William Shakespeare, who wrote a couple of plays, never had one actually published in his lifetime. They existed, often in pieces, in hand-scrawled scripts and in the memories of the actors who performed them. If not for Shakespeare’s friends and colleagues’ efforts to preserve his work for posterity, high school drama students would have a…
The centuries-old debate on just who did write the plays attributed to William Shakespeare takes center stage at the Cloverdale Performing Arts Center with their presentation of Amy Freed’s The Beard of Avon. Freed comes down squarely on the side of those who think Edward De Vere deserves the lion’s share of the credit and…
For theatre lovers who prefer their Shakespeare ‘al fresco’ – or for those who are still hesitant about venturing inside – two North Bay companies are presenting free outdoor productions of Bard-centric plays. They are adhering to all city, county, and state COVID protocols and the casts and crews have been fully vaccinated. Mill Valley’s…
One of the most unique theatre entities in the North Bay has closed shop. After 46 years traveling and entertaining the world with their unique style of performance art and puppetry, Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller have decided The Independent Eye will no longer be an operating concern. They’ve released the following statement: “As of…
Bring Down the House By Rosa Joshi and Kate Wisniewski Adapted from William Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland is drawing close to wrapping up its ten-year-long commitment to staging all of Shakespeare’s plays within a single decade. That’s 36 shows in ten seasons, with crowd-pleasers like “A Midsummer…
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM By William Shakespeare Directed by Joseph Haj REVIEWED BY DAVID TEMPLETON I have seen enough productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” over the course of my theatergoing life –- at least two dozen of them — that I literally cannot recall anything about the majority of them. That will not be…
My guests on the Thursday, October 10 theatre segment on KSRO’s The Drive with Steve Jaxon were Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor from the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet’s Big Night (a prequel) at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center. Click below to listen: **********
In a recent conversation about on-stage diversity (and the lack thereof in the North Bay), a local theatre company’s Artistic Director posed this question: “When will you know when we’ve achieved it?” My response: “When I look at a cast photo and no one stands out.” A cast photo from the Marin Shakespeare Company production…
For twenty years, Mill Valley’s Curtain Theatre has treated local audiences to admission-free, fully-produced Shakespeare plays performed in the small outdoor amphitheatre in Old Mill Park. Whether they will get to continue to do so is in the hands of city’s Parks and Recreation Commission as they deal with complaints from some neighbors who appear…
Summer used to be the season for Shakespeare ‘al fresco’ but with the shuttering of the Shakespeare in the Cannery Program last year it seems be in shorter supply these days. Still, interested patrons can find a couple of shows at opposite ends of the North Bay to satiate their seasonal appetite for the Bard.…
North Bay Stage and Screen 