Jane Austen’s Northanger AbbeyAdapted by Diane TascaPear TheatreLeslie Ivy & the Cast of Northanger AbbeyIn her first novel written for publication in 1803 but not published until after her death, Jane Austen satirizes in Northanger Abbey the then-popular Gothic novels which overflow with dark, stormy nights in damp, spooky castles and where murder and romance often go … [Read more...] about “Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey”
Pear Theatre
“Pear Slices 2018”
Pear Slices 2018Various PlaywrightsPear TheatreAriel Aronica and Bill C. JonesA dusty town in the old West, a cell holding Galileo imprisoned, a home where technological devices rule, a kid’s pirate birthday party, a ‘rolly-doggy’ oven of hot dogs in rotation: All are examples of the varied settings in time and place for this year’s menu of Pear Slices 2018, an annual … [Read more...] about “Pear Slices 2018”
“Cowboy Versus Samurai”
Cowboy Versus SamuraiMichael GolamcoPear TheatreChuck Lacson A delightfully entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny, and altogether sweet Cowboy Versus Samurai by Michael Golamco, is now receiving a staging at Pear Theatre. Four twenty-somethings are all in search of their true identities; and their journeys’ bumpy routes are full of racial, personal, and … [Read more...] about “Cowboy Versus Samurai”
“The Road to Mecca”
The Road to MeccaAthol FugardPear TheatreDiane Tasca & Brianna Mitchell Under the sensitive, gentle, and highly intuitive-driven direction of Elizabeth Kruse Craig, Pear Theatre presents a staging of The Road to Mecca that boasts a cast of three that could hardly be more perfect to tell this beautifully moving and yet importantly challenging story of a woman who … [Read more...] about “The Road to Mecca”
“The Millionth Production of A Christmas Carol”
The Millionth Production of A Christmas CarolJames KoppPear TheatreThe Cast of The Millionth Production of A Christmas Carol Entitled The Millionth Production of A Christmas Carol, the play by James Kopp receiving its world premiere at Pear Theatre is a love story to local, struggling theatre companies. By the thousands across America in towns … [Read more...] about “The Millionth Production of A Christmas Carol”
“An Enemy of the People”
An Enemy of the PeopleHenrik Ibsen, Adapted by Rebecca LenkiewiczPear TheatreThe Cast of An Enemy of the People Rebecca Lenkiewicz has stripped Ibsen’s original play of some of its extraneous moralizing and sidetracks for a slimmer version of An Enemy of the People that brings the nineteenth century story right into 2017 relevance. Pear Theatre is now staging this 2008 … [Read more...] about “An Enemy of the People”
“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”
“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”
“Pear Slices 2017”
Pear Slices 2017Various PlaywrightsPear TheatreBriana Mitchell, Ariel Aronica, and Bryan Moriarty From its writers’ forum often come full-length plays that premiere on the intimate Pear Theatre stage, and also emerging is an annual offering not unlike this year’s version of Pear Slices 2017: Eight fifteen-minute plays performed in repertory by seven talented … [Read more...] about “Pear Slices 2017”
“A View from the Bridge”
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”
“Uncanny Valley”
Uncanny ValleyThomas GibbonsPear Theatre Mary Price Moore & Evan Kokklia Schumacher Thought-provoking, increasingly intriguing, eventually deeply troubling questions begin to emerge during the current, first-class offering by Pear Theatre of Thomas Gibbon’s Uncanny Valley – a term that refers to the uneasy and even repulsive feelings … [Read more...] about “Uncanny Valley”
“Major Barbara”
Major BarbaraGeorge Bernard ShawPear Theatre Michael Saenz & Monica CappucciniFor those who have never seen Shaw’s Major Barbara, Pear Street’s current rendering is certainly going to remind them why the Nobel prize winner for literature is in fact one of the past century’s greatest and most loved playwrights as well as introduce them to one his most loved … [Read more...] about “Major Barbara”
“Veils”
VeilsTom CoashPear Theatre Naseem Etemad & Amani DornPear Theatre presents the funny, poignant, and altogether politically timely play, Veils by Tom Coash, the 2015 winner of the American Theatre Critics Association M. Elizabeth Osborn Award. Set in the midst of the so-called 2011 “Arab Spring” upheavals that spread revolutionary fever and rioting into Cairo … [Read more...] about “Veils”
“The Guys”
The GuysAnne NelsonPear Theatre Diane Tasca & Ray RenatiAs we now approach the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, Pear Theatre presents The Guys, a play the New York Times once called “a heartfelt theatrical pas de deux” in which Joan (a journalist) meets Nick (a fire chief who has just lost eight firefighters) and leads him gently through remembering things that will … [Read more...] about “The Guys”
“August: Osage County”
August: Osage CountyTracy LettsPear Theatre Betsy Kruse Craig (as Barbara) Comforts Diane Tasca (as Violet)Pear Theatre jumps in heads over heels into the muck and dirt of the Westons with a cast that proves they all have the mettle to do what it takes to bring Tracy Letts’ script of August: Osage County to full, rambunctious, no-holes-barred life – be it … [Read more...] about “August: Osage County”