Annette Lust reviews

Changes to Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service

2012-01-30T11:39:00.001-08:00

		Is this email not displaying properly? View it in your browser.
Dear Google user, We're getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that's a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google. We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.
One policy, one Google experience

Easy to work across Google Our new policy reflects a single product experience that does what you need, when you want it to. Whether you're reading an email that reminds you to schedule a family get-together or finding a favorite video that you want to share, we want to ensure you can move across Gmail, Calendar, Search, YouTube, or whatever your life calls for with ease.	Tailored for you If you're signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you've expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. We'll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you're searching for and get you those results faster.	Easy to share and collaborate When you post or create a document online, you often want others to see and contribute. By remembering the contact information of the people you want to share with, we make it easy for you to share in any Google product or service with minimal clicks and errors.

Protecting your privacy hasn't changed Our goal is to provide you with as much transparency and choice as possible, through products like Google Dashboard and Ads Preferences Manager, alongside other tools. Our privacy principles remain unchanged. And we'll never sell your personal information or share it without your permission (other than rare circumstances like valid legal requests).	Got questions? We've got answers. Visit our FAQ at http://www.google.com/policies/faq to read more about the changes. (We figured our users might have a question or twenty-two.)

Notice of Change March 1, 2012 is when the new Privacy Policy and Terms will come into effect. If you choose to keep using Google once the change occurs, you will be doing so under the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Please do not reply to this email. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. Also, never enter your Google Account password after following a link in an email or chat to an untrusted site. Instead, go directly to the site, such as mail.google.com or www.google.com/accounts. Google will never email you to ask for your password or other sensitive information.

January Theatre Reviews

2012-01-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

JANUARY THEATRE REVIEWS

The Devil at the Crossroads of Berkeley Rep and the Aurora

Two major Bay Area neighboring theatres that stage plays side by side on Addison Street in Berkeley are presenting pieces this season in which the action revolves around the devil. If you have not seen Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale, staged recently at the Aurora, directed by Tom Ross and dancer/choreographer Muriel Maffre, you can catch the award winning British Kneehigh Company's The Wild Bride, based on Grimm's fairy tale adapted and directed by Emma Rice, and that opened at Berkeley Rep early this month.

Both productions contain music and dance, the Soldier's Tale, a 1918 musical score and classical ballet and The Wild Bride, a Blues score and mimed rhythmic movement that brings to mind folk dance. Both have a fairy tale ambience with a foreign flavor, The Soldier's Tale, European and The Wild Bride, British,Scottish and Irish. The two productions successfully blend all of these elements and styles with the dramatic action.

Whereas in The Soldier's Tale the devil appears in a number of male and female characters to a soldier, played by a life sized puppet, in The Wild Bride the devil always is seen as a fifty year old male in a business suit and Fedora. In the two productions the devil will bring wealth to his victims in exchange for their souls. In The Wild Bride the devil also desires the body of the young daughter of a father who adores her. When the devil offers the father wealth in exchange for whatever is in his back yard he accepts, not realizing that his daughter was in the yard when they made the exchange.. In the two pieces, if when the devil appears to collect his due and does not get it, he will provide evil mishaps for his victims. The latter are temporarily saved by encountering love and having royal weddings.

In The Soldier's Tale the ending brings with it a moral lesson. One should follow one's heart's desire and never exchange that for material gain, which is the soldier's violin that the devil steals and that represents his personal happiness. In The Wild Bride the happy ending is earned by the daughter who remains pure of heart and determined through fire and storm to ward off the devil's evil deeds.

Among other elements in common and the differences between these devil productions is the timeless value of both pieces. The lesson in the The Soldier's Tale is developed as belonging to all periods, past, present and future. The Bride Wild presents timeless truths that are communicated through contemporary dance, a Blues score, and miming and gags that call to mind nineteenth and twentieth century English pantomime and music hall.

These devil fairy tale pieces are a rich contribution to the winter holiday season.They provide a wealth of visual and auditory imaginative and inventive elements through collaborative acting, dance, music, clowning and puppetry with expert direction and lively performances in fairy tale works that achieve new heights of theatrical creativity.

The Wild Bride plays until January 22, 2012. For information call or visit 510-647-2949 or visit berkeleyrep.org.

For information about upcoming Aurora comedy production Body Awareness by Annie Baker call 510, 843, 4822. Or visit www,auroratheatre.org.

Rosencrantz an Gildenstern Are Dead Noteworthy Student Production at S.F. State

Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz an Gildenstern Are Dead,' recently staged by the Theatre Arts Department at S.F. State University with S.F. State University students and directed by Professor Jo Tomalin and John Wilson, has garnered much admiration for this melodramatic comedy on the part of spectators from on and off campus.

The following is a review by guest reviewer Sarah Doherty.

I had the privilege of attending San Francisco State University's production of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, directed by Jo Tomalin and John Wilson in December. Productions with two directors risk having two voices. Wilson and Tomalin's collaboration was fluid, united, and seamless.

Rosencrantz, played by Celeste Conowitch and Guildenstern played by Anthony Agresti, bounced off of each other terrifically whether playing the lighthearted, philosophical, or rhetorical parts of the text. Conowitch handled the challenge of being cast in a male role - she avoided playing a caricature of a man.

In the old adage of there being "no small parts", the Tragedians, led by Brennan Cook as the Player, and featuring Derek Caplan, Gloria McDonald, Nancy Phalom, and Robert Milano stole the show in just about every scene they were in. While Stoppard leaves these actors with little text, they established significant presence with their comedic timing, physicality, and storytelling.

Brett Hunt and Sarah Galarneau embodied the incestuous relationship between Claudius and Gertrude, Charlene Eldon the heartbreaking fragility of Ophelia, and Philip Greenberg the smarminess of Polonius. Hamlet, played by Adam Reeser relished in messing with the royals' heads.

Costumes, designed by Melinda Hare were stunning- simultaneously period and surreal. Lights (Julien Biewer-Elstob) and Set (Mikako Suzuki) were simplistic and effective. My humor and intellect were provoked from start to end.

Sarah Doherty, Guest Reviewer for Annette Lust

The following trailer may be viewed at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSwGZv3Rbn4

Next semester's Mainstage production of SFSU Theatre

Period of Adjustment-A Christmas Eve Marital Comedy

To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of one of our greatest playwrights, the San Francisco Playhouse presents a rarity, a Christmas comedy by Tennessee Williams.

Set on Christmas eve, Period of Adjustment tells the gentle, lighthearted story of two couples, one newly wed and the other married five years, both experiencing pains and difficulties in their relationships. The two male characters are veterans of the Korean War. The younger of the two experiences post-traumatic stress (shell-shock, battle fatigue, combat stress reaction), while the older man suffers from feelings of inadequacy toward his wife, the daughter of his boss. However, the observance of each other's troubles brings both couples to realize what they have and to reconcile their own relationships.

It is 1958 and a young couple, George (Patrick Aparone) and Isabel Haverstick (MacKenzie Meehan) have just gotten married the day before. After the ceremony, the newlyweds drive cross-country in George's '52 hearse and he discloses to his bride that he has quit his job. George impulsively decides to visit his older, Korean War buddy, Ralph Bates (Johnny Moreno), in High Point, Tennessee. Unbeknown to George, Ralph has also resigned his position and as a consequence, his wife of five years, Dorothea (Maggie Mason) has just left him and taken their young son along with her to stay at her parents (Jean Forsman and Joe Madero). As befits a comedy, all ends well with both couples headed for a happily ever after. This is a pitch perfect ensemble who hit all the right notes!

Period of Adjustment runs through January 14 at San Francisco Playhouse, 533 Sutter Street, San Francisco. For tickets, call 415-677-9596 or visit www.sfplayhouse.org.

Their next production will be Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw, directed by Amy Glazer opening January 28, 2012.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

BAY AREA ACTORS OF ALL AGES

AUDITIONS

Fringe of Marin Festival of

ONE-ACTS & SOLOS

Thursday/ Friday Jan. 19, 20

5:30 pm to 9:00 pm

WHAT: Cold Read, Performances April 2012, Critics Awards

WHERE: Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave, San Rafael

· For Info call 415-673-3131

November/December Theatre Reviews

2011-12-03T13:30:00.001-08:00

November/ December Theatre Reviews

Symbolism in Aurora's Fairy Tale Soldier's Tale

In Aurora's recent staging of Stravinsky's 1917 Soldier's Tale, in collaboration with Swiss author Charles Ferdinand Ramuz's script for "a traveling show to be read, played, and danced." Artistic director Tom Ross and ballet dancer Muriel Maffre add to this rich combination the use of a life size puppet (a bit elderly in allure and movement) to interpret the soldier Joseph.

At the start of the piece, manipulated by Maffre, puppet Joseph, returning from the army, appears descending a ramp as he recites "Join the army, what a joke, always marching, always broke!" He encounters an old man chasing butterflies who convinces him to exchange his small violin for a book that will teach him how to survive financially. The old man orders him to come with him to learn how to use the book and teach him how to play the violin. Three years later the soldier arrives at his home town where no one recognizes him and he finds his fiancée is married and has children. After Joseph earns money to become rich he yearns for a simpler life. When an old woman selling trinkets stops by he sees his violin and retrieves it but when he plays it it remains mute. He travels to another land where a king has an ailing daughter whom he will give as a wife to whoever can cure her. Joseph goes to the castle where he meets the devil with his violin. In order to retrieve his violin he tricks the devil into a card game in which he purposely loses to free himself from the devil's power over him. After he retrieves his violin and plays it for the sick Princess she rises and dances. He then plays his violin and forces the devil to dance madly after which the devil declares that if the soldier ever leaves the kingdom the devil will possess his soul. After marrying the Princess, one day after many years she suggests that he visit his old mother. On the way they meet the devil with Joseph's violin who takes him away from his wife and drags him into the Gates of Hell where he throws him into the fires.

The rich philosophical and psychological symbolism in this engrossing tale of a soldier's encounter with evil is intricately and gently woven into the dramatic intrigue. This symbolism touches upon the illusion of material gain that never fulfills the promise of happiness. Rather a deeper form of personal contentment is realized through the soldier's playing his violin empowers one to cure both soul and body.

The soldier's tale teaches us the importance of pursuing one's personal satisfaction, such as the joy of playing one's violin, rather than work for empty value of monetary gain. And we realize that time wares out our hold on attachments to the past, such as the soldier's fiancée becoming married and the villagers no longer recognizing him because life requires us to move on. And there is a subtle reminder that a soldier's life that ultimately leads to engaging in war is a waste of human effort and time.

This fairy tale production features Stravinsky's music, Muriel Maffre's dance and puppetry, and the versified narration and voice of Joseph by L. Peter Callendar, expertly directed by artistic director Tom Ross on an intimate stage space designed by Benjamin Pierce. Six musicians, some on a higher level behind a transparent curtain, perform around a runway leading to the ground floor. This gives the illusion of a larger space and for provides dramatic movement on the runway. Jim Cave's lighting also adds to the enlargement of space and helps this large scale production to function in an intimate space.

This combination of profound content relevant today and the wealth of visual and auditory artistic contributions in collaborative acting, dance, music and puppetry realized through expert directing and performances are what brings this production of the 1917 Soldier's Tale to new heights of 21^st century creativity.

Annette Lust

Marin Theatre Company's Glass Menagerie Sheds Lights on T. William's Family Life

Tennessee William's semi autobiographical dramatization of his family ife, presently staged at Marin Theatre Company, is as alive today as when it was first produced in Chicago in December, 1944, during the Great Depression. Williams was soon to become recognized as a playwright of exceptional talent when in 1945 his play was performed for the longest period of time of any other play and won him his first playwriting award.

The piece begins as a narration delivered directly to the audience by Tom Wingfield, who represents Tennessee Williams, describing his mother Amanda, and sister Laura in their dynfunctional family. The family consists of an overpowering mother abandoned by an alcoholic husband who attempts to survive with her crippled, shy and helpless daughter, and a writer son detesting his job in a factory.

In the first act Amanda attacks Tom for not finding a mate for Laura and for wanting to join the Marines rather than help the family. Tom strikes back at his mother for constantly screaming at him for smoking and for going to the movies every day to escape his mother's harassment and his sister's hopeless debility.

In the second half of this dismal ambience the dramatic interest and enegry pick up with the arrival of Tom's loud and cheerful friend Jim, invited by Tom to meet his sister. Whem Laura recognizes in Jim the boy she secretly liked in elementary school she is unable to come to the dinner table. Forced to join Jim later in the living room, she shows him the miniature glass animals of her Glass Menagerie and allows herself to succomb to his charm only to be left in despair when he declares he is going steady with another girl. An angry Amanda is quick to blame Tom for bringing home a gentleman caller going steady with another girl and for not helping his destitute mother and sister.

Laura's preoccupation with her glass menagerie is a symbol of a delicate soul's flight from the reality of an overbearing mother attempting to conceal to others and herself her daughter's physical and mental debilitation and the absence of a father replaced by an artistic brother who in turn feels imprisoned by a frustrated mother and a pitifully helpless sister.

This prison like ambience is particularly well established through the use of a set design (Kat Conley) that resembles steel scaffolding with stairs that occupies the entire stage. The actors scurry up and down the scaffolding like trapped rats being pursued while a trumpet player on the top level plays Chris Houston's dismal airs that symbolize the father's absence. .

MTC Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis directs a neurotic Tom (Nicholas Pelczar) tormented by his mother's aggressiveness (Sherman Fracher) and his sister's passivity (Anna Bullard) joined by the optimistic, extrovert outsider (Craig Marker) and the ever present trumpet player (Andrew Wilke).

Lighting by Ben Willhelm is particularly effective in establishing the dramatic moods and Jacqueline Firkins' costume designs captures the 1930ies clothing style.

Tennessee Williams' semi autobiographical memory play ends in a moving and sensitive lyrical tribute to his sister forced to live in dire circumstances due to her inability to cope with a world that rejects her for her physical and mental debility and her incapacity to hold a job.

The MTC Glass Menagerie plays through December 18^th For information call 415-388-5208 or visit marintheatre.org.

Annette lust

Mystery, Murder and Mischief in Fall 2011 Fringe of Marin Program One

For the Fringe of Marin's 28^th anniversary awards, see Flora Lynn Isaacson's column in Forall Events.com (Critics World) "The Finger Wins First place at 28^th Fringe of Marin"

Thanks to the inspiration and leadership of Dr. Annette Lust, the Fringe of Marin Festival is now in its 28th season. Program One opened Friday, November 4 with seven new plays.

The opening play was "Who Is Who," an exhilarating mystery comedy written and directed by Bill Chessman. This play is about wealthy British people pretending to be someone else. Outstanding performances are given by Jim Colgan as a perfect butler, and C. Conrad Cady as Inspector Nigel Cork from Scotland Yard. The theme of this play is that things are seldom what they seem. This play was followed by "Louisville," by Joe Amata and directed by Crystal Nezgoda and stars C. Conrad Cady as Ralph and Rick Roitinger as Louis. The direction builds in suspense in this dramatic encounter between these two men. In this play a burglar is set up to be a killer and is discovered by a "supposed" home-owner. There is a surprise ending. Michael Belitsos, a retired advertising executive turned magician presented "Why We Travel: A Magical Mystery Tour," next. His definition of travel is a lot like magic and includes both discovery and revelation. We want to find ourselves and lose ourselves. Mr. Belitsos contrasts the attitude of travelers with the attitude of tourists. His highlight was his trip to the Amazon jungle teaming with exotic wildlife and splendor and being a magician, he makes magic before our very eyes.

The first half of the program before intermission concluded with Joseph O'Loughlin's "The Psychic," directed by Keshuv Prasad. In this play, the psychic played by Rick Roitinger is a t.v. personality who seeks counseling from a priest played by Jeffrey Orth. The play starts off timely and builds into an unexpected climax of tragedy, horror and controversy.

The second half of the program opened with "Stay with Me," by Justine Kaltenbach with music by Sanna Salmenkalio and directed by Tracy Ward. This is a drama about a "possible" gay young man, Ernst (sensitively played by Tyler Costin), who seeks suicide counseling from Lucious, understandingly played by Lonnie Haley. Both actors give fine performances but need more projection.

The next play was an amazing solo performance, "It Don't Have to Hurt," written and directed by Susan Little. Diane Rodrigues plays Iris with excellent comic timing. The grand finale of the evening was "Can One Make Love Wrapped Up in the French Flag?" James Colgan directs this sexy French farce written by Benoit Vitse, a Romanian living in Paris which is translated into English. This charming play involves an amorous couple delightfully played by C. Conrad Cady and Crystal Nezgoda who wonder if they will be punished by French law for wrapping themselves in the "drapeau tricolore."

Program Two opened Saturday, November 5. with"Waiting to Go" (a take off on "Waiting for Godot") written and directed by taxi driver Michael Ferguson, a Ph.D. in philosophy, who wrote it from conversations he's heard in his cab. This play stars well known Bay Area actress Maureen Coyne and Al Badger, a festival favorite, as a middle-aged couple waiting for a cab to sort out a family mess and confront siblings about their mother's need to sell her home because money is gone. The means of communication between the two is bickering. Both the dialog and situation is extremely clever. Next up was a monologue by perennial festival award winner Steve North titled, "A (Tail) Tale of Two Dogs." Steve North is a master of the monologue and this one is truly theatre of the absurd pointing out the foibles of the human condition proving that pets are more important than people.

Suzanne Birrell's delightful comedy, "Saturday In the Park with Vic" was next. Here we find two old friends, Sally, played by Maureen Coyne with a great sense of comic timing and Norma (Lynn Kirschner), her shadow and partner in crime. While bird watching in the park one day they hear a conversation which Vic (Tyler Hewitt) is speaking on his cell phone about a plot to shoot the mayor and all hell breaks loose. Suzanne Birrell is a perfectionist as both a playwright and director

The first half of the program before intermission concludes with "Love Birds," a charming romance written by Rod McFadden and expertly directed by Carol Eggers. A young man, Rick Roitinger, is George and Marcia (Claudia Rosa) meet on a park bench. George feeds the pigeons and Marcia is reading a Jane Austen novel. Both Rick Roitinger and Claudia Rosa are a dynamic duo as their romance develops. It is a clever idea to have the lights go on and off to signify time passing over three weeks as two lonely people find each other reading and feeding.

The second half of the program opened with "The Perfect Step" written and directed by Melinda E. Lopez, David Moltzen and G. Randy Kasten with a musical contribution by David (Dr.Dave) Rogers. This musical play is about a woman who is ambitious, a writer who wants to be an editor and to be free to travel all over and ends up agreeing to settle down with her man and take the perfect step. Judi Rich is Sophia, the ambitious woman; Gifford Teeple is her man, Rick; Paula Suyehiro plays Tiffany, a very seductive, sexy woman who is Garrett's girlfriend and David Moltzen is Garrett, a taxi dispatcher.

Kenneth Nugent's strong drama, "The Finger" was next. Director Tim Giugni builds his play to a startling climax. Marcia Bonham (Claudia Rosa) doesn't want surgery on her son's finger because that would make him fit for the Marines to go to war and get killed. Dr. Ingels (Rick Roitinger) wants to perform the operation to save her son. They have a clash of wills leading to a tragic conclusion. Both Roitinger and Rosa give strong performances.

The final play of the evening and worth waiting for is George Dykstra's "No Kidding, The Meaning of Life!" Mr. Dykstra directs his masterpiece with a superb performance by Burl Lampert as The Guru and a fine performance by Keshuv Prasad as The Seeker. This play contains very clever dialog and lots of one liners which are both philosophical and entertaining building to an excellent ending.

A memorable outcome of the Fringe of Marin is to discover fresh voices and bring in the community to participate either as an artist or spectator.

For future performances at Meadowlands Assembly Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia Avenue (at Grand Ave.), San Rafael, CA., call 415-673-3131.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

September/October Theatre Reviews

2011-09-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Fall Fringe of Marin Features Saucy Paris Farce

After hosting Bay Area works for twenty seven seasons,

this fall the Fringe of Marin will produce a translation of

noted Paris playwright Benoit Vitse's Can One Make

Love Wrapped Up in the French Flag? Born in Roumania,

Vitse has been living in Paris where his plays are performed

as well as throughout Europe. In this sexy play a couple wrapped in a French flag mock French patriotism as they ask themselves whether they will be punished by French law if caught wrapped up in the flag. Their witty repartee, love making, French chauvinism, and singing the Marseillaise in French has spectators cheering them on

The play is directed by James Colgan, Bay Area director of

The Story of O that won first award at the Fringe of Marin last year

and was chosen out of 1200 plays to perform in the

New York Off Off Samuel French One Acts this last

summer.

Among other plays that will be showcased in the festival

are Marin film director George Dykstra's No Kidding, the

Meaning of Life, A Magical Mystery Tour by magician

Michael Belitsos, and a dozen more selected new

works and solos including a musical (The Perfect Step) and

new discoveries by other talented Bay Area playwrights and directors.

The Festival kicks off November 4^th weekend through

November 20^th.

WHO: Bay Area Playwrights, Directors and Actors present:

WHAT: "Fringe of Marin Fall Festival of New One-Act Plays and Solo Performances"

WHEN: 3 Weekends November 4^th through November 20th^h

TIME: Fridays & Saturdays 7.30 p.m., Sundays 2 p.m. and on Saturday November 12 at 2 p.m.

LOCATION: Meadowlands Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave, San Rafael.

COST: General $15 to $17. Seniors and Students $10; Children $5

INFO: For information and reservations (415) 673-3131 or Jeanlust@aol.com or visit www.Fringe of Marin.com.

Ayres-Frederick's Award Winning "Afield" Reminiscent of Beckett

San Francisco's 20th Fringe Festival presented "Afield," a World Premiere that won the 2011 Best of Fringe. Also Best of Fringe 2010 winner, Linda Ayres-Frederick,'s Afield features an all star cast; Carolyn Doyle as Miriam, Bruno Kanter as Samuel and Heidi Wolff as Pig and directed by Joe Weatherby (also "Best of Fringe.")

With Miriam's arrival in a desolate field of land mines, farmhand Samuel becomes hungry enough to barbecue the Pig who could save his life. At issue here is who will survive their battle and the flood that comes to end their world.

The mood of this play is tense as Miriam, Samuel and Pig vie for survival in a no-man's land ravaged by floods and war. This absurdist tragicomedy by Linda Ayres-Frederick calls to mind plays by Samuel Beckett.

All three actors are outstanding in their roles. Nervous and fretful, Miriam returns to her home, a wasteland littered with land mines. She encounters Samuel, a simple minded farm hand tending a small patch of land. He is resigned to the precarious nature of their survival. They might be the last humans on earth, but are not the only creatures. Into their lives stumbles Pig, a wild boar who could prove to be a valuable ally or a great meal. Pig is cleverly costumed by Wes Crain. This play asks what it means to be human and to find hope in a world overrun with cataclysm and despair.

Brilliantly directed by Joe Weatherby, we find a strong bonding between Miriam and Pig. Samuel appears most of the time to be a villain. Linda Ayres-Frederick is a talented playwright as well as a fine actress, producer, director and critic.

The production team includes Reid McCann (Sound Design), Wes Crain (Costume Design), Anna Dal Pino (Stage Design and Props) and Sarah Selig (Stage Manager).

Afield will be replayed on Oct. 1^th at 7 p.m. p.m. at the Exit 156 Eddy Street, San Francisco. For tickets and info call 415--673-3847 or visit www. SF Fringe.org.

For future info about Frederick's productions contact www.Phoenix Theatre S.F. .com

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Honey Brown Eyes Rocks the SF Playhouse

Stephanie Zadravec's Honey Brown Eyes introduces the SF Playhouse's 2011-2012 season. Content and performance wise the play is a powerful portrayal of the ethnic conflicts between natives of Bosnia and Serbia in the 1991 war torn Yugoslavia. Two former bandmates, a Serbian paramilitary soldier and a Bosnian resistance fighter, undergoing the consequences that war brings them, meet women that will influence their actions. The play that describes the horrors of genocide, female abuse and human massacres and burnings, rises above the horrors of this ambience to reveal the power of human kindness and artistic brotherhood.

When Serbian soldier Dragan (Nic Grelli) realizes that Alma (Jennifer Stuckert) was the woman he admired and loved when he was a band player, instead of persecuting her he finds ways to aid her and her daughter.

In another moving as well as comical scene, Denis (Chad Deverman) , a Bosnian fighter, will hides in elderly Serb Jovanka's (Wanda McCaddon) house and despite their ethnic differences will protect her. And so, while other ethnic groups are slaying one another, these characters place human values above all others.

Expertly directed by Susi Damilano, sets of two kitchens by Bill English are superbly realistic. Costumes (Miyuki Bierlein) and props (Jacqueline Scott) enhance the ethnic ambience. Lights (Kurt Landisman) and sound (Brendan Aanes) empower the dramatization.

This riveting drama that grabs hold of spectators who are only familiar with televised or printed news about these Eastern European conflicts is a veritable revelation as well as a moving testimoney of how the heart can place human values above the need to kill for one's country.

Honey Brown Eyes plays until November 5^th. For information call 415-677-9596 or visit www.SFPlayouse.com

Dr. Annette Lust

Rita Moreno 's One-Woman Delight Premieres at Berkeley Rep

Stage and screen star Rita Moreno, who for six decades has played such roles as Anita in Westside Story and Maria Callas in Master Class, is presently telling her own story in Life Without Makeup. Moreno's solo, that covers her early immigration to America through six decades, is written by Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone, developed by Taccone and Moreno, and directed by David Galligan with choreography by Lee Martino.

Moreno, looking fresher and more youthful than her age, relates how she and her mother left Puerto Rico when she was five years old to sail away on a Puerto Rican boat called "Stupid Face" and imitates her mother who upon seeing the Statue of Liberty says "And so this is the lady who runs this country!"

Soreno describes their early days in New York living in a single room on the fifth floor where Moreno spent hours sitting on the fire escape dreaming of becoming someone important. She begins by redubbing film dialogue into Spanish and playing bit parts in which she utilizies her dance and singing talents. After waiting day by day for the phone to ring for a film role, it was not until 1961 when she performed Anita in the film version of West Side Story that her career skyrocketed and shewon the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

In the second half of her solo Moreno depicts her encounters with film notables as Clark Gable and Darryl Zanuck as well as Marlon Brando with whom she fell madly in love. Added to Moreno's personal and moving account are clips of her performances in former movies and her dance and song sequences with young dynamic dancers Ray Garcia and Salvatore Vassalo that she handles well despite her advanced age.

Content wise Tony Taccone's script is personal and gripping. Performance wise Moreno meets this challenge in this two hour show that could still be trimmed and the pace quickened throughout.

In her final message she repeats her mother's wise adage "Keep moving" and adds "the body knows what the brain ignores" and "no spirit is ever diminished by a passion for life!"

Life Without Makeup plays through October 30^th. For information call 510-647-2949 or 888 4-BRT-TIX.

Dr. Annette Lust

Aurora Vibrantly Revives Edward Albee's Delicate Balance

Edward Albee's forty five year old Pulitzer Prize award winning Delicate Balance comes to life on Aurora Theatre's opening night with the presence of Albee who lauded director Tom Ross and the actors for their polished performance. .

With a cast of solid Bay Area actors, artistic director Tom Ross creates a production that conveys the playwright's absurdist and comical depiction of a bourgeoise family co-habiting with family members and neighbors and tolerating one another's habits of alcoholism and illusions. Model wife Agnes (Kimberly King), wife of a sedentary Tobias (Ken Grantham), whose main occupation is to drink cocktails, keeps a delicate balance in this ambiance in which she feels estranged from her uncommunicative husband and her alcoholic sister Claire (Jamie Jones). At one point in walks their friends Harry (Charles dean) and Edna (Anne Darragh),who ask for a room to sleep because they are frightened. After they move into Julia's room, Julia (Carrie Paff), who has just left her fourth husband, arrives to rant about having her room occupied by the couple, who decide to stay on longer while Tobias cannot get himself to send away his best friends.

On a deeper level this absurdist situation brings about Albee's examination of moral and philosophical conflicts about how we should respect others' needs and yet protect ourselves from being abused. There are also the themes of alienation, the middle age fright of being abandoned, and the illusionary thinking that alcoholism provides to deny reality. The playwright also poses questions about how true we are to ourselves in marriage and in our social relationships without sparing us the mental or emotional blows of this realization.

What weakens the highly vibrant staging and top performances of the play is the length and wordy text that otherwise offers comically absurd scenes and perceptive philosophical and psychological truths.

Kudos to Richard Olmstead for a simple workable set, to Callie Floor for appropriate costuming, to Kurt Landisman for lighting and Chris Houston for sound.

A Delicate Balance plays until October 9^th, 2011. For information for this

play or Stravinsky's and Ramuz' Soldier's Tale in November, call 510-843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org.

Dr. Annette Lust

A Profusion of Confusion in Don't Dress for Dinner at RVP

Ross Valley Players just opened their 82nd season with a French farce, Don't Dress for Dinner by Marc Camoletti and adapted by Robin Hawdon.

