Top Torn Tix of 2022 – Part II

Between health-related closures, dwindling audiences, casting challenges, and a couple of big changes in company leadership, there was almost as much drama off-stage as on in the North Bay theatre community in the past year. There was an assumption by some that pandemic-weary audiences (and theatre companies) would seek relief in comedies and small-scale musicals…

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…

Review: “The River Bride” in Santa Rosa

Folks who like their fairy-tale endings in the “and they lived happily ever after” vein may find themselves challenged by Marisela Treviño Orta’s The River Bride. Part Brazilian folklore and part Brothers Grimm at their grimmest, it’s the tale of two sisters and the men in their lives. Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse has a…

Review: “Clybourne Park” in Healdsburg

The roots of racism run deep in the American housing market. Playwright Lorraine Hansberry addressed the issue in 1959 with A Raisin in the Sun, the first play written by an African-American woman performed on Broadway and the first to have an African-American director. Playwright Bruce Norris took Hansberry’s story and in 2010 wrote a…

Review: “Misery” in Petaluma

Adaptations of the works of Stephen King for film and television have been hit or miss over the years. For every The Shining or ‘Salem’s Lot, there’s a Firestarter or The Langoliers. Mainstream theatrical adaptations have been limited to a 2018 musical version of Carrie (a major Broadway flop but cult hit) and Misery, which…

KSRO Interview – “Misery”

My guest on the October 20 “Theatre Thursday” segment of The Drive with Steve Jaxon & Harry Duke on KSRO was Tim Kniffin, director of the Cinnabar Theater production of Stephen King’s Misery. Click below to listen: ********** Click the graphic below for more info:

KSRO Interview – “Stand and Deliver”

My guests on the September 22 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive with Steve Jaxon & Harry Duke on KSRO were Elizabeth Dale and Miriam Valencia from the SRJC Theatre Arts production of Stand and Deliver. Miriam’s dad Carlos joined in the conversation to tell of his experience meeting Jaime Escalante. Click below to listen:…

Review: “Circle Mirror Transformation” in Novato

If you’ve ever glanced at a flyer hanging from a community center bulletin board that offers an acting   course and worried about the time commitment required, playwright Annie Baker’s got you covered. In Circle Mirror Transformation, now running at the Novato Theater Company through September 25, Baker covers in two hours what most courses do…