Tag: Susan Dunn

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Pick ASR! ~~ Zere Gut: “Crossing Delancey” at RVP

By Susan Dunn

Sometimes we need a simple story with archetypal and eccentric characters to raise our spirits and whisk us from pesky daily issues.

Crossing Delancey by Susan Sandler is just such a vehicle. Eminently so! It surrounds us with a New York Jewish world where home cooking, kugel and tagelach, and occasional bottled spirits put better faces on loneliness and bonding.

Its mission is to solve Grandma Bubbie’s dilemma. How can she lead her reluctant granddaughter Isabel (Lisa Morse), who has left the Lower East Side for the more upscale and cosmopolitan atmosphere of Uptown, into a normal Jewish marriage? Bubbie and her henchwoman, Hannah, the matchmaker (Jennifer S. McGeorge), and Sam, the pickle-vendor (Mark P. Robinson), are up to the job.

” … a marvelously oiled feel-good machine …”

As stage lights come up, Isabel is performing a comedic hair-plucking surgery on her grousing Bubbie. With a theatrical vanity that emerges and re-emerges through the play, Bubbie – thanks to the raucous and inspired acting of Tamar Cohn – continues to entertain us, initially to the detriment of her subdued, intellectual, and prosaically attired granddaughter.

Bubbie’s wiles and maneuvers are well-intended but romantically cool — Isabelle has visions of a different and more culturally independent life, which we quickly learn is based only on fantasy. Well played and embodied by Lisa Morse, Isabelle lives alone and works in an uptown bookstore where her daydreams can explode on desirable-looking local authors who have a stake in visiting the bookstore. The more Bubbie and Hannah scheme and push, the more Isabelle becomes entrenched in her author du jour.

(L-R) Mark Robinson as Sam, Tamar Cohn as Bubbie, Lisa Morse as Izzy in “Crossing Delancy”.

In a stand-out scene, Isabelle finds such entrenchment in Tyler, a pseudo-British-accented Steve Price, who is stopping by the bookstore. He finds she has read his latest book three times and is immensely flattered. The narrative morphs from their casual banter into a lights-dimmed fantasy world of Isabelle’s imaginings, where she is dancing with and is suddenly the object of Tyler’s affections. As the scene returns to normalcy, Isabelle is inspired to pursue Tyler with her own schemes for winning this impressive man.

Meanwhile matchmaker Hannah is pushing a very different romantic candidate, Sam, who has inherited his father’s pickle-vending business. In a first meeting, Sam is ignored or outright put down by Isabelle despite his attempts to soften her resistance. The pickles are a downer in Isabelle’s hierarchical world, but Sam has outstanding charm, patience and attractiveness that win everyone over. He also gives her advice on changing her perspective, and despite being rejected, he gifts her with an impressive purchase and ultimately the ability to see her world from a broader perspective.

This reviewer worried that the program’s extensive glossary of Jewish words and phrases meant the dialogue was going to leave me in an ethnic lurch, but the story unfolds seamlessly through impeccable acting, gestures, props, songs and the occasional breaking of the 4th wall. The Jewishness of the characters comes across with a real authenticity leavened with humor.

The set is ingeniously used for swapping scenes between Bubbie’s house, the bookstore and side scenes of engagement, with choreography that keeps the action fluid and cogent. Costuming changes are continuous and keep the visual action lively with each character defined by clothes, especially Isabelle, who wears the same rather dowdy outfit into Act 2 and verges on tempting us to run up and rip it off her.

(L-R) Jennifer McGeorge as Hannah, Mark Robinson as Sam, Tamar Cohn as Bubbie at RVP.

Kudos go to Hannah’s mod-Jewish matchmaker ensembles which echo her brassy voice and in-your-face personality. Lighting by Jim Cave helps change scene moods, and spontaneous Jewish songs and other background standards (sound design by Billie Cox) help pave the way for love to flower.

With superb acting all around, and exceptional range, force and truth in lead-character Bubbie, this is a comedy to treasure. From start to end, director Adrian Elfenbaum has crafted a marvelously oiled feel-good machine in Crossing Delancey.

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ASR Senior Contributor Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionCrossing Delancy
Written bySusan Sandler
Directed byAdrian Elfenbaum
Producing CompanyRoss Valley Players
Production DatesThru Oct 13th
Production AddressRoss Valley Players
"The Barn"
30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Greenbrae, CA 94904
Websitewww.rossvalleyplayers.com
Telephone415-456-9555 ext. 1
Tickets$21.60 - $37.80
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5.0
Performance4.5/5.0
Script4/5.0
Stagecraft4.5/5.0
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!
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PICK ASR! ~~ Los Altos Players Charm with Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”

By Susan Dunn

Why do we keep going to see Waiting for Godot? Why is it a classic? Is it a comedy or tragedy?

Irish playwright Samuel Beckett himself called it a “tragicomedy.” First written in French in 1948 after the tragedy of WWII, he rewrote it in English, and the new version premiered in 1953 in Paris. In 1998-99, it was voted “most significant English-language play of the 20th century.” (See Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot)

How can a classic play begin with the ordeal of taking off a tight boot? Thus do our two protagonists, Estragon and Vladimir, affectionately known to each other as Gogo and Didi—with subtle resonances to Ego and ID—welcome us to their world. Immediately, we see how this inseparable pair weaves their totally disparate personalities into a fragile whole.

“…  we sit in rapt wonder …”

Estragon (David Scott) is a man of few words but full of grimaces, contortions, moods and physical needs. He beckons help from Vladimir (ably performed by Evan Winet) with the boot, only to be met with his partner’s distractions, dissertations, memories, mental musings, and questions.

David Scott and Evan Winet in “Waiting for Godot”.

The pair’s interactions are conversational banalities, passing time until they can achieve their main objective. They must meet with a man called Godot, whom they may have met before, or not, whose persona is never fully described. What Godot will do for them when they meet is a mystery. Their lives are circumscribed by their poor physical conditions. Vladimir has urinary distress issues which can be triggered by mentions of a French brothel, and Estragon is always looking for a good sleep to make up for being beaten in his bed in a ditch.

The pair meet up with a slave driver, Pozzo, driving his luckless vassal Lucky with a long rope and whip. They are off to the market where capitalist Pozzo wants to sell his menial for profit. Lucky remains mute until Pozzo commands him to think. This command unleashes a stream of strange movements and phrases which sound impressive but devolve into nonsense. As they depart, Vladimir and Estragon continue their time-killing repartees until a messager boy appears and reveals that Godot is not coming that day. Thus ends Act I and sets us up for a near repeat of this drama in Act II.

The cast of “Waiting for Godot” at work at Los Altos Stage theater.

Productions of Waiting for Godot are variously treated on a continuum between comedy and tragedy. Los Altos Stage has an irrepressive comic in David Scott, who simply cannot stop his various mannerisms and moods, removing clothes, eating vegetables with panache and reaching out to the bemused Vladimir with impish delight and affection.

His physicality is matched by the continual stream of mental outlay of trivia from his more subdued partner, Vladimir, ably performed by Evan Winet. There is a Keystone Cops charm about this duo that masks some of the angst of the unknowing and disappointment that Godot hasn’t seen them that is at the heart of the play. Vladimir yearns to know and be known by Godot so that his existence can be validated and understood, so that life is not totally random and meaningless.

The iconic set of a bare tree and a rock—one of the barest stage sets in theater—is also a revelation at Los Altos Stage. Ringed with stark geometric structural frames, it pulls us into a tight barren place that could be a desert, but lit behind by the moon and clouds, its charm is a huge world of beauty and space.

There is often a moment, or perhaps many moments, when we wonder “Why are we here? Nothing is going on.” This play is a shrine to the human condition of wanting to know the elusive meaning of existence and who controls it. And like the moth who is about to be consumed by the flame, we sit in rapt wonder, waiting for that meaning, that we think only Godot can reveal, all the time knowing that it is the waiting itself that is meaningful.

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ASR Sr. Contributor Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionWaiting for Godot
Written bySamuel Beckett
Directed byGary Landis
Producing CompanyLos Altos Stage Co.
Production DatesThru Sept. 29th
Production Address97 Hillview Ave., Los Altos, CA
Websitelosaltosstage.org
Telephone650.941.0551
Tickets$28-$51
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4.5/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!
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Pick ASR! ~~ Town Hall Theatre’s “Human Error” — a Romp Between Comedy & Tragedy

By Susan Dunn

It’s all in the news now: couples with fertility issues working through our latest technologies to create or enhance a family. But what happens when those cutting-edge IVF solutions are meted out by doctors who make mistakes?

Written by Eric Pfeffinger, Human Error thrusts us into an unthinkable situation when Madelyn and Keenan learn that their embryo has been implanted into the wrong person.

Left to right: John Charles Quimpo (Dr. Hoskins), Flannery Mays (Madelyn), and Mark Anthony (Keenan). Photo Jay Yamada.

Their doctor, weaselly and wackily played by John Charles Quimpo, doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry, call his lawyer, flee the country, or try to counsel the semi-hysterical couple into some sane action plan. Feelings are at a boil, and he can’t stop grinning. He advises Madelyn and Keenan to meet with the other couple carrying their prospective child and try to work it out but offers no clues on how to do that.

