A View from the BridgeArthur MillerPear TheatreApril Culver, Jeffrey Fiorito, and Marjorie HazeltineOn its small, intimate stage and with an annual budget that likely cannot come close to matching many of its Bay Area counterparts, Pear Theatre has a reputation for staging classic plays that are bigger in scope than it probably should tackle and then doing so with a keen, fresh … [Read more...] about “A View from the Bridge”
“BEOWULF”
BEOWULFWe Players, Rova Saxophone Quartet & InkBoatNathaniel Justiniano, Ava Roy & Dana Ioga-Koga“Smell ... Listen ... Breathe.”And a hundred-plus “mourners” all clad in black (i.e., the audience) leave the San Francisco Maritime Museum, heading toward the sounds of sad, wailing saxophones, tucked in the green hills and hidden among the giant trees with branches … [Read more...] about “BEOWULF”
“Caeneus & Poseidon”
Caeneus & PoseidonBridgette Dutta PortmanDragon Productions Theatre CompanyNicky Martinez and Sharon Shao Dragon Productions Theatre Company boldly offers a world premiere of Caeneus & Poseidon by Bridgette Dutta Portman, demonstrating that acknowledging incorrect gender assignments at birth are not just some recent fad, as the ault-right might want us to … [Read more...] about “Caeneus & Poseidon”
“John”
JohnAnnie BakerAmerican Conservatory TheatreStacey Yen, Georgia Engel & Joe PaulikSilence speaks loudly and often in Annie Baker’s 2015 play, John – so often that without all the periods of pause, the three-hour play might be half-to-two-thirds that length. But it is those moments when the characters are silently taking in what was just said, when someone is thinking … [Read more...] about “John”
“peerless”
peerlessJiehae ParkMarin Theatre CompanyL: You and thenM: You, that’s what we planned for.M: Me and thenL: Me.M: That’s why we came here.L: That’s what it’s always been.Tiffany Villarin & Rinabeth ApostolL & M: Identical twins. The prettiest and smartest girls in their Midwestern high school. Of Asian descent. Perfect SAT scores. Perfect … [Read more...] about “peerless”
“Eclipsed”
EclipsedDanai GuriraCurran Theatre in Conjunction with Public TheatreStacey SargeantMen start wars. Men leave home and family and fight wars. Yet, women and children bear so much of the actual brutality, pain, and suffering – usually silently and in the shadows. Their stories are rarely told, superseded in the poems of Homer, the plays of Shakespeare, and the … [Read more...] about “Eclipsed”
“Calligraphy”
CalligraphyVelina Hasu HoustonTheatreWorks Silicon Valley Emily Kuroda and Mia TaganoSo many conflicts and confrontations emerge – both those happening real time and those that happened decades – that at times Calligraphy becomes a cross between an over-dramatic soap opera and a TV sitcom. And yet, in the elegantly staged version by TheatreWorks Silicon … [Read more...] about “Calligraphy”
“Leaving the Blues”
Leaving the BluesJewelle GomezNew Conservatory Theatre CenterDesiree Rogers as Alberta HunterWhat does a nurse who is told to retire at age seventy (but who is really eighty-two since she once lied about her age) do next with her life? Half singing, half whispering, she tells her unseen patient with some evident sadness, “Trouble, looks like I had it all my day ... looks … [Read more...] about “Leaving the Blues”
“Roe”
RoeLisa LoomerBerkeley Repertory Company(In co-production with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and ArenaStage)Sara Bruner & Sarah Jane AgnewAlmost forty-five years later after Justice Blackmun offered the Supreme Court’s decision and in a time when the country is now more divided than ever on almost every important social, environmental, and political issue, nothing still … [Read more...] about “Roe”
“Kilgallen Jones”
Kilgallen JonesAllison PageExit Theatre“Sequential ... one story told until it’s over.” So opens Alexis Jones’ first pod cast from her friend’s (Rae’s) basement in Cleveland, Ohio. What starts as an assignment for a community college “TV and Radio” class becomes for this avid lover of True Crime books, shows, and movies an all-grossing obsession. This is … [Read more...] about “Kilgallen Jones”
“Into the Woods”
Into the WoodsStephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics); James Lapine (Book)SHN & Fiasco TheatreThe Cast of "Into the Woods"As the audience meander into their seats, actors in various smocks of muslin white wander about, too -- waving at arrivals, coming down to say hello, and generally chatting with themselves and whomever. In a cross between what could be a bunch of … [Read more...] about “Into the Woods”
“The Tempest”
The TempestWilliam ShakespeareStanford TAPS (Theatre and Performance Studies)Hamzed DaoudAn impressive, engrossing, and highly entertaining production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest has opened at Stanford TAPS (the Theatre and Performance Studies department of Stanford University). This final play of the Bard’s with its multiple themes and lines that can be seen as … [Read more...] about “The Tempest”
“Side Show”
Side ShowBill Russell (Book & Lyrics); Henry Krieger (Music); Bill Condon (Additional Book Material)Foothill Musical TheatreThe Cast of Side ShowWith much critical acclaim and yet two failed attempts in winning a Broadway audience (1997 and 2014, with major reworking in between), Side Show may have a troubled White Way history but has time and again thrived in numerous … [Read more...] about “Side Show”
“Flim-Flam”
Flim-Flam / John Fisher / Theatre Rhinoceros John Fisher, Donald Currie & Daniel Chung As a noun, ‘flim-flam’ means “deceptive nonsense;” and as a verb, “swindle with a confidence game.” According to his program notes, John Fisher in September 2016 clearly had a certain, orange-haired politician-of-sorts in mind as he got the idea to write a farce … [Read more...] about “Flim-Flam”
“Isaac’s Eye”
Isaac’s EyeLucas HnathCustom Made Theatre CompanyRobin Gabrielli, Adam Niemann, Jeunée Simon & Gabriel A. RossWalking out of a bioplay, audience members today are often immediately asking Google, “Did such and such really happen or not?” Lucas Hnath has solved that problem for us in his play, Isaac’s Eye, about the early, pre-fame life of Sir Isaac Newton. … [Read more...] about “Isaac’s Eye”
