|
|
|
Sort By:
 |
Theater
Gay Camp Weds Gothic Romance
Swimming in references to Poe, Joyce, Shakespeare, and the Brontë Sisters, The Mystery of Irma Vep, which is now enjoying the stage at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is a 'penny dreadful': a lampoon of the 19th century melodrama. Irma Vep is the vaudevillian tour-de-force that launched writer / director / performer Charles Ludlam and his Ridiculous Theatrical Company into camp renown back in 1984. It's an unabashed, madcap pastiche of The Mummy's Curse, Abbot and Costello Meet the Wolfman, and David O. Selznick's Rebecca, which is wryly knocked about... More
|
 |
Theater
Strangers in a Strange Land
You've got to hand it to Dave Eggers. The internationally acclaimed memoirist, novelist, and publisher has managed to transcend criticisms of being self-indulgent and solipsistic. A simple rule of thumb is that you never write a memoir before having accomplished something stellar in the public eye- Eggers broke this rule with his first book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, an insoluble, artful memoir about his family's tragedies. Eggers' prose is relaxed, colloquial, but full of penetrating clarity that can be both humorous and crushing... More
|
 |
Theater
The Diva Behind the Diva
She was known simply as "La Divina", the paragon of grace and glamour. Wherever she took the stage- at La Scala, La Bastille and La Monnaie- she ripped the hearts right out of her audiences. Her mezzo-soprano had the power to shatter crystal and bedazzle millions. Her name was Maria Callas. More
|
 |
Theater
More Body, Less Vagina
Five years ago, the word "vagina" kaboomed itself out of stagey whispers and into the very heart of the American milieu. With that, Eve Ensler went from being a theater nobody to a feminist playwright with global clout. Sometimes candid, sometimes tongue in cheek, and always extraordinary, Ensler's Vagina Monologues had a snowball effect being performed in more than 30 countries and translated into 28 languages. Now, after her infamous musings have accrued a gaggle of vagina aficionados and achieved a critical mass of performers (college drama classes and Hollywood debutantes alike), Ensler has turned her gaze to an area above... More
|
|
|
Theater
By Melissa Broder
Inspired by confessional neurotics such as Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol and Woody Allen, the postmodern arts have come to resemble private diary entries; yet the finest playwright is still able to transform a personal notion into a universal theme. David Mamet's American Buffalo, which premiered in Chicago in 1975, exceeds the barriers of class, location and time, presenting audiences with a suspicious analysis of the American dream. In the vein of his predecessor Edward Albee, Mamet chooses depth over quantity when creating his characters. Buffalo's plot centers around a day in the life of three men at a junk shop... More
|
 |
Theater
By Sharon Maidenberg
When you enter the performance space at Intersection for the Arts, you are immediately welcomed by the spiritual experience you're about to experience with Campo Santo's Mission Indians. Written by Greg Sarris and directed by Camp Santo's Nancy Benjamin and Margo Hall, Mission Indians was originally written about Southern California Indians, but Sarris and Campo Santo have been hard at work for the past two years specifically adapting the play to deal with Coastal and Santa Rosa Indians, the Campo Santo cast, and the performance space at Intersection. Rest assured, if you're not from the area all you need is a working knowledge... More
|
 |
Theater
By Charyn Pfeuffer
I love going to the theater, but sometimes, it can be a bit of a production. The experience can be pretentious and costly, and I always feel like proper etiquette is fully enforced. A night at the ODC Theater breaks all of those stigmas. I dress up because I want to -- not because I feel obligated to. There are no stuffy tuxedo-clad ushers or assigned seats. And the ODC provides top-notch local theater without breaking the bank. More
|
 |
Theater
By Rachel Churner
When the holidays arrive, the families do too, so when you're looking for somewhere to take the folks, the kids, or the in-laws this week, try the Liebe Wetzel's "Another Wrapping Paper Caper." Wetzel and her Oakland-based puppetry troupe Lunatique Fantastique take kids of all ages on a wild puppet adventure, as the trench-coated private eye follows a trail of packing peanuts to track down a stolen package. Along the way the sleuth runs into a host of wrapping paper-clad, found-object puppets created on stage, including Ribbon, Tinsel, Styrofoam peanuts, Fedora Hat, along with guest appearances by Bread Rolls and Silverware. More
|
|
|
Theater
At the Palace of Fine Arts
The 24th annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, the oldest festival in the United States dedicated to the preservation of cross-cultural ethnic dance, will be featuring more than thirty companies in an opulent collection of performances. Divided into three programs, this year's festival will include performances from over twenty nationalities and will take viewers on a journey through classical dance forms from across the globe. More
|
 |
Theater
By Summi Kaipa
What did I expect when I heard that Kevin Killian's new play, White Rabbit, would be premiering at New Langton Arts? A Temptation Island episode with the likes of Siegfried and Roy, Claudia Schiffer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger sounded like a strange combo for such an otherwise sexually charged show, where the usual candidates are married couples tested by the throes of apparently lusty babes. Well, aside from the suspiciously funny premise of reality television as the plot of this play, Killian's premiere has nothing, thankfully, in common with the melodrama of such a show. More
|
|
