The members of a James Dean fan club reunite twenty years after his death in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, the latest Novato Theater Company production running through June 9. It’s set in the Kressmont Five and Dime in West Texas, just a stone’s throw from where James Dean…
Who knew that an employee break room could be such a fertile setting for compelling theatrical drama? First, David Harrower set his harrowing Blackbird in a nameless one, then Samuel Hunter (The Whale) set his fascinating A Bright New Boise in the break room of an Idaho Hobby Lobby. The College of Marin brings Boise…
Serendipity. Fate. Chance. Destiny. Karma. Fortune. Kismet. Call it what ever you like, but playwright Steven Dietz (Becky’s New Car) doesn’t believe in it so much so that his play This Random World, running through May 26 at Left Edge Theatre, is even sub-titled The Myth of Serendipity. The connections that people have, make, or…
The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘jazz’ as a type of music of black American origin characterized by improvisation, syncopation, and usually a regular or forceful rhythm. The same definition could be applied to Nambi E. Kelley’s Jazz, her theatrical adaptation of Toni Morrison’s 1992 novel of the same name. Awoye Timpo directs the Marin Theatre Company…
The theatrical treatments of two great American novels come alive on North Bay stages with mixed results in productions running through May 19. 6th Street Playhouse is presenting Christopher Sergel’s adaptation (not Aaron Sorkin’s) of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Sergel had an agreement with Lee to produce a theatrical version of her novel…
Most folk’s exposure to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came through reading the book or watching the somewhat renamed 1971 Gene Wilder film. “Charlie” purists rejected Tim Burton’s 2005 cinematic take on the tale as too dark and weird. Well folks, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. San Francisco’s SHN Golden Gate Theatre is…
Siblings and significant others do battle in two comedies running now on North Bay stages. Healdsburg’s Raven Players take you to rural Pennsylvania where Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike gather at the family homestead. Vanya (Steven David Martin) and Sonia (Diane Bailey) have held down the family fort and taken care of their…
Santa Rosa Junior College’s Theatre Arts Department closes out their second season ‘on the road’ with a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. With the Burbank Auditorium still undergoing renovations, the Maria Carrillo High School theatre hosts this production through May 5. Director Leslie McCauley has gathered…
The venerable Ross Valley Players have a long history of presenting new works to their audiences. In 1984, they initiated the Ross Alternative Works (RAW) program, dedicated to staged readings and full productions of original works by Bay Area playwrights. This season brings Scott & Zelda: The Beautiful Fools, running now through April 28. Written…
In the pantheon of great American musicals, one would be hard-pressed to find Clark Gesner’s You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown on the list. What began as a concept album in 1966 soon transmogrified into a very successful off-Broadway show that never really cut it on Broadway. Its first run in 1971 lasted less than…
North Bay Stage and Screen 