The action takes place inside a lovely renovated barn, beautifully designed by Jay Lasnik which is owned by a fabulously snobbish, big city married couple. When the play opens, Bernard pulls the ear of an antler by the center door and a whole bar opens up downstage right to the tune of the French national anthem. Bernard played by David Kester, is eagerly looking forward to his weekend liaison with his mistress Suzanne, played with a sexy French accent by Marianne Shine. He figures that he's hatched the perfect plan when he invites his friend, Robert played by Tavis Kammet, to complete his alibi. Much to Bernard's dismay, his wife Jacqueline played by Sondra Putnam, who was going away to visit her mother for the weekend, decides to stay home because she has a plan of her own when she discovers that Robert will be there. Mix in a cook named Suzette played by Melissa Claire and add one jealous husband played by Casey Bair and you end up with a delicious comedy of false identities and misunderstandings.

The pace of this play is frenetic and fun. The skillful hand of experienced Director, Richard Ryan, is evident in the clever ways he bounces the characters off each other and around Jay Lasnik's beautiful set. All of the actors do an admirable job of keeping tabs on all the convolutions of the plot. Don't Dress for Dinner is a play with broad audience appeal and a lot of laughs.

Don't Dress for Dinner plays September 16-October 16 at Ross Valley Players Barn Theatre. For reservations, call 415-456-9555 or go online at rossvalleyplayers.com for more information.

Coming up next at Ross Valley Players will be To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee's enduring story translated to the stage by Christopher Sergel and directed by James Dunn, November 11-December 11, 2011. Flora Lynn Isaacson

JUly/August Theatre Reviews

2011-08-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

July/August Theatre Reviews

A Riveting Revival of American Buffalo at the Actors' Theatre.

David Mamet's American Buffalo, that premiered at the Goodman Theatre in 1975, appeared on Broadway two years later, and in a 1995 film with Dustin Hoffman, is vividly revived at the San Francisco Actor's Theatre. This salon tragi-comedy, considered one of Mamet's best written plays, revolves around three petty crooks' attempt to rob a client's coin collection. Will their friendship be sacrificed to their so-called business partnership involving the robbery?

In his Chicago Resale Junk Shop, Don mentors and teaches the ropes on how to become a crook to his young gopher Bobby. But Teach enters to advise them not to mix friendship with business. After Bobby returns that evening with an American Buffalo nickel he says he bought from another collector, he offers to sell it to Donny. This interrupts Teach and Donny's scheme to steal their client's coin collection that very night. But how did Bobby get the coin? Did he commit the robbery, possibly with Fletcher whom they are awaiting to accomplish the robbery with Teach? Suspicious of Bobby, Teach beats him up and, angry over Donny's protectiveness of Bobby, throws Donny's shop into shambles. Donny is mortified but he will put all back together when they return from bringing Bobby to the hospital.

The audience is left to resolve whether Bobby did betray his bosses and exactly what the playwright is attempting to convey about friendship and business.

Keith Phillips sensitively directs his brother Chris Phillips who plays Teach, the most challenging of the three male roles. The latter interprets Teach as the tortured, tempestuous crook, impatient and with an iron will to succeed in his criminal schemes. Randy Hurst plays Donny, the mentor and fatherly image for young Bobby (Vlad Sayenko), who creates a docile pleasing kid. In this crowded Resale Junk Shop all three characters admirably handle a highly verbal text. Although they are mostly fixed in place, their individual expressive body movements establish their characterizations. Teach's irate suspicious nature has him constantly bobbing up and gesturing with each word as he sits on stage right, the subtext of his angry words manifesting in his abrupt, bellicose movements his pugnacious beliefs that all humans are fucked up and everyone is a shit ass. Donny, the more giving character, remains calm and relaxed in his chair center stage and Bobby sits slightly upstage left, timid, tense and rigid in his efforts to comprehend his bosses'schemes.

Sets by James Baldock and Jen Welch offer a cluttered junk shop with an upper entrance /exit. The piled up props in the junk shop take on a dramatic role of their own when they are violently thrown about by Teach.

Costumes by Carole Robinson, lights by Rachel Klyce, and sound by James Baldock add to the believability of the action.

The idolatry of money symbolized by the American Buffalo nickel is at the basis of the relationship between these three petty robbers. In this worship of money, stemming from the need to survive, is the playwright portraying a possible breakdown of the human value of friendship? Only momentarily because after the dramatic climax of Bobby's beating and the wrecking of the Resale Junk Shop, the three characters' shift their concerns to Bobby's well being and the reestablishing of the Junk Shop.

In this vigorous and meaningful revival of the American Buffalo, due to the gripping tour de force acting and directing by the Phillips brothers and their accompanying cast members, the Actors' Theatre offers a forceful tribute to the Mamet masterpiece

American Buffalo plays through Sept. 3 at the Actors Theatre in San Francisco. For info call 415- 345-1287 or visit www.Actors' Theatre of San Francisco for upcoming productions.

Dr. Annette Lust

A Hilarious Romp Through American History at Marin Shakespeare

It was a beautiful night. The audience entered the theatre to Billie Cox's patriotic music and were greeted by an ingenious set by Mark Robinson--a large poster-board covering the stage showing images highlighting events from 1492, 1776, 1861, 1942, 1952, 1969 and 2011.

Directed by Robert Currier and produced by Leslie Schisgall Currier and featuring just three actors, The Complete History of America (abridged) is a roller coaster ride taking us through the entire course of American history with brilliant comedic genius. As you can imagine, it is a wild ride with actors Darren Bridgett, Cassidy Brown and Mick Mize. The actors rely on accents, hats and wigs thrown on over patriotic clothes designed by Michael Berg, plastic vegetables, pasta and Super Soaker water guns (no matter where you sit you might get wet).

One of the highlights of the show was showing rejected flags made by Betsy Ross and her sister. A big hit was a song and dance vaudeville style of Lewis and Clark as they told the latest jokes of 1805.

Act I ended with a large timeline banner carried by the three actors throughout the audience in the spirit of fun. Act II opened with World War I to the music of "Over There." This is when the audience really gets sprayed with water by the men in the trenches.

The Complete History of America (abridged) requires the impeccable timing shown to advantage by the three talented actors. Robert Currier shows much imagination and style in his inventive direction.

If you are looking for an evening of good fun, The Complete History of America (abridged) is worth your time. This show received a standing ovation! The Complete History of America (abridged) continues in repertory with Macbeth through September 25. For tickets, call 415-499-4488 or go online at www.marinshakespeare.org.

Coming up next at Marin Shakespeare will be William Shakespeare's The Tempest directed by Jon Tracy August 27-September 25, 2011.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Table Manners-British Fun at RVP

Ross Valley Players ends its 81st season with Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn. Three couples are involved on this particular July weekend in a Victorian house not far from London in 1973. They are all related either by blood or marriage except for Tom, the veterinarian (Christopher Hammond). Table Manners introduces us to the characters--the overworked Annie, the unmarried daughter of the family who cares for her ill, but never seen mother who lies bedridden upstairs. Annie has been involved for about ten years with Tom, a shy veterinarian. He cannot bring himself to pop the question and prefers the company of his four legged friends. Reg, Annie's brother is a real estate agent who is very involved with his work. He is married to the stern, moralistic Sarah (Pamela Ciochetti) who continually sets about preserving order and preventing much fun from taking place, like seeing that Annie does not go off on a clandestine weekend with Norman. Then there is Norman himself, an assistant librarian, somewhat silly, but possessing an irresistible charm.

Director Robert Wilson directs all of the proceedings with a great deal of humor. Associate Director Judy Holmes, being British-born, coached the cast with impeccable British accents. Both brought out wonderful performances from the talented cast. Monique Sims stands out as a frowsy and brusque Annie and blossoms into a real beauty. Pamela Ciochetti is a thin lipped controlling Sarah, Robin Schild is a passive and clownish Reg, Christopher Hammond is a slow thinking and stoical Tom, Robyn Wiley is a brittle and near-sighted Ruth but Joseph Hoeber steals the show in a clownish and magnetic performance as Norman.

Set Designer David Apple built the charming set, a replica of an aging British country house. Michael A. Berg designed the very appropriate costumes.

Cheers to Robert Wilson and Judy Holmes and their talented cast for making Table Manners so much fun for us to enjoy!

Table Manners continues through August 14 at Ross Valley Players, Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden Center. For reservations, call 415-456-9555 or go online at www.rossvalleyplayers.com.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Marin Shakespeare Company Opens 2011 Season with the Scottish Play

For their 22nd season, Robert and Leslie Currier have rolled out the Scottish Play, one that some say carries a century's-old curse. Leslie Schisgall Currier and a large cast managed to thwart any curse and successfully mounted this masterpiece of ambition, power, deception and treachery. Opening night's performance was under a full moon. There was also a little wind blowing across the Forest Meadows Amphitheater and no significant chill. All of the rage and storm to be had was on stage in this bloody tale of corruption, and ruthless search for power.

Three cackling hags who appear in the first scene set the tone for the night. Lynne Soffer, Sylvia Burboeck and Madeline Harris were superb as the three witches. These women, who also play other characters, were suitably costumed by Abra Berman to change at a moment's notice. Macbeth (William Elsman) hears from the witches that he will become King setting a murderous rampage in motion. With the help of Lady Macbeth (Alexandra Matthew), Macbeth murders King Duncan (Keith Stevenson) in Macbeth's castle, becomes ruler, then continues his orders to kill fearful that the witch's other prophesies will come true.

William Elsman gives a wonderful nuanced performance as Macbeth whether the triumphant young general or the mad King haunted by the blood on his hands. Alexandra Matthew, previously cast as the nice girl on stage, was a welcome surprise as Lady Macbeth. Particularly strong is Scott Coopwood as Macduff, the man who eventually fells the play's title character in a final battle. Robert Currier does a clever bit as a sleepy Porter as comic relief to slack off the emotional tension between two strong scenes and drew much laughter from the audience. Darren Bridgett makes a brave and noble Banquo.

The design work is superb; Mark Robinson's remarkably flexible set; Abra Berman's imaginative costumes, Billie Cox's Gothic music and amazing sound design and Ellen Brooks' spooky lighting.

Macbeth is a thriller from start to finish. Macbeth continues at Forest Meadows Amphitheater through August 14, 2011. For tickets or info call the box office at 415-499-4488 or go online at www.marinshakespeare.org.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Hairspray and Les Miseerables Tackled by Stage Door Conservatory Youths

The East Bay youths had a blast presenting the musical Hairspray. While the choreography, dancing and costumes are stronger aspects of this performance, there are some singing voices that stand out, namely the voices of the character Tracy (Lena Sibony) and Eliana Gershom and Raleigh Williams. Despite some weaker acting projection, many of the kids show talent and are learning to act and project their voices in this production. The musical contains music in the "sixties, a popular song genre. The story behind the fun musical makes a strong statement on the segregation of blacks and whites and efforts towards integration in the sixties.

Next up for the Stage Door Conservatory Teens on Stage is Les Miserables Aug. 11, 12, 13 and 14. For info call 510-521-6250 or visit the stagedoorconservatory.org.

Evelyne Luest, Delphine and Jonah Kernis.

OPEN AUDITIONS for the upcoming FRINGE OF MARIN FALL FESTIVAL take place on AUGUST 23 and 24^th at Meadowlands Hall, 2^nd floor, 5:30-9 p.m.,Dominican University. For info call 415-673-3131 or visit Audition Contact Fringe of Marin.com.

June Theatre Reviews

2011-06-25T16:54:00.001-07:00

June 2011 Theatre Reviews

Kafka's Metamorphosis and Human Alienation at the Aurora

The Aurora's production of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, adapted by British director David Farr and Islandic actor/director Gisli Orn Gardarsson, opened with clerk Gregor Samsa waking up one morning to find himself transformed into an ugly insect. After a bed juts out from the upper part of the wall before us, Gregor (his transformation expertly mimed by Alexander Crowther), late for work, struggles to get out of bed. His stereotyped mother (Madeline H.D. Brown) and father (Allen McKelvy) and eventually his boss Patrick Jones) reprimand Gregor. When the family sees his transformation his mother and father refuse to have him at the dinner table and only his sister (Megan Trout), who will not let him die of hunge,r brings him food. Dependent on Gregor to pay the bills, the family will now take in a lodger. When a Nazi type potential lodger (Patrick Jones) makes arrangements to rent a room in their home, after discovering the ugly insect in the home, abandons the room and leaves promising to punish the Jewish family for not disclosing this to him.

The more obvious meaning of Kafka's metaphor is that of alienation of an individual who is not complying with the family and society's requirements. Gregor is a sensitive soul, no doubt an artist like Kafka tired of a boring clerical job and attempting to encourage his sister to become a dancer. Like Kafka, who was sickly he is disgusted by his physical appearance. Like Kafka, who was Jewish, he feels he is an outcast. And like Kafka, Gregor has a tense relationship with his father.

Director Mark Jackson expertly directs the play, set in the 1950ties, like a farce with broad, exaggerated and stylized movement beautifully choreographed but with few farcical comic elements. Although these exaggerated movements serve to mock the conventionality of the family and the brutality of the Nazi lodger, the insertion of more comic moments, like those excellently played in the scene in which the lodger very slowly pays the Father (Allen McKelvy) bill by bill for the room, would lighten the austere stylization of the ensemble.

Otherwise the play is admirably directed by movement expert Mark Jackson who succeeds in transmitting Kafka's profound depiction of human and social alienation as well as render this theme relevant today.

Metamorphosis plays at the Aurora through July 17^th. For information call 510-843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org.

Dr. Annette Lust.

Two Spinsters In Search of Love at the Off Broadway West

In Indulgences In the Louisville Harem by John Orlock, two Kentucky spinster sisters struggle against the suffocating loneliness in their cloistered existence until swept into a thrilling, yet bizarre courtship by a world famous mesmerist and his assistant. This play, which opened June 17 at Off Broadway West Theatre Company reminds one of Tennessee Williams.

In Indulgences, two sisters named Florence (Jocelyn Stringer) and Viola (Kim Saunders) are full of yearnings that find expression in flowery speeches and mutual reproach. They receive a catalog listing eligible gentlemen and argue about whether to use it. Pretty soon, two top-hatted men from the International Institute of Science and Populism turn up. They are Amos Robbilet (Damien Cin Seperi), a mesmerist who is unable to speak and Winfield Davis (Paul Stout), who serves as Robbilet's voice, wooing for him, like Cyrano, though occasionally also speaking for himself. The two are obviously con men who are more comic than menacing. In fact, the best moments of the Off Broadway West production belong to Winfield Davis. Perhaps this is because Davis' speeches are better written than the rest of the play or because Paul Stout brings a real sense of humanity to his role.

Both Jocelyn Stringer and Kim Saunders give moving performances as the two sisters with superb Kentucky accents but should project their voices more. Damien Cin Seperi gives a fine comic mime performance as Robbilet.

Under the meticulous direction of Richard Harder a good balance was achieved between the comedy of the con men and the melancholy of the two sisters. The cozy living room set by Bert van Aalsburg was in period turn of the century style. The costuming by Sylvia Kratins was both authentic and proper for both period and character. The lighting design by Colin Cross was remarkable. Richard Harder's direction was crisp, clean and concise. Indulgences In the Louisville Harem is a natural for the Off Broadway West Theatre Company where the direct addresses to the audience and the comic turns emphasize the theater's intimacy.

Indulgences In the Louisville Harem continues through July 30 at the Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco. For tickets go to www.offbroadwaywest.org or call 800-838-3006.

Coming up next at Off Broadway Theatre Company will be Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard from September 30, 2011-November 5, 2011 at Phoenix Theatre, San Francisco.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

A Challenging Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy at Berkeley Rep

The title, Let Me Down Easy, of Anna Devere Smith's solo at Berkeley's Roda Theatre announces the content of her piece that explores facing death and illness in the testamonials of more than a dozen prominent figures with a down-to-earth a sense of humor. Directed by Leonard Foglia, Smith proceeds with authority and a pragmatic and a positive attitude that reassures her audience from the start. So ably and vivaciously does she interview and impersonate each of her candidates, that one does not immediately perceive the profundity of her questions or that of the formers' responses.

We meet such personalities as cancer survivor Lance Armstrong and are amazed at his casual attitude about his battle with his condition and return to cycling. One of Smith's strongest portrayals is that of Ann Richards, former governor of Texas, in which she depicts the latter with a heavy Texan accent, chain smoking and a victim of cancer of the esophagus, commenting unabashedly on the weaknesses of George W.Bush.

Smith expertly interprets multiple impersonations-so many and so quickly that her transitions from one to another would not be as clear without the projected names and titles of each one above the stage. Yet it is this very energetic forging ahead to the next interview that she presents with forceful conviction that grabs and retains our attention.

Although Let Me Down Easy provokes laughter throughout, it carries within each of the interviews an in-depth inquiry into the ways each candidate of a different walk of life faces two of our greatest fears- death and illness. The solo actress/journalist accomplishes this aim with great artistry, amusing us with her straightforward and down to earth humor but not allowing us to leave without reflecting on how we will depart from this earth.

Let Me Down Easy is extended through July 10^th. For information call 510- 647-2949 or visit www.Berkeley Rep.org.

Dr. Annette Lust.

Reborning at the S F Playhouse

SF Playhouse just presented the world premiere of New York playwright Zayd Dohrn's "Reborning," featuring three top local actors who offer superb acting . SF Playhouse veteran Lorri Holt (last seen as origami artist Ilana in "Animals out of Paper") is pitch-perfect as exacting quiet Emily. Lauren English (who recently graduated with an MFA from the Tisch Graduate Acting Program in New York) is sensational as fragile and obsessive doll artist Kelly. As Emily's demands rise, years of carefully constructed denial over Kelly's own abandonment of an infant rise to the surface.. Alexander Alioto is delightful as empathetic, but clueless, boyfriend of Kelly by the name of Daizy. A fourth character is a "Reborning" doll named Eva, the stimulus creating suspense and conflict that drive the characters. The doll named Eva, after Emily's late daughter, is amazingly lifelike, but Emily says it's not quite right, and Kelly, a perfectionist, vows to keep working until Emily is satisfied. As she worksaround the clock to finish it she begins to suspect that Emily is the mother who abandoned her nearly 30 years earlier. As seen in high-detail video projections (by Kristin Miltner) on Nina Ball's aptly makeshift New York loft set, Kelly makes realistic dolls for parents holding onto a memory of a grown or deceased child. In Josh Costello's skillful staging, the shifting balance between humor and suspense keep the experience tight.

Coming up next at the SF Playhouse will be the WEST COAST PREMIER of TIGERS BE STILL by Kim Rosenstock and directed by Amy Glazer, from June 21^st through September 3^rd, 2011. For tickets and for more info, call 415-677-9596, or visit at www.sfplayhouse.org- Flora Lynn Isaacson

WANTED-ACTORS- PLAYWRIGHTS -DIRECTORS FOR FRIINGE OF MARIN FALL ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL Actor Auditions Aug. 23-24-For information call 415-673-3131

April/May Reviews

2011-04-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

April/May Theatre Reviews

A High Five for Program Two at Fringe of Marin
Dr. Lust opened the 27th season of Program Two on April 16 with a
tribute to Bob Weiss, who recently passed away, and dedicated this
festival to his memory and his work as the Festival's Administrative
Assistant for the past ten years. This season's festival included an
opera libretto by Weiss along with one act plays and solo performances
with family, social, satirical, biblical and psychological themes, and
a pantomime performed by "Teacher of the Year at Dominican University,"
Professor Henry Schreibman.
The opening play "Convention of Spies," written and directed Bill
Chessman, was a fast paced farce about an imagined meeting between Walt
Disney (John Vincent Burke), Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (C. Conrad Cady)
and Marie Antoinette (Patricia Inabnet) at International Spy
Convention. Jim Colgan played Brad Donaldson who got into the wrong
convention. Lots of comic business ensued.
The second play was a solo performance by Charselle entitled
"Juice: Scenes from a Life." Charselle drew upon her own life
experiences with extremely good stage presence and diction, even with
an Oklahoma accent. She moves well onstage and is a great story teller.

The third presentation was a powerful drama, "Bindings" by Gaetana
Caldwell-Smith that portrays a meeting between a half-sister and a
half-brother after the death of their father. Claudia Rosa plays Ginny
who comes to call on Richard (sensitively portrayed by Tyler Hewitt).
Richard had been the one to look after their ill father and Ginny comes
to get back a copy of her book. Claudia Rosa's ability to listen and
react to Richard's predicament was right on target.
The first half of the program concluded with "Daniel," a rap
version of the biblical story written by Bob Weiss performed by Suzanne
Birrell in a tour-de-force performance that encouraged audience
participation. She moves gracefully, has a great sense of rhythm and
does an amazing transformation of characters.
The second half of the program opened with my favorite play,
"Stanislavski" written by Kevin Brookes and directed by Buzz Halsing
with Emily Surface as Assistant Director. In this delightful play, an
acting instructor, Conrad (Johnny DeBernard) inveigles his friend Damon
(Ron Dailey), a food critic, to take over his acting class for one
evening. The group of acting students played by Javier Alarcon,
Patcharee Boyd, Bryana Tunder, Tom Dembski and Victoria Williams were
all wonderful as hilarity ensued.
Next up was an amazing solo performance titled "The Girl on BART"
written by Linda Ayres-Frederick and Claudia V. Rosa and beautifully
directed by Linda Ayres-Frederick. In this solo a girl studies the
face of a woman she encounters and this triggers some emotional
memories in her own life. Claudia V. Rosa is a superb actress in a very
rich performance.
The final play of the evening was "Patio Dreams" a comedy written
by Don Sampson and directed by Carol Eggers. In this play, Janice
(Claudia Rosa in a 3rd performance) and Tom (Rick Roitinger) play a
married couple on vacation in the islands
who play imaginary games with one another to liven up their
relationship. This play was both professionally acted and directed.
The Fringe of Marin discovers fresh voices and brings in the
community to participate either as an artist or spectator. Program Two
continues Friday, April 29 and May 6 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 30
at 2 p.m and Sunday, May 8 at 2 p.m. Program One plays Saturday, April
30 and May 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 1 at 2 p.m. All performances
are held at Meadowlands Hall, Dominican University in San Rafael. For
reservations and information, call 415-673-3131 or visit Fringe of
Marin .com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Inferno Theatre's Ageless Iliad
In an innovative physical theatre version of Homer's tale of the wars
between the Trojans and the Greeks, stage director adaptor Giulio
Perrone with his company of physically trained international actors
brings this ageless theme of waging war into modern times. Accompanying
Perrone's highly physical interpretation in the program are a timetable
and historical information to remind the spectator of the plots and
themes in Homer's epic poem based on the quarrel between King Agamemnon
and Achilles over the kidnapping of Helen, wife of the Greek King
Menelaus, by Paris. Interwoven in this physical dramatization are the
themes of Achilles' wrath, the need for revenge, and the search for
glory and honor. Mixed into these themes is the use of modern language,
props, and attire that render the piece even more relevant. The male
characters wear soldier fatigues and the women modern high heels. They
utilize cell phones and refer to safe sex. At one point one of the
actors cries out in prosaic language,"The people don't want war; only
the leaders want it!" as we have heard today's citizens often decry.
The entire seven member cast, although coming from diverse training
backgrounds, are well prepared by Perrone to meet the task of
interpreting his creation with high level physical theatre standards.
His poetic dance/mime of the Iliad offers beautifully choreographed
group movement, at times provoking fierce combat and at other times
scenes with the characters embracing one another.
The piece is performed at the Berkeley City Club in a salon on
oriental carpets around which the audience is seated on three sides.
Perrone as a set designer adds innovative stage props that challenge
the imagination. For example, multiple little stick puppets
representing an army of soldiers hang from a wooden board that a cast
member carries on his shoulders to confront another cast member with
the same props representing a second army of enemy soldiers attacking
the other army in battle. Ancient soulful Swedish chants along with the
music of an accordeon player lend a note of woe to this timeless plea
to end war.
Perrone's Iliad is a beautifully spun dance mime poem reminding us
that man cannot thrive without satisfying the primitive urge to enter
into violent animal like combat with his fellow men.
Next up at the Inferno Theatre Company is Galileo's Daughters at the
Theatre San Pedro Square in San Jose from April 22 to May 8. For
information visit www.tabardtheatre.org or call 800-838-3006.
Dr. Annette Lust

Discovering Tennessee Williams in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale
at the Aurora.

If any play is more revealing of the personal life and character of
Tennessee Williams it is his Eccentricites of a Nightingale that he
reworked for seventeen years. This was to render Willliams' version of
the same theme in Summer and Smoke a still more truthful
depiction of a female revolting against the conventions of her time and
family.
We are first introduced to Alma (Beth Wilmurt), the daughter of a
Southern minister (Charles Dean), singing in the Town Square. When she
returns home she is reprimanded by her father for her eccentric conduct
as a singer, for gleefully feeding the birds bread crumbs, for her
hysterical laughter, and for frequenting bizarre artists and writers.
We soon sympathize with Alma, an intelligent independent free soul who
is repressed by a narrow-minded father and demented mother. Her secret
love for a neighbor, John Buchanan (Thomas Gorrebeeck), whom she
watches from her window each night being pampered by an overbearing
mother (Marcia Pizzo), brings some joy into her life. Although John's
mother will protect her son from frequenting the diabolic, strange and
ugly Alma, our strong willed heroine will pursue her dream to be loved
to the end.
Under veteran stage director Tom Ross' direction, the cast succeeds in
conveying the emotional nuances and in developing the dramatic tensions
within their strong characterizations. However, one wonders if the
apathy of John Buchanan, at times broken by his sudden warm praise for
Alma's character, and that presents a dichotomy in his
characterization, is purposeful?
Southern accents are well depicted by the cast and period costumes
(Laura Hazlett) are well designed. Set design by Liliana Duque Pineiro
with lights by Jim Cave is economically conceived and spacious enough
to allow for group and other movement.
Eccentricities of a Nightingale reveals the trials and tribulations of
Williams' personal life depicted in a heartfelt manner in one of
Williams' most captivating masterpieces.
Eccentricities plays until May 8th followed by Edward Albee's Delicate
Balance. For information call 510-843.4822 or visit
www.AuroraTheatre.org
Dr. Annette Lust

Ann Randolf's "Write Your Life" Solo Discoveries at the Marsh Theatre.

