The term “MacGuffin” was popularized by film director Alfred Hitchcock to describe objects or events that took place in his films that were necessary to begin the plot and motivate the characters but were essentially irrelevant. It may be harsh to refer to a baby as a MacGuffin, but the title character in Luna Gale,…
There aren’t a lot of plays that explore Native American history or the modern-day social and political issues that continue to challenge that community. Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Sovereignty, running at the Marin Theatre Company through Oct. 20, attempts to do both in about two hours. Sarah Ridge Polson (Elizabeth Frances) returns to the Cherokee Nation…
Halloween comes early to North Bay stages with two productions more commonly seen around that particular holiday. Monte Rio’s Curtain Call Theatre recreates The Haunting of Hill House through Sep. 28 while Healdsburg’s Raven Players present the serial-killing comedy Arsenic and Old Lace through Sep. 29. Shirley Jackson’s 1958 novel The Haunting of Hill House…
When something becomes popular enough to be successfully parodied, what made the original source material so popular tends to be forgotten. Case in point – the British murder mystery as exemplified by the works of Agatha Christie. Christie wrote 66 detective novels (many featuring the characters of Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot), 14 short story…
Jonathan Spector, the award-winning, Oakland-based playwright of ‘Eureka Day,’ playing through September 22 at Rohnert Park’s Spreckels Performing Arts Center, will be attending this Saturday evening’s performance of his award-winning comedy-drama. Spector has recently returned from New York City, where ‘Eureka Day’ – which premiered last year at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre – had its East…
While technically not set in a courtroom, Tom Topor’s Nuts, running now at Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre through Sept. 29, has all the elements of a classic courtroom drama – a defendant, a judge, a prosecuting attorney, a defense attorney, and witnesses. However, the question of Innocence or guilt of a crime is not…
My guest on the Thursday, September 5 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon was Lois Pearlman from the Pegasus Theater Company’s ‘Tapas’ New Short Play Festival. Click below to listen: **********
Here are the 2018 – 2019 Sonoma County theatre season productions attended by members of the MTJA and under consideration for nomination for the 2019 MTJA Awards: Cabaret Cinnabar Arts Musical Savage Wealth Main Stage West Comedy The Curious Incident of the Dog … Spreckels Theatre Company Drama The Naked Truth Left Edge Theatre Comedy…
The Ross Valley Players conclude their 89th season with a production of Crimes of the Heart, running in Ross through August 11. Beth Henley’s tragicomedy won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was followed by a film adaptation starring Sissy Spacek that nabbed three Oscar nominations. The Magrath sisters have gathered at their grandfather’s…
My guest on the Thursday, July 18 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon was David Templeton to discuss the upcoming 10th Anniversary performance of his solo piece Wretch Like Me. Click below to listen: **********
North Bay Stage and Screen 