I don’t know if it’s the time of year or an undiagnosed coronary issue, but I’ve found my heart warmed twice by local theatre productions now running. First, it was the Main Stage West production of Daddy Long Legs that started an atrial flutter and now it’s the Spreckels Theatre Company’s Little Women, the Musical…
If you like A.R. Gurney’s popular two-person play “Love Letters”, you’re going to love “Daddy Long Legs”, a musical adaptation of the 1912 novel by Jean Webster. Set at the turn of the 20th century, it’s the story of the relationship between an orphan and her mysterious benefactor as told – well, actually, sung –…
In 1992, a retired truck driver named Teri Horton paid five dollars for a painting from a southern California thrift store to give as a gag gift to a friend. An incomprehensible series of dots, blotches and streaks, her friend refused her gift and Horton ending up trying to unload the gangly canvas at a…
Dave and Juliet Pokorny have had quite a year. Not only have they produced eleven individual story-sharing contests under the banner of their monthly West Side Stories series (now in its seventh season, with most winning stories printed monthly in the Argus-Courier). They also produced October’s massive Wine Country Spoken Word Fest, bringing storytellers and…
Ellie Condello has been dreaming of a world under the sea since she was three. “That’s when I first saw the movie The Little Mermaid, or so my mom tells me,” laughs Condello, a senior at Analy High School. “I immediately fell in love with the character of Ariel, and dreamed of being her. My…
I have been serving as a weekly theater critic for over 16 years, beginning with my review of Poona the Fuckdog at Actors Theatre in June 2001. Reviewing (certain complications aside) has been a constant joy and challenge, an awesome responsibility and a truly life-changing privilege, one I’ve taken very seriously. I’ve loved every minute…
Earlier this week, the Marquee Theater Journalist Association held a party at Confluence Taproom in Santa Rosa, announcing the winners of the second annual MTJA awards. I was one of the presenters, along with fellow MTJA members Harry Duke, Alexa Chipman and Barry Willis. A total of 15 recipients were named. Santa Rosa Junior College’s…
“Am I supposed to be retelling my creature’s story or confessing my own?” asks Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of Frankenstein and the protagonist in Petaluma playwright David Templeton’s latest theatrical piece “Mary Shelley’s Body,” now in its premiere engagement at Sebastopol’s Main Stage West. Templeton, the Argus-Courier features editor, whose previous plays are autobiographical, ventures…
In the average 24-hour-day, we make thousands of decisions, never knowing when a seemingly innocuous choice – grabbing coffee at Starbucks (where the future love of our life is standing in line) or Peets (where a runaway car is about to kill 12 patrons) – could have life-changing repercussions. Speaking of choices. Right now, at…
Actor and writer Brittany Law—a “life-long Star Wars fan”—was thinking about Episode VII: The Force Awakens when a bizarre idea occurred to her at roughly the speed of light. “I was watching the movie,” Law recalls, “and I suddenly realized, ‘This would make a great musical!’” She was as serious as a Mynock chewing on a power cable. “It just seemed…
North Bay Stage and Screen 