In her "Write Your Life" performances, Ann Randolf presented ten
writers from her workshop who created solos of early memories from
sentimental and serious to frightening and funny. First up was a
serious solo by Claudia Kraehe followed by Maria Ascarrunz and Corey
Datz Greenberg offering touching peeks into their early family
experiences. Dressed as a little girl, Linda Ayres-Frederick read a
lyrical piece titled "Cold On The Lips" evoking images of death and a
second piece "Graham Cracker and Pineapple Juice" that ended in a
joyful Happy Birthday tribute to her 100 year old Mom. Lori Shantzis'
childhood obsessive crush on young Todd was vivaciously dramatized.
Cori Fabian's piece, narrated with an English accent, was a frightening
account of her adventures ending up with American drug dealers and
murderers. Ruth Kirschner's description of the statue of Jesus and Mary
by a Jewish girl visiting a catholic church for the first time with a
neighbor had the audience in stitches as did Kinga Pfeifer in her
improvised dance piece that had her dancing wildly and non-stop on
stage. Jonathan Green's East Coast accent as he rendered the story of
his family being stopped by the police for speeding and his father's
lies to avoid a penalty was well dramatized. Silvio Menendez brought
the house down with his detailed description of being hired as an
interpreter at a brain surgery and his stunned and innocent reactions
to seeing a live brain palpitate before him. The only regret was that
his story ended so soon.
For information about Ann Randolf's workshop to help others present
their works on stage at the Marsh as well as her highly praised piece
Loveland that plays at the Marsh until June 4th call 415-826-5750 or
800-838-3006.
Dr. Annette Lust

A Bilingual Othello at Z Space
With a mix of French and English, acclaimed French actress/director
Astrid Bas staged a deconstruction of Othello that emphasized the
diference between the male and female characters. To accentuate the
character, ethical and political differences between the two genders,
Othello and Desdamona, Iago and Emilia, and Cassio and Bianca, the
males spoke in English, often utilizing Shakeseare's text, and the
females in simple French. The males command and the females react to
their commands.At one point in the drama Emilia who defends her
mistress' innocence before Othello, says in French that if males find
faults with their females it is because of the teachings of their males.
The piece is presented in an intimate manner with audience members
seated on either side of a large stage. Bas freely cuts Shakespeares's
text and plays some scenes in current French in order to capture the
emotional essence and basic dramatic conflict in the Bard's
masterpiece. Although the event is a play reading, we become caught up
in the drama as the action progresses. Poetic stage movement, including
a delirious dance by Othello, reinforces the dramatic conflict.
All in all in this version that concentrates less on the beauty
and poetry of Shakespeare's
language and more on the essential dramatic action, there is something
to be said about the vitality it lends to the piece. Also the use of
two languages does not present a barriar to spectators not totally
understanding French.
Dr. Annette Lust

Wire Head--A Sci-Fi Thriller at SF Playhouse
Imagine that tomorrow anyone with money could get a brain implant
that automatically makes them a genius. What if you couldn't afford it
and you had a co-worker who could? The "Wire Heads" in this play find
themselves at odds with the rest of their office as hilarity, mayhem
and tragedy ensue, and we try to answer the question "Just because
something can be done, should it be done?" In their play Wire Head,
co-writers Matt Benjamin and Logan Brown imagine a future where people
can purchase a brain implant that turns them into geniuses.
According to Artistic Director Bill English, "Technology is
altering the way our consciousness perceives reality so rapidly that we
can barely cope with a flock of new information, let alone comprehend
its significance to our quality of life.
Wire Head is a wake-up call for all of us as we plunge headlong
into unchartered waters." This issue is vividly brought to life in
Director Susi Damilano's dynamic staging and aided by rapid
transformations of Bill English's metallic set.
Upstage center in a DJ booth, Rip (Scott Coopwood) presides and
commands on the events taking place much like a Greek chorus. Adams
(Craig Marker) and Destry (Gabriel Marin) in their cubicles discuss if
their co-worker Hammy (Cole Alexander Smith) has become a Wire Head
because he has taken over their accounts. The two romantic couples in
the play, Craig Marker as Adams, Lauren Grace as Laura, Gabriel Marin
as Destry and Madeline H.D. Brown as Monyca have opposing views on the
benefits of wire at a dinner party scene because only the rich can
afford it is only for those who pass a qualifying exam.
In the long run, will society benefit from this? Can we assume
that because people become smarter, they will necessarily become more
humanitarian?
Damilano and the excellent cast keep raising the shock comic
stakes ably abetted by Steve Schoenbeck's sound effects and Jacqueline
Scott's clever properties.
Wire Head continues at San Francisco Playhouse through April 23,
2011. For tickets or more information, contact SF Playhouse box office
at 415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org. Coming up next at
SF Playhouse will be Reborning by Zayd Dohrn and directed by Josh
Costello from May 3, 2011-June 11, 2011.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

March Theatre Reviews

2011-03-12T15:36:00.001-08:00

Surviving Personal and Economic Collapse at the Aurora

Although the title Collapse by Allison Moore playing until March 6 at
the Aurora may evoke a psychological breakdown or the physical
crumpling of an individual, or of a building, city, state or nation and
beyond, the play is actually written and played quite the opposite to
that of a tragic theme. Here the breakdown of a couple's marriage,
parallel with the actual collapse of a section of 35 W bridge spanning
the Mississippi River along with the economic decline in 2008, is
written and played so comically that the audience, rather than being
moved by these depressing circumstances, is roaring with laughter from
start to finish. And this knack of transforming dejected events into
spirited comedy is due to playwright Allison Moore's special talent for
comic repartee that lifts the spirit in the most dire of circumstances.
Directed by Jessica Heidt with a vivacious and speedy pace, we first
witness husband David (Gabriel Marin as the laid back husband) giving
wife Hannah (Carrie Paff as David's neurotic worrisome wife) a hormone
shot in the butt. Hannah, whose job is on the line, keeps reminding
David, who misses reporting to work each day, that he should go to his
meeting that we eventually learn is for AA members. A little later
Hannah's sister Susan (interpreted by Amy Resnick as a calamitous and
outspoken nuisance) visits supposedly for only a few days bringing with
her a questionable package to deliver that lends comedy as well as
mystery to the plot. Hannah's encounter with Ted (Aldo Billiingslea
plays Hannah's smooth and reassuring confidant), who is involved in the
intrigue regarding Susan's package, heightens the mystery. It is
Hannah's heroic will to survive these inner and exterior collapses that
eventually grounds and strengthens her marriage. In David and Hannah's
last lines (delivered a bit too rapidly opening night to fully
appreciate their depth) Hannah and David discuss the latter's
involvement in the collapse of the Mississippi Bridge in Minneapolis.
As they wonder why the bridge fell and how to keep it and everything
else from falling their heartfelt conclusion as they rediscover one
another is "We just have to figure out how to fall together."
. Tennessee Williams' Eccentricities of a Nightingale opens April 1
and runs until to May 8th. For info call 510-843-4822 or visit
auroratheatre.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards Ceremony
The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle will proudly host on
April fourth their 35th Annual Awards Ceremony, celebrating Bay Area
theatre excellence during 2010. Awards will be given for Touring, Over
300 Seat Theatres (Drama and Musical), 100-300 Seat Theatres (Drama and
Musical) and Under 99 Seat Theatres (Drama and Musical). Complete
listing of Nominees (avail. mid-February) at sfbatcc.org.
The public is invited to join the Critics Circle in applauding the
talented theatre folk who make magic on our local stages. The Awards
Ceremony will be held at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre Lobby, 3301
Lyon Street, SF (free parking). Doors open at 6pm, and Awards begin at
7:30pm. Dress is business casual to formal. To purchase ticket in
advance, call (800) 838-3006 or at BrownPaperTickets/event/145208. Day
of event, tickets may be purchased at the door (cash only). In addition
to presenting the Awards, there will be refreshments and entertainment.
Representing the print and electronic media, the SF Bay Area Theatre
Critics Circle will announce the winners of 37 Drama awards and 38
Musical awards from 400+ nominated actors, designers, productions, and
more reviewed in 2010. Over 400 productions were seen in 2010 by the 28
Circle critics reviewing theatre from San Jose to Santa Rosa, San
Francisco to Concord.
Again this year, Actors' Equity Association, representing over 1000
actors and stage managers in the Bay Area, is proud to partner with the
Circle and sponsor the Awards.
Hobo Grunt Cycle Puppets at the Exit Send a Message about War and
Violence
Nationally renowned puppeteer and Exit Artist in Residence Kevin
Augustine, now performing his Hobo Grunt Cycle at the Exit, begins with
silent clowning recalling the early 20th century silent movies that had
the titles and dialogue placed on a screen above or below the mimed
silent action. The clowning and magic scenes of the first section of
the piece are interspersed with life sized puppets, expertly
manipulated by well hidden puppeteers. These life sized puppets are
juxtaposed upon the action to express through movement and grotesquely
deformed mask faces the consequences of war and violence. As we watch
the hobo sweep the floor and feed and train his beloved dog to do
simple clown tricks our attention is simultaneously drawn to veterans
without an arm or leg sitting in a corner or to the side of the stage
who evoke surrealistic images of creatures warped by war and violence.
The second half of the piece offers a less ponderous treatment of the
war theme and introduces an integrated development of animal
companionship and abuse. Hobo's beloved dog is kidnapped to be
victimized in bloody dog fights. After Hobo finds his dog mortally
wounded the action takes on a happy turn as he patiently cares for and
retrains him to do his old dog tricks.
We empathize with the dog's subjection to cruel violence and rejoice
in his rescue. The theme of the fatalities of war returns to leave us
with the poetic message sent from a wife to her husband at war in July
1863, "May you live to see that men shall war no more."
Hobo Grunt Cycle's combination of an older style of silent clowning
with touches of surrealism added to sentimental lyricism endows this
puppet piece with a style of its very own. While these
puppets move to perfection to make us wonder if we are not seeing a
live dog performing with actors that resemble grotesque puppets they
simultaneously impart a message that makes us ponder about the
devastating repercussions of warring.
For info call 415-673-3847 or visit www.the exit.org.
Continuing at the Exit until April 16th is Obscura: A Magic show by
theatrical magician Christian Cagigal. For info call 415-673-3847 or
visit www.the exit.org.
Dr.Annette Lust
Pinter plays at Off Broadway West
Broadway West Theatre Company presents Sex and Death, a pair of one act
plays written in the 1960s by 2005 Nobel Prize Winner Harold Pinter. In
The Lover, Pinter chronicles an unusual love triangle while in The
Dumbwaiter, two hit men waiting in a basement room for their
assignment, question the nature of their profession. The Lover is
directed by Cecilia Palmtag and The Dumbwaiter is directed by Durand
Garcia.
Two Plays of Power and Games by Harold Pinter
Off Broadway West is proud to present two one act plays from the
acclaimed
playwright Harold Pinter. Two of his most famous one acts: The Dumb
Waiter
and The Lover offer up a night of intellectual as well as sexual
provocation.
The Dumb Waiter, written in 1957, is one of Pinter's more
exemplary plays enticing
audiences with the language (Lower Manchester) and inherent tensions
built into
human relationships. In this play, Pinter's conversation between two
down and out
hit men is the perfect backdrop for his exploration of the human
condition as it relates
to the meaning of life, social standing, and an individual's perception
of himself in
these different realms. Ben (Shane Fahy) and Gus (Conor Hamil) hash
out the significance
while waiting for the terms of their "next job" while Pinter uses them
to scrutinize life's
ugliest moments and impulses. Director Durand Garcia's production mixes
off-beat comedy
with something more menacing.
The Lover, written in 1962, is Pinter's treatise on sexual
desire breaking through the
confines of middle class convention. Outside London, a married couple,
Sarah(Nicole Helfer)
and Richard (Chad Stender) play out a scintillating game. This couple
spices up their
marriage by pretending to be adulterous lovers in the afternoon. The
husband goes
off to work as a respectable businessman, only for his wife to put on
her sexy black
dress and high heels to welcome him back as a "whore" after lunch. Th
only problem is
that role-playing games can often get out of hand, and here they lead
to unexpected conflict.
The Lover is sensitively directed by Cecilia Palmtag.
This double bill will run through March 26, 2011 at the Phoenix
Theatre in San Francisco.
For reservations call 800-838-3006 or go on line at
www.offbroadwaywest.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacso

Fringe of Marin Announces Twenty-Seventh Festival of New Bay Area
One-Acts & Solos for Theatre Critics Jury Award at Dominican
University

For its 27th season new short one-acts and solos by Bay Area
playwrights will be performed to vie for Bay Area Theatre Critics Jury
Best Play $100 Award and Bay Area Actors and Directors certificates.
The festival will take place in Meadowlands Assembly Hall at Dominican
University of California, 50 Acacia Ave, San Rafael, April 15th to May
8th, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., plus a 2
p.m. matinee on Saturday April 30th. It features premieres of one-acts
and monologues ranging from light and dark comedy and family drama to
puppetry, mime and rap on a Bible theme. Admission $15: seniors and
students $10; children $5. For reservations and information call (415)
673-3131 or Jeanlust@aol.com

WHO: Bay Area Playwrights, Directors and Actors present:
WHAT: "Fringe of Marin Spring Festival of New One-Act Plays and Solo
Performances"
WHEN: 3 Weekends April 15th to May 8th
TIME: Fridays & Saturdays 7.30 p.m., on Saturday April 30th at 2 p.m.,
and
Sundays at 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Meadowlands Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave, San
Rafael.
COST: General $15. Seniors and Students $10; Children $5
INFO: For information and reservations (415) 673-3131 or
Jeanlust@aol.com or visit www.Fringe of Marin.com.

January Theatre Reviews

2011-01-28T12:03:00.001-08:00

January Theatre Reviews
Mike Daisey, A Storyteller Full of Surprises, Returns to Berkeley Rep

As we enter the Berkeley Rep Thrust Stage the usher hands me a twenty
dollar bill and my guest a one dollar bill. Surprised from the start of
Daisey's fast moving monologue, The Last Cargo Cult, we are next taken
aback by a set filled with boxes piled from the floor to the ceiling
behind the table where Daisey sits to deliver his monologue. He begins
by describing a rocky plane trip to a South Pacific Island that makes a
landing on water that provokes screams and we are surprised when the
pilot is able to spin the plane out and all the passengers quiet down
as we believe they are able to make a bumpy on shore landing. Daisey
suddenly jumps to a description of how he was a poor student in a
liberal arts college where he soon learned that despite what the school
had advertised there was no equality among the students. Daisey then
jumps to a description of a celebration on the island for John Fromm,
considered by the islanders as a diety in heaven who sends them
shipments of material riches in cargos. Thus the reason for Daisey's
title The Last Cargo Cult that refers to the islander's cult that
reveres America's preoccupation with material acquisitions.
Daisey's storytelling continues to make his spectators laugh
spontaneously as well as surprises them with sudden outbursts of his
underlying message- our belief that money is the financial basis of our
world and how money controls and victimizes us.
At the end of his piece his final surprise is to move downstage and
say, "In fact many of you leaving tonight will ask yourself if you got
your money's worth. I gave you all my earnings for this performance to
render the abstract idea of money concrete. But I do have to pay my
rent. So you are welcome to place the bills you received in this can on
the table before leaving." Which to everyone's surprise most of the
spectators did do.
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, Daisey has tightened his former
tendency to ramble garrulously. His piece this season is structured and
projects his dynamic stage presence. His chutzpah and provocative
ironic humor are interspersed with tales of travel, politics, morals,
psychological insight and comedic accounts of personal tales such as
riding with his wife as the chauffeur whose painfully awkward driving
he is not allowed to criticize.
For a lively evening that will keep you wide awake see Daisey's Last
Cargo Cult and The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs that run through
Feb. 27.th For tickets and information call 510-647-2949 or visit
berkeleyrep.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

.Candid, A Circus Show With A Meaning

Sweet Can Production's new show Candid is not your ordinary circus that
mainly presents spectacular physical skill feats, acrobatic stunts, and
clowning. Rather Candid continues to convey an underlying message
regarding the company's mission to stage meaningful circus.
From the very start two frightened couples peering through a window at
a raging storm run back indoors to read and tear up newspapers filled
with dismal happenings that they trash. They combat their glum feelings
by imaginatively manipulating everyday objects and circus props.
Chinese acrobatics specialist Matt White dances with a broom that he
caresses and later balances on his forehead. There follow handstands,
cartwheels, tap dancing with garbage cans over their heads,
breathtaking contortions by Nobutaka Mochimaru, happy hoop dancing by
Natasha Kaluza, co-founder Kerri Kresinski performing spectacular
acrobatics as she climbs to the heavens on aerial silks, and clown
Jamie Coventry juggling plates as a café waiter.
Their spirits lifted, the couples return to the window to see a calm
sky and bright sunlight. They proceed to play games such as musical
chairs. One of the female acrobats moves into the audience kissing
spectators in a fun audience interaction. Finally they mount a
staircase made of furniture pieces and then poised, look upward as
though awaiting a future challenge. Their sturdy stances reassure us
that they will stretch their imagination to convert daily hurdles, as
their mission states, "into a breathtaking circus."
According to the message underlying Candid, we need to reaffirm our
power to make change when faced with dire circumstances. The title of
the production suggests a double meaning. For founder Beth Clarke and
co-founder Kerri Kresinsky it contains a play on words. One meaning is
"Can did (it)" in response to the title of their former production
"Yes, Sweet Can." In reference to the second meaning Clarke adds "We
like the open, spontaneous nature of the word "candid" as "not wearing
masks, available, honest, vulnerable." And, as also stated in their
mission, Sweet Can aims "to create intimate, heartfelt performances in
which the audience and performer easily connect with one another. The
company presents the circus performer as a human being accessible to
everyone and who uses his circus skills to make connections by
demonstrating the shared emotional experiences that unite us all."
Candid is a mix of circus arts integrated with dance, mime, and
original music interspersed with popular tunes by musician composer
Eric Oberthaler. Directed by Joanna Hargood, an internationally famed
choreographer and S.F. Clown Conservatory teacher, the performers offer
a lively rendering of each of their specialties technically perfected
since their last show that appear to be freshly improvised in this new
one. And they continue to make us feel that we are part of their family
of acrobats in an intimate playing space.
This spirited home grown circus that entertains and appeals to
audiences from tots to the elderly inspires us with the courage to
reconvert our tribulations through the power of our creative
imagination.
Candid plays through Jan. 9th at the Dance Mission heater, 3316
Mission St., S.F. For info call 4125-273-4633 or visit
www.sweetcanproductiions.com for future company events.
Dr. Annette Lust

Coraline, A Morality Tale
The San Francisco Playhouse is currently presenting the West Coast
Premiere of the musical stage version of Coraline, Neil Gaiman's story
of a bored young girl who finds her way into a fantasyland that is not
what it seems. Gaiman's story was adapted for the stage by
Obie-Winning Playwright David Greenspan and features book and lyrics by
indie-musician, Stephin Merritt (of the rock group The Magnetic
Fields). Coraline (Julia Belanoff alternating with Maya Donato)
discovers a locked door while exploring her new home in an old
four-unit house. Her mother (Stacy Ross) and her father (Jackson
Davis) work from home and are so bound to their computers they have
little time for Coraline. Coraline finds a key that opens a door.
Behind the door are duplicate parents with much more time for love and
games, who look just like her own except for the large black buttons
they have for eyes. They turn into scary figures as the plot develops
and Coraline longs for her home again. Coraline's only friend is the
sardonic Cat (Brian Yates Sharber) who has one of the best voices in
the ensemble. There are three roomers in her house-Mr. Bobo and an old
circus mouse trainer played with a humorous touch by Brian Degan Scott
and two aged actresses, delightfully portrayed by Susie Damilano and
Maureen McVerry. Julia Belanoff has both a good voice and stage
presence as Coraline, but many of her words get lost. Stacy Ross
steals the show as Coraline's mother, as does Director Bill English
with his clever black and white set which sets the mood for the show.
Valera Coble's costumes are imaginative. This production is a
morality tale because Coraline develops courage as she steps up to the
challenge of her journey beyond the door and discovers contentment in
her own home and surroundings after all. Coraline continues at the San
Francisco Playhouse through January 15, 2011. For tickets call
415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org. Coming up next at
the San Francisco Playhouse is Harper Regan by Simon Stephens and
directed by Amy Glazer, January 25-March 5, 2011. Flora Lynn Isaacson

Doubt--A Moral Dilemma at Ross Valley Players

John Patrick Shanley subtitles "Doubt"-"A Parable" and with his
explorations of a series of moral dilemmas, it lives up to both title
and subtitle. This 2004 Broadway hit earned both the Pulitzer Prize and
Tony Award. Currently at Ross Valley Players, Doubt is set at St.
Nicholas, a Catholic church and school in the Bronx in 1964. Doubt is
so economical in Shanley's writing that it is pared down to perfection,
presenting a problem and then offering potential solutions that create
their own difficulties. The major clash is between Chris Macomber as
Sister Aloysius, a dragon of an old school principal and Jamie Dawson
as Father Flynn, a young modernizing priest. As such, they represent
traditional Catholicism and a new brand of religion that seeks to
assimilate ideas that some might regard as doctrinally unacceptable.
The play opens with a wonderful set designed by Ken Rowland that
swiftly takes us to several scenes. Father Flynn is delivering a sermon
about life's uncertainties that is packed with parables. He says,
"Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty." This
acts as a prologue to the investigation of doubt that follows. Sister
Aloysius' unwilling partner in uncovering crime is the sweet, natural
and innocent Sister James played by Shannon O'Neill Creighton. Having
been bullied as a too good and generous teacher, she intimates
knowledge of a misdeed. This might not have mattered had the victim not
been the school's only black pupil. With religious fervor, Sister
Aloysius campaigns to defrock a man who quickly becomes her enemy. Her
justification is no more than a gut feeling. Child abuse by a Catholic
priest provokes a battle between the two. Added depth is offered by
the position taken by the boy's mother, played convincingly by Clara
Kamunde (given a special round of applause on opening night). This
cowed lady's only concern is for her son's future and we learn his
father beats him and she thus wishes to brush away any problem. Sister
Aloysius still proves to her own satisfaction that a mortal sin has
taken place. However, the ending offers a surprise. Chris Macomber
expertly plays the unforgiving nun who runs her school like a
totalitarian state. Jamie Dawson, with a wonderful Bronx accent, is
perfectly cast as the affable priest struggling to save his reputation
and determined not to be just a spiritual leader, but also friend and
confidant. An appealing Shannon O'Neill Creighton as Sister James is
the play's most likable character. Cris Cassell's direction of Doubt
brings out the hidden depths of the play and offers us complete
ambiguity in the ending. Doubt runs through Sunday, February 13 at
Ross Valley Players. For info and tickets, call 415-456-9555 or visit
www.rossvalleyplayers.com. Flora Lynn Isaacson
The Human Price of Technology

Master storyteller, Mike Daisey, who has just returned to Berkeley Rep,
offers a second piece, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. With
his wry eye and eccentric intellect, Daisey examines how the Apple CEO
and his obsessions profoundly shape our everyday lives; and he travels
to China to investigate the factories where millions toil making
i-phones and i-pods. His journey shines a brilliant light on how our
love affair with our devices and the human cost of creating them. All
throughout, Daisey's scintillating two-hour nonstop monologue, he is
seated behind his little table flanked by Seth Reiser's impressive
lighting design on the back wall of the theatre. According to Berkeley
Rep's Artistic Director Tony Taccone, Daisey "combines the hysteria of
a comedian, the intelligence of an essayist, the intensity of an actor
and the desperation of a raconteur." In the Agony and the Ecstasy of
Steve Jobs, Mike Daisey takes us on a tour of three cities in China
where workers in the tech industry literally put their lives on the
line for the privilege of having a job. This storyteller comes
equipped with his tools of emphasis and tone with metaphor and irony,
and with much embellishment and humor, to get us to see things in a new
light. This newest monologue directed by his wife, Jean-Michele
Gregory, has as its main focus, the rise and fall, and rise of Steve
Jobs, Apple, industrial design and the human price we are willing to
pay for our technology, woven together in a complex narrative.
According to Daisey, this monologue is a perfect example of years of
journalism, travel, research, investigation, sweat and tears. It
examines our technology through a personal lens. Mike Daisey share his
experiences in Hong Kong and Shen Zhen and Apple's labor practices.
However, Apple is hardly alone--every major electronics manufacturer
uses the same inhumane labor practices in the creation of their
products. Daisey's main concern is to make people aware of labor
conditions in China and the systems we have created to feed it.
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs will alternate with his
monologue, The Last Cargo Cult, through February 27 at Berkeley Rep.
For tickets and information, call 510-647-2949 or visit
www.berkeleyrep.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

December Theatre Reviews

2010-12-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

December Theatre Reviews

42nd St. Moon's Babes in Arms a Timely Holiday Gem

The original Rodgers and Hart Babes in Arms musical comedy of the
nineteen thirty's brought fans to the Eureka Theatre to experience the
rare treat of seeing and hearing the first and most authentic version
of one of the earliest American musical comedies. With this depiction
of the depression era of Rodgers and Hart's youth, when penniless
college students attempt to put on a show without any money or venue
other than a barn, the piece becomes relevant to today's hard times.
Their parents away on vacation, a group of youngsters in Seaport, Long
Island, rather than go to a work camp ordered by the town sheriff to
keep them out of trouble, plan to put on a musical. Because they are
destitute and without a place to perform other than a barn, they
renounce their plan and return to the work camp when a solution falls
from heaven.
Other adaptations of the musical comedy such as the popular Judy
Garland /Mickey Rooney film did not bring out the social conscience or
other social prejudices themes as does this original one of the 1937
hit. The 42nd St Moon production also offers a fresh and sincere
interpretation of campy naive youths attempting to realize their dream.
The company cast's singing, dancing, acting and miming succeeds in
bringing to life the dramatic intrigue containing outstanding original
scores such songs as "My Funny Valentine," "The Lady Is a Tramp, "Where
or When" "I Wish I Were in Love Again," and "Babes in Arms." Talented
singer/actors/ dancers Michael Scott Wells, Alexandra Kaprielian,
Sophia Rose Morris and the remainder of the cast give lively and
believable interpretations.
42nd St. Moon continues its unique mission as the longest living
musical revival theatre company.
Next up at 42nd St. Moon is And All That Jazz: A John Kander Salon
Evening Jan. 27 at the Alcazar Theater and Strike Up the Band, an Ira
Gershwin Celebration April 6-24 at the Eureka Theatre.
For info call 415-255-8207.
Dr. Annette Lust

The Story of Oh (Revised and Abridged) Wins 1st Place Honors at 26th
Anniversary of Fringe of Marin Ceremony
With grateful thanks to Dr. Annette Lust, Artistic Director and
Festival Coordinator, the Dominican University Community Players and
the Fringe of Marin just celebrated their 26th anniversary season.
Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Director and
Actors were just announced Sunday, December 5, 2010 at Meadowlands
Assembly Hall, Dominican University. The first awards presented were
for Best Play. The pride of 1st Place went to The Story of Oh (Revised
and Abridged) by Jim Colgan. 2nd Place honors were a tie between Emily
and Walt by Carol Hochberg, and Lights, Camera, Love by George Dykstra.
Michael Belitsos' A Magical Trio: the Movies of My Mind, With Held by
Jeremy Julian Greco and Line Load by Steve North tied for 3rd Place.
Nominations went to David Hirzel for Francis and Sophy: A Victorian
Romance, A Thief with Principle by Harry Diavatis and A Writer's
Dilemma by Judy Baldassari.
Next up were awards for Best Director. Jim Colgan who also wrote
the Story of Oh (Revised and Abridged) won the 1st Place award for Best
Director. 2nd Place for Best Director went to George Dykstra who also
wrote Lights, Camera, Love. Linda Ayres-Frederick won 3rd Place for
Emily and Walt. Nominations for Best Director went to Robin Schild for
Scramble Time, and three directors who also wrote their plays, David
Hirzel for Francis and Sophy, Harry Diavatis for A Thief with
Principle, and Michael Belitsos for A Magical Trio: the Movies of My
Mind.
There was a tie for Best Actor between Jeremy Julian Greco for With
Held and Ross Turner for Lights, Camera, Love. Michael Belitsos won
2nd Place for Best Actor for A Magical Trio: the Movies of My Mind.
Nominations for Best Actor went to Dal Burns for A Thief with
Principle, Raul Rubio for Emily and Walt, Tyler Hewitt for Healing
Court, Steve North for Line Load, C. Conrad Cady for the Story of Oh,
Harry Diavatis for A Thief with Principle and Harold Delinsky for
Lights, Camera, Love.
The last of the Critic's Circle Awards went to Best Actress. The
winner was Obreanna McReynolds for Lights, Camera, Love. Heidi Wolff
took 2nd Place for her portrayal of Emily Dickinson in Emily and Walt.
Racheal Denny for the Story of Oh, Rana Kangas-Kent in the Story of Oh,
Crystal Nezgoda for What Do We Do with the Coffin?, Scramble Time and
Healing Court all tied for 3rd Place. Nominations for Best Actress went
to Judy Baldassari for A Writer's Dilemma and Gigi Benson for Scramble
Time.
For the 7th consecutive time, the People's Awards took place which
are the results of audience voters. Here are the results. Lights,
Camera, Love by George Dykstra won Best Play. A Magical Trio: the
Movies of my Mind by Michael Belitsos won 2nd Place. A Thief with
Principle by Harry Diavatis came in 3rd. Emily and Walt by Carol
Hochberg, Healing Court by Micheline Birger and Francis and Sophy by
David Hirzel tied for 4th Place. 5th Place for Best Play went to the
Story of Oh (Revised and Abridged). There was a 3-way tie for 6th
Place for Line Load by Steve North, Scramble Time by Shirley King and
What Do We Do with a Coffin by Carol Sheldon. 7th Place tied between
With Held by Jeremy Julian Greco and Moonlight by Ruth Kirschner. A
Writer's Dilemma by Judy Baldassari came in 8th Place.
George Dykstra won the People's Choice Award for 1st Place as Best
Director. Harry Diavatis for A Thief with Principle and Jim Colgan for
the Story of Oh tied for 2nd Place. There was also a tie for 3rd Place
between Suzanne Birrell for Healing Court and Carol Sheldon for What Do
We Do with a Coffin? Linda Ayres-Frederick won 4th Place as Best
Director and 5th Place tied between David Hirzel for Francis and Sophy
and Michael Belitsos for A Magical Trio: the Movies of My Mind. 6th
Place for Best Director went to Robin Schild for Scramble Time and
Jeremy Julian Greco took 7th Place for With Held.
Ross Turner also won the People's Choice Award for Best Actor for
Lights, Camera, Love. Michael Belitsos won 2nd Place again for A
Magical Trio: the Movies of My Mind. 3rd Place honors went to Tyler
Hewitt for Healing Court. Steve North came in 4th for Line Load.
There was a 3-way tie for 5th Place for Best Actor between Monty
Paulson for Scramble Time, C. Conrad Cady for the Story of Oh and Roger
Marquis for What Do We Do with a Coffin? 6th Place tied between Dal
Burns for A Thief with Principle and Jeremy Julian Greco for With Held.
Finally Byron Lambie for Francis and Sophy, David Klein for What Do We
Do with a Coffin, Raul Rubio for Emily and Walt and Harry Diavatis for
A Thief with Principle tied for 7th Place.
Obreanna McReynolds came in 1st Place for her performance in
Lights, Camera, Love. Crystal Nezgoda took 2nd Place for Best Actress
for 3 performances in What Do We Do with the Coffin?, Scramble Time and
Healing Court. Gigi Benson took 3rd Place for Scramble Time. 4th Place
tied between Judy Baldassari for A Writer's Dilemma and Heidi Wolff for
Emily and Walt. Racheal Denny for the Story of Oh and Miriam Chase
for Emily and Walt tied for 5th Place. Finally, 6th Place tied for Best
Actress between Rana Kangas-Kent in the Story of Oh and Alexa Chipman
for Francis and Sophy.
Bravo to Dr. Annette Lust for maintaining the Fringe for 26
seasons!
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Becoming Julia Morgan--A Designing Woman

