Get Eddie’s recommendations for shows on stage now that you should be sure not to miss.
Takes All Kinds
Just as he has done in a long list of highly acclaimed, one person shows that he has written and performed and that have graced multiple stages across the country and the globe (Border People, Each and Every Thing, The Real Americans, Tings Dey Happen), Dan Hoyle has once again created a must-see winner. His latest tour de force in both writing and performing is Takes All Kinds, now reopening after its 2024 premiere at his home away from home, The Marsh.
Uncle Vanya
With characters that perform a kind of dance between approach and avoidance using language both poetic and current and with a surprising, 21st Century message of man’s destructive effects on the natural world, Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s co-production with Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Uncle Vanya is anything but just a classic of the past pulled off the shelf for one more dusting. Instead Conor McPherson’s adaptation as directed by Simon Godwin is a classic play with a modernity tone and message and truly a must-see for Bay Area audiences.
The Thing about Jellyfish
In American Conservatory Theatre’s world premiere of Keith Bunin’s adapted The Thing about Jellyfish, a young girl’s coming-of-age story takes on numerous surprising and impacting dimensions as can only be imagined by a child who is fearless in asking difficult questions and in using her imagination to find the answers. Her final learning is a hard-fought triumph that touches to the core and inspires all who have witnessed the journey.
The Heart Sellers
By evening’s too-quick end, so much has both been learned and celebrated about the ups and downs of the immigrant experience via the two curious, creative, and congenial new friends we have met in Aurora Theatre’s The Heart Sellers. In the intimate Aurora setting, it frankly seems that not only are Luna and Jane now friends for life, but that we somehow also share with them in a new and special relationship which will long remain in our fond set of memories.
An Enemy of the People
San Jose Stage Company opens Thomas Ostermeier & Florian Borchmeyer’s adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (English version by Duncan Macmillan) that in every respect looks, feels, and sounds like it is taking place right here, right now.
Waste
Understanding the current relevance of Granville-Barker’s original intent and message, Marin Theatre opens a riveting, exceptionally acted Waste that Carey Perloff has adapted and directed with a keen eye for retaining the original Edwardian English setting, politics, and manners while ensuring that what we often hear, see, and feel the U.S.A. of 2025.
