found out about cancer, the two brothers got connected after many years of not speaking.
Denise is a ballet dancer as well. Her elegant movements with grace and dignity are beautiful to watch. With some specific, light and flowy movements, she makes fun transitions in changing the scenes. The show is powerful. Denise finds the way to open everyone’s heart, and at the same time she finds humor even in grief, amid very touching moments while expressing real emotions. She showed us that dark comedy that finds grief doesn’t have to crush us.
On how her show find the way to Greenway Court Theatre Denise answered, ‘When my late husband, Craig Williams, was nearing the end of his journey with brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme), one of the many friends who stopped in at the house to support us was Whitney Weston, Co-Artistic Director of Greenway Court Theatre. I was telling her about some of the darkly comedic events that were taking place – including desperately seeking a solution for ‘final arrangements’ at the height of Covid when all city morgues and mortuaries were full. I told Whitney that I was going to write a show about it all. And she said, ‘You write it and I’ll produce it.’ And so SMALL BUT AGGRESSIVE began and made its way to Greenway Court Theatre.’
Presented by Greenway Arts Alliance, SMALL BUT AGGRESSIVE is directed by Ross Clark, whose career began on Broadway when he appeared at the age of 10 opposite Jackie Gleason in ‘Take Me Along’. His skillful hand is leading the show in the right direction.
Denice is phenomenal. I had a privilege to be with her at ‘Little Women Ballet’ presentation at the Heritage Square Museum – Victorian Houses. She happened to be my tour guide. I was impressed how she carried herself with grace and how she stood out among many dancers with her spontaneous acting and her interpretative dancing.
The show is running at the Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Estimated running time is 75 minutes. Free parking is available in a lot north of the theatre. Estimated running time is 75 minutes.
The performances are on Friday, June 19, 2026, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 20 at 2 p.m.; Saturday, June 27 at 2 p.m.; and Sunday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $20.
Online ticketing is at – https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14402