Summertime is when most theatre companies reset for their new seasons so July and August are usually pretty slow when it comes to live theatre in the North Bay.  Local venues are hosting a few interesting “one offs”, though, to satiate the community’s need for live theatrical entertainment.

And then there’s the Marin Shakespeare Company.

Summertime is when they’re at their most active. Their season began in July with a well-received mounting of Much Ado About Nothing and continues in August with two interesting productions.

Usually situated at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre at Dominican University, MSC will be presenting their first indoor summer production.  The Untime, an original piece conceived by Artistic Director Jon Tracy and Nick Musleh, will play at their downtown San Rafael venue at 514 Fourth Street starting on Aug. 2. The show contains echoes of Macbeth with its tale of a King, his generals, a wedding, and conflict. 

For folks seeking a more traditional Shakespeare show, The Comedy of Errors will play at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre starting August 17. Director Michael Gene Sullivan’s adaptation of the play presents the show in period but as if it’s being performed by a rogue women’s acting troupe.

www.marinshakespeare.org

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Speaking of Michael Gene Sullivan and acting troupes, the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe, now in their 65^th season, brings its rabble-rousing ways to Sonoma and Marin counties with stops in Cotati and Mill Valley for performances of their latest poke-in-the-establishment’s-eye, American Dreams – A New Musical – Was Democracy Just a Dream?

For those not expecting to hear much from a mime troupe, be aware that they use the term mime in its classical and original definition, “The exaggeration of daily life in story and song.”

Written by Sullivan (with music and lyrics by Daniel Savio and directed by Velina Brown), the show features Sullivan as Gabriel Pearse, a black man tired of failed liberal promises and ready to give up, or worse, voting conservative.

Other subjects addressed by the Troupe in this 80-minute intermission-less show include the latest on the Palestinian ‘situation’ and its accompanying campus unrest, and what the future might hold for us all as AI becomes more prevalent.

One person’s dream is another person’s nightmare and yes, there’s a mad robot and a cow puppet.

The show also features Andre Amarotico, Lizzie Calogero, and Mikki Johnson playing multiple roles. Music is provided via a three-person band with Savio on keyboards, Caroline Chung on bass and musical director Dred Scott on percussion and keyboards.

The Troupe is traveling throughout Northern California with their show. Cotati’s La Plaza Park will host the show on Saturday, August 3 at 2 pm while Mill Valley’s Community Center will host the show on Saturday, August 21 at 7 pm on their back lawn.  There’ll be pre-show music thirty minutes before each curtain. Admission is free, but donations are graciously accepted.

www.sfmt.org

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On a more spiritual and somewhat less political note, Sonoma’s venerable Sebastiani Theatre is hosting storyteller Celeste Mancinelli’s one-woman show Crying on the Camino. The show is based on Mancinelli’s own 200-mile hike from Portugal to northwestern Spain on the Camino de Santiago to the sacred site of the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela.

“My show is an invitation to walk the Camino with me, share my adventure, every grungy, grueling, crazy, silly, and serious moment of it,” says Mancinelli. “It is said that the Camino pilgrimage happens from mind to heart, and it ends, if you’re lucky – and I was – with a sense of wonder.”

The show plays Saturday, August 10, at 3:00 pm at the Sebastiani Theater on the Square in downtown Sonoma. Tickets are $25.

www.sebastianitheatre.com

Photos courtesy of MSC, Mike Melnyk, Celeste Mancinelli

This preview originally appeared in an edited version in the Marin Pacific Sun.