Next, we find the bereft couple sitting in their car. Madelyn is a strong but confused and socially inept blue-voting liberal, and her African American husband, Kenan, is analytical and sane, always trying to find the tactful and low-key way out of confrontations.

They are parked in front of Heather and Jim’s upscale house, where they have arranged to meet and talk out the unthinkable situation. But Heather and Jim have opposite values, lifestyles, preferences, politics, and predilections.

Left to right: Kyle Goldman (Jim) and Melody Payne (Heather). Photo: Jay Yamada.

Each attempt at outreach – Jim to Keenan and Heather to Madelyn – strikes discordant notes, like ping-pong with a cracked ball. When Jim (a jaw-droppingly funny Kyle Goldman) pitches his interests to Keenan, the volleys challenge and skewer Keenan, (perfectly underplayed by Mark Anthony).

These exchanges climax when the overpoweringly aggressive Jim insists that mild-mannered Keenan see his gun collection. The other halves, Heather and Madelyn (Melody Payne and Flannery Mays) verbally dance in circles around all the ways they need to know and like each other. Heather reveals that they will bear the child and turn it over to the rightful parents, Madelyn and Keenan.

“ . . . Will these fiercely opposite couples finally resolve their botched IVF implant? . . .”

Scenes bounce ahead with minimal set changes. Marimba music resonates with the simplicity of a child’s Lego set. The couples’ opposite natures are reflected in the scenic design of their two different apartments. Jim and Heather live with sleek red furnishings, and aggressive details. Madelyn and Keenan’s bluish apartment is modest but artistic with art on the walls and comfort cushions on the sofa. Their clothes also mimic their life-styles, with contrasts of style and sophistication, and body reveal vs. body cover.

As they journey through Heather’s growing pregnancy, the ladies try bonding over yoga, and the men through hunting. Both Madelyn and Keenan find themselves amazingly more open to the privileged upscale and highly conservative styles of their unexpected benefactors.

Left to right: Flannery Mays (Madelyn) and Melody Payne (Heather). Photo: Jay Yamada.

Madelyn practically confesses she is not ready to experience and fully embrace motherhood, and Keenan finds he actually enjoys the hunting trip in orange jumpsuits with Jim.

Human Error takes us on a wild ride exploring their differences, with humor but with insight into our own social and relationship challenges to bridge deep and conflicting beliefs. Don’t miss the spot-on acting excellence of the two couples and their excuse for a doctor, who steals all of his scenes.

The play is a rollercoaster of laughs and groans that will leave you with plenty of carnival food for thought.

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ASR Senior Contributor Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionHuman Error
Written byEric Pfeffinger
Directed byRichard Perez
Producing CompanyTown Hall Theatre
Production Dates8/24-9/14
Production Address3535 School Street, Lafayette, CA 94549
Websitewww.townhalltheatre.com
Telephone(925) 283-1557
Tickets$42-45
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Script4.5/5
Stagecraft3.5/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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PICK ASR Theater ~~ “The Untime”: Marin Shake’s Brilliant Take on Power & Chaos

By Susan Dunn

Sometimes, we just can’t get a play out of our heads. Marin Shakespeare Company’s The Untime bristles with scenes that I relish, question, deny, and finally succumb to, riding out on a wave of acceptance of the drama.

Promoted as an echo of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it opens in today’s world with five characters grappling with issues of power, both military and domestic, reality versus fantasy, and the workings and underminings of hierarchical succession. Director and co-author Jon Tracy deploys short videos to introduce or deepen our understanding of the two leads—Michael Torres as “The One” and Leontyne Mbele-Mbong as “The Spouse” whom we learn was a war booty prize wife twenty years earlier.

” … Don’t miss The Untime!  …”

In their austere kitchen (great set design by Randy Wong-Westbrooke), The One, a general who is 3rd in line of succession to a throne, balks at the insistence of a media consultant, “The Artist” (co-writer Nick Musleh), who has arrived to make a promotional video of him. In a confusing and portentous stroke, The King has ordered the video to embellish The One’s public profile. His wife stands by warily and defensively, but The One suspects this intrusive Artist knows his fate and pressures him to reveal what’s going on.

“The Heir” (Calla Hollinsworth), in “The Untime” at Marin Shakes. Photo by Jay Yamada.

Then we meet “The King” (Steve Price) and his daughter, “The Heir” (Calla Hollinsworth), who arrive to complete the project. The King appears overly jaunty, unhinged, and evasive as to why he’s promoting The One, 3rd in line, over rival Gen. Caldor, 2nd in line, who we never meet.

His teenage daughter sports a headset and bops to her digital music. In the next scene The One has moved up to 2nd in line — by a convienent political assassination. The King says they have Caldor’s head, which, thankfully, is not dragged onstage.

(L (behind camer stand)-to-R) Nick Musleh as “The Artist” and Michael Torres as “The One” at work. Photo by Jay Yamada.

Although there are constant echos of Macbeth, The Untime focuses on “the space between awareness and action” as Tracy puts it in his director’s note, where constant mulling and evaluating and assessing of the political situation take place. As for action, there are two murders onstage, but for this reviewer the salient feature of The Untime is the larger-than-life acting of The King, The Spouse and The One which left me agape through much of the play. Videos of The Spouse and The One fill in their backstories: A woman won in war … a booty bride to the General … told by his mother that he will be a king. He’s lived his life in search of that title.

Stephen Price as The King takes his role to a new level of mercurial expression: from one moment to the next, mundane, maniacal and murderous. His performance is a tour-de-force.

(L-R) Leontyne Mbele Mbong and Michael Torres at work for Marin Shakes. Photo by Jay Yamada.

All that said — The Untime is a work in progress with a great start on a fascinating script once completed. For a play with little real action, the addition of sound and videos by Ben Euphrat and lighting effects by David Leonard take us mentally to places other than the kitchen set. And they help to warp time periods for narrative effect and also to show us that The Spouse and The One are concerned about their baby son, and mourning their dead-by-suicide teenage son — strong echoes of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”.

And it’s probably fair to posit that these references might be confusing to playgoers not steeped in modern theater. And Shakespeare. Yet another level of resonance is the confusing politics, power struggles and ruthlessness of our own times, also mirrored here.

That said, do yourself a favor: don’t miss The Untime for depth-of-theater experience and the horror of power play(s). And don’t fret about the time needed to put the mental jigsaw pieces together. Real art — is often that way.

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ASR Senior Contributor Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionThe Untime
Written byJon Tracy and Nick Musleh
Directed byJon Tracy
Producing CompanyMarin Shakespeare Company
Production DatesThru Aug 25th
Production AddressForest Meadows Amphitheater (outdoors),
Dominican University of California 890 Belle Avenue, San Rafael, CA
Websitewww.marinshakespeare.org
Telephone(415) 499-4485
TicketsVariable from $15 to $40.
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4.5/5
Script3.5/5
Stagecraft3/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!
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PICK ASR Theater ~~ Lamplighters’ “Pirates of Penzance” Stokes an Addiction

By Susan Dunn

Theater audiences can’t resist something naughty. And we know from our youth that pirates are the swashbuckling baddies, the colorful villains, the fairytale scoundrels whom we fear and revere. Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic Pirates of Penzance plays on us with two gotchas: the bold and brazen dark thieves of the seas, led by a colorful Pirate King, juxtaposed with these same pirates’ compassionate hearts for orphans. So all of their marks mysteriously turn out to be… you got it. Orphans! It’s a premise just too silly and delicious, and we surrender.

” … this wild ride of a musical is stuffed with delights …”

Mountain View’s Lamplighters troupe has perfected an itinerant model for their musical performances. Each new show opens with a customized proscenium framing the theater curtain as we hear the live orchestra, ably conducted by Brett Strader.

The Pirate King, wonderfully portrayed by Edu Gonzalez-Maldonado (center).

As the curtains part, the pirates emerge over a set of rocks and crannies, introducing our esteemed Pirate King, wonderfully portrayed by Edu Gonzalez-Maldonado, and introducing our Apprentice Pirate Frederic, sung by the versatile and romantic lead, Max Ary. Frederic’s story unfolds that he was apprenticed to the Pirates due to a mistake in hearing correctly the difference between the words “pilot” and “pirate.”

From that error, a whole life ensued! This tale of mistakes is detailed by a third lead, Ruth, the Maid of all Work. Sarah Szeibel masters this challenging role as the only female in Frederic’s life—at first. Abandoned by him in Act 1—after he discovers younger and more beauteous damsels—Szeibel continues to excel in Act 2 as a sidekick to the Pirate King.

“”Piratess of Penzance” is perfect entertainment for all ages.”

Two other standouts are alone worth the price of admission: Major-General Stanley (Joshua Hughes) and his ward Mabel (Syona Ayyankeril). Hughes executes with dash, verve and aplomb the dizzying musical number and showstopper: “I Am The Very Model Of a Modern Major General.” And just as we are wrung out by the non-stop flood of words, he expands the hilarity. He seems to forget his lines and is prompted by his wards—a refresh that leads us to higher levels of laughter. Ayyankeril is the young beauty who steps up to be the future wife of Frederic, and sings with relish to a high E-flat.