Becoming Julia Morgan is currently having its Bay Area Premiere at the
Berkeley City Club designed by the architect. Theatre Bay Area Magazine
Editor Belinda Taylor is the playwright of this biographical play
produced by former Theatre Bay Area Executive Director Sabrina Klein
and directed by Barbara Oliver who founded the Aurora Theatre in this
same venue. Janis Stevens gives an amazing performance as Julia
Morgan, which is so rich with attention to every detail. This critic
would like to nominate her for a Best Actress award. She takes us on
Julia Morgan's journey told in flashbacks of how she was able to
succeed as an architect at the turn of the century in a world dominated
by men. Julia Morgan was the first woman to graduate from U.C.
Berkeley's School of Engineering, to be admitted to the L'Ecole Des
Beaux Arts in architecture and to receive an architect's license in
California. She got along well with men, was inspired and encouraged
by many strong men, Bernard Maybeck and William Randolph Hearst, chief
among them. Her first commission in 1904 was to construct the Mills
College Bell Tower, which was constructed with reinforced concrete and
survived the 1906 fire and earthquake. Because of this fact, she was
asked to rebuild the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
Becoming Julia Morgan follows the life of this Bay Area genius
over a six-year period, 1931-1937 as she works on San Simeon for Hearst
and runs a busy San Francisco office with a large staff. There are
flashbacks to her student days at U.C. Berkeley and in Paris, and a
flash forward to today.
In addition to the wonderful Janis Stevens, three extremely
talented actors play twelve characters. Stand out performances are
given by Paul Baird as Jerry Mac, a reporter for the SF Examiner as
well as Julia's brother, Avery Morgan. Dave Garrett is quite pompous
as William Randolph Hearst and very supportive of Julia as Bernard
Maybeck. Sally Clawson plays a variety of female roles including
Marion Davies, Phoebe Hearst and Irene Mac.
I strongly recommend Becoming Julia Morgan as a well written,
beautifully acted, and superbly directed play about a woman who has
done so much to create beauty in the Bay Area.
Don't miss Becoming Julia Morgan, a play about the life and times
of the Bay Area's and the world's first woman architect which plays
through January 9, 2011 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue,
Berkeley. Showtimes are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5
p.m. Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com or call 510-984-3869.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Coraline-A Morality Tale with Music
The San Francisco Playhouse is currently presenting the West Coast
Premiere of the musical stage version of Coraline, Neil Gaiman's story
of a bored young girl who finds her way into a fantasyland that is not
what it seems. Gaiman's story was adapted for the stage by
Obie-Winning Playwright David Greenspan and features book and lyrics by
indie-musician, Stephin Merritt (of the rock group The Magnetic
Fields).
Coraline (Julia Belanoff alternating with Maya Donato) discovers a
locked door while exploring her new home in an old four-unit house.
Her mother (Stacy Ross) and her father (Jackson Davis) work from home
and are so bound to their computers they have little time for Coraline.
Coraline finds a key that goes through a door. Behind the door are
duplicate parents with much more time for love and games, who look just
like her own except for the large black buttons they have for eyes.
They turn into scary figures as the plot develops and Coraline longs
for her home again. Coraline's only friend is the sardonic Cat (Brian
Yates Sharber) who has one of the best voices in the ensemble. There
are three roomers in her house-Mr. Bobo and an old circus mouse trainer
played with a humorous touch by Brian Degan Scott and two aged
actresses, delightfully portrayed by Susie Damilano and Maureen
McVerry. Julia Belanoff has both a good voice and stage presence as
Coraline, but many of her words get lost. Stacy Ross steals the show
as Coraline's mother, as does Director Bill English with his clever
black and white set which sets the mood for the show. Valera Coble's
costumes are imaginative.
This production is a morality tale because Coraline develops courage as
she steps up to the challenge of her journey beyond the door and
discovers contentment in her own home and surroundings after all.
Coraline continues at the San Francisco Playhouse through January 15,
2011. For tickets call 415-677-9596 or go online at
www.sfplayhouse.org.
Coming up next at the San Francisco Playhouse will be Harper Regan by
Simon Stephens and directed by Amy Glazer, January 25-March 5, 2011.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Nov. Reviews Continued

2010-11-18T12:58:00.001-08:00

November Reviews Continued

Mummenschanz Returns to the Bay Area

After thirty years the Swiss company Mummenschanz, one of the world's
most renowned mime/mask companys, returns to perform at Cal
Performances bringing with them a retrospective of their most
successful creations. The title of their present production is" 3x11"
referring to a 33 year collection of their most appreciated pieces
performed throughout the world.
The name Mummenschanz is from German or Dutch words derived from
"mummer", a pantomime performer (from whence the word "mum" meaning
silent) and has as synonyms the words mask and buffoonery while
"schanz" means chance. The Swiss company was founded after
clown-acrobat Andrès Bossard and pantomimist Bernie Schïrch trained at
the Lecoq School of mime in Paris and staged their first show in 1969.
They were joined by Italian-American Floriana Frasseto in 1971 and then
performed as a threesome throughout Europe, North and South America and
in the Orient. After the death of Andrés Bossard, in 2000 the company
was joined by Raffaella Mattioll, Pietro Montandon, and technical
director Jan Maria Lukas.
Influenced by cubism and dadaist skits in Swiss cabaret shows, the
company reduces content to a given theme or essence of an idea. Rather
than utilizing illusion mime, classical pantomime's anecdotal content,
or whiteface, the mimes move spectators on a visceral as well as
imaginative level through an original use of masks. These masks are
made of oversized props that cover the body of one or more mimes. They
are made from such items as toilet paper rolls for the eyes, nose and
mouth, from prosaic hardware items or from clay to create imaginative
images. With plastic bags, salad strainers and other everyday items
found in department stores, supermarkets, factories and trade shows,
the mimes improvise and develop movement patterns and innovative
content. As they manipulate these objects they transform them into
amoebas, worms, frogs, monkeys, and primates and into figures with
paper-bag, chessboard, drawings, and heads and faces made of ping pong
balls. At one point they mold clay masks on their faces, pull them off
and begin again. Or they draw luminous profiles of faces in the air.
And all these geometrical and abstract forms are performed without
words or music.
Mummenschantz has developed an original use of mime and circus
techniques. It comprises mime-clowning, commedia, cubist forms, living
sculpture and abstract shapes to offer a rich visual physical theatre.
And the fantasy world it creates likewise reveals serious content. "It
displays man's development from the cell and his relationship with
animal forms while ripping away our own masks of pomposity"
(Mummenschanz program notes, Berkeley, California, 1979). Another
revelation their work brings to us is that we become aware of the
poetry of everyday objects within a world of growing materialism.
According to Bernie Schûrch, one of the founders of the company,
"Mummenschanz has always been highly appreciated by American audiences
that enjoy the visual humor, playfulness and imagination of our
creations." Moreover their present production transcends all barriers
of nationality and culture and appeals to spectators of all ages.
Mummenschanz plays from Nov. 26 through Nov. 28 at Zellerbach Hall on
the Berkeley campus. Info may be obtained at Cal Performances Ticket
Office at Zellerbach Hall at (510) 642-9988 or visit Cal Performances
web site at www.calperformances.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

Fringe of Marin Program One Begins with a Journey of an Icebound
Captain and Ends Up with a Thief With Principle

On November 12 Artistic Director Annette Lust welcomed us to the 26th
Season of the Fringe of Marin with three plays and three solo
performances.
David Hirzel's Francis and Sophy: A Victorian Romance (based on a true
story) opened the program. This play is an imagined encounter between
two historical figures, Captain Francis Crozier (Byron Lambie) and his
intended bride, Sophy Cracroft (Alexa Chipman) in 1845. Sophy declined
the Captain's proposal of marriage before he left on a long and
dangerous voyage to explore the Arctic wilderness, however to inspire
him, she gave him a letter to open in six months and another a year
later, knowing his ship would still be frozen in the ice of the
Northwest Passage. Byron Lambie gives a heartfelt performance as the
Captain who is struggling to make the best of a difficult situation.
Alexa Chipman is a vision of loveliness as Sophy in a beautiful peach
Victorian gown which she designed and made herself. The sound effects
also designed by Chipman are especially effective as is Hirzel's
direction of the two contrasting scenes.
A Writer's Dilemma written and performed by Judy Baldassari and
directed by Suresa Dundes was next on the program. Baldassari had
especially good eye contact with the audience and wonderful facial
expression. She spoke about writing as being a mixed blessing as she
moves along roads of self discovery. She comes face to face with her
own fears and has a good analysis of her true feelings.
Line Load written and performed by Steve North closed the first
half of the program. Mr. North is a superb solo performer! His timing
and imagery are perfect. As an artist, he could give a wonderful
workshop on The Art of the Solo Performer.
Lights, Camera, Love written and directed by George Dykstra opened
the second half of the program. Harold Delinsky enters as the
cameraman who sets up the scene. Obreanna McReynolds delightfully
plays three different women who speak to the camera about what women
want in a man. Ross Turner plays two contrasting men in a very
professional performance. Both of Mr. Dykstra's actors had great
timing and seemed so very natural in front of the camera.
With Held written and performed by Jeremy Julian Greco was the third
solo performance of the evening. This was a true story of an artist
named John Held. Mr. Greco as Mr. Held spoke about what it is like for
contemporary artists to make it in everyday life. The energy of his
performance and his stage performance were top notch but I could not
vibrate to his material.
Last but not least was A Thief with Principle, written and
directed by Harry Diavatis, who also starred in this play. Mr.
Diavatis was very natural as Bernie, a mortgage broker with a cadillac.
I had the pleasure of seeing two different actors playing the thief.
Last Friday evening, the thief was played by Dal Burns with a British
upper lip and much humor and on Sunday, November 14, the thief was
played by Nathan Day who had particularly good chemistry playing
opposite Diavatis. This was a play of real substance and it leaves you
questioning who is really the thief.
Program One continues to play on Saturdays, November 20 and
December 4 at 7:30 p.m. and one more Sunday performance, November 21 at
2 p.m. at Meadowlands Assembly Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia at
Grand Avenue, San Rafael. For reservations and information, call
415-673-3131 or go online at www.fringeofmarin.com.

Program Two of Fringe of Marin

With thanks to the tireless energy of Dr. Annette Lust, Artistic
Director and Festival Coordinator, the Fringe of Marin opened its 26th
Season the second week of November, 2010. This fall, Fringe of Marin
is producing 12 new plays and solos, one of which will be selected by a
jury of Bay Area Theatre Critics for a $100 Best Play Award.
Program Two included five plays and one solo performance. Three of the
plays were presented before the intermission.
Emily and Walt, written by Carol Hochberg and also sensitively
directed by Linda Ayres-Frederick involves an imagined meeting between
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. In this play, Heidi Wolff plays the
shy and aloof Emily. Miriam Chase plays her sister, Lavina in a comedic
fashion and Raul R. Rubio gives a bravura performance as Walt Whitman,
the complete antithesis of the reclusive Emily.
What Do We Do with a Coffin, a comedy written and directed by
Carol Sheldon closes the first half of the program. Much of this farce
is true. Don't Just Lie There was produced at the Marin Fringe a few
years ago with a real coffin borrowed for the production. The mortician
was busted for the same reasons revealed in this play. In on the fun
are Carol Eggers, Crystal Nezgoda, Stuart Chappell, Roger Marquis and
David Klein.
Scramble Time opens the second half of the program. This light
comedy written by Shirley King, and cleverly directed by Robin Schild,
takes place in a garage where Kelly, in a businesslike performance as a
stewardess, treats people in the garage including a businessman, Jason,
smoothly performed by Monty Paulson and Gracie (Crystal Nezgoda giving
a second comedic performance), a woman kept from going to the bathroom
for 5 hours by the flight attendant who tries to control them as if
they were passengers on an airplane.
A Magical Trio: The Movies of my Mind are three beautifully
written monologues performed by magician Michael Belitsos. The first,
The Paradise Program, is a dream about three personal books with
soothing classical music in the background. The second, Red Silk
Memory is about his grandfather who was a magician and the third,
Martini-In the News involved a trip to Paris. This was a hauntingly
beautiful performance.
Healing Court written by Micheline Birger and fabulously directed
by Suzanne Birrell brings Crystal Nezgoda back in a third performance
as a mixed up girl in search of herself. Scott Zanassi is a wise Judge
Guru who tries to help her become and integrated personality.
The Story of Oh, Revised and Abridged, a comedy written and
directed by Jim Colgan closes the evening with amusing performances by
Racheal Denny, Simon Patten, Rana Kangas-Kent and Conrad Cady in which
the word "Oh" is used to mean many different things.
Fall 2010 Program Two continues Fridays November 19 and December 3
at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, November 20 and Sunday, December 5 at 2 p.m. at
Meadowlands Assembly Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia at Grand
Avenue, San Rafael. For reservations and information, please call
415-673-3131 or go online at www.fringeofmarin.com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Nov.Theatre Reviews

2010-11-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

November Reviews
Fringe of Marin's Twenty-Sixth Festival of New One-Acts & Solos Takes
Off November 12

For its 26th season new short one-acts and solos by Bay Area
playwrights, directors and actors will be performed to vie for Bay Area
Theatre Critics Best Play, Actors, and Directors awards. The Festival
features a prominent magician-storyteller who performs nation wide
along with Bay Area and Beyond one-acts and monologues ranging from
light and dark comedy and drama about a Victorian romance, an attack on
psychiatry, and an imaginary meeting of literary figures Emily
Dickinson and Walt Whitman to an original pantomime satirizing the
various reactions to experiencing sex. The works are written,
performed, and directed by professional and community playwrights,
actors and directors from throughout the Bay Area presenting plays
based on imagined or historical characters and subjects.
An example is the opening piece of the festival written and directed
by David Hirzel from Pacifica, Francis and Sophy, a Victorian Romance,
that develops an imagined encounter between two historical figures,
Captain Francisco Crozier and his intended bride Sophy Cracroft in
1845. "Sophy declined the Captain's proposal of marriage before he left
on a long and dangerous voyage to explore the Arctic wilderness,"
Hirzel said. "However, to inspire him she gave him a letter to open in
six months, and another a year later, knowing his ship would still be
frozen in the ice of the Northwestern Passage."
The Fringe of Marin Festival will take place in Meadowlands Hall
Theatre at Dominican University of California, 50 Acacia Ave, San
Rafael, from Nov.12 to Dec.5, 2010, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
and Sundays at 2 p.m., plus a 2 p.m. matinee on Sat. Nov. 20. See the
full program on www.Fringe of Marin.com
Admission $15-$17: seniors and students $10; children $5. For
reservations/info (415) 673-3131 or Jeanlust@aol.com
Dr. Annette Lust

Youth's Stories of Immigrant Parents Who Paved the Way

Alice Presents, that opened at the Theatre Artaud Z Space on November 6
with Burning Libraries, brings its first professional production of 30
real life stories dramatizing the migrant experience of minority
immigrants. It consists of live first person interviews with over 300
East Bay migrant youths who narrate the trying efforts, and at times
humorous incidents, of their parents and grandparents who arrived in a
new land.
Each immigrant's story-whether disturbing or miraculous-is inspiring
to those who to hear it. We can all relate to the heroic efforts of
these immigrants. In my own family a Polish grandfather, who escaped
from being drafted into the Russian army, reached America to begin as a
rag picker. Years later he became a developer in the Bay Area where
land he developed now bears his name.
But how did the piece Burning Libraries originate? Helen Stoltzfus
originated the Alice program (Arts and Literacy in Children's
Education), an educational organization that for the last fifteen years
has benevolently offered programs to deprived children. When Stoltzfus
initiated a class project in an Oakland school in which children
related their parents' stories she was so moved by them that she
decided to present them to a larger audience.
Director Stoltzfus, one of the original founders of the Traveling
Jewish Theatre, combined these unedited stories with other stage arts
to create a rich multimedia piece. Among the stories with the chldrens'
original voices is one in which a child says, "My grandmother was so
hungry that she and her daughter climbed into trees to look for birds'
eggs but found none. Then one day a miracle happened when two birds
fell from a nest and they then could sell the birds to buy food.".
These stories are embellished by the sonorous music of dramaturg
Albert Greenberg. Local aerialists Susan Voyticky and Azana's
breathtaking stunts high in the air create symbolic images of the
stories' content. Vietnamese dancer and dance teacher Danny Nguyen and
Mexican born Jesus Cortez bring incidents in the narrative to life.
Puppeteer /sculptor Antonio Echeverria offers a beautiful live sized
child puppet character, and the ensemble is harmonized by the video
images by Dustin Snyder and Ian Winters. All these stage arts are
expertly integrated into a well balanced whole that enlivens the
freshness and spontaneity of the narrative
And why are these staged immigrant stories entitled Burning Libraries?
This title evokes the African saying "If a person dies without his or
her story being told, that is like burning down a library." If such
stories are left untold and not passed down to others it is as if they
have been effaced forever. They are then left unknown as an inspiration
to their descendants as well as to the world.
This intimately staged piece about the contributions of immigrants to
the Bay Area through the voices of youths plays until Nov. 14 at the
Zee Space in Theater Artaud and from Dec. 3 to 5 at Laney College in
Oakland. For information call 510-762—2220.
Dr. Annette Lust

Failure 2 Communicate

F2C is a play written about the playwright (Valerie Fachman) and her
experiences in the 90's when she was an educator in a special school in
a rough part of Chicago. Autistic teens were educated along side teens
with emotional and learning disabilities. Led to a rather chaotic
environment, these are the stories of the students, teachers and
parents who tried to make the best of a tough situation.
Performers Under Stress (PUS) has opened its 6th season with this
World Premiere. Artistic Director Scott Baker, helms the story of
autistic and sexually abused kids forced into high school classes with
gang bangers and teachers who try to channel that chaos into education.
Following the lives of 6 students at this inner city school, this
production articulates the tales and inner voices of children and
teachers whose experiences are largely ignored. Employing language for
those who can speak and movement for those who cannot speak, this play
illuminates pockets of hope where one might expect no hope to exist,
revealing the humor these youth find between their scary
moments.Jaimelle Roberts plays Veronica Gray, the teacher in question
who has a difficult road to hoe. Jessica Schroeder is Sarah, her
beautiful teaching aid. Nandini Minocha (award winning actress of
Marin Fringe Festival) turns in a very moving performance as an upper
class mother trying desperately to meet the needs of her autistic son,
Loomis. Geoff Bangs gives an amazing performance as Loomis, who is
very bright but cannot express himself in words. Jean Forsman really
takes charge as the Principal of the school in trying to keep law and
order. Allen Myers gives 3 sensitive performances as
Dominic-Stephen-PK, emotionally disabled students who make it through
to graduate. Brenda Howard's Tasha is strong emotional and dynamic.
Mindy Marie Vo gives a fantastic performance as Melinda--much credit
goes to the director for her gymnastic ability with her split
personalities. Carlos Barrera as Jaime does much of his role in
spanish and moves beautifully. Wendell H. Wilson is strong in two
roles, Melvin and Kermit. One role is an emotionally challenged person
and the other is a member of the staff.
I encourage everyone to see Failure 2 Communicate. My only
criticism is it is too long (3 hours with intermission) and needs to be
cut in Act I. Act II is perfect as written.
Failure 2 Communicate continues through November 14 at The Garage,
975 Howard Street, San Francisco. For tickets, call 415-585-1221 or
visit brownpapertickets.com to purchase online.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Family Truths and Consequences

West Coast Arts Foundation is producing the World Premiere of "Dead
Man's Wake," a new play by Larry Klein which is loosely based on a true
story set in Marin County in 1969. The reality of complex family
dynamics are exposed when a socially conscious Mill Valley mother and
her two adult sons confront issues about the father's recent death.
The way Leah Ogden (Liz O'Neill) nags her son Jess (William Elsman) in
the opening of the play is very reminiscent of the way Amanda
criticizes her son Tom in Tennessee Williams' "Glass Menagerie." Also,
the relationship of the two brothers, Jess and Brian, is very much like
the two brothers Jamie and Eugene in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's
Journey Into Night" when they go out and get drunk together. I was
really bowled over by the first act when Brian returns from four years
in prison, and the family gives him a welcome home party. His
girlfriend, Andrea (an attractive Chloe Bronzan) is still waiting for
him and his father's best friend Tom (Terry McGovern) is there to greet
him also. However, before the party takes place, Heather Shepardson
does some nice work as Janet, a beautiful woman who spent the night
with Jess. Brian gives his older brother Jess a book as a present in
which to write original poetry. William Elsman, with his beautifully
trained voice, gives a magnificent performance as Jess and Tyler
McKenna as Brian is laid back and is a fine contrast to the intense
Jess. Brian wants to follow his dream and move the family to a ranch
in Montana and tries to convince his family to begin a new life there.
All of the characters in this family are people searching for
themselves and trying desperately to find both courage and hope while
struggling with changing times and their unfulfilled dreams. Terry
McGovern gives a solid performance as Tom, the family friend trying to
help Leah hold herself together. Liz O'Neill (who is also the director)
is very convincing as a woman searching for answers. My main criticism
lies with Act II, especially scene two which is overly long and
melodramatic. Larry Klein writes so beautifully in Act I. Act II
(especially scene two) should be cut. I do recommend this play, however
because of the very strong acting ensemble.
Dead Man's Wake runs through November 14 at the West End Studio
Theatre, 1554 Fourth Street in San Rafael.For tickets, order online at
www.brownpapertickets.com or by phone at 1-800-838-3006 or purchase
them at the door.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

The Great Game:Afghanistan

2010-10-27T15:01:00.001-07:00

A Marathon Trilogy from Tricycle Theatre, London, to Berkeley Rep

“The Great Game:Afghanistan,” that traveled from London to Berkeley Rep to perform the West Coast premiere of its successful run abroad, opened with a 7 hr presentation of plays in three parts on November 22. Part One (2 hrs) consists of historical and political plays depicting the invasions in Afghanistan from 1842 to 1930. Part Two (2 ½ hrs) is a continuation through the communist, Mujahideen, and Taliban influences from 1979 to 1996. Part Three (2 ½ hrs) covers from 1996 to 2010 describing the continued foreign attempts to end the civil war. The aim of these three parts is to communicate the complexity of a country still subjected to ancient tribal control as opposed to adapting to modern democratic ideology and enduring and torn between the influences of the British, Russian and Americans coercing it to make unfamiliar choices to subsist.

This seven hour marathon, written by Lee Blessing, Richard Bean, David Edgar and nine other writers, directed by Nicolas Kent and Indhu Rubasingham and performed by 14 actors (some with heavy English accents), on the history, sociopolitics and culture of Afghanistan is not for theatre goers expecting to view an entertaining theatre production. Rather it is a challenge for those who come to be more aptly informed about Afghan’s struggle to survive the repercussions of the competition between other countries to dominate Central Asia as well as the country’s own internal ethnic, economic corruption, and political conflicts.

For those awaiting more theatrically oriented and less didactic pieces, Part Three ends with two dramatically moving plays, the first depicting a young Afghan woman’s attempt along with American goodwill aid to begin a school for young girls despite her own brother and the Taliban’s resistance to educate young girls. The second play portrays two soldiers on duty in Afghan followed by one of the soldier’s return home to hear his wife reprimand him in the middle of the night about having to return to a useless cause of war in Afghan rather than remain at home and relate to his own small son.

These short plays written by a team of playwrights that combine monologues, dialogues, lectures, debates, interviews along with visual effects ranging from ethnic murals to modern videos, traditional garments to modern dress, presented on a almost bare stage with few props places the emphasis on the dramatization of the trilogy’s content. That dramatized content reveals the immense difficulty to resolve Afghanistan’s precarious role in assuring peace in Central Asia. If the main purpose of this trilogy is to inform and render the spectator conscious of Afghan’s uphill struggle to liberate itself from its interior and exterior turmoil, Trilogy Theatre in collaboration with Berkeley Rep have proudly succeeded.

The Great Game: Afghanistan plays through Nov. 7. Information on attending either Parts One, Two or Three (2 to 2 1/2 hrs. each Part) separately or the whole trilogy (7 hrs.) on a weekend may be obtained at 510-647-2949 or at Berkeley Rep.

Dr. Annette Lust - November Theatre Reviews

October Theatre Reviews Continued

2010-10-21T00:23:00.000-07:00

Who's Proof Is It Anyway?
The first scene of Proof begins on the night of Catherine's 25th
birthday. She is
a troubled young woman who wonders how much of her father's madness or
genius
she has inherited. Her father was a brilliant mathematician who
realized that he
could never surpass the genius of his youthful years. Catherine has
inherited some of her father's melancholia as well as his mathematical
skills. Her sister Claire wants her to to come to New York where mental
help is waiting. But Catherine shows Hal, the young graduate student
in love with her, a math proof that dazzles him and must convince him
and Claire that she is the one who wrote it.
Proof is both a penetrating character study as as well as a
gripping whodunnit. Nearly every scene in Proof is based on a piece of
information cunningly withheld until the last moment. Director Suzanne
Birrell picks up on the essential playfulness of the strategic games
set up in the script and directs her actors to toy with each other in a
playful manner to make this a contrast to the
serious side and to make it a really entertaining play. She also has
composed
elegant music to set up and sustain the tension of each scene.
Gabrielle Patacsil lets us see Catherine struggle with her deepest
fears, greatest desires and endless doubts. Nearly every scene
requires her to juggle a dizzying number of twists and turns. In this
extremely demanding role, she takes us on a brilliant journey. In the
role of Robert, Kevin Copps' portrayal was elegantly understated,
powerfully heightening the impact when he brings a focused intensity to
brief moments of anger and pain, regret and love. Eric Reid was a
delight as Hal. He contributed to the comedic moment so necessary for
the play's success. Theresa Adams shows the strength needed and
sacrifices Claire has made to create a "normal life" for herself. We
see how she survives by compartmentalizing and being "practical."
Ultimately the greatest credit for the unqualified success of this
production
is due to the Director Suzanne Birrell who draws from her actors
absolutely
genuine emotions, totally believable moment to moment, while never
losing sight
of the overall arc of the play.
Presented by Bell Jar Theatre, Proof continues through October 30 at
the
Exit Theatre (Stage Left), San Francisco. Obtain tickets in advance
through brownpapertickets.com and at the door.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

The Sunset Limited--The Subway of Earthly Existence

The San Francisco Playhouse has just opened its 8th season with the
West
Coast Premiere of The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy. The play
involves
only two nameless characters designated "White" and "Black," their
respective
skin colors. Offstage, just before the play begins, Black (Carl Lumbly)
saves
White (Charles Dean) from throwing himself in front of a train, the
Sunset Limited.
All of the action takes place in Black's sparse apartment in urban New
York, where
the two characters go (at the behest of Black) after their encounter
on the platform. Black is an ex-convict and evangelical Christian.
White is an atheist and a professor. They debate the meaning of human
suffering, the existence of God, and the propriety of White's attempted
suicide.
This play is hardly traditional theatre, because dialogue rather
than action drives
the story, yet McCarthy's language is so rich, that is makes up for the
lack of
incident. Lumbly and Dean are both marvelous in their roles and Bill
English's
set design is perfect. English is also the director and does a fine
job keeping everything at a level that is riveting from start to finish.
The Sunset Limited plays through November 6, 2010. For tickets,
call 415-677-9596
or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org. Coming up next at SF Playhouse is
Sandbox Series, the World Premiere of Seven Days by Daniel Heath,
directed by Susi Damilano from October 13 through November 6. Then next
on the Main Stage will be Coraline by David Greenspan and Stephen
Merritt; directed by Bill English, November 16, 2010-January 15, 2011.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Bay Area and Dominican Fringe of Marin's Twenty-Sixth Festival of New
One-Acts & Solos for Theatre Critics Awards.
For its 26th season new short one-acts and solos by Bay Area
playwrights, directors and actors will be performed to vie for Bay Area
Theatre Critics Best Play, Actors, and Directors awards. Granted a
Special Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, the Fringe of Marin
Festival will take place in Meadowlands Hall Theatre at Dominican
University of California, 50 Acacia Ave, San Rafael, from Nov.12 to
Dec.5, 2010, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.,
plus a 2 p.m. matinee on Sat. Nov. 20. The Festival features a
prominent magician-storyteller along with Bay Area and Beyond one-acts
and monologues ranging from light and dark comedy and drama about a
Victorian romance, an attack on psychiatry, and an imaginary meeting of
literary figures Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to an original
pantomimic farce. Admission $15-$17: seniors and students $10; children
$5. For reservations/info (415) 673-3131 or Jeanlust@aol.com
Annette Lust

Hedda Gabler--General Gabler's Daughter

Off Broadway West Theatre Company has just opened Hedda Gabler by
Henrik Ibsen as the first play of their fifth season. The entire play
takes place in Oslo, Norway in the 1890's in the Tesman's living room
and in a smaller room at the back. When the play opens, we view
General Gabler's portrait lit up with Hedda standing beside it to
indicate that Hedda, as a personality,
is to be regarded as her father's daughter, rather than as Hedda
Tesman, her husband's wife. From a slow beginning, the play
gradually builds in tempo and the tension mounts
until it becomes almost unbearable. This play is so closely knit, the
dialogue so pointed, the characters drawn with such fullness, yet with
such economy of means, that
not one word, nor one silence is superfluous.
Cecilia Palmtag's Hedda is a woman in her late 20's. Her face and
figure show breeding and distinction. She is able to convince people,
to charm them and to inspire confidence in them. Her cold exterior
hides a demon and to the credit of Cecilia Palmtag, that demon is
hidden. When the play opens quietly, we meet Bertha (Alison Sacha
Ross), George and Hedda Tesman's servant. Alison's Bertha tries very
hard to please Hedda, her new mistress,
but Hedda is quite dissatisfied with her. Maureen Williams' Aunt Julia
is well meaning and she is constantly hinting that Tesman and Hedda
should have a baby. Aunt Julia tries to get along with Hedda, but the
difference in their class backgrounds makes it difficult. After this
opening scene, George Tesman arrives. Adam Simpson's Tesman is an
amiable, intelligent, young scholar. He tries very hard to please his
young wife, Hedda. Soon, Thea Elvstead (Jocelyn Stringer) comes to call
on Hedda. Jocelyn plays her as a mousy girl who claims neither social,
nor individual superiority as does Hedda. When Mrs. Elvstead leaves,
Judge Brack (Peter Abraham) arrives. Peter Abraham brings great dignity
to his role. Paul Baird gives a sensitive portrayal of Eilert Lovborg
who arrives at the end of Act II. A genius, Lovborg is Tesman's
biggest competitor in the academic world. He seems greatly attracted to
Hedda.
Director Richard Harder directs Ibsen's masterpiece with both
clarity and
careful attention to detail in the relationships between the
characters. \
Set Designer Bert van Aalsburg creates a handsome and functional
set. The lovely period costumes were designed by Sylvia Kratins and
Colin Cross' lighting design is quite effective.
Hedda Gabler continues at the Phoenix Theatre through November 13.
For tickets,
call 800-838-3006 or go online at www.OffBroadwayWest.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Seven Days - The Ups and Downs of Love
The San Francisco Playhouse has just opened its second season of the
Sand
Box Series with the World Premiere of local playwright Daniel Heath's
Seven
Days directed by Susi Damilano. Seven Days is about the love stories we
tell each other and tell ourselves, and how a week can change
everything. Three relationships spanning three generations play out
over a single week as love is lost, found and diagrammed on the wall.

