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…
I have loved the idea of film festivals ever since I moved to Northern California in autumn of 1981 and ‒ while applying for a job in downtown Mill Valley ‒ saw a stack of programs for the upcoming Mill Valley Film Festival. What is now a world-renowned, 10-day-long cinematic showcase was then celebrating its…
Mill Valley’s Curtain Theatre must not have gotten the memo about Summer Shakespeare al fresco in Marin requiring a production of Twelfth Night (two other companies are doing it.) Instead of a comedy, Mill Valley’s Old Mill Park Amphitheatre is the scene of great tragedy as the company presents Romeo & Juliet through Sept. 4.…
Watch it, Mill Valley! Your quiet little burg is currently under siege from what may be (according to some pundits and politicians) the greatest threat our nation faces in these troubled times. Lock your windows and bolt your doors because attendees of the latest show at the Throckmorton Theatre have reported multiple sightings of… drag…
North Bay Stage and Screen 