by Harry Duke After a couple of rabble-rousing, politically-bent productions, Petaluma’s Mercury Theater shifts to British comedy with their production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives. The Michael Fontaine-directed production runs through Mar. 21. The play, written in 1930, has served as a vehicle for some of the top performers of the past century, including Elizabeth…
My guests on the 02/26/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Michael Fontaine and Zane Walters from the Mercury Theater production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives. The show runs in “the little red schoolhouse on the hill” in Petaluma from March 6 through March 21. Click below to listen: ********** Click HERE…
My guests on the 01/08/26 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Stage Director Elizabeth Craven and Music Director Tom Martin from the Mercury Theater production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song. The show runs January 9 through January 25 in the former Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma. Click below to listen: ********** Click HERE…
Bertolt Brecht’s 1941 parable play/farce about the dangers of complacency and appeasement is, as is said much too frequently today, as timely as ever. It’s a shame eight U.S. Senators haven’t had a chance to see it. It’s the second show in the first full season for Petaluma’s Mercury Theater, the newest theatrical kid on…
My guests on the 10/30/25 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Keith Baker and Kevin Bordi from the Mercury Theater production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui. The parable play about the rise of an American gangster runs at the old Cinnabar Theater building in Petaluma from October 31…
Documentary producer Matlock Zumsteg joined me on the August 7 broadcast of The Drive on 95.5 for a discussion about the film Your Friend Logan. The film aims to shine a spotlight on the accomplishments and personality of Logan Whitehurst, a truly unique person, and hopes to inspire others to follow their creative pursuits. The…
Werewolves prowl the North Bay courtesy of actor/director/screenwriter Daedalus Howell and his low-budget horror comedy Werewolf Serenade. Howell plays Professor Peter MacTire of Northern California’s Freestone School of the Arts (est. 1986) where he teaches really niche film genre night school classes to a handful of students. One evening, his class is interrupted by fellow…
My guests on the 06/19/25 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Jared Emerson-Johnson, President of the Board of Mercury Theater of Petaluma, and mezzo-soprano/actress Leandra Ramm. Leandra is currently appearing in the one-act operas Trouble in Tahiti and Service Provider, running in tandem at Mercury Theater in Petaluma through June 22. Click…
My guests on the first of two “Theatre Thursday” segments on 04/03/25 on The Drive on 95.5 were sound designer Jared Emerson-Johnson and cast member Amanda Vitiello from the Mercury Theater production of Meet Me at Dawn. The show runs in Petaluma through April 19. Click below to listen: ********** Click HERE for more information…
My guests on the 11/07/24 “Theatre Thursday” segment on The Drive on 95.5 were Ken Urso and Imri M. Tate from the upcoming CollabWERKS production of Midsummer. The show is a wild, immersive, theatrical dance party based (loosely) on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Nikko Kimzin. It’s being performed at The California in Santa…
North Bay Stage and Screen 