The play opens on day one which is a Sunday at an art exhibit
hosted by
our leading man, Al (innocently played by Cole Alexander Smith). He
has invited
his fiancee Anna (a sexy Jessica Coghill), his best friend Robert (a
more worldly wise Aaron Murphy), Robert's wife and Anna's boss Eva (a
no-nonsense Donna Dahrouge), Robert's father Tank, a country hick,
(David Cramer), and finally Al's mother Beatrice played by Phoebe Moyer
in a superlative performance as a conservative, uptight divorcee.
Our playwright, Daniel Heath, takes us on a journey of seven days
into the
lives of the entire cast. Each has a monologue spread throughout the
play of their
inner thoughts.
Set Designer Jeremy Harris sets the stage on risers. Graphics
Designer Rob
Dario lets us know with supertitles what day it is. Daniel Heath's
dialogue is
crisp and full of humor. Susie Damilano's clever direction provides
perfect timing
for her talented cast. The sold out house gave the performance an
outstanding ovation.
Seven Days plays at Stage 2 at the SF Playhouse through November 6,
2010.
For tickets, contact SF Playhouse box office at 415-677-9596 or go
online at www.sfplayhouse.org. Coming up next at the Main Stage of SF
Playhouse January 15, 2011 will be the West Coast Premiere of Coraline
by David Greenspan and Stephin Merritt directed by Bill English.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Sept/Oct Theatre reviews

2010-09-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

September/October 2010 Reviews

Word for Word's Wizardry in Bringing Literature to the Stage

It is hard enough for good companies to stage quality plays with a
readymade dialogue. And still fewer companies take on the challenge to
successfully instill dramatic life into novels and short stories. If
any theatre company can bring prose to life it is Word for Word that
has a unique talent for spotting novels and stories that can be
dramatized. And if the prose has little dialogue they have an acting
technique that effectively dramatizes and physicalizes narration. A
recent example is Word for Word's production of Elizabeth Strout's
novel Olive Kitteridge, presently being staged in their inaugural
season of Z Space at Theater Artaud.

Word for Word's world premiere of Strout's Olive Kitteridge,
consisting of two stories entitled "Tulips" and "River," is based on
the life of small town characters in Maine. The dramatic conflict
revolves mainly around forthright retired math teacher Olive
Kitteridge, magnificently interpreted by Patricia Silver along with
excellent performances by Paul Finocchiaro as her husband Henry, and
Patrick Alparone as son Chris. The main thrust of "Tulips" (performed
with a detailed staging that could gain in being trimmed down) focuses
on the relationship of Olive to her devoted Henry to whom she shows
dutiful affection and son Chris whose marriage to a flighty Suzanne
separates them. When Henry's stroke occurs, Olive, estranged from her
husband, faces loneliness accentuated by Chris' departure to
California. Her life now consists of watching her tulips blowing in the
wind (interpreted by a group of actors), visiting an immobile Henry in
a rest home, and taking six mile walks along the river.

Actress Patricia Silver and stage director Joel Mullennix's power to
move spectators lies in the realistic and masterful portrayal of
Olive's heartbreaking loss of her lifelong partner and her carefree son
that drive her to depressed suicidal feelings. Olive's psychological
state, sensitively and profoundly depicted without sentimentality or
melodrama, incites spectators to empathize with the protagonist's
hollow retired life and reflect on their own lives.

All the actors animate the narrated prose so well that one is not
aware that their lines are directly repeated from the printed word
until they say at the end of a line "he said or she said." Among other
cast members who enliven the text are Jeri Lynn Cohen as nurse Mary
Blackwell, Michelle Bellaver as Suzanne Kitteridge, Nancy Shelby as the
affected eccentric neighbor Louise Larkin, and Warren David Keith as
Jack Kennison, Olive's gentle male widower companion.

Director Joel Mullennix and scene designer David Szlasa create an
intimate and less hollowed stage space than the preexisting one by
seating audience members on both sides of the stage and playing parts
of the action among these spectators. Costumes (especially that of
Olive in the same old coat sweater) by Laura Hazlett, lights by Jim
Cave and sound by Tucki Bailey all are well suited to the characters
and action.
This unique company, now with a permanent address at Z Space and that
has staged classic and contemporary fiction since 1993, has once again
weathered the challenge to animate the written word and continue its
wizardry in admirably bringing literature to the stage.

Olive Kitteridge has been extended to Oct. 10th.. For information
call 800-838-3006 or visit www.Zspace.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

Zero to 90 in 90 Minutes

Zero to 90 in 90 Minutes is a smorgasbord of Short Plays and Monologues
written by four smart Bay Area women—Linda Ayres-Frederick, Joya Cory,
Ruth Kirschner and Naomi Newman. These plays most of which won awards
at the 2009 Fringe of Marin just won the Best of Fringe Best Plays
Award at the 2010 San Francisco Fringe Festival. The 19 year old S. F.
Fringe Festival produced 43 new plays from Toronto, to L.A., Boston to
the S.F. Bay Area. The titles of our Fringe of Marin plays in a group
of 7 plays presented at the S.F. Fringe Festival are Wabi Sabi by Ruth
Kirschner, Googling for Gerson by Linda Ayres Frederick, and Gussie and
Sam by Naomi Newman.

My particular favorites were the three plays which were previously
performed last fall at the 2009 Fringe of Marin Festival. First Place
would to go Gussie and Sam, written and directed by Naomi Newman. This
prize-winning play is a serio-comic look at two senior citizens facing
the challenge of living in a nursing home. Performed expertly by Linda
Ayres-Frederick and Paul Gerrior, the audience was roaring with
laughter with tears. This play really has depth. Wabi Sabi by Ruth
Kirschner and beautifully directed by Linda Ayres-Frederick is a
hilarious comedy about four neurotic strangers whose lives unwillingly
intersect at a bus stop. Delightful performances are given by the
entire cast—Juliet Tanner, Heidi Wolff, Linda Ayres-Frederick and Bruno
Kanter. This play was the winner of the Marin Fringe Festival Best
Play Award in 2009 (directed by Penny Wallace). Linda Ayres-Frederick
is amazing! She also wrote and performed Googling for Gerson, a
poignant, award-winning monologue about a Hispanic grandmother who
helps purchase a prosthesis for her grandson who has just returned from
the war.

Other plays on the program include another play written and directed
by Linda Ayres-Frederick called Waiting in the Victory Garden. In a
time of war, a young bride wonders if her new husband will survive his
deployment. Featured players include Juliet Tanner, Heidi Wolff and
Paul Gerrior. This play was previously performed at the 2007 Bay Area
One Act Festival at the Eureka Theatre. Ruth Kirschner wrote a
wonderful monologue called 15 Notes directed by Linda Ayres-Frederick
and featured Heidi Wolff who gave a sadly hilarious performance as
Arley Levine Wright who is trying to write a simple thank you note to
the doctor who has been caring for her dying father.
Last but not least was The Most Beautiful Showgirl in the World by
Janet Johnston and Joya Cory, directed by Maureen Studer. Joya gives a
stunning performance as Elayne, an aging showgirl. Then immediately
before our eyes, Joya transforms herself into Irma in Irma at the
Movies, which she also wrote, in which Irma fights a panic attack at
the movies.

I would also like to give credit to Jan Carty Marsh for her
outstanding work in lighting and sound effects.

Zero to 90 in 90 Minutes will be performed at the "Best of Fringe" on
Oct. 1 and 2 at the Exit Theatre on 156 Eddy Street, on Oct. 1 and 2.
For info call 415-931-1094 or visit www. sffringe.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Mamet's Political Parody
Just in time for the mid-term elections, comes "November." This 2008
farce by David Mamet concerns a U.S. President facing a bleak
re-election campaign who must look to the turkey lobby to boost his
sagging polls. Meanwhile, his speech writer has demands of her own to
legalize gay marriage.
Ross Valley Players' production stars Buzz Halsing as President
Charles Smith who is staring at extremely low poll ratings. In order
to fund his presidential campaign, he seizes an opportunity to extort
$200,000,000 from the Turkey Producers of America by threatening to
give a speech making a case for eating pork or fish on Thanksgiving
instead. The play begins with Stephen Dietz as the President's Chief
of Staff, Archer Brown, trying to knock some political sense into his
head. The President's best hope for money rests with a turkey lobbying
group, which is willing to pay substantial sums for the traditional
presidential pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey. But they have
unacceptable conditions which also causes problems for his lesbian
speech writer, Clarice Bernstein (LeAnne Rumbel) who wants the
President to marry her and her partner before he leaves the Oval Office
to make it legal.
The play then wraps up with a quick farcical moment including a
Native-American lobbyist (Romulo Torres) who tries unusual methods to
win some land for a casino and gay marriage advocates score a win at
the expense of several dead turkeys.
James Dunn, who directed the superb production of Glengarry Glenn Ross
last year, also by Mamet, directs November with an ear for the
musicality of the language. His smart staging elicits crisp
performances from all of his cast.
November continues at Ross Valley Players through October 17. For
tickets, call 415-456-9555 or go online at www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
Coming up next at Ross Valley Players will be Jane Austen's Pride and
Prejudice directed by Phoebe Moyer from November 12-December 12, 2010.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

The Name of the Game Is Money

Jerry Sterner's Other People's Money is currently playing at the
Masquers Playhouse. This play is about greed, money and passion.

Even though this play is dark, it is a very funny and human play. Most
of this comes through in Director Robert Estes' staging. The tightness
of his timing and the easy blending of drama and comedy are
accomplished with craft. Estes has much affection for the misguided
management of the venerable New England Wire and Cable company and for
Larry the Liquidator Garfinkle, who is covertly buying up company stock
in order to put it out of business at his own immense profit.

Affection is necessary for the comedy to work. Garfinkle and Kate
Sullivan, the lawyer who fights him, are not the nicest people. The
director and actors have the immense job of making audiences like Larry
and Kate. The humor is in their hands, as is the unlikely love
interest. Will Maier's calm, measured and calculatedly casual approach
to the role of Larry works without a flaw. Maier's sense of humor
informs Larry's every move. Equally well cast is Bonnie Antonini as
Kate, hard edged and fighting desperately to succeed in a man's world.
Her sense of laidback humor softens the sharpness of a difficult role.
Keith Jefferds has a refreshing reserve as the company's self effacing
CEO, Andrew Jorgenson, and a gentleman that makes logical the long
standing affection between Jorgenson and Kate's mother, Bea. As Bea,
Roy Anne Florence's matter of factness also anchors a good performance.
Frederick Lein sympathetically plays William Coles, the story's
narrator and manager of the company.

Other People's Money plays at the Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place,
Point Richmond, through October 2. For tickets, call 510-232-4031 or go
online to www.masquers.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Anton, Show Business and Life

Does art reflect life or does life reflect art is one of the issues
raised in Anton In Show Business which opened at Theatre FIRST,
Oakland's resident professional theater company's 2010-2011 season on
September 3, 2010. This madcap comedy features a multicultural cast
reflecting the Bay Area's diverse theater community. Written by Jane
Martin and directed by Theatre FIRST Artistic Director Michael Storm,
Anton In Show Business looks at what it takes to produce theater today.
The play tells of the efforts of Actors Express, a small San
Antonio theatre to stage a production of Chekov's Three Sisters.
Auditioning for Three Sisters are Casey, (Beth Deitchman), a struggling
veteran of 200 non-salaried roles off-off-Broadway; and Lisabette
(Megan Briggs), a young woman from Texas, ready to trade in a third
grade teaching job for a fling in the theater. Already set for the
play, and in the driver's seat is Holly (Josie Alvarez), a sexy
successful t.v. actress who has been convinced by her agent that doing
a classic stage play is her ticket to major movie roles. Most of the
evening's fun is provided by the multiple, richly comic portrayals of
members of both sexes by the balance of the company. Amaka Izuchi
delightfully plays T-Anne (the stage manager), a comically racist black
director and the arts fund manager for a tobacco company. Shannon Veon
Kase is wonderful as Kate, the hapless producer of Actors Express, Ben,
a country western singer engaged to play Masha's love, Vershinin, and a
gay costume designer. The same is true for Phoebe Moyer, who
hilariously portrays a fey English director, and movingly fleshes out
the longer role of an émigré Russian director. She has a brief third
role as an obnoxious donor. Phoebe steals the show in every scene she
is in.

The fluidity of the staging and the excellence of the performances
attest to the skill of Director Michael Storm. The satire and parody
here is often sharp, but it is also loving and forgiving. Anton In Show
Business will particularly have strong appeal to theater artists in its
depiction of the plight of theater professionals. Anyone with an
interest in theater will find the play both hilarious and moving.

Anton In Show Business plays at the Marian E. Green Black Box
Theatre, 531 19th Street in Oakland, California through September 26,
2010. For future productions visit www.brownpapertickets.com or call
510-436-5085.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Love and Diplomacy In Rome and Egypt
Antony and Cleopatra is Shakespeare's continuing saga of ancient Rome
which began with last summer's Julius Caesar at Marin Shakespeare.
Director Lesley Currier is a brave woman to tackle this seldom produced
historical play.
Lesley Currier's production of this drama of love and diplomacy is very
well realized with stunning performances full of deep emotion from
Marcia Pizzo and Marvin Greene as the great lovers.
The second great relationship of the play is also one of love and hate.
Octavius Caesar (played with great dignity by William Elsman) and
Antony are in some ways two sides of the same personality. The first
meeting is very impressively directed by Lesley Currier as the two
square up while the neutral Lepidus (Julian Lopez-Morillas) serves to
make peace between them. While the two main players are the
undoubted stars, the support, especially from the excellent Stephen
Klem as Enobarbus, Antony's wise general who easily sways between
carousing friend and guiding light, is impressive. His female
equivalent is Charmian, played with great feeling by Alexandra Matthew.
Cat Thompson's stately elegance as Octavia, sister of Caesar and wife
of Antony, is effective.
Mark Robinson's simple set design enhanced by Ellen Brooks' lighting
lets us focus on the characters and the rich language of Shakespeare's
text. Special mention and praise should go to Abra Bermann for her
outstanding costumes and to Billie Cox for her original score which
enhanced the mood of the play at every turn. Lesley Currier and her
outstanding cast have created a production which has sexiness,
lightness and great wit to counterbalance the tragedy of the last act.
Antony and Cleopatra plays at Forest Meadow Amphitheater, 1475 Grand
Avenue, Dominican University, San Rafael, California, August
20-September 25, 2010. For tickets future productions go online at
www.marinshakespeare.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Off Beat RAW Festival at RVP
In 2004, RAW (Ross Alternative Works) was born and for 5 seasons a
series of 6 staged readings followed by a discussion with the
playwrights. It is with great pleasure RAW has been upgraded for the
2009/2010 season to 2 four-day festivals of full production, A Winter
Festival, February 18-20 and a Summer Festival, August 19-22. The
co-producers of this Summer Festival are Tinka Ross and John Clevenger.

The first play presented was Ladies In Waiting by Zazu and directed by
well known Ross Valley Players Director Cris Castle. On March 16, 2005,
in California, a former pesticide salesman, Scott Peterson, was
convicted of murdering his wife and their unborn child, Connor. He was
sentenced to death and now lives on Death Row in San Quentin State
Prison. Peterson was on Death Row for less than an hour before
receiving his first marriage proposal. The Warden, a strong Myra
(played by Linda Livingston) claims Peterson receives hundreds of
letters per week from interested females. Since that time, a Free
Scott Peterson Death Row Pen Pal organization has developed and they
are committed to his release. One of these women will be granted a
visit with Scott from a lottery drawing.
The play opens in the San Quentin State Prison Death Row visitor
waiting room where we meet Bethanny (a bible thumping Shirley Nilsen
Hall); Bonnie (a very pregnant Anna Smith); Dodge (a very butch Alma
Deleon, formerly with Fringe of Marin) and Crystal (a hooker who steals
the show) in a dynamic performance by Melissa Claire.
After a 10 minute intermission, Arousal by George Pfirrman is
presented next. This play takes place in Albena's large studio
apartment. A young man with Asperberger's disease (an autism-like
syndrome) is played by Romolo Wilkinson who tries to seek relief from
his loneliness in the company of a Ukranian immigrant who is a
prostitute running away from her own problems. In this role Ariana
Hooper's movement is wonderful but her accented speech is a little hard
to understand. This play, directed by Alex Kuskulis is scheduled for
production at the SF Fringe Festival in September.
After another 10 minute intermission, we see the final play of the
evening, a farce titled Turning the Tables by Kathleen Bradley, which
takes place one night in "Cafe Froofroo" an upscale restaurant. A
financially strapped widow (Ruth Rosen) and her son (Burt Lampert) who
steals the show as a waiter, are struck running a restaurant after the
head of the family dies unexpectedly. Problems arise in the kitchen
when the former chef quits before they are set to open. They are fully
booked and neither one knows anything about running a restaurant.
Things go from bad to worse with the arrival of the first customers, a
proctologist (Jeffrey Orth) and his wife (Pennell Chapin formerly with
Fringe of Marin) and a second couple in loud Hawaiian clothing, David
Crane and JoAna Gray. These couples who have nothing in common agree
to meet for dinner to plan a wedding. This play directed by Dale
Camden has a great concept which would be improved by tightening and
pacing.
Coming up next at Plays in the RAW, another mini-season is planned for
2011 in February and August. For information, call Alex Ross, Business
Manager at 415-456-9555, extension 3 or contact
alexr@rossvalleyplayers.com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

August 2010 Reviews Continued

2010-08-16T00:50:00.001-07:00

August 2010 Reviews Continued
Berkeley Playhouse Revives Aladdin

This summer the Berkeley Playhouse brings the magic of Disney's
animated film Aladdin to the Julia Morgan Center, a Bay Area landmark
where the popular Arabian tale is performed in all of its exotic
splendor live on stage. The family oriented musical appealing to
spectators from four year olds to senior citizens moves beyond the
Disney film version to become enriched with elements of spectacular
Broadway musical and lively Bollywood dance integrating Indian and
Western dance. This fantasy tale that is innately filled with dramatic
action takes on even more action packed scenes by means of the
expressive movement choreography that accompanies and enlivens
Aladdin's multiple adventures to win his princess.

And yet the musical retains an intimate quality that brings back our
childhood memories of hearing the story read to us by our parents or
reading it ourselves for the first time in a big picture book with
colorful illustrations of Aladdin and his beautiful Princess he hopes
to win with the help of the Genie.

The Arabian tale revolves around Aladdin (William Hodgson), a poor
street urchin who falls in love with a Princess (Jenna Davi) who has
been presented by her father the Sultan (John Hale) and his courtier
(Anthony Rollins-Mullens) with many rich suitors she refuses to marry.
After seeing the princess at the market place, despite the fact that he
is not a prince himself, he is resolved to win her hand. A
happy-go-lucky Genie (Ted Barton) and his aide (Dan Saski), who jumps
out of a smoky cloud from a lamp Aladdin finds in the Sultan's cave
where he has been imprisoned, will help him. After the Genie gives
Aladdin three wishes he undergoes numerous challenges and adventures
including a voyage on a magic carpet (Hannah Dworkis). The piece ends
on a lyrical moral note that proves that it is not riches that wins all
but rather a loving heart.

Much of the success of this captivating West Coast Premiere is due to
the stage direction of Jennifer King along with Amy Dalton's music
direction, music by Alan Menken Amy Dalton and Phil Gorman, lyrics by
Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Jim Luigs, and the buoyant multi ethnic
choreography by Dane Pal Andres. Singing, dancing and acting by a
vibrant cast includes young interns that are part of the Berkeley
Playhouse educational internship program.

In their third season of fantasy delights, following Peter Pan and The
Wizard of Oz, The Berkeley Playhouses' Aladdin has once again
enthralled both children and grown-ups with a musical that mesmerizes
young audiences, is endearing to the memories of more mature spectators
and appealing to the eyes and ears of everyone who has the good fortune
to view it.
This exuberant and charming production of the storybook favorite
Aladdin performs until September 5 and will be followed by Cinderella
Enchanted from November 6 to December 5. For information and tickets
visit www.berkeleyplayhouse.org or call 510-665-5565.
Annette Lust
The Buzz and Bee—Humble Boy at Marin Actors Workshop

Humble Boy by British playwright Charlotte Jones and deftly directed by
Terry McGovern opened to the Flight of the Bumblebee which set the tone
for this production.

The Humble Boy of the title is Felix Humble (Ken Bacon), an emotionally
immature mid-30ish Oxford astrophysicist who makes a brief return to
his home
in the countryside for his father's funeral. His overbearing mother
Flora (Nan Ayres)
seems little moved by his father's death, and Felix takes it badly
when he finds she
has already planning to remarry. Especially when the groom-to-be is
George Pye
(Alex Ross) with whom she has been having an affair, and who happens to
be the
father of Felix's former girlfriend, Rosie (Georgia Thunes) whom Felix
abandoned
to take up his Oxford studies.

When a garden party is arranged by Mercy Lott (Bliss Leigh-Harshaw) to
bring them all together with the father's ashes in a small pot on the
table,
Mercy's solemn, but spiteful prayer sets the humorous mood for this
disastrous
dinner party.

Humble Boy seems to be loosely inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet
with quite a few parallels. Felix is quite unsettled and the question
of being
or not being does also arise. Significant in this regard is the
presence and
absence of very real bees as beekeeping was a hobby of his late father.

Terry McGovern has assembled an outstanding ensemble. Flora Humble ably
played by Nan Ayres is the queen bee of the Humble household always
the center of attention as the other characters buzz around her. At the
outset
she is more concerned about the results of her recent nose job than her
son's feelings over his father's death. As the play progresses
however, she
is forced to take a long look at herself and what she really wants from
life
and this ultimately brings her closer to her son. Felix (Ken Bacon) is
socially inadequate and obsessive in his narrow solitary interests.
Life is a
trial for him at the best of times and now he has to contend with his
mother's
lover who dislikes him and a hot and cold ex-girlfriend.

No wonder Felix stutters, particularly with words beginning with "b."
The bulk of the play revolves around the interactions between these two
and
their different ways of dealing with the death of a loved one. George
Pye played
with gusto by Alex Ross is confident, well built, modern and a big band
music
enthusiast. George is the complete opposite of James Humble, the
deceased
father of Felix. Rosie Pye as played by Georgia Thunes is intense and
sexy.
Hugh Campion is Jim, the gardener of the estate. He is the only one in
whom
Felix can truly confide. Bliss Leigh-Harshaw's Mercy Lott is kind but
she
doesn't seem to be all there.

The set by Dave Crone, Eugene De Christopher, Josh Garcia-Cotter and
Terry McGovern is a pretty country garden. At the back there is an
area for
gardening tools. At the end of the garden is a large beehive.
There is also an apple tree with some overhanging branches with a few
apples.

Humble Boy is rich, original, intelligent, funny and touching, bursting
with
ideas and characters that you come to care about as a result of
McGovern's
effective direction.

