The Santaland DiariesDavid SedarisAdapted by Joe MantelloTheatreWorks Silicon ValleyMax Tachis Waking up one morning and realizing that he is thirty-three-years-old and without a job was bad enough for David Sedaris, but realizing that one actually needs a skill to gain employment was the real kick-in-the-butt for him. (“How come I’d never … [Read more...] about “The Santaland Diaries”
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“Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley”
Miss Bennet: Christmas at PemberleyLauren Gunderson & Margot MelconCity Lights Theatre Company James Lewis & Melinda MarksThere is so much to like in the script by Laura Gunderson and Margot Melcon if one is looking for a light, pre-holiday diversion. The director and cast of this City Lights production sparkle and glow in their evident joy in … [Read more...] about “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley”
“Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets”
Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic BulletsWilliam S. Burroughs (Book); Tom Waits (Music & Lyrics)Shotgun PlayersThe Cast of Black RiderWhat kind of play will be penned by a writer who, as a young man, shoots and kills his wife while playing with her a drinking game of “William Tell”? Imagine his then discovering an old German folktale where an unsuccessful suitor makes a … [Read more...] about “Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets”
“Le Switch”
Le SwitchPhilip DawkinsNew Conservatory Theatre CenterRyan Vásquez & Steve Rhyne“Welcome to Library School. When you leave this program you will be able to classify everything.”And with that, David in his trademark cardigan of questionable colors and accompanying bowtie begins his first lecture of the new term. When he goes on to tell the librarian novitiates, … [Read more...] about “Le Switch”
“The Eva Trilogy”
The Eva TrilogyBarbara HammondMagic TheatreJulia McNealWith ocean waves crashing somewhere in an unseen nearby and invisible sea gulls noisily swooping overhead, she sits on the stage’s lone brick doorstep. Forehead furrowed deep for someone only in midlife, cheeks alternating between long and pooched but always with cheerful dimples, and red hair giving away her Irish heritage … [Read more...] about “The Eva Trilogy”
“The Prince of Egypt”
The Prince of EgyptStephen Schwartz (Music & Lyrics); Philip LaZebnik (Book)TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (in collaboration with Fredericia Teater, Denmark) Diluckshan Jeyaratnam & Jason Gotay Almost twenty years later, the creators of the 1998 animated film, The Prince of Egypt – Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) and Philip … [Read more...] about “The Prince of Egypt”
“Durst Case Scenario”
Durst Case ScenarioWill DurstThe MarshWill DurstIn early summer 2016, Will Durst -- political comedian extraordinaire and a San Francisco Treat if there were ever one – took The Marsh stage by storm in a one-person show entitled Elect to Laugh in which he skewered one-by-one all the many, many candidates then running for president in both parties. Even then, the missteps, … [Read more...] about “Durst Case Scenario”
“In the Next Room, or, The Vibrator Play”
In the Next Room, or, the Vibrator PlaySarah RuhlPear TheatreApril CulverSarah Ruhl’s Pulitzer Prize finalist In the Next Room, or, the Vibrator Play received its much acclaimed world premiere in 2009 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Now on the much smaller, more intimate stage of Pear Theatre, the play opens once again in the Bay Area featuring a doctor’s wife, … [Read more...] about “In the Next Room, or, The Vibrator Play”
“How I Learned to Drive”
How I Learned to DrivePaula VogelCustom Made TheatreAmanda Farbstein & Eric Reid“That day was the last day I lived in my body.I retreated into my head and lived there ever since.”A night at the theatre is not always an easy, enjoyable experience, even when the production is first-rate. When the play’s subjects include pedophilia, incest, and misogyny, one cannot … [Read more...] about “How I Learned to Drive”
“Something Rotten”
Something RottenKarey Kirkpatrick & John O’Farrell (Book); Wayne & Karey Kirkpatrick (Music & Lyrics)SHNNick Rashad Burroughs & Cast of Something's RottenWith a face that literally glows in excitement and a voice that pops and zings with full exuberance, the Minstrel sings, “Welcome to the Renaissance, where we ooh and ahh you with ambiance ... where everything … [Read more...] about “Something Rotten”
“Constellations”
ConstellationsNick PayneTheatreWorks Silicon Valley Carie Kawa & Robert Gilbert The multiple possibilities of the milestone interactions occurring over the lifetime of one couple’s relationship is the focus of Nick Payne’s Constellations, now in a regional premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. There is not a minute of the … [Read more...] about “Constellations”
“Day 3: Shows 6-9: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Fringe Festival”
“Day 3 Shows 5-8: TheatreEddys at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival”Not about HeroesStephen MacDonaldFlying BridgePleasance What force drives a man who is an avid anti-war advocate in his poetry and personal stance to go back into a war he absolutely no longer believes is legitimate? Further, how could this possibly happen to two poets, two men who have developed a … [Read more...] about “Day 3: Shows 6-9: TheatreEddys Goes to the 2017 Fringe Festival”
“Hannah and the Dread Gazebo”: Day 9, Play 11, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
Hannah and the Dread GazeboJiehae ParkOregon Shakespeare Festival“This is a story about a wish.” But does this story really have a beginning, a middle, and an end? Should it? Must it? Or is this a story where we simply accept and enjoy that there is something about a stone in a bottle, about a tiger and a bear, about magpies and garlic, and about a … [Read more...] about “Hannah and the Dread Gazebo”: Day 9, Play 11, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
“UniSon”: Day 4, Play 5, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
UniSonUNIVERSES (Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, William Ruiz — aka Ninja)Oregon Shakespeare Festival“If there is such a thing as public art and private art,Then the poems are private. They mark the landscape.…They are a record of private moments.…I count them as gifts.”After creating the ten, decade-by-decade plays chronicling African-American history of the twentieth … [Read more...] about “UniSon”: Day 4, Play 5, Theatre Eddys at OSF Ashland 2017
“What You Will”
What You WillMax GutmannPear TheatreAmelia Adams & Jim JohnsonRarely, if ever, can anyone in the Western World go through a day without either quoting or hearing quoted at least a few, choice lines from the 118,406 William Shakespeare left us. What if several thousand were selected from his thirty-seven plays– purposely and cleverly of course – and rearranged into a … [Read more...] about “What You Will”