The cast at work in “The Pirates of Penzance” by Gilbert & Sullivan.

This wild ride of a musical is stuffed with delights such as the men’s chorus playing the pirates and the constables, along with the women’s chorus of young beauties who are all wards of the Major-General and are all ready for a wedding match – be the mate pirate or constable.

Choreography and scenic details are woven together into a sure-fire delight by director Michael Mohammed. You won’t want to miss your nostalgic chance to imagine a world of soft-hearted pirates and bumbling, reluctant but dutiful constables. Piratess of Penzance is perfect entertainment for all ages.

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ASR Senior Contributor Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionPirates of Penzance
Operetta byGilbert and Sullivan
Directed byMichael Mohammed
Producing CompanyLamplighters Music Theatre Co.
Production DatesAug 3rd-4th
1st VenueMountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041
2nd Production DatesAug 10-11
2nd VenueLesher Center for the Arts, Hoffman Theatre, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, 94596
3rd Production DatesAug 17-18
3rd VenueBlue Shield Theater, YBCA, 701 Mission Street, San Francisco, 94103
Websitewww.lamplighters.org
Telephone(415) 227-4797
Tickets$73-$83
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Book/Lyrics4.5/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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Pick ASR Theater! ~~ Scones, Secret Agents, and Anarchists in Hilarious “Accused!” at Berkeley’s Central Works

By Susan Dunn

Love a good mystery/spoof? Playwright Patricia Milton has now delivered Accused!, the third, and according to her, the final episode of the Victorian Ladies Detective Collective – an ongoing and entertaining dive into the murder mysteries and the clever ladies who solve them in roles marvelously reprised from their previous episodes.

All scenes take place at a London boarding house run by two rather fierce and self-willed sisters. One is Valeria (Jan Zvaifler), the owner of the house, who is constantly gardening and then baking the pickings into breakfast treats that never get eaten – presumably for a good reason. Next is Loveday (Lauren Dunagan), a younger and attractive dedicated detective who is always correct but tires all around her with her logic and harangues. The opposite of her sister, she is always wearing gloves and cannot imagine digging into the moist and filthy soil of the garden.

” … London is terrorized by a murderer …”

Boarding with the sisters is the ex-pat American actress Katie Smalls (Chelsea Bearce), who helps to resolve the first murder but finds herself framed as the prime suspect for the deadly deed.

Katie Smalls (Chelsea Bearce) is looking for a new detecting job, but ends up a murder suspect. Credit: Jim Norrena

She choreographs a defensive and offensive weapons ballet with umbrellas, various fans, and other handy household weapons enhanced by sound effects. As London is terrorized by a murderer, the three work their different wiles to solve the mystery, as other featured characters help build the case.

Filling out the scenes are the gumby-like actor Alan Coyne, portraying three different roles in succession: the plummy Lord Albert, a political authoritarian; Deacon Manley, a preacher with a pugilistic view of religion; and M. Blancmange, the French Perfumier who is smitten with Loveday. Each of these characters has a potential involvement with the murder victim, and is suspected by Allison Tingleberry, the victim’s good associate and the target of a second murder. Sindu Singh switches accents and costumes to portray Tingleberry and also the eye-patched Inspector Perkins, a bruiser of a woman with a heavy Cockney accent.

Director Kimberly Ridgeway keeps the action going in the small and spare set at the Berkeley City Club. A fireplace mantel features a few clues to the proceedings: an oar hung as an art object or keepsake item, a small upholstered Ewe, and a few books. Other production effects such as sound and lighting are used very judiciously. This play relies on quick scenes, costume changes and entrances and exits by the small but nimble cast who keep us engaged with their fast pace, multiple accents and ever-revealing clues.

The most difficult challenge in watching Accused!, agreed to by many, is the desire to munch on scones or cookies or other baked goods at intermission, given the many treat props that are featured in this play. So be sure to get your sugar high before you arrive. Don’t miss the fun at Central Works’ latest world premiere.

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Aisle Seat Review Senior Writer Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionAccused!
Written byPatricia Minton
Directed byKimberley Ridgeway
Producing CompanyCentral Works
Production DatesThru Aug 11th
Production AddressBerkeley City Club
2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704
WebsiteCentralWorks.org
Telephone(510) 558 -1381
Tickets$35 - $45
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4.5/5
Script4.5/5
Stagecraft3.5/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ SF Playhouse Launches “Evita”

By Team ASR

San Francisco Playhouse has a tradition of selecting and producing one classic musical blockbuster and running it all summer long. It’s a great gambit that takes advantage of tourist traffic in the Union Square neighborhood — and is a strategy other theaters might follow to their advantage.

This year’s offering is the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice phenomenon Evita, running at 450 Post Street through September 7th. Several ASR contributors were at the July 3 opener. We’ve collected their comments here to offer diverse viewpoints rather than running a singular review. Enjoy!

“… It should enjoy a successful run …”

The production overall:
Cari Lynn Pace: Evita begins with her funeral and ends with her casket surrounded by wailing mourners. In between, an homage to an ambitious woman driven by her unquenching thirst for power and adoration.

Susan Dunn: A difficult musical to fully embrace, but delivered with style, talent, and pizzazz for an exciting and compelling evening.

Barry Willis: First things first: the show is beautifully produced, no question about that. And its historical aspect is really intriguing.

But, the music (well performed by Dave Dobrusky’s backstage orchestra) is bombastic, repetitive, and atonal. Evita was the precursor to other atonal musicals, such as Next to Normal. Other than “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,”  one has, in this reviewer’s opinion, to search for another memorable song in the entire show. It didn’t make me want to rush out and buy the soundtrack recording.

Jeff Dunn: It’s very engaging, especially because of the pacing, artistic commitment, and Nicole Helfer’s choreography.

Staging and set design:
SD: Clever use of lights, movable sets, rotating floor, and projections transform a black box into the saga of an iconic figure. A critical moment occurs with all lights down when we just hear the roar and surge of the crowds reacting to their icon.

BW: SF Playhouse has long leveraged its big turntable stage for dramatic effects, especially with huge imposing sets by Nina Ball or Bill English. In this one, set designer Heather Kenyon opts for a more austere presentation, with roll-around scaffolds serving as set pieces, backed by black-and-white projections that give the show an early-1950s feel. It works very well with the mid-century costumes.

JD: Minimalist staging goes with the abstract nature of much of the show, and allows for quick changes.

CLP: Clever use of minimal stage settings allows the narrator Che to pop in and out, propelling the story line. The onstage news photographer lends credibility to the action, especially as Evita’s casket begins its mysterious 17-year disappearance.

Sophia Alawai as “Evita” at SF playhouse. Photo: Jessica Palopoli

Performance:
SD: Alex Rodriguez as Che and Sophia Alawai as Evita deliver non-stop power, superb vocals and sympathetic portrayals. The ensemble mutates appropriately from peasantry to Argentinean high society. Nicole Helfer’s choreography shows variety and polish.

JD: Alex Rodriguez is outstanding as narrator Che. Sophia Alawi, a superbly sweet Maria in Hillbarn’s Sound of Music last year, seemed to this reviewer to perhaps be a bit light for Evita. She’s wonderfully expressive, but has trouble with many of the high notes that Mr. Webber forces on the character. Ensemble is excellent. The orchestra is energetic but, perhaps, a bit unsubtle.

CLP: Voices are clear and enable most of the complex lyrics to be understandable, always a challenge in a Lloyd Webber musical. Sophia Alawi as Evita channels her calculating and controversial figure. Alex Rodriguez pours explosive energy into his role as Che. Chanel Tilghman has a haunting role and voice as Peron’s cast-off mistress.

The cast of San Francisco Playhouse’s “Evita,” performing June 27 – September 7, 2024. Photo: Jessica Palopoli

BW: The show is well performed, even to the point of this reviewer believing that some of the leads were somewhat outclassed by some of the supporting cast. Malia Abayon and Jura Davis are especially compelling. Peter Gregus as Juan Peron embodies the style and look of an autocrat but his recitativo vocalizing left this reviewer wishing for a bit more… Helfer’s athletic choreography is superb — as always.

Script and storyline:
BW: Evita is a tale of celebrity worship driven to the realm of religiosity. Many of Eva’s fans called her “Santa Evita” and even asked for her blessings. But — it’s also a cautionary tale about grift on a massive scale. Argentina once had one of the world’s strongest economies. In the post-Peron era, the nation has regularly been on shaky financial ground. This is depicted effectively in a scene where soldiers are passing packets of cash hand-to-hand across the stage, symbolic of the Peron policy of taking national assets private.

SD:  In this reviewer’s opinion, one weakness in Evita is the essentially narrated storyline which often prevents events from fully coming to life. The complex and fascinating historical details come to us through Che, whose narration is a bit like getting historical postcards instead of really being there. The ensemble does help to fill out social divisions, which become stepping stones for the ascension of Eva Peron.

The crowd cheers for Eva & Juan Perón in San Francisco Playhouse’s “Evita,” performing June 27 – September 7, 2024. Photo: Jessica Palopoli

JD: This reviewer found this production to be a bit hard to follow if you’re not familiar with the narrative. Almost all the words are sung, making this really a rock opera. The sound design seems perhaps to obscure some of the text. Tip: for newcomers, it would improve the play going experience to gain some familiarity with the show in advance.

