KSRO Interview – “Open”

My guest on the first of two February 16 “Theatre Thursday” segments on The Drive with Steve Jaxon & Harry Duke on KSRO was Taylor Diffenderfer. Taylor is currently appearing on stage in Sebastopol in Open, which turns out to be Main Stage West’s final production . Click below to listen: ********** Click the graphic…

Review: “Sidekicked” in Sonoma

Sonoma Arts Live brings a little retro-television to the Rotary Stage in Sonoma with Sidekicked, a one-woman show about actress Vivian Vance. Vance is best known as America’s favorite TV neighbor Ethel Mertz, a character she played for nine seasons alongside Lucille Ball. The Michael Ross-directed show runs in Sonoma through Feb. 19. It’s 1960…

KSRO Interview – “Little Shop of Horrors”

My guests on the first of two “Theatre Thursday” segments on the January 26 broadcast of the The Drive with Steve Jaxon & Harry Duke on KSRO were Gillian Eichenberger and Noah Sternhill from the 6th Street Playhouse production of Little Shop of Horrors. Click below to listen: ********** Click the graphic below for more…

Review: “Cesar Died Today” in Cloverdale

Mounting a production of a little-known play in these pandemic and inflationary-influenced times is something of a risk for most theater companies. Audiences have yet to return in full-force to live theatre, so a significant leap of faith is required to produce material that has little to no track record. Healdsburg’s Raven Players and the…

Top Torn Tix of 2022 – Part I

Live theatre continued its steady march to some semblance of normalcy in 2022, but health related-closures continue to take their toll on the North Bay theatre community. After a promising start to the year evidenced by an increase in the number and scale of productions presented by local companies, the end of the year brought…

Review: “Ham for the Holidays” in Sebastopol

North Bay audiences seeking a little lightweight, somewhat-holiday-themed entertainment would do well to head out to Sebastopol and check out Ham for the Holidays. Written by Santa Rosa High School dropout-turned-game-show-contestant-turned-college-professor Shad Willingham, it runs at Main Stage West through Dec. 30. It’s Christmas Eve, 1939, and the tiny hamlet of Hamlin, GA is buried…

Three North Bay Shows Shuttered by Illness

North Bay theatre companies continue to take illness-related hits with announced cancellations at three different companies. Sebastopol’s Main Stage West lost this weekend’s performances of Ham for the Holidays to an undisclosed illness. The company hopes to reopen the show on Thursday, December 22 and close with a final performance on Friday, December 30. Rohnert…