Review: “Measure for Measure” in San Rafael

  The Marin Shakespeare Company opens its 30th season with Measure for Measure. The Bard’s take on justice and mercy would seem to be a perfect fit for a company that brings their Shakespeare for Social Justice program to eight California State Prisons. Officially labeled as a comedy, it’s considered by some to be one…

Review: “Young Frankenstein” in Healdsburg

After filmmaker Mel Brooks took Broadway by storm with his musical adaptation of The Producers, he hoped lightning would strike twice with the same approach to Young Frankenstein. It didn’t. Young Frankenstein ran for about 2,000 performances less than its predecessor and while The Producers rang up a total of fifteen Tony nominations (winning a…

Review: “Wink” in Mill Valley

“Where is my cat?” So begins the saga of Wink, playwright Jen Silverman’s long gestating play whose title character is said cat. Written in 2013, it’s had several staged readings across the country (including one in 2014 at San Francisco’s Cutting Ball Theater) and is now in its fully-produced world premiere run at the Marin…

Review: “Drumming with Anubis” in Santa Rosa

Two world premiere works by North Bay theatre artists are about to conclude their runs on local stages. Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre is presenting the comedy Drumming with Anubis, while Sebastopol’s Main Stage West is hosting the musical Half Life – A Love Story. Both shows end their runs on June 30. Middle-aged male…

Review: “A Bright New Boise” in Kentfield

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…

KSRO Interview: “Lungs”

My guests on the Thursday, May 16 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon were David Lear, Sharia Pierce, and Jared Wright from the Main Stage West production of Lungs. Click below to listen: **********

Review: “This Random World” in Santa Rosa

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…