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
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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
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
An Enemy of the People
An Enemy of the People Henrik Ibsen Adaptation by Thomas Ostermeier & Florian Borchmeyer English-Language Version by Duncan Macmillan San Jose Stage Company "There are no moral billionaires. Not when millions are starving. And yet we revere them! We hope their electric cars will save the planet or, if not, that their rockets will get us to Mars. A … [Read more...] about An Enemy of the People
The Thing about Jellyfish
The Thing about Jellyfish Based on the Novel by Ali Benjamin Adapted for the Stage by Keith Bunin Berkeley Repertory Theatre A bright, curious, talk-a-mile-a-minute seventh-grade girl learns a life lesson that "sometimes things [even very bad things] just happen." To reach that important conclusion, Suzy must also ask herself, "What can jellyfish teach us about … [Read more...] about The Thing about Jellyfish
Daisy
Daisy Sean Devine Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory A three-year-old, blonde girl stands in a meadow, holding a daisy and counting to ten in her sweet, high voice as she plucks off petals, charmingly making a few mistakes along the way. As she hesitates after nine, a booming male voice begins counting backwards from ten, much like heard in a rocket launch. Just as … [Read more...] about Daisy
In Love and Warcraft
In Love and Warcraft Madhuri Shekar City Lights Theater Company Generously peppered with words such as “damage dealers,” “mage food,” “debuffs,” and “battle rez,” the script of Madhuri Shekar’s In Love and Warcraft might appear at first bluff as a near impossible challenge for non-gamers who have never pounded the keys of their PC while playing the video superstar … [Read more...] about In Love and Warcraft
Takes All Kinds
Takes All Kinds Dan Hoyle The Marsh In the fall of 2022, Dan Hoyle found himself at a “40s-something” party where during the chit-chat of chardonnay sipping, someone said to him, “So you do journalistic theatre? But aren’t they both kinda collapsing?” Given an insatiable drive to discover core truths about a community, culture, and/or even an entire country; a … [Read more...] about Takes All Kinds
Rachmaninoff and the Tsar
Rachmaninoff and the Tsar Hershey Felder (Book); Sergei Rachmaninoff (Music) TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Little doubt but that there is a very real love affair between the San Francisco Bay Area and Hershey Felder. This is particularly true for the audiences of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley who have reveled in so many of his past musical biographies of famed composers … [Read more...] about Rachmaninoff and the Tsar
Waitress
Waitress Jessie Nelson (Book): Sara Bareilles (Music & Lyrics) San Francisco Playhouse Every day she bakes twenty-seven pies, including one each day that she creates as a new recipe on the spot – pies with names like Big Guy Strawberry, Polka Dot Peach, Lost Shepard’s, and Deep (Shit) Blueberry. At Joe’s Pie Diner where everyone wants once again to know “What’s … [Read more...] about Waitress
Mother Road
Mother Road Octavio Solis Berkeley Repertory Theatre Seventy-plus years have passed since the Joad family of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath joined a parade of desperate migrant farmers, all leaving their starving lives in Dust-Bowl-ravaged Oklahoma of the 1930s while looking for the lush life they saw painted on fruit crates from California. Two Joads – a mother and … [Read more...] about Mother Road
Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration
When he was just fourteen and called by Robert Kelley to come and play the piano for a local theatre’s rehearsal session, could then young William Liberatore ever imagine that nearly five decades later in 2024 he would be opening his fiftieth show as music director with that same company, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley – a show he and Kelley, the company’s founder and now- … [Read more...] about Being Alive: A Sondheim Celebration
Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan (Book); Mel Brooks (Music & Lyrics) Los Altos Stage Company When it comes to parody and farce, who does it better than Mel Brooks? Whether garnering tear-producing laughs by satirizing Star Wars movies (Spaceballs), Alfred Hitchcock thrillers (Anxiety), westerns (Blazing Saddles), Broadway (Producers), and so much … [Read more...] about Young Frankenstein