CLP: Evita Duarte Peron will always remain a controversial figure. Beloved for her selective charities and adored by the shirtless as a glamorous leader, “Santa Evita” started Argentina on the path towards bankruptcy, a politically muzzled press, and chronic food shortages. In this production, she expresses love for all her people, proclaiming “Every word that I say is true.”

Aisle Seat Takeaway: 

Evita might be considered an atypical undertaking for SF Playhouse, but this production — wins our recommendation. It should enjoy a successful run!

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For this review, Team ASR’s members consists of: Cari Lynn Pace, Susan Dunn, Jeff Dunn, and Barry Willis — all voting members of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.

Susan Dunn4.0 out of 5.0
Jeff Dunn3.8/5.0
Cari Lynn Pace3.8/5.0
Barry Willis3.5/5.0
Average is...3.8/5.0
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ASR Theater ~~ “Best Available”: Naval Gazing About How Theaters Are Run

By Susan Dunn

The set is a simple rotating turntable under an arched, red-curtained proscenium. A ghost light illuminates the bare stage, a stand-in for the story’s ghost, Gary, a disgraced Artistic Director and theater founder whom no one is allowed to speak about but does anyway. This well-known non-profit theater has fired him under a cloud of scandal. The remaining company members must pick up the pieces, find a replacement, and hold the rest of the season together.

It’s fitting that the play opens with the box-office staff taking calls to quiet the scandal, reassuring patrons, and putting a gloss and smile on their every cover-up word. We begin to get the idea BS will be the name of the game.

” … Best Available hits the sweet spot …”

Jonathan Spector’s Best Available pulls the curtain back, reveals, and satirizes the many interested parties that posture, opine, and expound on the importance of this key position of Artistic Director (AD). And how the theater organization can be made whole again now that ‘SHHHH, Gary’ is gone. We meet these stakeholders for two and a half hours, their varied perspectives and final choice to run the show in individual scenes rotating on the turntable.

linda maria girón as Veronica & Dave Maier as Dave in “Best Available”.

First, the Managing Director, Helen, deftly played by Sarah Mitchell, tries to grasp control of the staff hiatus by persuading the former Assistant Artistic Director, Maya, to assume the position of Interim Artistic Director. Regina Morones, as Maya, is a convincing aspirant for the top staff position and wants to move to the key AD slot. She needs assurance that she can wrangle her way into the permanent position. As a Latina, she has an advantage that raises the stakes for DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and so critical to winning grants and other financial opportunities.

These two women scheme their different agendas together – and at cross purposes behind each other’s backs – to drive their power. Helen wants to book a new Musical based on the themes of old TV Movies – a direct appeal to the moneyed donor age group since she is in charge of finances. The new Interim Director, Maya wants to mount an early work of an unknown playwright with no financial resources — a forward-looking play choice, but one which might result in low box-office receipts.

From left, Denise Tyrell, Steve Price, Dave Maier, linda maria girón and Regina Morones in a scene from Jonathan Spector’s crazy comedy about theater companies “Best Available” performing at Shotgun Players in Berkeley through June 16.

The Theater Board of Directors, hilariously set up in numerous scenes to reveal how very little they understand how a theater is successfully run, want to outsource the decision of a new AD to a consulting firm helmed by the Tweedledum and Tweedledee duo of Dave Maier and Steve Price. Their board pitch is an extended circum-fabulation, guaranteed to confuse and insomnia a clown-car board. Finally, there is the ex-Board Member and mega-donor, Dolores, who still wields power and ultimately gets her way through her legacy donation and its requirements and restrictions.

Austine De Los Santos as Bex at Shotgun Players.

Best Available hits the sweet spot for anyone who has worked in theater or on a board of directors. There is much humor bordering on farce, and the multiple short scenes well describe the various stakeholders. But this reviewer felt that some passages and video projections could use … trimming. There is much potential here for a tighter comedy about that world that we love so well—the world of theater.

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ASR Senior Writer Susan Dunn arrived in California from New York in 1991, and has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionBest Available
Written byJonathan Spector
Directed byJon Tracy
Producing CompanyShotgun Players
Production Dates
Thru Jun 16th, 2024
Production Address1901 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley CA 94705
WebsiteShotgunplayers.org
Telephone(510) 841-6500
Tickets$28-$40
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3.5/5
Performance4.0/5
Script3.0/5
Stagecraft3.5/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?----
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PICK ASR! ~~ “Clyde’s” – City Lights Serves up Delicious Comedy/Drama

By Susan Dunn

Whatever you do, don’t come hungry to this play.

Your mental, visual, and even olfactory senses will be challenged from the opening scenes as new-hire Montrellous (subtly played by Fred Pitts) offers his chef’s token of competency to boss Clyde (smartly and adeptly delivered by Kimberly Ridgeway)–his first grilled cheese sandwich. In her cutting, tight-ass managerial style, Clyde turns the sandwich down and dumps his ex-con backstory, sweetly delivered by Montrellous, into her trivia box.

“… Clyde’s gives us characters unique…humane…worth caring about…”

Written by the prolific Lynn Nottage, Clyde’s is set in a truck stop’s back kitchen, where four ex-cons are lucky enough to work there laboring to produce sandwiches for truckers. Clyde has her own prison backstory, but we never hear it. She is all business in the here and now. Reprehensively, she takes advantage of newly released convicts with no normal life to return to and provides them with a small wage to sustain themselves. She’s been there, done that, and now makes it work for her own gains.

It takes the right touch to create the perfect sandwich, and in the “Clyde’s” restaurant kitchen these three have big dreams. From left: Letitia (Damaris Divito), Montrellous (Fred Pitts) and Rafael (Ricardo Cortés). Photo by Christian Pizzirani.

As Clyde and Montrellous exit, we meet Raphael, Letitia, and Jason, the rest of the line chefs. As they banter, they either assemble a sandwich or ruminate on the “ultimate sandwich,” their current inspiration and life goal…

“Maine lobster, potato roll gently toasted and buttered with roasted garlic, paprika, and cracked pepper with truffle mayo, caramelized fennel and a sprinkle of… of… dill.”

In a series of one-upmanship, each chef dreams up the most obscure ingredients. Raphael waxes poetic on his gustatory concoction of fabulous spices and add-ins which will prove irresistible and take you spiritually to a new level.

Rafael (Ricardo Cortés, right) and Jason (Nick Mandracchia) swoon after tasting a fine, fine sandwich. Photo by Christian Pizzirani.

Admirably acted by Ricardo Cortes, Raphael is a Latino recovering addict, looking to reach out into a new life off the streets. He uses body language and gestures like a new-found drug. Letitia (Damaris Divito, outstanding) is both foil and enticement to Raphael. While he can’t stop his body, she can’t stop her mouth. With a child disabled from her drug use during pregnancy, and an unreliable ex-husband, she is swamped with trying to be the wage-earner and mother, and has served time for stealing drugs from a pharmacy for her daughter.

Newcomer Jason, sporting facial and body gang tattoos, gets the putdown from the others for wearing his lifestyle on his person. He is finally accepted when he breaks down to share his pre-prison story of his uncontrollable rage, assault and beating which almost turns to murder. Movingly portrayed by Nick Mandracchia, he gains acceptance with his co-workers if not with the standoffish Clyde.

Rafael (Ricardo Cortés, right) has his eye on co-worker Letitia (Damaris Divito) in “Clyde’s.” Photo by Christian Pizzirani.

Clyde’s is about starting over when your odds for success in life are few and seem to be working against you. The ex-cons seek redemption for past misadventures and crimes, for lack of life vision and personal self-control. Playwright Nottage shows us life’s human underbelly, struggling to make it with so few advantages. Clyde’s gives us characters unique and humane and worth caring about.

This production is admirably directed by Aldo Billingslea to create a tight ensemble that both bonds and breaks against itself in scene after scene. And it sparkles with lighting and sound that flesh out the truck-stop world. Eat your sandwich first and then head on over to Clyde’s for this compelling tragicomic story that sadly reflects many aspects of our world.

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ASR Senior Writer Susan Dunn arrived in California from New York in 1991, and has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionClyde's
Written byLynn Nottage
Directed byAldo Billingslea
Producing Company
City Lights Theater Company
Production DatesThru June 9th, 2024
Production Address529 S. Second St., San Jose
Websitewww.cltc.org
Telephone
(408) 295-4200
Tickets$28 – $67
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
Other Voices ...
"With its tasty repartee and redemptive mouthfeel, "Clyde’s" may not be Nottage’s most profound play, but you see why.... like (a) grilled cheese, (it) lifts into the sublime...."
TheGuardian.com
“Clyde’s” is a fugal symphony of repeated motifs: the ding of the bell; a sandwich tossed in the trash; Montrellous’ mystic insights; Clyde’s vitriolic bile. It’s a sharply defined structure. But Nottage breaks it up with real-world chaos. It never feels like artifice."
YourObserver.com
"...(the play) ... transmits joy and deeply felt emotion across an audience visibly thrilled to be in its presence."
LondonTheatre.com
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PICK ASR! ~~ Risk-Taking Exercises with “Extreme Acts”

By Susan Dunn

In San Francisco’s black-box Marsh Stage, two chairs and a table provide all the set needed for a fierce story about two performers who live mainly in their bodies and explore the heights and depths of audience risk-taking together. I was immediately struck by the almost wildcat energy and defiance of Sophia (Arwen Anderson), who plays Sophia, a woman supporting herself solely through performance art with audience engagement.

