Art Yasmina Reza Shotgun Players The choice that Shotgun Players surely made months ago to open the 2025 season with Art -- the 1998 Tony Award for Best Play by French playwright Yasmina Reza and translated to English by Christopher Hampton -- proves to be brilliant as we are in the midst of Trump's first hundred days. As we watch three best friends with a … [Read more...] about Art
Wild with Happy
Wild with Happy Colman Domingo New Conservatory Theatre Center Grief comes in ways unexpected for Gil as he tries his best to rush through the whole process in dealing with his mom's sudden passing where she resides in his hometown of Philly. After all, the struggling actor (and Yale English lit grad) needs to return tomorrow to New York for a call-back audition … [Read more...] about Wild with Happy
Push/Pull
Push/Pull Harry Davis Central Works Dedication/Obsession. Self-esteem/Self-disgust. Fulfilling a dream/Living a delusion. Acceptable friendship/Forbidden Intimacy. Wanting to feel male/Wanting the feel of a male. Life seeking/Death wishing. Where is the boundary between these extremes? When and how does the balance shift from one side to the other? Is … [Read more...] about Push/Pull
Nobody Loves You
Nobody Loves You Itamar Moses (Book); Gaby Alter (Music & Lyrics) American Conservatory Theater When reality TV with a "You're-off-the-island" edge merges with a bachelor/bachelorette dating show format that opens the floodgates for immediate social media inputs, memes, and votes for winners, then the result is a rom-com that is furiously fun from beginning to … [Read more...] about Nobody Loves You
Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical
Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical Min Kahng (Book, Music & Lyrics) TheaterWorks Silicon Valley, in Co-Production with Center Repertory Company Reminiscent of Sondheim's Passion, the musical now in its world premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley also opens in the midst of a hot, bedroom scene of lovemaking, with arms and bodies … [Read more...] about Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical
Fly by Night
Fly by Night Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick & Kim Rosenstock, Writers; Conceived by Kim Rosenstock Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory A love triangle between two sisters and a sandwich maker. A gypsy whose crystal ball reveals one sister's future-certain "mountain life" of rise and fall. A grieving husband who finds solace hugging a record player and … [Read more...] about Fly by Night
The Prom
The Prom Bob Martin & Chad Beguelin (Book); Matthew Sklar (Music); Chad Beguelin (Lyrics) Foothill Music Theatre At the small-town high school of Fulton, Mississippi in 2010, a high school senior girl was refused the right to bring her girlfriend to the prom, leading to an ACLU suit in court; an eventual prom where only seven students joined her and her date; … [Read more...] about The Prom
Crushing
Crushing Nine Various Writers & Performers; Megan Calfas & Carly Steyer, Co-Producers & Co-Directors Bayfront Theater After a "bad heartbreak" break-up in 2021, Carly Steyer began collecting first-person love stories, soon discovering -- as noted in the evening's program notes -- "we all have a love or almost-love that has altered how we know ourselves." … [Read more...] about Crushing
The Gods of Comedy
The Gods of Comedy Ken Ludwig The Pear Theatre Warning: If ever in dire trouble, think twice before blurting out, "Oh save me, ancient gods of Greece." Should you do so, you may unleash on yourself one of the craziest, funniest, and most engaging farces that would make Aristophanes or Plautus proud. You should then be ready for a laugh-a-minute two hours where … [Read more...] about The Gods of Comedy
The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer; Lorenzo do Ponte, Original Italian Libretto Donald Pippin, English Version Pocket Opera Since its Vienna premiere in 1786, perhaps there is no better-loved, globally popular opera than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, an operatic comedy with laugh-out-loud mix-ups and shenanigans; … [Read more...] about The Marriage of Figaro
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov Adapted by Conor McPherson Berkeley Repertory Theatre, in Co-Production with Shakespeare Theatre Company In a co-production with Washington, D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre opens a stunning, star-rich, spectacularly directed Uncle Vanya bursting with dark humor and laugh-out-loud wit, brimming with … [Read more...] about Uncle Vanya
Cuckoo Edible Magic
Cuckoo Edible Magic Reed Flores San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) It is Tumaiguini, the first month of the CHamoru year; and as the moon shifts to a new phase, something has ripped a hole in the universe, permitting a dark force to enter the world. Across the San Francisco Bay Area, imported rice cookers, elderly Tai Chi women, and dark shadowy … [Read more...] about Cuckoo Edible Magic
Bluebeard’s Castle
Bluebeard's Castle Béla Bartók, Composer; Béla Balás, Original Hungarian Libretto English Translation by Steven White and Joseph Marcheso Opera San Jose An immense, dark, dungeon-like castle with its interior dimly lit by magnificent hanging chandeliers and wall scones of flickering candles is the setting for Opera San Jose's intriguing, beguiling, and … [Read more...] about Bluebeard’s Castle
La sonnambula
La sonnambula Vincenzo Bellini, Composer; Felice Romani, Libretto West Bay Opera In the early nineteenth century for some strange reason, the height of fashion in European stage works was to include somnambulism, or sleepwalking. With Felice Romani contributing the libretto, Vincenzo Bellini followed the popular trend by premiering in 1831 a two-act opera in the … [Read more...] about La sonnambula
The Heart Sellers
The Heart Sellers Lloyd Suh Aurora Theatre Company Immigrants stand in line to show necessary papers to the waiting officer, who in turn says to each, "Now give me your heart." Each immigrant digs into their chest to present their heart. The immigrants discover the sad fact that they must sell their hearts to come to America. Luna, a recent immigrant from the … [Read more...] about The Heart Sellers