Humble Boy plays August 12-22 at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
and 3 p.m. Sundays at the Novato Theater Company Playhouse, Pacheco
Plaza Shopping Center, 484 Ignacio Blvd., Novato.
To order tickets, call 415-883-4498 or visit novatotheatercompany.org.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

JUly-August Reviews

2010-07-23T00:56:00.001-07:00

JUly-August Reviews
Time Passes But Love Remains In The Middle Ages
A.R. Gurney, has like Philip Barry before him, appointed himself a
chronicler of the American monied classes. Ross Valley Players is
currently presenting his work, the Middle Ages, a wry, comedic drama,
which predates the Dining Room, Mr. Gurney's best-known play.
The play opens in 1970 with an offstage funeral of Barney's father.
Barney (Peter Smith), the play's anti-hero, reminisces about how his
life has pivoted around this trophy room. Barney's great grandfather
was the first president of the once formidable club, and the
president's title has been handed down through the family to his
father. Barney, however, feels trapped by everything the club stands
for. Like the Middle Ages, he says, the existence of the club is a
"quiet, dull life punctuated by ceremony."
The play opens in 1970 when we first meet Barney and Eleanor (Monique
Sims), they are bitter, middle aged and lonely, and embroiled in a
bickering match over the details of Barney's father's funeral. The two
obviously share a long and complicated history. Before we know it, we
are transported back three decades to the 1940s when, in the same
trophy room, Barney and Eleanor first lay eyes on each other. Eleanor,
a shy girl, ducks into the room to escape a party and the pressures of
socializing. There she discovers Barney, a bratty, but charming rich
kid whose family have practically built the club. The two share an
instant attraction exchanging flirtatious glances.
Under the firm direction of Billie Cox, we get to freshly glimpse youth
at logger heads with tradition and the proverbial Old Guard. This play
may be seen as a sort of updated prodigal son story, with Barney as the
wayward son of a wealthy father. He is charming, popular, daring and
intellectual with Eleanor who decides to marry Barney's more stable
brother Billy (who's offstage the entire play). In spite of Eleanor's
rejection, Barney will always hold a secret flame for her.
While Barney's father Charles (Alex Shafer) and Eleanor's mother Myra
(Tamar Cohn) are both well intentioned, their refusal to allow Barney
and Eleanor the liberty of choosing their own paths results in a
lifetime of discontent.
Monique Sims and Peter Smith are wonderful as the central couple,
hitting all the right notes in Barney and Eleanor's pivotal
transformation from wide-eyed teens to disheartened adults. Tamar Cohn
is delightful as Myra, Eleanor's social climbing and overbearing
mother. Alex Shafer receives many laughs in his dry delivery of high
society "wisdom" as Charles. Performances of the Middle Ages
continue Thursday-Sunday through August 15 at Ross Valley Players Barn
Theatre, Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross. For tickets, call
415-456-9555 or go online at www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
Coming up next at Ross Valley Players will be November by David Mamet
directed by James Dunn, September 17-October 17, 2010. Flora Lynn
Isaacson

Thirty Days In September—Taut and Riveting

I had a very moving experience last night, July 21 when I attended a
dress rehearsal of Thirty Days In September at the Off Market Theatre
in San Francisco.
I personally was able to speak to the Director, Rooben Morgan who told
me that the play was about child abuse and incest and that it was set
in Delhi, India in 2001. At that time, women had to remain silent
concerning this topic.
Mala's (Nandini Minocha) abused childhood, her anger toward her mother,
and her own inability to put the past behind her, come in the way of
her romantic relationships that always end in 30 days, until she meets
Deepak (Abhi Katyal), a persistent young man who wants to help Mala but
doesn't quite know how. Their relationship is strained when Mala's
uncle, her abuser (Basab Pradhan) visits Mala and her mother, Shanti
(Rasmi Rustagi). Mala decides to confront the demons from her past,
but it isn't easy for her to forget.
Rooben Morgan very sensitively directed this wonderful play by
successful Indian playwright, Mahesh Dattani. Nandini Minocha really
shines in the very complex role of Mala. Her mother, Shanti is played
with great restraint by Rasmi Rustagi until her big scene at the end of
the play. Abhi Katyal is both charming and sympathetic in the role of
Mala's suitor, Deepak. Basab Pradhan, in addition to playing Mala's
uncle, plays a variety of men's roles. This play is a must see!
Indi Stage is committed to bringing the best of Indian theatre
tradition to the West Coast. Its production will make you laugh and cry
and never look at South Asian theatre the same way again. The Indi
Stage Company opens Thirty Days In September on Friday, July 23 for a
West Coast Premiere at the Off Market Theatre, 965 Mission Street, San
Francisco. The performances are held July 23-24 and July 29-31 at 8
p.m. and on July 25 and August 1 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available for
$20 at brownpapertickets.com

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Josephine the Pirate Queen--A Musical World Premiere

That dynamic duo, Pamela Barnes and Ellen Hoffman, have created a new
hit musical, Josephine the Pirate Queen which opened at the John and
Jean Knox Center for the Performing Arts at Contra Costa College, July
7-10 in San Pablo, California.
Josephine the Pirate Queen boasts a multi-racial cast of 72 under the
masterful direction of Clay David who also designed the wonderful
costumes along with Miguel Garcia and the amazing set design with J.R.
Morocco.
I attended a sold out performance July 10 when the audience went wild
in their enthusiasm for this amazing musical whose cast had an age
range of under 10 to over 70.
This musical opens on the deck of Captain Josephine's brigantine. The
Queen is recruiting her crew. Josephine (a very queenly British Tina
Marzell) sings the opening number "Josephine the Pirate Queen." I
might add that Ellen Hoffman is conducting the entire performance. The
crew agrees to sail with her as their captain and sing "Pollywogg
Sisters' Jig." The ship consists of masts and risers of different
levels which rotate. Director Clay David does an amazing job directing
the entire ensemble. Josephine orders weighing anchor the next day to
sail to visit the Governor of North Carolina. She confers with her
Quartermaster, Shirlee Slowly Treadwell (a very butch Jennifer Chong)
who sings "Ocean Lullaby" which is a little like Brahms. Hoffman's
music is very "pirate-like" and lots of fun.
Later that night, the ghost of Captain Kidd (a spooky Clay David)
appears to Josephine revealing he is her hanged grandfather. He seeks
revenge for his unjust death and sings "Captain Kidd's Ghost" and tells
her how to find the lost treasure he captured on his last voyage.
Josephine, posing as a merchant has sailed to North Carolina to visit
the Governor (also played by Clay David in another bravura
performance). This is followed by a beautiful scene with six mermaids
who sing "Song of the Mermaid Pirates." Other outstanding performances
are by Leslie Hassberg as the Genie Nimcha Jin-Jin, Erin Lockett and
Faith Matteson as the two cabin girls Gillie and Jenny Barleycorn and
Richard Kalman as the villainous Captain Burning Blackbeard and the
Admiral Archibald Hawksley Foggimorgan-Smyth who is the deux ex machina
in the end.
Pamela Barnes who produced the book and lyrics and Ellen Hoffman who
composed the music deserve to have the show mounted in another venue
with professional actors and singers where it will have a long run.
This show closed at Contra Costa College July 10 and Director Clay
David magically brought out the best in his cast of 72 who were mainly
students at the college.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

June Theatre Reviews

2010-06-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

June Theatre Reviews
The Pastures of Heaven/ Steinbeck Comes to Cal Shakes.
Climbing the trail to the amphitheatre, with your picnic dinner and
the blankets you'll need when the stars come out, you're in the groves
of heaven – ready for the pastures. This is the world premiere of John
Steinbeck's first novel, "The Pastures of Heaven,"adapted for the stage
by Octavio Solis. If you've read the book, your curiosity is up. How
could Stolis, the playwright, and Word for Word, the performing arts
company, make a play of this?
It's some of Steinbeck's most lyrical writing. The words are gorgeous
– sometimes like a love letter to the beauty of the earth – but not
stagey dialog. And instead of the plot line that people dramatizing a
book look for ("a one-string story"), Steinbeck gives a set of twelve
stories, about different families who live in the Salinas farmland and
become laced together over time – starting with the Battle family.
George Battle, a farmer who is "pleasure less and dour," goes looking
for "a good investment in a woman"; he finds a spinster who has a small
fortune and a mild case of epilepsy ("he didn't mind the epilepsy") –
plus a pyromaniacal desire to burn down the house and an ardent
obsession with Jesus. Their son "inherited her epilepsy and her mad
knowledge of God." And so the story begins.
It ends up with thirty-seven characters, played by eleven actors. Like
old friends, we recognize the same people appear in different guises.
For instance, we first meet Word for Word's Amy Kossow in a baby dress
playing an insane child; later she's back as the school teacher you
love to hate, and then as a totally different character, Ma Humbert.
When Catherine Castellanos first comes on she's Rosa Lopez, a singing
and dancing saloon keeper – in what evolves into a musical comedy
within the play, the music by Julie Wolf; later Castellanos reappears
as the pistol-totin' deputy sherriff – and finally in two more
reincarnations. JoAnne Winter, a founder of Word for Word and its
artistic director, has five roles, in various wigs and variously padded
sets of boobs. The beautiful Emily Kitchens makes great use of her big,
expressive eyes in all three of her roles. The multiple character
changes stir a sense of awe for the magic of theatre.
For me, the best-cast actor plays the worst guy, Shark Wicks, a
money-grubber without any money. His body language shows he could
easily take your head in his mouth. Shark vicariously plays the stock
market, and his imaginary ledger grows into a fortune he brags about –
his apparent wealth earning the admiration of all his neighbors until.
. . (You have to come see for yourself.)
In the book, all the characters are irresistible. I can see why
Octavio Solis couldn't resist letting them all be part of the play. But
in my opinion, he should have resisted. Even in the idyllic setting of
California Shakespeare's Bruns Amphitheatre, on a
less-freezing-than-usual night, we were only three hours into the play
when the man next to me heaved a sigh of self pity – the same self pity
that most of the audience felt but didn't vocalize. When the ending
came, the same man, who happens to be a drama critic, raved to another
critic: "You'll see this in Ashland in two years. Mark my words! Of
course, they'll have to make some cuts." Meanwhile, this world
premiere, long as it is, is not to be missed. Just remember to include
a thermos of coffee in your picnic basket.
"Pastures of Heaven" will continue at Cal Shakes through June 2 Next
at Cal Shakes, "Mrs. Warren's Profession," by George Bernard Shaw.
Marjorie Leet Ford.
Woody Guthrie's American Song Relevant Today

Woody Guthrie's American Song is a musical review of Guthrie's best
loved material that follows the
singer from the Great Depression through the Dust Bowl and on to the
promised land. Opening June 1
to a standing ovation, Marin Theatre Company has a hit on their hands!
Conceived, adapted and directed by Peter Glazer, the script is
made up of excerpts of Guthrie's writings
that serve as a bridge between his songs. All five actors in the cast
recite bits of Guthrie's autobiographical
writings and all three men (Sam Misner, Matt Mueller and Berwick
Haynes) take turns personifying
Guthrie and the two women (Lisa Asher and Megan Pearl Smith) play
nameless migrant workers, boxcar
riders, fellow musicians and American families.
Woody Guthrie sang about hard times and about the joys of being
alive in America. This stirring musical features more than two dozen
of his tunes, including such classics as "This Land Is Your Land" and
"Bound for Glory." Marin Theatre Company's production follows Guthrie
as he rambles coast to coast and also features three live musicians:
Tony Marcus, Musical Director on the mandolin, fiddle and banjo; Chuck
Ervine on the bass and harmonica, and Harry Yaglijian on the guitar,
mandolin, piano and something called
dobro. Jeff Waxman deserves a lot of credit for his rousing musical
arrangements.
Woody Guthrie wrote songs about hard times--the Great Depression,
the Dust Bowl, high
unemployment and war. This is why Guthrie's American Song is so
relevant today. Not since the Great Depression, inflation and economic
instability so shaken our country. Combined with the ongoing war,
Americans are once again asking who we are as a nation. Now it is time
to turn to Woody Guthrie to seek inspiration, advice and hope.
Melpomene Katakalo's simple set is carried out by the cast
setting out a box car, a migrant camp and a
bowery bar. David Elliot's lighting was especially effective to create
mood as were Jocelyn Herndon's
period costumes with plaid shirts and suspenders.
Woody Guthrie's songs describe conditions which need to be
changed. In unity with others, we can
together, make these necessary changes.
The run has just been extended through June 27. For tickets,
please check www.marintheatre.org or call
415-388-5208.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

All My Sons Revived at S.F. Actors Theatre

Arthur Miller's 1947 Tony Award winning play All My Sons, made into a
popular film in 1948, opened
May 15th at the S.F. Actors Theatre. The action takes place during
World War II and centers around
the Kellers and the Deevers who are neighbors living side by side and
whose fathers in both families were involved in knowingly selling
faulty airplane cylinders that caused the deaths of twenty-one
aviators.
The father of the Deever family has been imprisoned while, due to
supposed illness, Joe Keller avoided
being incriminated and imprisoned when the probing took place.
Meanwhile Ann Deever, engaged to Larry
Keller, at war overseas and feared to be to have been killed in
action, is being courted by brother Chris
Keller. The members of both the Keller and Seever families suspect Joe
Keller's guilt. Their probing of
Joe Keller about not confessing and not making up for his act gradually
unveils the playwright's intention
to write a play entitled
"All My Sons" that offers a strong message about human
responsibility.y
Centered on guilt and blame, material pursuits, and moral liability to
society and other humans, the protagonist is finally brought to
admitting that his act was immoral. As he reads a last letter from his
son
at war about his involvement concerning the death of the twenty-one
aviators Joe Keller cries out
"They were all my sons!" The playwright has ingeniously shared with the
audience the revelation of
the hero's psychological and social condemnation that grabs and holds
our interest throughout.
The actors in this production, directed by Joyce Henderson (who also
plays Kate, Joe Keller's wife)
and Jonathan Musser as assistant director, live up to the challenge of
portraying this intricate psychological conflict. Tandy Hurst is highly
convincing as the clever and cowardly business man Joe Keller, who
attempts to rationalize his immoral act until the end. Joyce Henderson
as Kate Keller is the dynamic force
around which most of the action takes place. Nahry Tak as Ann Deever
in love with Chris Keller is played
as a gentle unassuming young girl who quietly makes everyone aware of
their moral responsibilities.
Nicholas Russell offers a strong portrayal of the heartbroken son
persisting to make his father amend his
deed. Vlad Sayenko's plays George Deever as a son embittered about his
father's imprisonment.
Sue Baylis' Larissa Archer is a cheerful, smiling young mother and
the remainder of the cast,
Eric Pederson as Dr. Jim Bayliss, and Phil Goleman and Linnae Caudy
as Frank and Lydia Lubey create believable interpretations.
The Actor's Theatre production of All My Sons captivates the viewer
through a powerful revelation
of truths that bring about high levels of dramatic tension involving
moral and social conduct . It also incites a self an examination of
one's own unethical actions that could affect others who are likewise
"all one's sons."
All My Sons continues through June 26th. For info and tickets call
415-345- 1287.
Dr. Annette Lust

A Feminist View of Success

Set in 1980's London, at the Top Girls Employment Agency, Top
Girls by feminist playwright, Caryl Churchill, opened May 21st at Ross
Valley Players. Top Girls tells the story of an ambitious career woman,
Marlene (Loring Williams), who has just been appointed head of the
firm. Her success moves between fantasy and realism, time and space,
poverty and affluence as it reveals family secrets and sacrifice. Top
Girls features a wonderful all female ensemble including Michelle
Darby, Lina Makdisi, Carolyn Power, Susan Donnelly, Theresa Miller,
Melissa Claire and Chelsea Stone. Director Cris Cassell has
acccpmplished skillfully a difficult task of making these many
characters come to life through their speech with a variety of dialects
including upper class British, Scottish, japanese, Italian, Dutch,
Cockney, and Suffolk.
Top Girls will continue to play through June 6th. For tickets
call (415) 456-9555 or go on line at http://www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
On Sunday, June 27th from 2:00p.m.-5:p.m. at the Barn Theatre, Marin
and Art and Garden Center, Ross Valley Players will be celebrating
their 80th Anniversary. At $28.80 a ticket, there will be a buffet with
wine and scenes from RVP shows through the decades. Coming up next at
Ross Valley Players from July 16th-August 15th will be The Middle Ages
by A. R. Gurney directed by Billie Cox.
Floralynn Issacson

Best of Playground Plays at Fourteenth Annual Festival

At this year's S F Bay Area Critic's Circle Ceremony for 2009 Awards on
May 3rd, the prestigious Paine Knickerbocker Award, named for the
former S.F. Chronicle critic, was attributed to Playground for its
support of the development of local playwright's new works. On the
heels of receiving this award, Playground opened
its fourteenth Festival of original plays by emerging playwrights for a
four-week period in May.
.
First up of seven plays on the program is A Futurist Supersaga in Six
Acts by Tim Bauer, directed
by Jon Tracy. Bauer's play is based on Futurism, an artistic and social
movement that began in Italy in
1909 to convey the energy and movement of mechanical processes in the
future with emphasis on technology, speed and violence. Performed by
Liam Vincent as the Man and Stacy Ross as the Woman, the play consists
of six of brief acts depicting a priest and a woman in a confessional,
global warming, a current book, the
American Dream, future playwriting, and terrorism. Expertly performed,
this brilliant fast paced piece
is raced through so rapidly that future predictions, often enacted
comically, are appreciated only when one
can catch them.
Seven Nightmares by Erin Bregman, directed by M. Graham Smith, centers
around the
weirdly violent nightmares of a father (Brian Herndon) and his nine
year old daughter (Elena Wright)
with Jomar Tagatac as the detective of "exceptionally strange
occurrences." Is the replaying of the father's
and daughter's nightmares ending with blood on the daughter's stomach
and a large knife beside her
merely a nightmare or an actual killing? The playwright's response is
"It is up to the viewer to find the
solution !"
The Safety of Pools by Malachy Walsh, directed by Molly Noble, is
based on a young mother's
(Rhinabeth Apostol) fear that she and her husband (Liam Vincent) and
baby will be attacked in their
neighborhood . So after she brings home a gun her husband embraces and
reassures her that all will be all
right. The periodic wailing of the baby and the mother's picking it up
and rocking it underlines the
theme of this simple but emotionally compelling piece.
Back to Earth by Evelyn Jean Pine, directed by Barbara Oliver, is
partially sung to the music
of J. Raoul Brody. Husband (Brian Herndon) believes his life and
family are solidly happy while his
wife ( Stacy Ross) yearns for "the touch of a kiss" and their daughter
(Elena Wright) sings "they only
act happy!" This expertly directed and performed piece of a supposedly
contented family offers light comic moments through the dialogue and
songs that bear a somber message about the illusions of marriage
and family life.
The New Season by Tom Swift, directed by Lee Sankowich ,is a
charmingly hilarious comedy about gay partners (Liam Vincent and Jomar
Tagatac) who go on a road trip to New York but begin by arguing about
which music they will play on their trip-Lady Gaga or Frank Sinatra.
Nonetheless their argument is
resolved as they reach the Big Apple and joyfully bellow out together
"Its Up To You New York!.
Undone by Diane Samson, directed by Jim Kleinmann, revolves around a
couple's discussion about
their two very different daughters. Wife (Stacy Ross) calls the older
daughter (Rinabeth Apostol) a
psychopath because she has poured hot coffee on the younger divorced
daughter 's (Elena Wright) little
baby. Husband (Brian Herndon) retorts that it was just an accident.
Well directed and performed, the play depicts familiar family conflicts
that always seem undone.
The Audition by Alex Moggridge, directed by Tracy Ward, is a clownish
farce that satirizes
the competitive nature of auditions through the actions of two
characters (Liam Vicent as The Bear and
Brian Herdon as The Ape) trying out for The Hairy Ape who knock and
drag away a third auditioner
(Bart played by Jomar Tagatac) in order to obliviate his competition
while the naïve Casting Director
(Rinabeth Apostol) is oblivious to all.
This latter comic parody is the perfect uplifting and merry ending for
creations that range from
dark satires on today and future worlds to domestic and personal dramas
and conflicts that are excellently interpreted by a team of talented
local Bay Area actors.
For information about future productions at Playground visit
htpp://Playground.SF.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

Last Girl Standing at San Francisco Playhouse

A hit at last year's Humana Festival, Allison Moore's Slasher, that
opened earlier this month at
the San Francisco Playhouse, is a comedy-thriller about an actress cast
as the final girl in a slasher flick
only to find her outraged mom determined to shut the exploitative
production down.
According to Artistic Director Bill English, "There is something
truly unique about Allison's feminist
take on the 'low budget horror genre,' a field totally dominated by men
and scandalously exploitive of
women. By setting her protagonist's coming of age story in the milieu
of 'schlock horror' she puts a great
spin on the struggle of a woman to forge an identity against impossible
odds while skewering the macho
world at the same time. Trapped between her mom's knee-jerk feminism
and her director's lust for
titillation, Sheena turns the tables on the power structure from within
while being exploited by it."
Slasher is set in a small town and focuses on a sad family
consisting of a bitter crippled mom in a
wheelchair (Susie Damilano), a brainy younger sister Hildy (Melissa
Quine) and the older sister, the
beautiful Sheena (Tonya Glanz), who works as a waitress in a bar called
Buster's for a minimum wage.
Set Designer Bill English cleverly moves the action back and
forth from a construction area where
low-rent filmmaker Mark Hunter (Robert Parsons) films his bloody scenes
to the domestic living room
where Sheena and Hildy are dominated by their mother, Frances, to the
bar, and Mark's hotel.
Robert Parsons excels as a sleazy director finding his next big
star, the "Last Girl" for the movie in a
bar (the Last Girl is the woman who will be killed last, therefore the
one with the most screen time).
Tonya Glanz, as the seemingly innocent blonde teenager, Sheena, is
hilarious and impressive. SF Playhouse
co-Founder and Producing Director Susie Damilano plays Sheena's
demented mother Frances to the hilt.
Cole Alexander Smith is convincing as a young film student eager to
work at any price. Melanie Sliwka's contributions are versatile as the
other woman on the set, a cool t.v. reporter and a member of the Holy
Shepherd League Church. Jon Tracy is the director of the many short
scenes which happen instantly,
one after another. This lively spoof on slasher films is both
ambitious and brilliant.
Slasher runs through June 5 at the SF Playhouse
(www.sfplayhouse.org or 677-9596).
Also running at SF Playhouse, Stage 2 is the Apotheosis of Pig
Husbandry by William Bivins and
directed by Bill English through June 12.
Coming up next at SF Playhouse from June 11-September 4 will be
The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and
Harvey Schmidt and directed by Bill English.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

The Breath of Life-Overnight on the Isle of Wight
"Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge."--Gaugin.

Gaugin's quotation serves as the motto for this moral tale of two
women, both in their sixties, whose
lives are interwoven in ways neither of them yet understands.
Madeleine Palmer (Susan Maeder) is
a retired curator, living alone on the Isle of Wight. One day, to her
door, comes Frances Beale
(Phoebe Moyer), a woman she has met only once, who is now enjoying
sudden success, later in life,
as a popular novelist. The progress of a single night comes
fascinatingly to echo the hidden course of their lives.
Spare Stage is now presenting a West Coast premiere of the Breath
of Life by David Hare and directed by Stephen Drewes. In this play,
Frances, after having written a letter a year ago, finally gets the
nerve to visit Madeleine who was the mistress of Martin, Frances'
husband, but Martin has now left both of them to be
with a younger woman in Seattle. Frances seeks "closure"; Madeleine
doesn't need it. Frances wants answers; Madeleine doesn't want to give
them. The scorned duo attempt to make peace with one another and with
the facts of their shared abandonment during a 24-hour encounter on the
Isle of Wight.
Phoebe Moyer is both solid and practical in her portrayal of
Frances, and Susan Maeder is both acid
and brittle as Madeleine. Stephen Drewes' production on an elegantly
cluttered seaside set does its best to persuade us that there is a
drama here, when all we really get is a conjuring trick of breathtaking
skill.
Breath of LIfe continues until June 6 at NOH Space, 2840 Mariposa
Street, San Francisco. For tickets ($18-$25) go to
brownpapertickets.com.
To learn more about future events at Spare Stage, visit their
website the www.sparestage.com and
join their mailing list.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

May Theatrereviews

2010-05-15T18:30:00.001-07:00

May Theatre Reviews

Berkeley Rep's New Minimalist Musical Girlfriend

The catchy title of Girlfriend in the recent world premiere of
composer, lyricist, and playwright Todd Almond and Matthew Sweet (music
and lyrics) directed by Les Waters
sparks our curiosity early in the dramatic action and even more as the
action continues and only two male students remain on stage to go see
the same movie night after night.
And as the action continues there is little mention nor any appearance
of a girlfriend
except when Mike mentions that he has broken up with her. And aside
from the songs both males sing and their dances there is a paucity of
dramatic action and dialogue that when present is sparse. Yet it is
that very paucity that feeds our curiosity and retains our interest
throughout.
This minimalist dramatic action and dialogue is also what gives
the music and lyrics their due. The music and lyrics of such pieces as
"I've Been Waiting," "We're the Same," "Your Sweet Voice," "You Don't
Love Me," "I Wanted to Tell You" from the 1991 album "Girlfriend" suit
the youthful naiveté and the timid sweetness of these two young
students in the early stages of their love affair.
Ryder Bach creates an irresistible, innocent, lovable child-like
student waiting for an invitation from Mike (Jason Hite), a sports
loving, conventional type student who surprises himself becoming
attracted to Will.
Joe Goode's youthfully vivacious choreography brings variety and
dynamic movement to the more static moments of the characters' fearful
hesitation to approach one another.
David Zinn's set likewise is minimalist. A sofa also represents
seats in a car and a pull out bed.
Finally it may just be this minimalist dramatic action and
dialogue and the banal simplicity of the lyrics that provide the very
refreshing originality of Girlfriend.
For info for future productions call 510-647-2949. Or visit
berkeleyrep.org
Dr. Annette Lust

Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman A Relevant Melodrama

Directed by Aurora's Barbara Oliver in the melodramatic style of the
late nineteenth century, this new challenging version created by David
Eldridge, retains the flavor of this genre and period.
The play opens with Borkman's wife Ella ( Karen Lewis) and
sister-in-law Gunhild (Karen Grassle), twin sisters, exposing the
dramatic action in the salon while former prisoner Borkman (James
Carpenter) is pacing the floor above the living the room.We learn that
former rich banker Borkman has spent eight years in prison and five on
the upper floor, like a sick wolf in a cage, estranged from his
embittered wife after embezzling funds a la Bernie Medoff from his
clients. To clear the family name Ella will engage their young son
Erhart (Aaron Wilton) while the lonely and ill Gunhild also wants to
lure the young man to live with her. But Erhart wants to free himself
from their claws to live his own life and find happiness with the
divorcée Fanny Wilton (Pamela Gaye Walker).

This character based, next to the last of Ibsen's dramas, is
considered one of his most fierce or barbarous. It offers a number of
high voltage scenes such as the one in which a frail elderly Borkman
angrily storms out of the house into the wind and snow to find the path
to freedom. Each character is dynamically portrayed. James Carpenter's
Borkman is the stubborn, power hungry, self serving male who has
sacrificed love in order to continue ruling over an imaginary empire of
wealth. His wife Ella is the moral strong-willed spouse and his
sister-in-law, the woman he once loved and gave up for power who is
hardened because of losing Borkman, still finds compassion for him and
has directed her love to his son Erhart. Jack Powell's interpretation
of Borkman's sole friend Vilhelm brings some comic relief to the action
as the eccentric poet. Aaron Wilton's Erhart plays the youthful male
in search of passion and happiness. Lizzie Calogaro interprets the
simple minded maid and the naïve violinist daughter of Vilhelm .
Despite the use of an exaggerated theatricality in some parts of
the production, the cast rises to the challenge to make the action
relevant and the emotions believable and dramatically compelling.
Sets by John Lacovelli make use of every inch of the playing space
and costumes by Anna Oliver lend period splendor to the ensemble.
John Gabriel Borkman continues through May 9th. For information
call 510-843-4822 or visit aurorathatre.org
Dr. Annette Lust

34th Annual Bay Area and Beyond Theatre Awards Ceremony

On Monday, May 3, 2010, the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle proudly
hosted their 34th Annual Awards Ceremony to celebrate Bay Area theatre
excellence during 2009. Awards will be given at the Palace of Fine Arts
Theatre Lobby for outstanding achievement during 2009 in: Touring, Over
300 Seat Theatres (Drama and Musical), 100-300 Seat Theatres (Drama and
Musical) and Under 99 Seat Theatres (Drama and Musical).
The complete list of Nominees is at theatrebayarea.org/programs.
Representing the print and electronic media, the Circle announced the
winners of 37 Drama awards and 38 Musical awards from 250+ nominated
actors, designers, productions, and more reviewed in 2009. Over 400
productions were seen in 2009 by the 23 Circle critics reviewing
theatre from San Jose to Santa Rosa, San Francisco to Concord.
Following the economic disasters of 2002, the Circle's corporate
donations disappeared. And the theatre galas that had been an
eagerly-anticipated annual event with 400-plus attendees became small
invitation-only affairs for award winners only. But this year with the
generous support of the Actors' Equity Association (sponsor of this
year's event), the Circle once again invites the public to gather and
celebrate! These parties are tremendous fun and feature an electric
atmosphere of award hopefuls and appreciative theatre-goers. For one
fun night only, the fourth wall is stripped away, and those amazing
actors are up close and personal for elbow-rubbing and/or admiring from
afar.
Actors' Equity was the proud sponsor of the SFBATCC Awards. Actors'
Equity, which represents over 1000 professional stage actors and stage
managers in the Bay Area, shares with the Critics Circle a common goal
to support professional Equity theatres in order to improve the
livelihood of the artists who work in those theatres. Tom Kelly and Dr.
Annette Lust

'Tartuffe' Performed at Sixth Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa CA

This provocative, funny and visionary tale by master French playwright
Moliere was first performed
privately for King Louis XIV of France in 1664. Scandal ensued and the
play was banned, but in 1669
the King relented and it was finally deemed fit for the public. Reviews
of Tartuffe invariably point to
its message: timely even after 350 years, it reveals how little human
nature has changed. It is at once
reassuring and disturbing, hilarious and frightening.

