The predominant story in Bay Area theatre for the past year continues to be company closures and the regular announcement of emergency fund raisers to stave off further closures. No theatre company is immune to the financial pressures created by the combination of the increase in costs of doing business and the reduction of income…
The Novato Theater Company closes out their 103rd season with a production of Michael Frayn’s award-winning farce Noises Off. The three-act comedy runs at the Novato Playhouse through July 14. Act I introduces us to stressed-out director Lloyd Dallas (Mike Pavone), who has his hands full at the final rehearsal of a touring production of…
The last few years have been exceedingly challenging for the theatre community, and Mill Valley’s Mountain Play is no different. “Since 2019 the Mountain Play has been weathering storms,” said Executive Director Eileen Grady, “both literal and figurative. From the climate crisis to employment law changes to the pandemic and its aftershocks, we’ve been through…
It’s been more than forty years since Harvey Fierstein exploded into our cultural consciousness with Torch Song Trilogy. At a time when being gay could get you thrown out of the military and the concept of marriage equality was considered a fantasy, the story of a gay man (and a drag queen at that) searching…
The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle announced the nominations for their 47th Excellence in Theatre Awards and North Bay theatre companies received 59 nominations over 18 categories. Active since 1976, the Circle rewards excellence in all phases of theatrical production through the Circle’s annual awards. The Circle eliminated gender distinction in their performance…
It’s been almost 50 years since the antics of the British comedy troupe known as Monty Python’s Flying Circus were unleashed on an unsuspecting Texas audience by a Dallas PBS station. The BBC-produced series soon found a loyal American audience and a series of feature films followed. Python made it to Broadway in 2005 with…
Long before there was Jerry Seinfeld and his eponymous show about nothing, there was Thornton Wilder and his play about nothing. While Seinfeld mined the mundane in big-city living for often outrageous hilarity, Our Town took a gentler approach to the day-to-day minutiae of life in early twentieth-century small-town America. The Ross Valley Players have…
While musicals may be the bread and butter of local theatre, much can be learned about a community through the plays programmed in a company’s season. Comedies seemed few and far between this year, which may be a reflection of our local and perhaps national feelings of unease with what’s going on in our schools…
Live theatre continues to struggle to find its footing in a post pandemic world. The year was marked by audience numbers still failing to return to pre-pandemic levels, the use of understudies becoming more prevalent as a way to reduce cancellations due to COVID, the passing of some beloved members of the local theatre community,…
If the displays in Costco are any indication, the holiday season apparently began in mid-September. How odd then that theatre companies seem to wait until mid-November to unveil their holiday-themed productions. This season, North Bay audiences in search of holiday entertainment will have a variety of shows from which to choose from the traditional to…
North Bay Stage and Screen 