We begin peacefully enough. She has just come off one of her museum gigs, where the audience pays to sit across from her and gaze directly into her eyes for an hour. She describes how the experience transports and inspires both her and the other sitter. From there, her performance routines escalate rapidly into aggressive activity and physical danger.

” … Try Extreme Acts and be entertained by its acting and invention …”

The Table Challenge alters Sophia’s life. In this performance, a table is set with various items of pleasure, like a rose or perfume, and items of pain, like a thorn or pin or a gun. The audience is invited to interact with Sophia using any of the items on the table. She experiences sensations of both kinds depending on the audience member. She is physically pricked by one of them. Another takes and loads the gun. Her lover-to-be, Jasper (Johnny Moreno), rushes in from the audience, removes the gun, and saves Sophia from harm. Their subsequent love affair is extravagant, both physically and mentally, framing two people who obsess on the present through a filter of their individual childhood experiences.

From L to R: Arwen Anderson and Johnny Moreno star in the world premiere of “Extreme Acts,” written by Lynne Kaufman at The Marsh San Francisco May 11 – June 2, 2024.
Photo credit: David Allen

Extreme Acts is about taking risks, testing your ability to manage possible jeopardy, and succeeding in defying danger, isolation and pain of all kinds. It’s not for the faint of heart. Sophia is shaped by a mother who puts her in harm’s way and abandons her, while Jasper is driven by his desire to fly, to escape the security of the ground and to dare to defy gravity. As these two partner into a joint challenge of performance acts, it is clear that Sophia is physically more capable of withstanding some of her daredevil schemes. This culminates in an act of sitting across from each other, looking into each other’s eyes for 8 hours at a stretch, for 8 days. On the last day Jasper gets up from the chair, with his body is in physical rebellion, and abandons the performance, leaving her to her paying public.

Will these two lovers survive their acts and each other’s worlds? Hers, the physical mutilations and his, the flying escapes? Will their thoughts on family and normalcy ever mesh? This play succeeds on the great strength of the acting. It continually engages us in a fantastic narrative, in a barebones surrounding, with minimal costumes and props. As the battle of the sexes is so often fought in the minds of the players, the shift to the physical battleground is a refreshing slant. A final note has Sophia challenge the audience directly. It’s up for grabs whether this strategy works in the play but take the risk and see.

Try Extreme Acts and be entertained by its acting and invention. The authenticity of the actors demands kudos.

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Senior Reviewer Susan Dunn arrived in California from New York in 1991. Since then she’s been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionExtreme Acts
Written byLynne Kaufman
Directed byMolly Noble
Producing CompanyThe Marsh, San Francisco
Production DatesThru June 2nd
Production Address1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110
Website
https://themarsh.org
Telephone (415) 282-3055
Tickets$25-$100
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
ASR Pick?YES!
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Pick ASR! Highs and Lows of the Ubiquitous “Kite Runner” by EnActe Arts

By Susan Dunn

Can there ever be too much of something wonderful? The Kite Runner might just test those boundaries.

The first novel by Afghan refugee-turned-physician-and-novelist Khaled Hossieni, The Kite Runner, became a runaway success with 101 weeks on the best seller list and 3 weeks at #1. Published in 2003, it was expanded into an acclaimed Academy Award-nominated movie in 2007 and then adapted into a stripped down theater version by Matthew Spangler. Other lives include a graphic novel created in 2021.

Now The Kite Runner, the play, is back to a packed audience at the Hammer Theatre Center in San Jose, where it first launched over fifteen years ago in 2009.

… a classic story of sin and redemption …

It’s a story that helped educate the American public on the culture of a distant country with which we happened to be at war for 20 years. It is a classic story of sin and redemption based on the lives of two young men raised in different social classes and physical abodes but within the same household and ultimately by the same father.

The author of ‘The Kite Runner’ says what his characters choose “is not interesting to me, but why they choose it and the consequences are interesting.” Photo EnActe Arts

Amir, the first son and our lead and narrator is passionately and convincingly portrayed by Ramzi Khalaf as a man coping with his own failings to do the right thing by Hassan, the son of a servant. Amir’s father is in the diplomatic corps, houses his immediate family in a privileged Kabul home, and is able to escape Afghanistan with Amir as refugees to California.

Hassan, however, ultimately becomes a victim of terrorists who overrun his home in Kabul. Amir’s sin is to take advantage of the lower-class Hassan, lord his superiority over him and to let jealously of his father’s affection for Hassan infect him. A local crime of shame separates the two young men, who were so close in their early years, and leaves a lasting scar on Amir as he refuses to help Hassan and ultimately rejects him.

Years later, when Amir returns to Kabul he faces the truth of his past, makes the requisite sacrifices for the future and asks for forgiveness and redemption.

The “Tabla” drum instrument in “The Kite Runner”.

Does The Kite Runner work as a play? The adaptation by Spangler is essentially a narrative told to us directly by Amir who remains the center of every scene. It is a compelling story told mostly in first person and staged with minimal sets, lighting and music, very much like Word for Word productions.

What keeps this play from stasis? It’s the multiple levels of time – youth and maturity; country – Afghanistan and the US; culture – Islamic and Democratic; fortune – wealth and poverty; class — multi-ethnic upper and lower classes; and finally family – the father’s and son’s stories. It wasn’t until his second novel that Hosseini writes in depth about women.

Accompanying these various stories, woven together for us by Amir, and semi-staged and acted, is the music of this Afghan culture: the tabla, a set of drums played with the hands that create different rhythms and tonal sounds. The tabla opens and closes this multi-cultural epic, which continues to entertain and move us with its staying power.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionThe Kite Runner
Play Adaptation byMatthew Spangler
From the novel byKhaled Hosseimi
Directed byGiles Croft
Producing CompanyThe Hammer Theatre and EnActe Arts
Production DatesThru April 7th
Production Address101 Paseo De San Antonio, San Jose, CA 95113
Telephone(415) 677 9596
Tickets$65-$125
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!
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PICK ASR Theater ~~ “The 39 Steps”, Mystery Thriller and Comic Farce at SF Playhouse

By Susan Dunn

Even before the story from the famous film begins, missteps, gags, mockery, parody, double-takes, and more abound in The 39 Steps at San Francisco Playhouse.

Our leading man appears, apparently ready to begin the show, then is blacked out by the lighting, comes back into view, then falls asleep in a chair while SFP Artistic Director Bill English gives the welcoming speech. What’s happening? Are they confused? Are they ready for opening night?

You bet!

It’s the audience that should be ready to exhilarate in two hours plus of clowning and buffoonery animating Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of a Hitchcock classic.

… Highly recommended to recharge your funny bone…

The 39 Steps is a classic noir narrative which started with a 1915 novel, was adapted in 1935 by Alfred Hitchcock, and from there morphed into new films, TV series, a radio play, and a stage comedy. It’s a popular and easily adapted story that has proven its popularity time after time. Its secret is a mystery thriller base that has been freely adapted with new or excised material in subsequent renditions.

Richard Hannay (Phil Wong) is captivated by the mysterious Anabella (Maggie Mason) in “The 39 Steps,” presented by San Francisco Playhouse March 7 – April 20.
Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

The story revolves around the stylish character Richard Hannay, marvelously played by Phil Wong, as he falls into one unlikely scenario after another. The action follows his path from falsely accused murderer to international spy-ring exposer and hero. It snakes from London to Scotland and back again with a cast of 150 characters, according to SF Playhouse. (I confess I lost count.)These roles are hilariously and frantically embodied by three superb actors.

Lithe and intense Maggie Mason shows us the women in Hannay’s life: Annabella, the spy whom Hannay is accused of murdering; Pamela, the girl on the train whom he first meets by attacking her with kisses; and Margaret, the collier’s wife who helps him escape from murderous thugs. Greg Ayers showcases a multitude of male and female roles with comic physical and facial wit that continually inspires laughter, as do his double takes for additional laughs. He both opens and closes the show with an important character, Mister Memory, and his shenanigans expand this role with his stage antics.

Richard Hannay (center – Phil Wong) is apprehended by two policemen (l to r: Renee Rogoff and Greg Ayers) as Pamela (Maggie Mason) denies association in “The 39 Steps,” presented by SF Playhouse. Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

Covering another bevy of parts, including a squadron of police and thugs, a ruthless power-hungry professor, and a dour innkeeper, Renee Rogoff seems to appear in every other scene in new costume or aspect. One of the funniest moments occurs when Mason, Ayers and Rogoff miraculously turn into six marching bagpipers immersing Wong in one of his many escape moves – a showcase for the inspired direction by Susi Damilano.

Like icing on a delicious cake, the lighting design, sound effects, costumes, projections and puppetry mesh together with the clowning to create a play that is a many-layered spoof. The 39 Steps is a farce that skims ever so lightly over themes of fate, chance, romance and ultimately human empathy. This production is a delight for all the senses. Highly recommended to recharge your funny bone.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionThe 39 Steps
Sourced byPlay Adaptation by Patrick Barlow...

