Staging an original ballet is always a risky artistic gamble. Audiences are both hungry for new experiences, and wary of them. Still, when Patricia O’Reilly, of the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance, began to envision a new ballet based on the folktales of Mexico, the idea would not let go of her. Certainly a folk ballet could…
After three weekends of full houses and enthusiastic critical and audience response, Main Stage West has added to additional nights of ‘Outside Mullingar,’ the delightfully offbeat romance from John Patrick Shanley (‘Doubt’). Directed by David Lear, and featuring marvelous performances from Jeremy Anglin, Sharia Pierce, Elly Lichenstein and Clark Miller, the play has inspired strong word of mouth,…
When it comes to the living dead, brains aren’t just for eating anymore – a fact that was on conspicuous display last month when a zombie-loving Petaluma educator made an appearance on AMC’s “Talking Dead” television show. Greg Raiewski, a 28-year-old lifelong Petaluman, showed off his brainpower after he was chosen as the ultimate “The…
The best parts of a film festival are often not the films, but what takes place in between them. From off-the-cuff post-film interviews and exuberant conversations between movie fans, to the parties, workshops and awards presentations that draw hundreds together under a tent or the open sky, it’s sometimes the memorable moments of spontaneous human…
“I was promised a comfy chair, and they definitely delivered,” joked actress Meg Ryan, taking a seat alongside interviewer Paulino Duran, on Thursday, March 31, the second day of the Sonoma International Film Festival. The tribute to Ryan followed a screening of “Ithaca,” her directorial debut, adapted from William Saroyan’s novel “The Human Comedy.” Over…
“This is all pretty wonderful! Just super! We’ve had some bumps along the way, here and there, but this film festival is always the event of the year!” So exclaimed Sonoma’s Jerry Seltzer early Wednesday evening, as he stood with friends just outside the sprawling Back Lot Tent during the well-attended kick-off reception of the…
The essential failure of Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles—the story of an angry cyclist and his passive-aggressive relationship with his testy, suspicious grandmother—is its lack of direction and absence of coherent plotting, along with characters who, with one exception, start off being largely unlikable and reveal themselves so slowly that by the time we see something admirable,…
“Sad but true, there is no more wild left in the world,” says Joe Fitting, deputy director of the San Francisco Zoo. “It’s true. There is no real wild place left on the planet. It’s all shared space now. Zootopia, this crazy Disney movie, it shows all of the different animals sharing the same city, the…
“It’s impossible to direct, or act, without using some of what you’ve experienced in your own life,” suggests actor-director Sheri Lee Miller, scooting her chair closer to the heater in the rehearsal room at Cinnabar Theater. As the sound of falling rain grows louder overhead, she takes a moment to mull that last thought over.…
“Joe, nobody knows anything,” observed actress Meg Ryan, as she teetered at the edge of a fiery abyss in the misunderstood fantasy film “Joe Versus the Volcano,” in which she played the soul-sick Patricia Graynamore opposite Tom Hanks’ “Brain Cloud” afflicted Joe Banks. In one of the movie’s most memorable scenes, she said, “Nobody knows…
North Bay Stage and Screen 