Review: “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” in Healdsburg

“Is this funny? I think it’s sad.” That comment was murmured from one audience member to her seatmate after other audience members chuckled at the recent Mother’s Day matinee performance of Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone. The Raven Players production runs through May 26 at the Raven Performing Arts Theater in Healdsburg. It’s a…

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…