The story at its heart is simple: Orgon, pious head of an
upper-class family, is duped into surrendering
control of his household by the swindler Tartuffe, who masquerades as a
religious leader. Orgon's
lovely wife Elmire, equally lovely daughter Marianne, petulant son
Damis, and witty maid Dorine are all
in an uproar over Tartuffe's presence.
Santa Rosa's Sixth Street Playhouse has mounted this heady piece
with stylish gusto and originality,
with skillful staging and directing by Sheri Lee Miller, based on a
script from Richard Wilbur's translation, and creative costuming by
Pamela Johnson. Lighting, sound and scenic designers offer
amd pleasing stagecraft that helps establish the fun yet important
atmosphere of the piece.
Modern touches, in bits of wardrobe and music, provide delightful
surprises.
The ensemble performance is strong. Mary Gannon Graham as Dorine is
an absolute standout with
spot-on comedic timing. Eric Thompson's Orgon is bright but hapless,
not an easy combination to
pull off. Keith Baker as Tartuffe fairly slides across the stage in a
wickedly slimy turn. Also notable
are Jenifer Cote as Elmire, Kendall Carroll as Marianne and Jimmy
Gagarin as Valere. John
Craven as Cleante and Freddie Lambert as Damis were rather stiff in
technique, but may loosen up with time.
Treachery and lechery abound, but the real lesson of the play is not
how someone can be as
duplicitous as Tartuffe – it's how an otherwise intelligent and
successful person like Orgon can allow himself to be so easily and
completely fooled. Much to ponder here, but just as healing medicine
can
have a sugar coat, the timeless wisdom contained in Moliere's Tartuffe
is covered in glee, a pleasure
to consume, with its benefits lasting many hours and days and years.
For future productions of Rent beginning May 29th to June 27th at
the 6th Street Playhouse
call 707-523-4185 or visit www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
Suzanne Angeo

Master Class: A Lesson In Art and Life

A superb production of Terrence McNally's Master Class opened at the
New Conservatory Theatre
Friday, April 2. Because of the intimate setting of this theatre, I
liked this presentation better
than Berkeley Rep in 2004.
McNally's play, which won a Tony Award in New York, is constructed
very simply on an almost
bare stage except for a red velvet drape upstage and a grand piano
stage left and a chair and footstool
stage right, Callas with her accompanist, Manny (Kenneth Helman),
preside over a master class.
She appraises students who seek a career in opera and critiques their
presentation,
stage presence, and vocal quality.
Master Class is a series of auditions between the master teacher,
Callas, and her student.
As well as a vivid character portrait of this dynamic artist who held
back nothing to create her art.
Michaela Greeley's Callas is witty. She's melodramatic,
self-serving, harsh and sarcastic. Above all,
she is passionate and committed to her work. She tells students they
need three qualities: discipline,
technique and "mut," the German word for courage.
Students of this "Master Class" are not kindly treated by Callas.
Her first student, Sophie de Palma
(Alyssa Stone) is a plump, shy soprano who is mocked by Callas for her
lack of "a look" and told to wear
a longer skirt or slacks. The second soprano, Sharon Graham (Holly
Nugent) is raked over the coals for
being dressed to go to a ball and for not being up on her Shakespeare
before attempting to sing Lady Macbeth. The tenor, Anthony Candolino
(Gustavo Hernandez) won't allow himself to be put down and actually gets
to perform the first act aria from "Tosca. Fine performances are also
given by Kenneth Helman as Manny,
the accompanist; Alyssa Stone as Sophie, the soprano in search of a
look; Holly Nugent as the soprano
who needs to brush up on her Shakespeare; Gustavo Hernandez as Tony,
the determined tenor, and
Randel Hart as a stagehand in search of a footstool and a cushion for
Callas.
Kuo-Hao-Lo designed the simple, appropriate set for the play.
Arturo Catricala who directed
Master Class moves it flawlessly for a striking night of theater.
For info call 415-861-8972 or go online at www.nctcsf.org. for
upcoming productions.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Threshold:Theatre on the Verge' "Terroristka".
"Terroristka" by Rebecca Bella, that opened on May 2nd at the Berkeley
City Club, is based on a on a true story about Zarema Muzhakhoyeva,
arrested in Moscow for having carried a bomb she decided not to
detonate. Director Jessica Holt imaginatively stages Bella's play in
the mindd of Zarema while Zarema is in jail for killing the FSB
Operative assigned to disarm the bomb. Zarema, referred to as
"Jailbird," is on a barred platform on one side of the room. Lena,
widow of of Alex, who died trying to diffuse the bomb, has a baby in
her arms on the opposite side of the stage.The main action of the play
takes place in the center of the room with the audience on each side
and all the events we see here are in the mind of Jailbird, played by
Kate Jopson, who tells her story.
The time of the play is summer 2003 and beyond. Act 1 takes place
in the Caucasus Mountains where a young and innocent 22 year-old Zarema
(Sarah Rose Butler) meets young Mohamed played by Geof Libby. They are
in a training camp in the hills of Chechnya. Everyone in the camp is
there because they lost family in the fight for Chechen independence
and are looking to strike back at Russia. The rebel leader, Rustan
(Alex Curtis), drills them on cover stories, and Fatima (Adrienne Krug)
trains women to set off bombs. Act 2 takes place in a train cabin
heading toward Moscow where Zarema is traveling with both Rustan and
Mohamed. Zarema's desire to go to Moscow reminds me very much of
Chekov's "Three Sisters." Here, Zarema is unknowingly wired to set off
a bomb. Act 3 takes place in Moscow, where Zarema leaves her handbag
with the bomb and runs away. This is is when Alex is killed as he tries
to disarm the bomb. This is followed by an Epilogue between Jailbird
and Lena (Molly Holcomb) who sings a bitter lullaby to her baby. I
felt that Lena's songs throughout the whole show were werevery
Brechtian.
Chad Owens' set contained red backdrops hanging at the back of the
jail and in Lena's room. Tammy Berlin's Russian costumes were
effective. Gregory Sharpen's sound design contained train sounds and
ominous music.
According to Dir. Jessica Holt, "Past and present collide,
intersect and overlap as Zarema's future self, Jailbird is flooded with
memories of the events that led her past-self to the pivotal moment of
decision. Thus, the play stages past and present simultaneously, the
effects of which present a metaphysical court to materialize where both
Jailbird and the audience can witness the choices and mistakes that
have created her current reality."
"Terroristka" is a multi-disciplinary theatrical event, which combines
verse, song, choreography, and visual art. This beautiful and moving
play will continue Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m., May 13-15, and 5
p.m., Sunday, May 16, at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue in
Berkeley CA. For tickets and information, the public may call
415-891-7235 or visit http://thethresholdproject.blogstop.com/.
Tickets may also be purchased from Brown Paper Tickets:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/106372.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

The Little Prince Wins 1st Place Honors at 25th Anniversary Fringe of
Marin Ceremony With grateful thanks to Dr. Annette Lust, Artistic
Director and Festival Coordinator, the Dominican University Community
Players and the Fringe of Marin just celebrated their Silver
Anniversary. Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Best Play,
Director and Actors were announced Sunday, May 2, 2010 at Meadowlands
Assembly Hall at Dominican University. The first awards presented
were for Best Play. The pride of 1st place went to the stage
adaptation of the beloved children's classic, The Little Prince,
written for staging by the Fringe and Dominican Players' founder
Dr. Annette.Lust. The 2nd place winner was Kimberly Peterson, for her
one-woman show, A Woman Grows In Brooklyn. 3rd place honors went to
Jeffrey Smith, Bay Area Critics Circle member for his play, Culture
Clash, Nature vs. Nurture. There was a tie for 4th place between Jack
Foley for Shavius/Diabolus: G Bernard Shaw In Hell and Roberta Palumbo
for Last Act. There was a three-way tie for 5th place between Bay Area
Critics Circle member Linda Ayres-Frederick's Naked Face, Naked Wood,
Naked Moon; Mark Lewis for Controlled Substance and Roger Marquis for
Memories. Next up were the awards for Best Director. Sasha
Litovchenko of The Little Prince won 1st place for Best Director. 2nd
place went to Lewis Campbell for Shavius/Diabolus: G. Bernard Shaw In
Hell. Nancy Long won 3rd place for Memories. Roberta Palumbo and
Flora Lynn Isaacson came in 4th place for Last Act and Bay Area Theatre
Critics Circle member Linda Ayres-Frederick won 5th place for Naked
Face, Naked Wood, Naked Moon. Monique Bricca won 1st place as
Best Actress for her performance as Virginia Woolf in Last Act.
Nandini Minocha came in 2nd for her performance as The Little Prince.
Kimberly Peterson won a 3rd place Best Actress award in A Woman Grows
In Brooklyn. 4th place honors went to Corinne David for Culture Clash,
Nature vs. Nurture. There was a 5th place tie between Julie Maya Panda
for The Little Prince and Juliet Tanner for Naked Face, Naked Wood,
Naked Moon. The last of the Critics Circle Awards went to Best
Actor. There was a 1st place tie between David Kester of Controlled
Substance and Byron Lambie of The Little Prince. Vernon Medearis won
2nd place as Best Actor for his performance as the Devil in
Shavius/Diabolus: G. Bernard Shaw In Hell. 3rd place Best Actor went
to Roger Marquis for Memories. 4th place went to Asher Lyons for Naked
Face, Naked Wood, Naked Moon. Charles Grant took 5th place for his
portrayal of Leonard Woolf in Last Act. A Special Award was presented
to Dominican faculty member Dr. Henry Shreibman for his Everyman
pantomime. For the 6th time, the People's Awards took place.
Here re the results of the audience vote. Controlled Substance by Mark
Lewis and Shavius/Diabolus: G. Bernard Shaw In Hell by Jack Foley tied
for 1st place Best Play. A Woman Grows in Brooklyn by Kimberly Peterson
and Last Act by Roberta Palumbo tied for 2nd place. The Little Prince
by St. Exupery and adapted by Dr. Annette Lust won the 3rd place award.
Odile, My Daughter, by Gaetana Caldwell-Smith came in 4th and 5th
place for Best Play went to Linda Ayres-Frederick for Naked Face, Naked
Wood, Naked Moon. Honorable Mention went to Dr. Henry Shreibman for his
pantomime; Roger Marquis for Memories and Jeffrey Smith for Culture
Clash, Nature vs. Nurture. Lewis Campbell won the People's
Choice Award for 1st place as Best Director. Roberta Palumbo won 2nd
place for Last Act. Margaret Paradis came in 3rd place as Best
Director for Controlled Substance. 4th place honors for Best Director
went to Sasha Litovchenko for The Little Prince and 5th place was a tie
between Suzanne Birrell for Odile, My Daughter and Flora Lynn Isaacson
for Last Act. Honorable mention goes to John Dixon for A Woman Grows
In Brooklyn, Linda Ayres-Frederick for Naked Face, Naked Wood, Naked
Moon, Nancy Long for Memories and Jeffrey R. Smith for Culture Clash,
Nature vs. Nurture and Dr. Henry Shreibman for his pantomime.
Kimberly Peterson won 1st place People's Choice as Best Actress for A
Woman Grows In Brooklyn. 2nd place went to Monique Bricca for Last Act
and 3rd place went to Nandini Minocha for The Little Prince. Marion
Gittleman won 4th place for Odile, My Daughter and Flora Lynn Isaacson
came in 5th for Last Act. Honorable Mention went to Suzanne Birrell
for Controlled Substance, Corinne David for Culture Clash, Nature vs.
Nurture, Jennifer March for Memories, Juliet Tanner for Naked Face,
Naked Wood, Naked Moon. Ranjita Chakravarty for The Little Prince,
Julie Maya Panda for The Little Prince, Susan Tuttle for Last Act and
Kristin Lerner for Odile, My Daughter. David Kester also won the
People's Choice Award for Best Actor. Vernon Medearis also won 2nd
place for Shavius/Diabolus: G. Bernard Shaw In Hell. Third place honors
went to Roger Marquis for Memories and 4th place went to David Wurm for
Controlled Substance. Dr. Henry Shreibman won 5th place for his
pantomime, A Moment with Everyman. Honorable Mention went to Charles
Grant for Last Act, John Hurst for The Little Prince, Asher Lyons for
Naked Face, Naked Wood, Naked Moon, Steven M. Vickers for
Shavis/Diabolus: G. Bernard Shaw In Hell, Byron Lambie for The Little
Prince and Amit Grover for Culture Clash, Nature vs. Nurture. At
the end of the ceremony, Dr. Annette Lust recognized Assistant Artistic
Director, Linda Vito, Program Manager, David Kester and Production
Assistants Elaine Crisostomo, Gustavo Ubaldo-Peralta, and Jessica
Weinberg. Bravo to Dr. Annette Lust for maintaining the Fringe
Festival of Marin for 25 seasons!

Flora Lynn Isaacson

...

Fwd: February/March Theatre Reviews

2010-03-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

--February/March Theatre Reviews For All Events

Bringing Broadway to San Francisco

Fans of Broadway musicals were offered a treat with the recent staging
of Forever Broadway at the Herbst Theatre with a cast of over sixty
local singers, dancers and choreographers, presenting eighty five songs
from favorite Broadway musicals. Producer and driving force behind
the
sow as John Bisceglie, producer and director of the S F Follies, one of
the top ten Best 2009 Bay Area shows. Bisceglie also was the Artistic
Director of San Jose's Parks and Recreation's Young People's Theater
and at Gilroy's Community Services Department as well as directed and
produced at The American Musical Theater of San Jose.

Act One began with a bang up full cast rendering of "Show People" with
the singers and dressed in black slacks and blacks tops throughout the
show, singing and moving rhythmically to precise choreography prepared
in a limited number of rehearsals. This first half of fifty five songs
blended one song into another with gusto. Among the favorites were "If
I Loved You"(Carousel) sung by Iris Smith and Benjamin Potter and
company, "Tonight"(West Side Story) Brett Hammond and Jenna Davi, "I
Hate Musicals" (Ruthless) sung by Tenaya Hurst, "Unusual Way"(Nine)
sung by Désirée Goyette, and "The Balllad of Sweeney Todd" sung by
Keith Stevenson and LaRena Iocco and the company. Act Two offered
thirty five lively renderings outstanding among which were "Lily's
Eyes"(The Secret Garden) sung by Stephane Alwyn and Michael Salah, and
"What I Did for Love"(A Chorus Line) sung by Juliann Rusakiewicz and
the company.

Aside from the show offering an astounding number of songs (actually a
little too many to digest in one evening) and enough singers and
dancers to have you running to catch up with the next one, it is also
highly laudable for the spirit and energy it gives off. The audience
applauds and at times screams after the renderings. One leaves the show
with the feeling that one has been transported to Broadway and is
reliving the thrill of listening to one's very favorite songs and
musicals right there.

What is producer Bisceglie's secret for rapidly putting together a show
with so many singers, dancers and choreographers that offer simany
voices and songs of one's choice? First of all, it is Bisceglie's
enthusiasm and love of musicals likened to a contagious addiction that
is passed on to his performers as well as to the audience.. Secondly,
the producer makes use of local performers who perform solely for the
love of performing. Thirdly, the content appeals to most audiences.
Fourth, there is no cost for sets or costumes. Lastly, The producer
tests his audience by performing a show a single night or afternoon at
a time and moving to the next performance if the show is successful.

And because the show was successful Forever Broadway plays March 21 at
3 p.m. at the Herbst Theatre in SF. Tickets $25. For more info call
415-392-4400 or visit www.foreverbroadwaysf.com

Poetry and Realism Fuse in Nilo Cruz's Beauty of the Father

Pulitzer awardee Nilo Cruz's Beauty of the Father that opened at Off
Broadway West Theatre Company on Feb. 5 at the SF Phoenix Theatre,
develops the story of Emiliano (energetically played by Durand Garcia),
a bisexual artist's conflicting dilemma over his responsibility as a
father to his estranged daughter Marina (Natasha Chacon) and his
personal attraction to Karim (Chris Holland), a young Moroccan whom he
helps to become a citizen by marrying him to his female lover Paquita
(Jeanette Sarmiento). A lively Marina no sooner arrives when Karim
falls in love with her and vice versa, complicating the relationship
between father and daughter, father and male lover and father and
female lover. Added to this is the constant presence of the ghost of
author Federico Garcia Lorca (Michael Carlisi), who protects and
advises Emiliano and ornates the realistic dramatic conflict with
lyrical and the philosophical metaphors. He periodically delivers
pearls of wisdom such as "Artists are those who delve into the mystery
of things" and "Artists are condemned to a life of solitude."

But why was Federico Garcia Lorca rather than another author or
artist
chosen to be the ghost that guides Emiliano? Perhaps because Nilo Cruz
was inspired to use Lorca's words "the artist is the father to many
people" to justify Emiliano's parental neglect and reassure the latter
that although he abandoned caring for his daughter, in his work as an
artist he has served as a father to many others. Secondly, the play is
set in Andalusia, Spain, where Lorca lived and wrote poems describing
its landscapes and moonlit nights. Thirdly, Lorca's homosexuality, not
totally hidden from others, provides a point in common with Emiliano's
free life style.

We deduct that the author has included Lorca the artist to show his
marked influence on Emiliano as an artist and to fuse Lorca's poetic
wisdom to the dramatic conflict as well as to bring depth and a
metaphoric component to the realistic intrigue.
In so doing, Cruz's writing of the play as well as the staging by
director Richard Harder is an audacious challenge. The spectator needs
to piece together Lorca's metaphors with the concrete dramatic conflict
to find an integrated meaning. This also is a challenge to the
spectator's imagination.

Durand Garcia convincingly offers the portrait of an
artist
who is remorseful over his neglect as a parent and is ready to make
amends and even to sacrifice his physical attraction for Karim for his
daughter's love for the young man. Marina is portrayed by Natasha
Chacon as a joyful daughter with an intense love of life who when she
learns of her father's relationship with Karim is ready to sacrifice
her love for Karim.
Paquita is played by Jeanette Sarmiento as an eccentric female lover of
Emiliano who brings her optimistic humor to relieve the realistic chaos
of the intrigue. Chris Holland's Karim is an idealistic young man,
grateful to Emiliano he regards as the father he never had and
sincerely in love with Marina. Michael Carlisi as Lorca's ghost
combines the defiance of interpreting the famous artist poet lyrically
proffering the wisdom of his experience and art with that of his role
as a practical guide to Emiliano in his efforts to reconcile with his
daughter.

Sets by Colin Cross and Brett Hope, sound design by Richard Harder,
and costumes by Barbara Michelson-Harder are beautifully designed to
faithfully evoke a Spanish or Mediterranean seaside combination atelier
and artist's home.
Beauty of the Father, another of Off Broadway West's mission to
stage
relevant works that foster new ideas, plays until March 13. For
information call 510-835-4205 or visit www.offbroadwaywest.org.
Annette Lust

A First Class First Grade at the Aurora

Under the guise of a light comedy, Joel Drake Johnson's The First Grade
that opened on Jan. 28th at the Aurora, develops both a humorous and
heart wrenching description of the disconnect in today's family.life.
Although the audience is kept laughing non-stop by the witticisms of
leading lady first grade teacher Sydney (performed with authority and
dry humor by Julia Brothers) and the sarcasm of her daughter Angie
(Rebecca Schweitzer) and husband Nat (Warren David Keith), we cringe
over the realistic revelations the author offers concerning the
inability of family members to connect emotionally.

The dramatic conflict centers around Sydney's pride over her little
students learning sophisticated words beyond their age. In this
production Sydney praises the audience members as if they are her
students. During a meeting with a physical therapist (Tina Sanchez),
Sydney's questions make the therapist burst out crying. Sydney then
returns home to face a depressed daughter who drugs her child with
Ritalin and deal with her divorced live-in husband both of whom blame
her for their fate. A surprise visit by her therapist brings on the
play's dramatic climax.

Tom Ross's expertise as a stage director builds to the dramatic
climax
with light humor that turns to more grave matters with the therapist's
visit. Sets by Nina Bell, lights by Jarrod Fischer and wardrobe by
Alicia Coombes bring out the contrast between the cheerful elementary
school ambiance and the estranged atmosphere of Sydney's home.

The First Class may come off as a silly sit com to some but
Johnson's
blunt portrait of the disintegration of family life prompts the
spectator to reexamine the lack of communication that complicates the
relationships that comprise the American (or any other) dream involving
marital and family life.
Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman plays at the Aurora April 2-May 9. For
info call 510-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Animals Out of Paper--An Origami Tale

This West Coast Premiere by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Amy Glazer at
the SF
Playhouse couldn't be more beautifully acted and staged. When Animals
Out of Paper
begins with an imaginative set by Bill English, we are in the cluttered
studio apartment
of Alana Andrews (Lorri Holt) an Origami artist who has cut herself off
from the world.
Her marriage is over and her dog has disappeared and she can't get
back to folding.
Andy (David Deblinger), a school math teacher, high school math
teacher,
amateur "folder" and doting fan invades her seclusion with a
proposition to take a
particularly brilliant student of his, Suresh (Aly Mawji), a calculus
genius
with an uncanny talent for origami who is grieving the sudden death
of his mother. Origami is a metaphor for the feelings of loss that
Alana and her new
protege suffer. Paper, as the characters discuss, is irrevocably
altered as it is folded.
It will never again be what it once was. Folds leave scars, just as
losses do.
According to SF Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English, "Three souls;
an innocent boy,
a teacher afraid of life, and an origamist frozen by the scars of too
many
folds meet at a crossroads in all three lives, and each takes from the
other,
something that makes it possible for them to move on."

Lorri Holt gives an engaging and multi-layered performance as the
protagonist, Alana. David Deblinger's
Andy is an example of the power of positive thinking with the book of
blessings he has been carrying
around since he was 12, carefully recording all his blessings. So far,
he's counted 7000 blessings.
Aly Mawji is quite convincing as the origami genius and troubled hip
hop kid. He got quite an applause
from the audience with his dynamic demonstration of the verbal origami
of hip hop rhymes.

At the helm of this production is Director Amy Glazer who
directs
her talented cast to bring Joseph's
quirky characters to life with dynamic conviction. Remarkable
playwright, Rajiv Joseph reminds us that
in the end, we are all animals made out of paper: our hopes tenuous and
our happiness fragile.

.Up next at SF Playhouse will be Den of Thieves by Stephen Adley Gurgi
, March 10-April 17,
For tickets, call 415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson.

A Married Romp with Molière

The plot is rather convoluted as usual in Moliere, and also has that
artificiality which creates much of the humor. The Miser opens with
the two children of the titled character (real name Harpagnon,
energetically played by Grey Wolf) both having fallen in love. Elise
(the lovely Kelly Rinehart) hopes to marry the Valere (Chad Yarish),
her father's steward, while Cleante (Seth Duerr) a Gene Wilder look
alike has fallen for a newcomer to town, Marianne (the darling Beth
Deitchman). Their stingy Dad, however has other plans—not only does he
not want Elise marrying Valere for financial reasons (he has an old
rich guy in mind instead), but he wants to marry Marianne. An affair
has been arranged by a local tart/busybody, Frosine (a very seductive
Courtney Walsh). Hapagnon sees it as the worst sort of betrayal that
his children would want anything but to marry whom he chooses for them
while they resent his pennypinching.

Numerous further plot convolutions follow upon these in
Molierean
fashion. This translation by David Chambers peppered with many French
phrases and expressions has been adapted by both Director and cast with
a wonderful set by David Apple and fabulous costumes by Michael A.
Berg. Many times the actors use fairly modern language and references.
The comedy is slapstick with a lot of falling down and shoving. The
show's other tactic for getting laughs is to engage the audience
directly, even directing some of the character's abuse outward as when
Hapagnon's cash box is stolen and he jumps down from the stage accusing
the audience of knowing something about it.

Ross Valley Players' The Miser is fun to see, and the actors are
excellent. Chad Yarrish in particular stood out as Valere with his
natural authentic presence—a breath of fresh air among the extravagant
exaggeration of the cast who are, of course, just presenting the
characters as written with the exception of Fred Pitts as La Fleche,
Valet to Cleante, whose character is humorously understated. Gray Wolf
brings Harpagnon's crotchety-ness to life in an over-the-top manner
that Moliere certainly would have appreciated.

The Miser is not likely to make you question how you treat your
parents or children, or your relationship to money, but as you laugh at
the same things people laughed at in 1668, it does provide a satisfying
sense of kinship in humor from one era to another.

Up next is The Boys Next Door by Tom Griffin at the Barn Theatre,
Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas,
Ross, March 19 through April 18. For info call 415-4546-955
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Three Sisters at the SF Jewish Theatre

In a posh home in Queen Ann's Gate, London in the early 1990's, Sara
Goode, a twice divorced bank executive, h hosts a family reunion in
celebration of her 54th birthday. Sara seems more successful than her
two younger sisters combining a career with her involvement with a
distinguished member of the British peerage (Victor Talmadge).

Meanwhile, Pfeni, the youngest 40 year old sister, is enjoying
her
travel writing career though her life is embroiled in an affair with
a bisexual theatre director, Geoffrey (a flamboyant Cassidy Brown).
Finally, Gorgeous, who has it all in the marital department, is
struggling to carve out a career as an on-air advice columnist.

The three sisters know where they've been but are less clear on
where they are and where they are going--a condition echoed in the
world around them as Communism fails and Capitalism struggles to fill
the void. That is a struggle in which Sara's daughter Tess (Sarah
Schwartz) is about to involve herself firsthand, smitten as she is
s with a young Lithuanian ex-patriot (Matt Hooker) who will return to
his homeland to witness its liberation.Mervin (Dan Hiatt), a Zionist
furrier from New York, drops by and throws in a wrench into Sara's well
ordered existence.
Director Aaron Davidman has assembled a fine ensemble.
Coming up next at The Jewish Theatre will be Andy Warhol: Good for the
Jews? written and performed by Josh Kornbluth from April 8-May 11,
2010. For information of the upcoming production at the Jewish Theatre
call 415-292 -1233 or or go online at www.tjt-sf.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Sunlight Exposes Flaws In Ideologies

The winner of MTC's 2009 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize Sharr
White's "Sunlight" is the story of the last hour and a half of a
liberal university president's tenure as the head of a prestigious
Northeastern university. The President (Charles Dean) who has the well
earned reputation of being more than a bit of a bully, has just
discovered that his conservative protege, Vincent, the dean of the
university's law school (Kevin Ralston) who just so happens to be
married to his daughter (Carrie Paff), has been outed as the writer of
memos that the Bush administration used to justify torture. Needless
to say he does not take it well. Abuses such as beating to death a 15
year-old detainee in Afghanistan led to university President Matthew
Gibbon vandalizing the dean's office in a drunken rampage. As the play
begins, Matthew faces being forced out of office after 30 years and his
daughter Charlotte and long-time assistant, Midge (Wanda McCaddon) are
trying to deal with the situation.

Director Jasson Minadakis has assembled a first rate cast.
Charles Dean gives a dynamic performance as Matthew, sounding off at
the faculty's disloyalty, blaming Vincent for turning them against him
and insisting that he alone brought the university up from obscurity.
Carrie Paff is both intense and biting as his attorney daughter,
Charlotte. Wanda McCaddon provides the play's comic relief as Midge,
Mimi or Mary Ann with a perfect sense of timing. Kevin Ralston manages
to inject some humanity in the thankless role of Vincent.

New York playwright Sharr White sets his play in the president's
residence, beautifully embodied in J.B. Wilson's set of an elegant
sitting room with file boxes piled around the desk. Artistic Director
Jasson Minadakis gives the play a fluid staging with lots of action.
However, I felt Act I is a little too long for the audience to feel
comfortable with what is going on. Revelations about 9/11 enliven
things in the second act.

Sunlight continues at Marin Theatre Company through February 14,
2010. Please check www.marintheatre.org or call the box office at
415-388-5208 for exact performance dates and times.

Coming up next at Marin Theatre Company, March 25-April 18, 2010
is the Bay Area premiere of a dazzling new play, "Equivocation" by Bill
Cain directed by Jasson Minadakis.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

Fabrik: A Norwegian Holocaust Tale

Inspired by Nordic and Yiddish folktales, Fabrik: The Legend of M.
Rabinowitz uses hand-and-rod puppets, masks and original music to tell
the story of Moritz Rabinowitz, a Polish Jew who immigrated to Norway
at the turn of the century in order to escape Pogroms and persecution.

By the end of World War I, Rabinowitz had risen from poverty to become
one of Norway's leading men's clothing manufacturers and began writing
articles to combat the post-war rising tide of anti-Semitism at home
and nearby Germany. He was one of the Nazi's first targets when they
took on Norway in 1940 and he died beaten to death in a concentration
camp.

When the story begins, Moritz appears before his yellow and black
advertisement on a black stage surrounded by his three puppeteers—Peter
Russo, Kirjan Waage and Gwendolyn Warnock. All are attired in black
pinstripe suits with black shirts, ties and fedoras. The black on
black arrangement brings the essence of a European cabaret in the
1930's. But Moritz, by contrast, is nattily dressed in an ivory suit,
tie and hat, evidently of his own design. He introduces himself with a
song and dance, advertising his wares and professional wisdom.

Early scenes of Moritz at work or in bed with his wife possess a warm
humor. But gradually, beginning with an imaginative dream sequence, in
which Moritz swims through an aqueous environment, hunted by a
shark-like Hitler, the mood begins to shift. As the holocaust deepens
the tableaus become more expressionistic and nightmarish.

Coming up next at The Jewish Theatre will be Andy Warhol: Good for the
Jews? written and performed by Josh Kornbluth from April 8-May 11,
2010. For tickets, call 415-292-1233 or go online at tjt-sf.org.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

RAW 's New Discoveries at Ross Valley Players

A Bearded Lady by Billie Cox and starring Larissa Garcia was certainly
the front runner. This play was highly theatrical and had a lot of
show business pizzazz. Larissa Garcia, beautiful in a red velvet
dress, performed the bearded lady with style and grace. She has great
stage presence and performed several musical numbers with a black hat
and a black cane. This was an entirely different version from that I
had seen earlier, which was workshopped at the Marsh last Fall.

In second place, I would choose The Parenting Coach, a farce by Steve
Koppman and imaginatively directed by Phoebe Moyer. This was a clever
play about role reversal.

Third place honors would go to His New Best Friend, another farce, by
Diane Sampson and directed by Carol Sheldon. This play takes place
entirely in an automobile and was entertainingly staged.

Fourth place would go to The Polynesian Lounge by Lynn Snyder and
directed by Cris Cassel. I would call this a heart-warming comedy
about two life-long male friends, one a shoe salesman and the other a
shoe repairman. This play was beautifully acted and directed, but it
was too long and the material too thin.

Fifth place would go to The Boy in the Barn by J. C. Lee and directed
by Ellen Brooks. This was a monologue set in a barn in Nebraska where
Sam bids Charlie farewell to end their close friendship.

