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Theater
The Forecast is Fun
Russian clown Slava Polunin has all the requisite ingredients for theatrical magic: moon, wind, rainbow, and stars -- you can also throw in some cobwebs, mannequins, and a cavalcade of oddball clown friends for good measure. But be aware that Polunin's celebrated Slava's Snowshow is as capricious as the tricksters who have created it. In Polunin's own words, it is "a theatre of ritual magic and festive pageantry, constructed on the basis of images and movements, games and fantasies". More
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Theater
A Hero for Our Troubled Times
When Chicano performance trio Culture Clash were approached by Berkeley Repertory Theatre artistic director Tony Taccone to collaborate on a play that would lampoon California's original masked marauder, they were hesitant at first. Zorro, a dreamy Spanish hero conceived in 1919 by Irish-American writer Johnston McCulley, may have fought for the rights of disenfranchised Mexicans in California, but the pulpy melodrama of Douglas Fairbanks-era films is now, in retrospect, gauche and offensive. All the same, Culture Clash, who are known for their biting, irreverent humor and willingness to take contemporary issues to the hilt, couldn't refuse. More
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Theater
An Extravagant Interpretation
If you're familiar with the work of British choreographer Matthew Bourne, you'll know that his theatrical performances are imbued with pop culture references and lavish touches of gay camp. Bourne's done everything from sizzling reproductions of "Carmen" (as envisioned in a 1950s town teeming with sweaty car mechanics, in "The Car Man") to hokey interpretations of fusty ballets like "The Nutcracker". But there are always a few things you can count on from a Matthew Bourne show: famously over the top sets and costumes; scorching gay fantasy with touches of seedy epicureanism; and an unforgettable sense of playful debauchery. More
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Theater
Love and Desire Through the Ages
The Eastenders Repertory Company's sixth annual festival of short plays really isn't intended to shock, despite this year's theme: 100 Years of Sex Acts. While some of the vignettes are as titillating as you're likely to get from bare-bones theatre, the Oakland-based company is merely commencing with their festival formula: a chronological retrospective of the short play, revolving around a different theme each year.
Astute renditions of obscure literary masterpieces by the likes of Tennessee Williams, Caryl Churchill, and Federico Garcia Lorca set the stage for three marvelous evenings. More
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Theater
Stepping Up to the Mic
This arch, hilarious, wacky, and poignant romp of a musical uses the setting of a small town spelling bee as a jumping off point for an extended riff on perfectionism, adolescent insecurity, rejection, parental love (or rather, lack thereof), language, winning, losing, and…well, what else is there in life? The characters, a motley crew of nerdy high school students, bring all their festering angst and internal conflict to the microphone in their heartfelt attempts to spell correctly and win approval. Then they sing and dance and spell some more. More
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Theater
Standing in the Light
This complex, mystical, and powerful work is the ninth in August Wilson's ten play cycle about the twentieth century African-American experience. Gem of the Ocean's setting, Pittsburgh in 1904, is the earliest chronologically; it introduces characters referred to in the cycle's plays set in later decades. It paints a vivid historical picture of life in the post-Emancipation North that's as full of pain, joy, humor, and resonance as it is devoid of sentimentality, sanctimoniousness, or prejudice. More
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Theater
A Dangerous Game of Dress-Up at Exit Stage Left
Early twentieth century playwright Jean Genet was a devilish provocateur whose works belong to the realm of high concept tragedy but encompass all the vulgar fodder of the low-brow, including tawdry tales of prostitutes, thieves, homosexuals, and other social "deviants". Genet's play The Maids is one of the playwright's most sophisticated commentaries on the otherness he was so preoccupied with portraying in his work. More
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Theater
Giving Voice to the Women of Iraq
Heather Raffo's exquisitely written, tautly acted play "9 Parts of Desire" is the kind of one-woman show that leaves viewers breathless at the very outset. For one thing, it's both topical and startlingly original. After all, how many portrayals of Iraqi women have we seen beyond the distorted media platitudes lamenting the unilateral plight of Middle Eastern females? More
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Theater
A Year Of Comedic Diversity
As a fellow San Franciscan, my night often involves a journey out to find a small local club or bar with the expectation of finding something unique, personal and familiar. You know, something that has the word "San Francisco" in it. We are a savvy bunch, but love it when we're given a chance to shout out when our names are being called on the microphone. What better way to promote SF spirit than to award yourself with copious amounts of sketch comedy, candid conversations with famous people, and weird happenings at this year's 5th annual SF Sketchfest. More
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Theater
Never the Same Thing
"Sexual Perversity in Chicago" is the raunchy, biting, hilarious and occasionally tragic period piece about the intersecting love lives (and the concomitant discourse about them) of four typical, mid-seventies twentysomethings that launched David Mamet's illustrious career as a playwright. It's refreshing, entertaining, at times cruel, and simultaneously pointedly anachronistic and eminently relevant to the current "battle of the sexes", whatever form it happens to be taking today. More
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