From the Novel by John Buchan...

From the Movie by Alfred Hitchcock
Directed bySusi Damilano
Producing CompanySan Francisco Playhouse
Production DatesThru April 20th
Production AddressSF Playhouse
450 Post Street
San Francisco, CA
Websitewww.sfplayhouse.org
Telephone(415) 677-9596
Tickets$15 - $100
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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PICK ASR! Oakland Theater Project’s “Cost of Living”

By Susan Dunn

Heading to a show titled Cost of Living, I anticipated an evening of economists discussing the GNP. Given our current rampant politics, that would have seemed a fit.

Mercifully, Martyna Majok’s play is a more personal view of costs—economic, physical, and emotional. Four characters—two disabled and two caregivers—play out the feelings and the passions of their respective situations, juxtaposed against their class and educational backgrounds.

… Cost of Living is a “must see”…

In the opening scene, a feisty, loquacious Eddie (masterfully played all over the stage by high-energy Daniel Duque-Estrada), regales us from his bar stool about how the “shit in life is not to be understood.” We learn he’s lost his truck-driver’s license due to a DUI. Moreover, his estranged wife and texting mate has died, and in his loneliness and desperation, he continues to send text messages to her cell phone to comfort himself. When he gets text replies, he is confounded but also mysteriously buoyed.

The play is framed by two capable and well-cast disabled actors: Matty Placencia, who has met the emotional and physical challenges of cerebral palsy all his life, and Christine Bruno, whose accomplished acting resume has focused on a range of acting roles and disability-inclusion consulting.

In Majok’s play, Placencia embodies John, a young upper-class professor at Princeton, who partially manages with one functioning hand, a wheelchair, and a wealthy family, but requires a part-time caregiver for his daily personal hygiene. He is supercilious, defensive, and insensitive to needs other than his own. Christine Bruno plays Eddie’s paraplegic wife Ani, crippled by a traffic accident following her estrangement. Eddie has come back to care for her, hoping to share in her insurance proceeds. Bruno’s wide range of facial expressions and sharp and ironic tongue reveal her frustrations with her ex-husband. But she warms up to Eddie as her caregiver over time.

Finally, there is Carla Gallardo’s Jess, a 20-year-old Latina struggling to sustain herself with bar jobs and living in her car. In desperation she applies to be John’s caregiver, attracted by his higher-class aura and his financial means. Gallardo gains our sympathy through her wide range of expressivity while meeting the physical challenge of showering, shaving, and dressing John on stage before us. Prompted by John, her own challenged history ekes out as they get used to his routine.

The cast at work. Photos by Ben Kranz Studio

Cost of Living is two plays with one set representing two apartments that occupy their own respective mini-set areas and finally merge together in the final scene. The mini-sets create difficulty for the arena staging, but are mostly well-handled by set designer Emilie Whelan. Blocking for disabled actors is also tricky, but necessary to play well to the three audience sections. Some scenes were partly obstructed by the five or more floating mini-sets.

For this reviewer, occasionally, actors’ words were lost when delivering lines away from parts of the audience, but in general the utilization of space clarifies the action and imaginatively creates an atmosphere with a single rear window. Projections keep us emotionally in the right plane with grey weather, rain or pelting snow.

With a complex story and characters that ring true as individuals in straits that could be our fate as well if we were not so fortunate, Cost of Living is a “must see.” The authenticity of the actors in this play demands kudos to the production.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionCost of Living
Written byMartyna Majok
Directed byEmilie Whelan
Producing CompanyOakland Theater Project
Production DatesThru Mar 24th, 2024
Production AddressFlax Art and Design, 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, CA 94612
Websitewww.oaklandtheaterproject.or
Telephone(510) 646-112
Tickets$35-$60
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK!YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ “She Loves Me” – Musical Theater With a Comic Touch at 6th St.

By Susan Dunn

If a musical set in a 1937 Hungarian perfume shop seems like a stretch for a good evening out, you might want to think again.

She Loves Me has all the elements of compelling characters, charming scenes, sonorous music that stays with you, and three storylines that meld together into a hit show and a staple in our musical repertoire. 6th Street Playhouse puts on a visually and musically compelling production that is receiving enthusiastic response in the GK Hardt Theatre.

… humor in almost every scene …

Three couples working in the Parfumerie spin the story, including shy and hardworking George (Lorenzo Alviso) and Amalia, a combative new hire (Molly Larson-Shine). The two bicker through their professional lives but are secretly lonely-hearts pen pals. 30ish and flirtatious Ilona (Julianne Bretan) is having an affair with the male attraction in the shop, suave and mellifluous Stephen Koday, (Drew Bolander). Finally, there is the unlikely couple of elderly and humorous Mr. Marachezek (Garet Waterhouse) and his young delivery boy Arpad, played with amazing finesse by 15-year-old Tyer Ono). Arpad turns our enthusiasm up to boil with his big moment in the show, singing “Try Me.”

“She Loves Me” cast at work. Photo credit: Eric Chazankin

The cast is augmented by an ensemble of ubiquitous shoppers who amuse us scene after scene with their various cosmetic issues and gift needs. They double as patrons and staff for the nightclub scene in which the pen pals, known to each other only as “Dear Friend,” will finally meet.

…see it, for the charm, music, captivating story & production values…

Gracing this production is an appealing set that takes us into the shop, and is flexible enough to transport us to a hospital room and a darkly mysterious nightclub. Director Emily Lynn Cornelius makes use of every opportunity to tweak our sense of humor using pratfalls, original and sometimes noisy props, exaggerated expressions, and actions which resound in laughter through the audience. She deftly varies the shoppers’ scenes which run the gamut of Christmas shopping madness at the play’s end, and feature one-off surprise moments.

“She Loves Me” shows thru Feb 25th at 6th St Playhouse. Photo: Eric Chazankin

The audience-rousing approach emphasizing humor in almost every scene, however, seems to come at the cost of a lack of subtle character development found in other productions.

To this reviewer, some actors were more physically expressive than others, notably Tyler Ono, who seems made to fall through the door when he is revealed as eavesdropping, and Julianne Bretan, who winningly commands all parts of the stage as she details her adventure with new beau Paul, an optometrist she met at the library. Sound design was OK in the miking of the singers, but this reviewer found the orchestra was occasionally too loud for a proper balance and support to the vocals.

Will you love She Loves Me? The plusses outweigh the few minuses in this production. Go see it for the charm, music, captivating story and production values. My prediction: you will love it.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionShe Loves Me
Book byJoe Masteroff
Directed byEmily Lynn Cornelius
Music byJerry Bock
Lyrics bySheldon Harnick
Producing Company6th Street Playhouse
Production DatesThru Feb 25th
Production Address6th Street Playhouse
52 W. 6th Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Websitehttp://www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
Telephone (707) 523-4185
Tickets$29 to $51
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3.5/5
Performance3.5/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?----
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PICK! ASR Theater ~~ “My Home on the Moon”, S.F. Playhouse’s Huge Serving of Hilarious Cyber-Pho!

By Susan Dunn

Here’s a play that will teach us how to make the Vietnamese soup specialty: Pho. Not quite! My Home on the Moon quickly takes us from our ordinary lives to other realities in the cyber world.

Act One opens on an average-looking Asian soup shop, adorned with pictures of the homeland and featuring a much-revered shrine to the shop owner’s sister, and former joint owner. The discouraged proprietress Lan (versatile and winning Sharon Omi) reveals the desperate straits her business is experiencing with the neighborhood takeover by mega-corporations and the fall to the wrecker’s ball of small businesses like hers.

…”My Home on the Moon” is a humorous take on a Matrix-like reality…

Lan is joined by her grouchy assistant Mai (hilariously played by Jenny Nguyen Nelson), who breaks the 4th wall to great effect. Soon enough, we hear the doom of a building being crushed to rubble off-stage. The corporate enemy is closing in.

Lan (Sharon Omi) reminisces about her childhood with a giant noodle (background: puppeteered by Erin Mei-Ling Stuart) on the moon in San Francisco Playhouse’s World Premiere Play “My Home on the Moon,” performing January 25 – February 24. Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

But Lan has applied for a financial aid grant for her shop, and her winnings come in to save it from default. First, a huge basket of delectable Vietnamese goodies appears, and the consumables seem to anesthetize Lan and Mai, whose binge puts them prone on the floor.

Next, they are greeted by marketeer Vera, who represents Novus Corporation, the company taking over local real estate. She promises the shop will be transformed, dripping with cachét and busy with customers now that Lan has won the grant. And Vera, smartly and charmingly played by Rinabeth Apostal, can make it all happen: the blank white shop turns to orange ambience, NFTs (Non-fungible tokens in cyber-talk) grace the walls, and the backyard becomes a Vietnamese jungle.

(L-R) A food critic (Will Dao) samples cuisine, watched by Lan (Sharon Omi), Mai (Jenny Nguyen Nelson) and a camera person (Erin Mei-Ling Stuart) in SF Playhouse’s “My Home on the Moon.” Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

Miraculously, both Lan and Mai are smartly re-uniformed to enhance the look of the café. But who is Vera really? And why doesn’t she eat the fabulous Pho?

