Writing Fragments Home Jeffrey Lo Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory Forty-year-old Jay awaits anxiously with luggage in hand for his mom to get home from work, nervously practicing various ways of saying, "Hi, Mom, it's good to see you/How was work?/I'm sorry ... can I move back home?" When Mary Beth walks in, her first reaction? "What's wrong?... What are you … [Read more...] about Writing Fragments Home
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Zorro
Zorro Héctor Armienta (Music & Libretto) Opera San José A pulp fiction novel written in 1919 by John McCulley was so popular that he wrote dozens more short stories for decades about its hero. Within a year of McCulley's publication, Douglas Fairbanks starred in a swashbuckling silent film whose popularity helped spawn to-date more than 40 more films, ten TV … [Read more...] about Zorro
Two Trains Running
Two Trains Running August Wilson American Conservatory Theater, A Touring Production by the Acting Company Many duo-tracks run in parallel, crisscross, and sometimes collide in August Wilson’s Two Trains Running, the 1960s contribution to his ten-play, 20th Century American Cycle. Death and life, white and Black, love and loneliness, older generation and younger … [Read more...] about Two Trains Running
The Heart Sellers
The Heart Sellers Lloyd Suh TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in Co-Production with Aurora Theatre and Capital Stage When last year TheatreWorks Silicon Valley received the rights to produce the much-sought-after The Heart Sellers, Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli learned that two other Northern California companies also hoped to include on their playbill Lloyd Suh's … [Read more...] about The Heart Sellers
Penelope
Penelope Ellen McLaughlin (Text); Sarah Kirkland Snider (Music) The Pear Theatre in a co-production with Bootstrap Theater Foundation Twenty years after divorcing a man who constantly lied to her, she opens her front door to find a nurse with someone she is told is her husband, someone she does not recognize just as he does not know who she is. He is returning … [Read more...] about Penelope
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
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
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
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