Ross Valley Players will continue their Raw festival Aug.
19-22.Performances will take place in the Barn Theatre at the Marin Art
and Garden Center in Ross.
Call for information at 415/456-9555 or visit .www.rossvalley
players.com

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Feb 2010 Theatre Reviews

2010-02-13T16:17:00.001-08:00

February Theatre Reviews
See Eryka Fraczek's review on For All Events. com of Frabik, The Legend
of M. Rabinowitz, a meaningful and moving puppetry performance playing
until Feb. 28 at the SF Jewish Theatre. For info call 415-292-1233.
Poetry and Realism Fuse in Nilo Cruz's Beauty of the Father
Pulitzer awardee Nilo Cruz's Beauty of the Father that opened at Off
Broadway West Theatre Company on Feb. 5 at the SF Phoenix Theatre,
develops the story of Emiliano (energetically played by Durand Garcia),
a bisexual artist's conflicting dilemma over his responsibility as a
father to his estranged daughter Marina (Natasha Chacon) and his
personal attraction to Karim (Chris Holland), a young Moroccan whom he
helps to become a citizen by marrying him to his female lover Paquita
(Jeanette Sarmiento). A lively Marina no sooner arrives when Karim
falls in love with her and vice versa, complicating the relationship
between father and daughter, father and male lover and father and
female lover. Added to this is the constant presence of the ghost of
author Federico Garcia Lorca (Michael Carlisi), who protects and
advises Emiliano and ornates the realistic dramatic conflict with
lyrical and the philosophical metaphors. He periodically delivers
pearls of wisdom such as "Artists are those who delve into the mystery
of things" and "Artists are condemned to a life of solitude."
But why was Federico Garcia Lorca rather than another author or
artist chosen to be the ghost that guides Emiliano? Perhaps because
Nilo Cruz was inspired to use Lorca's words "the artist is the father
to many people" to justify Emiliano's parental neglect and reassure the
latter that although he abandoned caring for his daughter, in his work
as an artist he has served as a father to many others. Secondly, the
play is set in Andalusia, Spain, where Lorca lived and wrote poems
describing its landscapes and moonlit nights. Thirdly, Lorca's
homosexuality, not totally hidden from others, provides a point in
common with Emiliano's free life style.
We deduct that the author has included Lorca the artist to show
his marked influence on Emiliano as an artist and to fuse Lorca's
poetic wisdom to the dramatic conflict as well as to bring depth and a
metaphoric component to the realistic intrigue.
In so doing, Cruz's writing of the play as well as the staging by
director Richard Harder is an audacious challenge. The spectator needs
to piece together Lorca's metaphors with the concrete dramatic conflict
to find an integrated meaning. This also is another challenge to the
spectator's imagination.
Durand Garcia convincingly offers the portrait of an artist who is
remorseful over his neglect as a parent and is ready to make amends and
even to sacrifice his physical attraction for Karim for his daughter's
love for Karim. Marina is portrayed by Natasha Chacon as a joyful
daughter with an intense love of life who when she learns of her
father's relationship with Karim is ready to sacrifice her love for the
latter. Paquita is played by Jeanette Sarmiento as an eccentric female
lover of Emiliano who brings her optimistic humor to relieve the
realistic chaos of the intrigue. Chris Holland's Karim is an idealistic
young man, grateful to Emiliano he regards as the father he never had
and sincerely in love with Marina. Michael Carlisi as Lorca's ghost
combines interpreting the task of the famous artist poet lyrically
proffering the wisdom of his experience and art with that of his role
as a practical guide to Emiliano in his efforts to reconcile with his
daughter.
Sets by Colin Cross and Brett Hope, sound design by Richard
Harder, and costumes by Barbara Michelson-Harder are beautifully
designed to faithfully evoke a Spanish or Mediterranean seaside
combination atelier and artist's home.
Beauty of the Father, another of Off Broadway West's mission to
stage relevant works that foster new ideas, plays until March 13. For
information call 510-835-4205 or visit www.offbroadwaywest.org.
Annette Lust

Coming Home, A Storytelling Delight at Berkeley Rep.
Award winning playwright Anthol Fugard' Coming Home that opened at
Berkeley Rep on January 20th is a delightful adventure into
storytelling based on the memories of the South African Veronica, her
deceased father, and Alfred, a family friend. And beneath the lyricism
of these stories is a powerful message about social injustice. After
Veronica leaves the small South African town where she cares for her
father (played by Lou Ferguson) to realize her dream in the big city,
penniless and ill with Aids, she returns with her little son (played by
Kohle T. Bolton when younger and by Jaden MalikWiggins when older) .ten
years later to the little shack where she had lived She is greeted by
her family friend Alfred (wonderfully played by Thomas Silcott as the
town fool) who will help her nurture her small son, whom she compares
to a tiny pumpkin seed that will some day grow into a fine pumpkin.
Memories of their past, of her father's last days and of Veronica's
life in the big city are narrated and sung by Veronica (Roslyn Ruff
singing and told with charm and dynamic stage presence), and by Alfred
and the father's ghost.
Well directed by Gordon Edelstein, Fugard's magical storytelling
gently transmits a relevant message that aims to bring about an
awareness of the pitiful situation in South Africa and beyond of not
providing impoverished Aids victims that has brought about the deaths
of thousands. This is revealed convincingly through Veronica's quiet
and courageous persistence to resume the pursuit of her dreams back in
her hometown for her young son to one day attend a university
Coming Home wins us over by the poetry and wisdom of Fugard's
writing that at the same time awakens our conscience concerning the
neglect a propos one of the world's worst plagues.
Coming Home plays through February 28th. For information call
510-647-2949 or visit Berkeleyrep.
Dr. Annette Lust
Animals Out of Paper--An Origami Tale
This West Coast Premiere by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Amy Glazer at
the SF Playhouse couldn't be more beautifully acted and staged. When
Animals Out of Paper begins with a wildly imaginative set by Bill
English, we are in the cramped, cluttered studio apartment of Alana
Andrews (Lorri Holt) a highly regarded Origami artist who has cut
herself off from the world. Her marriage is over, her beloved dog has
disappeared and she can't seem to get back to folding. Andy (David
Deblinger), a high school math teacher, amateur "folder" and doting fan
invades her seclusion with a proposition.
Andy wants Alana to take a particularly brilliant student of his,
Suresh (Aly Mawji) a calculus genius with an uncanny talent for origami
who is grieving the sudden death of his mother. Origami is a metaphor
for the feelings of loss that Alana and her new protege suffer. Paper,
as the characters discuss, is irrevocably altered as it is folded. It
will never again be what it once was. Folds leave scars, just as losses
do.
According to SF Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English, "Three souls;
an innocent boy, a teacher afraid of life, and an origamist frozen by
the scars of too many folds meet at a crossroads in all three lives,
and each takes from the other, something that makes it possible for
them to move on."
Lorri Holt gives an engaging and multi-layered performance as the
protagonist, Alana. David Deblinger's Andy is an example of the power
of positive thinking with the book of blessings he has been carrying
around since he was 12, carefully recording all his blessings. So far,
he's counted 7000 blessings. Aly Mawji is quite convincing as the
origami genius and troubled hip hop kid. He got quite an applause from
the audience with his dynamic demonstration of the verbal origami of
hip hop rhymes.
At the helm of this production is Director Amy Glazer who directs
her talented cast to bring Joseph's quirky characters to life with
dynamic conviction. Remarkable playwright, Rajiv Joseph reminds us that
in the end, we are all animals made out of paper: our hopes tenuous and
our happiness fragile.
Animals Out of Paper plays through February 27 at the SF
Playhouse, 533 Sutter, San Francisco.
For tickets, call 415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org.
Coming up next at SF Playhouse will be Den of Thieves by Stephen Adley
Gurgis from March 10-April 17, 2010.
Flora Lynn Isaacson
Sweet Can's Dance Theatre
Sweet Can, founded in 2006 by three teachers at the SF Circus Center,
Beth Clarke, Kerri Kresinski, and Natasha Kaluza, has grown into a
company of eight members with a mission to perform intimate circus,
dance, acting and mime that interacts with the audience. In their
recent second piece performed at the Dance Mission, there was asubtle
underlying theme relating to our confrontation with a troubled world we
can transform through our creative imagination and heuse of the
resources of everyday life. "Yes, Sweet Can, Can " is the company's
motto that reappears throughout the show
This theme is portrayed at the start by four performers, directed
by Wendy Parkman and Joanna Haigood, who survive the torrential effect
of a devastating storm. In another scene Matt White buries his woes in
an elegant dance with a broom which he woos with humor proving that
interaction with everyday objects can lift our and others' spirits.
Comical improvisation is utilized when the players race to sit on
blocks and another scene tap dance sequel in which the female dancers'
bodies are covered with trash cans. Some sections are more virtuoso in
style such as Beth Clarke' breathtaking slack rope and balancing of
cups, Matt White's expert classical stick balancing, Kerri Kesinki's
stunning aerial acrobatics, and Natasha Kaluza's dizzy hula hooping
that provoke loud audience applause.These scenes are performed to the
brilliant notes of Eo, a master composer playing live music on stage
with the company.
Sweet Can's mission to develop a total form of visual theatre
combining clowning, acting, dance, mime and live music in a harmonious
blend punctuated by tacrobatic skills has opened doors to other stage
arts and crossed artistic borders to reimagine circus as an art.
For information about Sweet Can 's future productions, visit Sweet
Can Productions.coo
Dr. Annette Lust
A First Class First Grade at the Aurora
Under the guise of a light comedy, Joel Drake Johnson's The First
Grade that opened on Jan. 28th at the Aurora develops a humorous and
heart wrenching description of the disconnect in today's family.
Although the audience is kept laughing non-stop by the witticisms of
leading lady first grade teacher Sydney (performed with authority and
dry humor by Julia Brothers) and the sarcasm of her daughter Angie
(Rebecca Schweitzer) and husband Nat (Warren David Keith), we cringe
over the realistic revelations the author offers concerning the
inability of family members to connect emotionally.
The dramatic conflict centers around Sydney's pride over her
little students learning sophisticated words beyond their age. She
praises the audience members as if they are her students. During a
meeting with a physical therapist (Tina Sanchez), Sydney's questions
make the therapist burst out crying. Sydney returns home to face a
depressed daughter who drugs her child with Ritalin and to deal with
her divorced live-in husband both of whom blame her for their fate. A
surprise visit by her therapist brings on the play's dramatic climax
Tom Ross's expertise as a stage director builds to the dramatic
climax with light humor that turns to more grave matters the wwith the
therapist's visit. Sets by Nina Bell, lights by Jarrod Fischer and
wardrobe by Alicia Coombes bring out the contrast between the cheerful
elementary school ambiance and the estranged atmosphere of Sydney's
home.
The First Grade may come off as a silly sit com to some but
Johnson's blunt portrait of the disintegration of family life prompts
the spectator to reexamine the lack of communication that complicates
the relationships that comprise the American (or any other) dream
involving marital and family life.
The First Grade plays until Feb. 28. For info call 510-4822 or visit
auroratheatre.org.
Dr. Annette Lust
A Married Romp with Molière
The plot is rather convoluted as usual in Moliere, and also has that
artificiality which creates much of the humor. The Miser opens with
the two children of the titled character (real name Harpagnon,
energetically played by Grey Wolf) both having fallen in love. Elise
(the lovely Kelly Rinehart) hopes to marry the Valere (Chad Yarish),
her father's steward, while Cleante (Seth Duerr), a Gene Wilder look
alike, has fallen for a newcomer to town, Marianne (the darling Beth
Deitchman). Their stingy Dad, however, has other plans—not only does
he not want Elise marrying Valere for financial reasons (he has an old
rich guy in mind instead), but he wants to marry Marianne. An affair
has been arranged by a local tart/busybody, Frosine (a very seductive
Courtney Walsh). Hapagnon sees it as the worst sort of betrayal that
his children would want anything but to marry whom he chooses for them
while they resent his pennypinching.
Numerous further plot convolutions follow upon these in
Molierean fashion. This translation by David Chambers peppered with
many French phrases and expressions has been adapted by both Director
and cast with a wonderful set by David Apple and fabulous costumes by
Michael A. Berg. Many times the actors use fairly modern language and
references. The comedy is slapstick with a lot of falling down and
shoving. The show's other tactic for getting laughs is to engage the
audience directly, even directing some of the character's abuse outward
as when Hapagnon's cash box is stolen and he jumps down from the stage
accusing the audience of knowing something about it.
Ross Valley Players' The Miser is fun to see, and the actors are
excellent. Chad Yarrish in particular stood out as Valere with his
natural authentic presence—a breath of fresh air among the extravagant
exaggeration of the cast who are, of course, just presenting the
characters as written with the exception of Fred Pitts as La Fleche,
Valet to Cleante, whose character is humorously understated. Gray Wolf
brings Harpagnon's crotchety-ness to life in an over-the-top manner
that Moliere certainly would have appreciated.
The Miser is not likely to make you question how you treat your
parents or children, or your relationship to money, but as you laugh at
the same things people laughed at in 1668, it does provide a satisfying
sense of kinship in humor from one era to another.
The Miser is at the Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden Center, 30
Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas, Ross through February 14, 2010.
For info call 415-4546-955
FFlora Lynn Isaacson
Three Sisters at the SF Jewish Theatre
In a posh home in Queen Ann's Gate, London in the early 1990's, Sara
Goode, a twice divorced bank executive, h hosts a family reunion in
celebration of her 54th birthday. Sara seems more successful than her
two younger sisters combining a career with her involvement with a
distinguished member of the British peerage (Victor Talmadge).
Meanwhile, Pfeni, the youngest 40 year old sister, is enjoying
her travel writing career though her life is embroiled in an affair
with a bisexual theatre director, Geoffrey (a flamboyant Cassidy
Brown). Finally, Gorgeous, who has it all in the marital department,
is struggling to carve out a career as an on-air advice columnist.
The three sisters know where they've been but are less clear on
where they are and where they are going--a condition echoed in the
world around them as Communism fails and Capitalism struggles to fill
the void. That is a struggle in which Sara's daughter Tess (Sarah
Schwartz) is about to involve herself firsthand, smitten as she is with
a young Lithuanian ex-patriot (Matt Hooker) who will return to his
homeland to witness its liberation.Mervin (Dan Hiatt), a Zionist
furrier from New York, drops by and throws in a wrench into Sara's well
ordered existence.
Director Aaron Davidman has assembled a fine ensemble.
Coming up at the Jewish Theatre is "Fabrik; the Legend of M.
Rabinowitz," February 4-28,.info: 415-292 -1233 or or go online at
www.tjt-sf.org.
Flora Lynn Isaacson
Sunlight Exposes Flaws In Ideologies
The winner of MTC's 2009 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize Sharr
White's "Sunlight" is the story of the last hour and a half of a
liberal university president's tenure as the head of a prestigious
Northeastern university. The President (Charles Dean) who has the well
earned reputation of being more than a bit of a bully, has just
discovered that his conservative protege, Vincent, the dean of the
university's law school (Kevin Ralston) who just so happens to be
married to his daughter (Carrie Paff), has been ousted as the writer of
memos that the Bush administration used to justify torture. Needless
to say he does not take it well. Abuses such as beating to death a 15
year-old detainee in Afghanistan led to university President Matthew
Gibbon vandalizing the dean's office in a drunken rampage. As the play
begins, Matthew faces being forced out of office after 30 years and his
daughter Charlotte and long-time assistant, Midge (Wanda McCaddon) are
trying to deal with the situation.
Director Jasson Minadakis has assembled a first rate cast.
Charles Dean gives a dynamic performance as Matthew, sounding off at
the faculty's disloyalty, blaming Vincent for turning them against him
and insisting that he alone brought the university up from obscurity.
Carrie Paff is both intense and biting as his attorney daughter,
Charlotte. Wanda McCaddon provides the play's comic relief as Midge,
Mimi or Mary Ann with a perfect sense of timing. Kevin Ralston manages
to inject some humanity in the thankless role of Vincent.
New York playwright Sharr White sets his play in the president's
residence, beautifully embodied in J.B. Wilson's set of an elegant
sitting room with file boxes piled around the desk. Artistic Director
Jasson Minadakis gives the play a fluid staging with lots of action.
However, I felt Act I is a little too long. Revelations about 9/11
enliven things in the second act.
Sunlight continues at Marin Theatre Company through February 14,
2010. Please check www.marintheatre.org or call the box office at
415-388-5208 for exact performance dates and times.
Coming up next at Marin Theatre Company, March 25-April 18, 2010
is the Bay Area premiere of a dazzling new play, "Equivocation" by Bill
Cain directed by Jasson Minadakis.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

December/January 2009/2010 Theatre Reviews

2009-12-22T01:18:00.000-08:00

December/January 2009/2010 Theatre Reviews

She Stoops to Comedy--
A Gay Romp at SF Playhouse SF Playhouse opened the West Coast Premiere
of "She Stoops to Comedy" as their holiday show which is a playful
gender-bending comedy by one of New York's most innovative
writer/performers David Greenspan. Set in a summer-stock production
of Shakespeare's "As You Like It," actress Alexandra Page (Liam
Vincent) schemes to woo back her estranged female lover by playing
Orlando (who everyone knows is a man) opposite her lover Alison's
(Sally Clawson) Rosalind. Right, that's a man playing a woman
pretending to be a man to woo a woman playing a woman who pretends to
be a man. The title of the play is a take-off on "She Stoops to
Conquer," Oliver Goldsmith's 18th century farce. In As You Like It,
does Orlando know Rosalind is really a woman? Does Alison know that
Alexandra is? As in Ferenc Molnar's "The Guardsman," we never know for
sure. Under Mark Rucker's inspired direction, the excellent cast
enlivens Greenspan's script. Liam Vincent delivers his lines with
perfect dry wit. Sally Clawson as Alison enacts her character's wish
that an actor be more relaxed. As Director Hal and his assistant, Eve,
Cole Alexander Smith and Carly Ciotti provide comic relief from the
intensity of the lovers. Two people really steal the show, Scott
Capurro (who does an amazing monologue) as Simon Languish, an aging
homosexual and Amy Resnick playing two characters in conversation with
each other--one the very butch Kay Fein, an archaeologist and lighting
designer and the other a vain, pretentious actress, Jane Summerhouse.
Artistic Director Bill English provides us with a great set. Kurt
Landisman on the lights was fantastic, and Valera Coble's costumes were
imaginative. Of course, without the inspired directing by Mark Rucker,
this play would not be as compelling. Performances of She Stoops to
Comedy continue at SF Playhouse through January 9. For tickets, call
415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org. Coming up next at
SF Playhouse on January 23 will be "Animals out of Paper" by Rajiv
Joseph directed by Amy Glazer. Flora Lynn Isaacson

Crossing the Borders of the Arts of the Theatre in Aurélia's Oratorio

Spectators at Berkeley Rep's opening night of Aurélia's Oratorio are
from the start intrigued after a male voice on a phone insists that the
female protagonist respond and then view an arm, a leg and finally a
young woman's body emerging from the drawers of a dresser. They are
still more stunned as, to the sounds of chamber music and gypsy jazz,
the female performer swings across the stage on red streamers and
performs acrobatics in the air, viewing the world upside down just as
the viewers do throughout this work filled with unusual illusionary
images. At one point the stage curtains begin to move and crumble as
though they, too, are performing. Multiple fast moving images and
magical illusions follow among which is a film like clip in which the
heroine is attacked by eerie monsters as she reposes and another one in
which small puppets jump on the heroine and attempt to kiss her. An
audibly enticing image is that of the protagonist playing with an
orchestra of clocks, including a cuckoo clock, that emit various
musical sounds. An outstanding scene is that of dancer Jaime Martinez
lithely dancing with a coat that gives the illusion of being a real
character with which he swishes across the stage like a feather in the
wind.

Aurelia's Oratorio purposely defies the definition of the word
oratorio, defined in Webster's dictionary as a "lengthy choral work
usually of a religious nature and consisting of recitatives, arias and
choruses without action or scenery."

Charles Chaplin's daughter Victoria, who conceived and directed the
piece, and granddaughter Aurélia, who starred in the piece, have not
only continued the tradition of their father and grandfather's silent
film acting art. They have gone a step further to enhance that silent
art by combining multiple theatre arts in an imaginative and original
single theatrical form. As they cross continents they readily reach
audiences through mime, circus and acrobatic feats, dance, theatre of
objects and illusions, puppetry and film. Their work provokes shock as
well as delight such as, for example, that of an electric train giving
the illusion of running through a female's stomach that provides a
provocative and jarring surrealistic ending.

By the end of Aurélia's Oratorio, the audience is completely won over
and spectators stand to applaud loudly.

Aurélia's Oratorio plays until Jan. 24.. Up next at Berkeley Rep is the
West Coast Premiere of Athol Fugard's Coming Home Jan. 15-Feb. 28. For
tix and info call 510-647-2949.

Aurora Theatre's Fat Pig Telling Comedy About Obesity

Neil Labute's Fat Pig grabs you from the start because of its witty and
cutting repartee between Tom, his newfound fat girlfriend Helen, his
protective friend Carter, and jealous ex girlfriend Jeannie. But this
highly comical repartee gradually turns to a dark side when the truth
behind the playful and at times biting sarcastic dialogue concerning
Tom's choice of a girlfriend his peers liken to a "fat pig" begins to
affect his feelings for Helen.
When Tom meets the portly librarian Helen at a fast food restaurant and
her friendliness prompts him to share her table, he is soon drawn to
her frank unconventionality. They begin dating and develop a very
private relationship deprived of the inclusion of Tom's friends or
others." This little pig stayed home" is an increasingly disturbing
rime to Helen. For, although Tom is falling in love with Helen and
feeling liberated and happy with her spontaneous and open-minded
nature, he harbors a growing concern about her physical appearance. As
the psychological and social pressures placed upon him by his ex
jealous girlfriend and his male friend discourage him from continuing
to relate to fat female, will his promise to continue with their happy
relationship be broken?

Labute's so-called comedy about obese people not only contains a
revealing truth about society's condemnation of oversized women or men.
It goes a step further to
present the power of social prejudice and the failure to uphold one'
own choices in the face of conventionality. As the play progresses Tom
begins to be seen as a coward for not
being true to himself and not defending his right to love whomever.
Will he choose to go with the flow of accepting what others think?

The two fold conflicts of the heroine suffering society's
stigmatization for being overweight and that of the hero's wincing
before his promise of eternal love to himself and to Helen render
Labute's Fat Pig dramatically powerful. And it is the playwright's
brutally truthful depiction of the hero's dilemma that is not fully
apparent until the play's end that provides the piece with
psychological and sociological meaning.

Directed by Barbara Damashek on a stage arranged in horseshoe style,
the play moves at a rapid pace with a quick change of scenery and of
costumes cleverly done by the cast. This helps to tighten the sometimes
lengthy repetitive arguments and comments over Helen's weight.

Liliane Klein is a charming Helen- only somewhat obese that makes her
role believable rather than farcical and in which her smile and
vitality compensate for her obesity. Jud Williford is a disturbed, on
the defensive main male protagonist, filled with hesitations about his
final choices. Alexandra Creighton's Jeannie is is a highly revengeful
ex lover and Peter Ruocco mixes nosiness with wit as Tom's friend's
Carter.

Labute's Fat Pig, as all his plays, promotes individual choice in
order to preserve the entity of the human élan. Actually his downbeat
critical style lends clarity and strength to our battles with the
illusions and deceptions regarding the superficial pressures of social
conformity.
Fat Pig plays at the Aurora Theatre through December 6th. Upcoming at
the Aurora is the world premiere of Joel Drake Johnson's The First
Grade, Jan.22- Feb. 28. For information call 510-843-4822 or visit
auroratheatre.org.
Dr. Annette Lust

A Christmas Memory, A Heartwarming Holiday Tale

Theatre Rhinoceros in collaboration with Word for Word presented A
Christmas Memory, Truman
Capote's humorous and heartbreaking tale of growing up in rural
Alabama in the 30s and his great
Christmas adventure at at atTheatre Artaud'ssold out house on Monday,
December 14, 2009.

Word for Word Performing Arts Company is an ensemble whose mission is
to tell great stories with
elegant theatricality, staging performances of classic and contemporary
fiction. Founded in 1993 by
Susan Harloe and Jo Anne Winter, Word for Word believes in the power of
the short story to provide
solace, compassion and insight into our daily lives. A Christmas
Memory directed by Jo Anne Winter
certainly does all of that and more.

Noted for adapting short works of fiction for the stage, without
changing a word of the original text, Word for Word turns short fiction
into fantastic theatre. And supporting arts organization, Z Space
Studio of which always has an intriguing show in development.

A Christmas Memory is Capote's largely autobiographical story of
seven-year old Buddy (Alex Moggridge) and his much older cousin, Sook
(Patricia Silver), whose trip to find favorite ingredients becomes a
memorable adventure, told through the eyes of Capote's seven-year old
self.
Buddy gets us "to imagine a morning in late November." Buddy tells his
story in the present tense which gives it a certain immediacy. Buddy
and his "friend," a distant, eccentric, and in those times, elderly
(mid-sixties) cousin Sook prepare several dozen fruitcakes and mail
them to people they admire.
Gathering the pecans from those left behind in the harvest, buying
illegally made whiskey for soaking
The cakes, getting a trifle tipsy on the leftovers, cutting their own
tree, and decorating it with home-made ornaments are some of the
adventures the two share. The outside world barely intrudes on this
portrayal
of a loving friendship which wraps us in coziness like the worn scrap
quilt warms Sook.

Winters' staging is innovative. We are so caught up in the story and
lose awareness that the actors are carrying scripts. Both Alex
Moggridge and Patricia Silver give moving performances as Buddy and
Sook.
They are given able support by Molly Noble who makes a darling dog,
Queenie, and Robert Sicular who portrays an Indian, "Ha Ha Jones," from
whom the two buy their whiskey.J. Raoul Brody adds a nice touch of
music with the accordion and an electric keyboard.

Next up at the Z Space Studio is Sharon Gless in "A Round-Heeled
Woman," a stage play by
Jane Prowse from the book by Jane Juska and directed by Chris Smith,
playing January 5-February 7,
2010. For reservations, call 415-626-0453 or go online at
www.zspace.org for details.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Communication Is Key To Saving A Life
As part of their 80th season, Ross Valley Players has added "The
Miracle Worker" by William Gibson as their second production. This is
also the 50th anniversary of The Miracle Worker which premiered
October, 1959. This play is set in Alabama in the 1880's and tells
the real-life story of Helen Keller, a girl who at a very young age is
left blind, deaf and dumb after surviving an attack of scarlet fever.
Unable to communicate with the world, the girl suffers fits of
frustration which manifest in violent tantrums. Her desperate parents
seek help from the Perkins Institute who send Annie Sullivan, a
visually impaired young woman to tutor Helen Through kindness,
persistence and forceful stubbornness, Annie finally breaks through the
barriers that separate the frustrated Helen from the rest of the world
and teaches the girl a method by which she can communicate with the
people around her.

Director Linda Dunn skillfully directs her cast of twelve (including
some adorable children) in a well paced natural clip. The flow is
seamless. There are no weak actors. Samantha Martin is a must-see
young actress in the physically and emotionally demanding role of
Helen. She balances relentless frustration with naive awakening.
Samantha is Helen!

This play is truly the story of Annie Sullivan, who was the miracle
worker. Megan Pryor-Lorentz gives Annie a dichotomy of forthrightness
and doubt, strength and vulnerability, courage and bravado, humor and
drama. Lorentz is an actress who easily meets the many challenges of
Annie. Lauren Doucette (Helen's mother) portrays a genteel, southern
lady with a backbone when it comes to her child. Tom Reilly (Helen's
father) gives a strong performance as a newspaper publisher who
possesses much power, both in the business world and his home. Brook
Robinson (Helen's brother) shows the clear growth of his character's
inner self. Karol Strempke gives a bossy performance as Aunt Ev who is
a talkative woman who tries to be helpful. Mary Jane Baird as Viney,
the servant in charge of the daily housework and meals in the Keller
household, is cheerful, practical and very adept at her job. Rounding
out the cast is Ray Martin as Anagnos, Annie's counselor at the Perkins
Institute for the Blind. It is Anagnos who places Annie in the
Keller's home as a governess for Helen. He is loving and kindly with
Annie but can also be stern when necessary.

Set Designer Michael Cook and Lighting Designer Ellen Brooks arrange
multiple areas representing indoor and outdoor space, clearly defined
by an interior of the house and various exterior areas with variations
of spotlights. Sound Designer Billie Cox has given us both civil war
songs and parlor songs such as "After the Ball" and "Just A Song At
Twilight" as musical background.

Communication is the crux of this play-without it, the human spirit is
locked.

The Miracle Worker plays at the Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden
Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas, Ross through December
6.followed by Moliere's Miser Jan 15 to Feb. 14.For tickets,
call 415-456-9555 or go online at www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
Flora Lynn Isaacson

...