Arts & Culture :: Theater

Paws and reflect: MTC's 'Wink'

Paws and reflect: MTC's 'Wink'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 25, 2019

The fog comes in on little cat feet in "Wink," playwright Jen Silverman's absurd dark comedy now making a promising world premiere at the Marin Theater Company.

Pride 2019: The Master, remarkable Noel Coward

Pride 2019: The Master, remarkable Noel Coward

  • by Tavo Amador
  • Jun 25, 2019

Prominent stage, movie, and television actor. Dramatist. Novelist. Lyricist. Composer. Singer. Cabaret star. Theatre and film director. Celebrated raconteur. Insightful diarist. Noel Coward (1899-1973) was all those things.

Cruise control at Theatre Rhino: 'Action Hero'

Cruise control at Theatre Rhino: 'Action Hero'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 18, 2019

John Fisher's "Action Hero" (in addition to writing the script, he directed, and is one-third of the cast) is a multi-layered Los Angeles fantasia.

Trans performance celebrated: 'Fresh Meat'

Trans performance celebrated: 'Fresh Meat'

  • by Rae Raucci
  • Jun 14, 2019

The Fresh Meat Festival is an annual San Francisco performance celebration of transgender talent in diverse areas, from musical and vocal acts to dance performances, performance arts, theater pieces, and beyond.

Kiss My Aztec @ Berkeley Rep

Kiss My Aztec @ Berkeley Rep

  • by Steven Underhill
  • Jun 12, 2019

Berkeley Repertory's opening night of comic and playwright John Leguizamo's 'Kiss My Aztec' brought out local luminaries like Rita Moreno, director Tony Taccone, and of course the cast members and musicians in the show.

Enduring 'Carmen'

Enduring 'Carmen'

  • by Philip Campbell
  • Jun 11, 2019

The latest revival of Bizet's "Carmen," which opened the San Francisco Opera's summer season last week, proves something we always knew.

Yucca, yucca: 'Kiss My Aztec'

Yucca, yucca: 'Kiss My Aztec'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 11, 2019

Aztec society worshipped the sun. "Kiss My Aztec" frenetically proves the adage that there's nothing new under it.

Horns of plenty: 'Rhinoceros'

Horns of plenty: 'Rhinoceros'

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 11, 2019

You'd need an awfully thick skin to resist being tickled by the production of "Rhinoceros," Eugene Ionesco's 1959 classic now at the American Conservatory Theater.

Willie the Shakes' nonstop faerie frolic

Willie the Shakes' nonstop faerie frolic

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 4, 2019

Puck yeah! Relishing his role as Fairyland's mischief chief and occasional cur, Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck (Robyn Kerr) — already the doubling is dizzying! — delights in his assignment to confuse and befuddle.

Swamp creatures

Swamp creatures

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 4, 2019

"Kings," Sarah Burgess' engagingly unsavory behind-the-scenes D.C. drama now being staged by Berkeley's Shotgun Players, is a sort of Capitol Hill "Jurassic Park."

Un-convent-ional casting

Un-convent-ional casting

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • May 29, 2019

Make like a wise man and follow the beckoning star. You'll end up not in Bethlehem, but at the Gateway Theater.

The demon butcher of Wall Street

The demon butcher of Wall Street

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • May 28, 2019

There's an all-too-familiar glimmer of today's San Francisco in "American Psycho," the musical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' black comic 1991 novel about a white-collar murderer, now making its West Coast debut.

Too little smoke, too much mirror

Too little smoke, too much mirror

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • May 21, 2019

"I wish we had a bar like this," one of my companions exclaimed upon seeing Devin Kasper's irresistibly inviting set for "The View UpStairs."

Theater activism

Theater activism

  • by Jim Piechota
  • May 14, 2019

In his latest collection of essays and performance pieces, Tim Miller demonstrates a well-honed sense of humor, a passion for queer history, and the kind of melodrama only a true performance artist can exude.