Understanding who is real and who is a robot or ‘simulation’ challenges us as the story and timeline proceed, and actors take on multiple roles. A standout is Will Dao, playing four very different personas, all to amazing effect. He grabs our attention immediately with every unexpected appearance. This is truly an eye-popping show, replete with suggestive dancers, sinuous and menacing cyber light cords, and alternate states of consciousness or digital manipulation depending on which of the corporate robots or managers are controlling the scene.

Mai (Jenny Nguyen Nelson) and Vera (Rinabeth Apostol) share a moment at San Francisco Playhouse. Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

The challenge and ultimate success of scene changes and manipulations are handsomely done by the creative team under the direction of Mei Ann Teo. Projections are used to great effect in many scenes and in many parts of the stage by Hao Bai, and the scene swivels to reveal three different sets, times/places and states of consciousness.

Finally we are left to ponder what reality we live in. Is it the actual world, or is it the digital river of games, memes, virtual reality, NFTs and other predations on our consciousness?

My Home on the Moon is a humorous take on a Matrix-like reality where people are trapped in a simulated digital world. Warning: the constant food themes may spark your hunger for an immediate bowl of Pho.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionMy Home On The Moon
Written byMinna Lee
Directed byMei Ann Teo
Producing CompanySan Francisco Playhouse
Production DatesThru Feb 24th
Production AddressSF Playhouse
450 Post Street
San Francisco, CA
Websitewww.sfplayhouse.org
Telephone(415) 677-9596
Tickets$15 - $125
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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PICK! ASR Theater ~~ “Legally Blonde” Pinks the Stage on Barbie’s Coattails

By Susan Dunn

Kicking off 2024, Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre Company, formerly based in Pleasanton, has come out touting its new name (they’ve dropped the “Repertory”) and moved their venue to the capacious 400-seat Bankhead Theater, which was sold out for the opening night of a rocking Legally Blonde.

The launch for this re-start is a high-energy musical based on the 2001 film and a positive way to show off a 40-plus cast, 19 scenes, an expansive set, and show-stopping choreography and costumes. The two doggie stars Bruiser and Rufus are an audience delight and success capper!

… a show that will wipe away the winter weather and all serious issues!

Some musicals are just for fun, with no apologies. Legally Blonde infects us from the opening number, “Omigod You Guys,” with a repeating anthem to high-energy vocals and sorority-girl buzzy action. The song title personifies Elle Woods, the forceful star who exudes the ubiquitous smile, “out-there” stance, and drop-dead costume changes of a showoff who knows she’s terrific and revels in it.

Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde”.

Elle has it all: the man of her dreams, a secured future, and a validation that she’s a sorority star and adored princess—until she doesn’t have her man. When Warner Huntington III drops her as not being serious enough to be mate to his legal and political ambitions, she spends most of the rest of the musical plotting to get him back.

Deftly acted and sung by Gwynevere Cristobal, she faces the challenge of Harvard Law School and finds her own style and maneuvers to succeed at law. Along the way, she finds new capabilities and some depth in her relationships. But it’s her “Omigod You Guys” prevailing positivity, energy, and in-your-face attitude that move the show to its raucously happy ending.

Themes in this show teeter-totter between being 2001 out-of-date and 2024 Barbie with-it: dumb blondes, popularity queens, gay putdowns, corporate corruption, and sexual predation. But what really matters are the fine direction by Misty Megia, expert, and varied choreography—particularly with jump-ropes—by Cat Delos Santos Reyes, costume eye-candy and surprise reveals by Andrea Gorham-Browne, and continual set manipulations designed and executed by Tom Curtin. With a few standouts, the cast works together to execute an almost flawless high-pitch musical.

In this reviewer’s opinion, the orchestra was a bit of a low point of the evening, but the huge cast just danced and sang their brains out and put orchestra shortcomings in the shade. Time to pull out your own pink wardrobe and accessories and head to the Bankhead for a show that will wipe away the winter weather and all serious issues!

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionLegally Blonde
Written byLawrence O’Keefe, Nell Benjamin, and Heather Hatch
Directed byMisty Megia
Producing CompanyTri-Valley Theatre Company
Production DatesThru January 28, 2024
Production AddressBankhead Theater
2400 First St, Livermore, CA 94551
Websitehttps://trivalleytheatre.org/
Telephone(925) 373-6800
Tickets$53
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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PICK! ASR Theater ~~ “Fences” – 6th Street Playhouse Honors Wilson Masterpiece

By Susan Dunn

The Monroe Stage is small and dark, an arena with its three sides packed with audience. The simple but evocative set by Aissa Simbulan is a small frame house and yard with a view through a window into the kitchen interior. Surrounding the arena stage is the fence – a work in progress – which marks the passage of time and is finally finished at the play’s end.

Keene Hudson stars as Troy Maxson, with Val Sinckler as Rose in “Fences”. Photos by Eric Chazankin

August Wilson’s Fences is about the life of Troy Maxson (Keene Hudson) and how he keeps family and friends close and how he lets them go. It’s everyman’s story. As Troy’s friend Bono (Nicolas James Augusta) warns in act two: “Some people build fences to keep people out, and other people build fences to keep people in.”

 … Fences is one of our greatest American masterpieces …

In Wilson’s most intense play about family, Troy can’t seem to finish his fence just as he can’t step outside himself and share the musical world of his son Lyons (De’Sean Moore) or the sports world of his son Cory (Mark Anthony). We learn Troy’s own life in detail through his many stories, colorful swagger, sexiness, and bonhomie.

His tales mask a man disappointed in himself and angry at his life’s chances and challenges. He’s burdened by the drudgery of his work as a Pittsburgh garbage collector and by the responsibility of caring for his brain-damaged brother Gabriel (Jim Frankie Banks). His is a story of oppression and homelessness at age 14 and eventual seeming stability in the loving support of his wife Rose (Val Sinckler), a powerhouse of tolerance who finds in herself a way to pardon his many outbursts.

Each family member and friend is memorably etched by Wilson, and the acting in this production never disappoints. Principals Hudson and Sinckler, and supporting cast Anthony, Augusta, and Banks are all simply outstanding. They bring home an empathy that provoked tears and audible gasps and cries from the audience.

What gives this production such a high level of excellence are the many elements that immerse the audience in the scene: blues music from the 1950s, actors’ use of the small stage creating a whole world inside Troy’s fence, a baseball hanging on a string from a tree branch, clothes on a wash line, crates serving as chairs, and the unfinished fence that lines the stage edge. And outside that fence are the forces of unpredictability, menace, constriction, and banishment.

Photos by Eric Chazankin. L-R: Mark Anthony, Val Sinckler, Keene Hudson.

Direction by Jordan Oliver-Verde is spot on: his use of sound and light effects when Troy is wrestling with death, Troy’s meandering as he tells his stories, and the fight scenes, which are brief but unforgettable. In the end, Rose emerges as a woman saved from the loss of her husband’s love by the raising of a daughter, not her own—a lovely stunning performance by Sinckler.

August Wilson’s Fences is one of our greatest American masterpieces. 6th Street’s production does it full justice.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionFences
Written byAugust Wilson
Directed byJordan Oliver-Verde
Producing Company6th Street Playhouse
Production DatesJanuary 12 – February 4, 2024
Production Address6th Street Playhouse
52 W. 6th Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Websitehttp://www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
Telephone (707) 523-4185
Tickets$29 to $45
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Script5/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ ASR’s Favorites of 2023

by Team ASR

2023 was a wonderful year for live theater in the Bay Area. Although many companies are still struggling financially, it’s clear that artistically most have bounced back from the pandemic. Rather than a “best of” list, here are ten of the past year’s favorites submitted by ASRians.

Dinner with Friends: In June, Sonoma Arts Live served up a Pulitzer Prize-winning treat. Director Carl Jordan had the perfect recipe for casting Ilana Niernberger, John Browning, Katie Kelley, and Jimmy Gagarin. Recipe?

The play’s friends are foodies, couples who uncouple and all but food fight on a multi-stage set by Jordan and Gary Gonser. The play had just the right amount of both relationships’ spice to flavor any postprandial discussion. — Cari Lynn Pace

Dragon Lady: Spanning most of the life of Maria Senora Porkalob, the playwright/performer’s grandmother and a first-generation Filipina immigrant, Marin Theatre Company’s Dragon Lady was an inspiring, entertaining survival yarn and a master class in solo storytelling. Part biography, part autobiography, part cabaret musical, and part comedy, Dragon Lady was a tour-de-force written and performed by Sara Porkalob, with wonderful instrumental backing by three members of the Washington-based band Hot Damn Scandal.— Barry Willis

 … 2023 was a wonderful year for live theater in the Bay Area …

Stones in His Pockets: Spreckels’ production of this whip-smart Irish comedy was touching, insightful, and laugh-out-loud funny. It demanded the utmost from only two actors, playing no fewer than fifteen characters of varying ages, cultures, social classes, and genders.

