Review: “The Mountaintop” in Healdsburg

Healdsburg’s The 222 concludes its season of professional drama with The Mountaintop, co-directed by Aldo Billingsley and Rebecca Novick. Playwright Katori Hall’s 2009 imagining of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last night on Earth runs through April 14. It’s late in the evening of April 3, 1968 and Dr. King (Ron Chapman) has returned to…

Review: “The Wizard of Oz” in Healdsburg

Healdsburg’s Raven Players is one of the few local companies to wear the phrase “community theater” as a badge of honor.  Absent a delusion of grandeur and pretenses of ‘Broadway quality’, the Players simply make the commitment to be a place that all are welcome, both on and off the stage. Their casts are frequently…

Review: “Evil Dead: The Musical” in Healdsburg

If the lack of a splatter zone is what’s kept you from returning to live theater, do the Raven Players have a show for you. Evil Dead: The Musical is running at the Raven Performing Arts Theater in Healdsburg through October 29. Based on the Sam Raimi classic cult horror film trilogy, playwright George Reinblatt…

Review: “My Name is Asher Lev” in Healdsburg

In the ten or so years I’ve been doing theater journalism, I’ve probably seen close to one thousand shows, with about one-third of them being productions of Mamma Mia! (The Addams Family Musical is rapidly approaching that number.) Lately, the repetitive nature of theater programming has been getting to me. I have found it difficult…