Review: “Avenue Q” in Santa Rosa

by Harry Duke * If you’re a fan of South Park and Team America: World Police, then the stage show Avenue Q should be right up your alley. It’s an adult send-up of Sesame Street, the children’s television classic where humans and puppets co-exist and life’s problems are acknowledged and solved with humor and song.…

Review: “The Lifespan of a Fact” in Santa Rosa

By Cari Lynn Pace & Barry Willis Where does embellishment belong in storytelling, if the goal is to create emotional truth?  Theater veteran Libby Oberlin directs this extraordinary comedic drama filled with challenging questions on the Monroe Stage at 6th Street Playhouse. You won’t find better acting than this, with incisive dialog and a plot that took seven years to determine the outcome. The production…

Interview – “Enfrascada” at Mercury Theater

My guests on the second of two 04/23/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Reilly Milton and Beulah Vega from the Mercury Theater production of Enfrascada. The dark comedy runs through May 10 in the former Cinnabar Schoolhouse in Petaluma. Click below to listen: ********** Click HERE for more information on…

Review: “Leading Ladies” in Cloverdale

by Harry Duke * Community theaters love Ken Ludwig. Since he first hit it big with his Tony-winning farce Lend Me A Tenor, Ludwig’s farcical takes on the world of Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Baskerville, a Sherlock Holmes Mystery), and even George and Ira Gershwin (Crazy for You)…

Review: “Born Yesterday” in Napa

by Barry Willis * A corrupt businessman lands in Washington DC, intent on buying a Senator as part of an effort to get legislation passed to improve his fortune. Currying favor among the ruling class is one of humanity’s oldest tales, one that will never go away.  The stage play of Garson Kanin’s Born Yesterday…

Interview – “Hello, Dolly!” at SRJC

My guests on the second of two 04/16/26 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive on 95.5 FM were Laura Downing-Lee and Matthew Quezada-Cortes from the SRJC Theatre Arts production of Hello, Dolly! The show has eight performances from April 17 through April 26 on the Burbank Auditorium Main Stage on the campus of Santa Rosa…