All that and no costume changes, no props beyond two simple wooden crates, and a bare-bones stage with only a small stone wall and a projection screen to serve as a backdrop. A brilliant exercise in theater done right. — Nicole Singley

Crowns: Walnut Creek’s CenterREP presented an exhilarating, uplifting celebration of life with this serio-comedic musical. A coming-of-age story about a hip-hop girl from Brooklyn on a journey of discovery in a small South Carolina town, the revival-meeting production starred Juanita Harris as the town’s no-nonsense matriarch and queen bee of a bevy of church ladies, each with a collection of elaborate fancy hats mostly reserved for Sundays, when they want to look their best “to meet the king.” — Barry Willis

Silent Sky: Napa’s Lucky Penny Productions gave us a lovely rendering of Lauren Gunderson’s biographical tale about pioneering mathematician/astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, who toiled at Harvard University Observatory for approximately twenty years until she was finally allowed to look through the telescope. She faced opposition from the scientific establishment of the era, but Leavitt’s insights led to major breakthroughs in human understanding of the universe. — Barry Willis

The People vs. Mona: Pt. Richmond’s cozy Masquers Playhouse delivered a delightfully interactive comedic musical about a trumped-up murder case in the tiny south Georgia town of Tippo. The engaging Nelson Brown served as both MC and inept defense counsel Jim Summerford, who comes to the trial having never won a case. Shay Oglesby-Smith was tremendous as the town’s prosecutor and manipulative mayoral candidate Mavis Frye, matched by Michele Sanner Vargas as the accused Mona May Katt. — Susan Dunn

Clyde’s: Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s Theatre was the scene for this scathing comedy by Lynn Nottage, in which four parolees try their best to thrive under an oppressive boss.

April Nixon was brilliant as the voluptuous, wise-cracking owner of the roadside diner named for her character—a deliciously malicious force of nature. An uplifting, uproarious, and realistic tale about hope, Clyde’s was among the best comedies of the year. — Barry Willis

Hippest Trip—Soul Train, the Musical: The stage of ACT’s Toni Rembe Theater was transformed into both a giant 1970s television set and the production studio for Soul Train, reportedly the longest-running music-and-dance show ever made. Dominique Morisseau’s dazzling retrospective of the groundbreaking television show was wonderfully directed by Kamilah Forbes. Played by confident Quentin Earl Darrington, Soul Train founder Don Cornelius was a former Chicago crime reporter who envisioned a TV show that would uplift his community. Through sheer willpower, he made it a reality, and so did ACT. — Barry Willis

The Wizard of Oz: The Emerald City met Beach Blanket Babylon in ACT’s spectacularly goofy psychedelic The Wizard of Oz. The wild production adhered closely to the beloved original, including story and songs, but was as far removed from a 1940s Saturday afternoon movie matinee as you can imagine—a hilariously gender-bending extravaganza just perfect for Pride Month in San Francisco.  — Barry Willis

The Glass Menagerie: Ross Valley Players returned to the essence of mid-century theater with a sobering production of Tennessee Williams’ classic family drama. Directed by David Abrams, who also played the role of disaffected son Tom Wingfield, the show starred Tamar Cohn as his delusional, manipulative mother Amanda, Tina Traboulsi as his asocial sister Laura, and Jesse Lumb as the good-natured gentleman caller Jim O’Connor, who arrives late in the tale and quickly discovers what a dysfunctional morass he’s stepped into. Tom O’Brien’s austere set, period-perfect costumes by Michael Berg, evocative lighting design by Michele Samuels, and music collected by sound designer Billie Cox all made significant contributions to one of the year’s most compelling dramas. — George Maguire

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PICK! ASR Theater ~~ “The People vs. Mona”— Masquers Playhouse Delivers “Hootchie” & “Koochie”

By Susan Dunn

This musical comedy at Point Richmond’s cozy venue is all about involvement: our involvement. As we await the opening, actors drift into The Frog Pad bar, engaging audience members as they proceed to the stage. The MC and lead actor, the likeable, energetic Nelson Brown, opens the show for those in the seats: “Take out your provided fans and wave in unison.” First joke of the night, and a heads-up: “Listen up! You’re in this show too!”

It’s present day in the tiny south Georgia town of Tippo, where a murder has divided the populace into two factions, one represented by town prosecutor, suave manipulator, and would-be mayor Mavis Frye (Shay Oglesby-Smith). Their opponents are fronted by defense counsel Jim Summerford (Brown) who cannot get a truthful statement from the accused Mona May Katt (the stagey Michele Sanner Vargas). Frye’s fiancé of more than eight years, Summerford has never won a case—quite a defense attorney!

…This production sports a fine cast …

Early on, the odds are stacked against a not-guilty verdict. The town converges on The Frog Pad where an opening number pays froggy tribute with amusing choruses of “Ribbet, Ribbet.” A podium appears center stage and we are now in the courtroom, with an unpredictably opinionated Judge Jordan (Jeffrie Givens), who leads us through the trial. Givens swaps her judicial robe for a choir robe as Rev. Purify, guiding cast and audience alike through a rousing revival. Judge Jordan repeatedly reminds her court that she won’t tolerate any “hootchie” or “koochie.”

Musical comedy depends on outsized characters, hummable or memorable music and action paced at various speeds to bring us to a satisfactory conclusion. I enjoyed many of the songs, in various styles from hoedown blues, gospel, rock, and Cajun, to a winsome ballad by defendant Mona. The composers are the married duo Jim Wann and Patricia Miller, who keep us rapt with special surprises such as Officer Bell (Steve Alesch) trumpeting an operatic note whenever appropriate or not.

The town’s coroner Dr. Bloodweather (Arup Chakrabarti) turns out to be a dentist who, for clarity, insists on adding an extra letter to his professional title. Two key witnesses—including the town’s legendary litigator Eubal R. Pugh (Harrison Alter)—expire during the trial and their ghosts hilariously waft out the stage. Street-performing soul singer Blind Willy (Kamaria McKinney) does an outstanding number with cane and dark glasses. McKinney is also delightful in the role of local heartbreaker Tish Thomas. The show’s director Enrico Banson appears as bartender, court reporter, and does triple duty as onstage keyboardist.

Just when we thought we had seen all the play had to offer, Mona suddenly appears, in jail, in a sly side stage area where she performs the show’s only heart-rending ballad. Through all the fast-paced musical numbers, audience engagement is palpable.

This production sports a fine cast with outstanding leads and a “laugh a minute” script that whets our appetite for more. The numbers are long enough to engage us but short enough to keep the action going. The production is pulled together by Katherine Cooper’s choreography, perfectly scaled for a small stage. Marla Plankers Norleen supplied the characters’ amusing costumes; Vicki Kagawan did the props. This production makes for a fun evening!

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com.

ProductionThe People Versus Mona
Written byJim Wann and Patricia Miller
Directed byEnrico Banson
Producing CompanyMasquers Playhouse
Production DatesThru Nov 26th
Production Address105 Park Place
Pt. Richmond, CA
Websitemasquers.org
Telephone(510) 232.4031
Tickets$27-$30
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 4.5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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Pick! ASR Theater ~~ Rags to Riches Hilarity: “Nollywood Dreams” at SF Playhouse.

By Susan Dunn and Barry Willis

An aspiring actress gets her chance in Jocelyn Bioh’s uproarious Nollywood Dreams, at San Francisco Playhouse through November 4.

Ayamma Okafor (Angel Adedokun) works at her family’s travel agency in Lagos, Nigeria, where the entire story takes place. Probably not a well-known fact among Americans, Nigeria’s thriving film industry is one of the world’s most prolific.

Ayamma (Angel Adedokun) is starstruck as she meets Wale (Jordan Covington) and Gbenga (Tre’Vonne Bell) in San Francisco Playhouse’s “Nollywood Dreams,” performing thru Nov 4, 2023.
Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

Ayamma hopes to lift herself out of the tedium of her daily work and venture into the glitzy world of film—and fame. Her lackadaisical sister and workmate Dede (Brittany Nicole Sims) has no such aspirations, but does worship film stars, especially the handsome charmer Wale Owuso (Jordan Covington).

…Nollywood Dreams is exactly the feel-good antidote we need today…

The Playhouse is lit with neon and splashy patterns, accompanied by throbbing rhythms of Africa. Your heartbeat is up even before the actors appear. The production is significantly interactive: we are invited to let the actors know how we feel about them and their story by joining in with our own reactions. Breaking the “4th wall,” one scene includes an actor sitting with the audience.

On a huge revolving set by Bill English, Nollywood Dreams features continual scenes across three different locales: the travel agency, a TV studio, and the office of film director Gbenga Ezie (Tre’Vonne Bell). Initially we meet our protagonist, wannabe actress Ayamma—slim, intense, and sincere—who pours her heart out to older sister Dede, an outrageous, outspoken, but unmotivated couch-potato. Their dynamic is loving and hilarious at each turn.

The stage turns and a TV interview is in progress. Now we (the play’s audience) become the vocal audience of a daytime TV show hosted by the queen bee of Nigerian celebrity gossip, the brightly-swathed and head-dressed Adenikeh (Tanika Baptiste), a character partly modeled on America’s own Oprah. Baptiste is totally engaging and effusive as she prods interviewee Gbenga about auditions for his next film, a romantic comedy called The Comfort Zone.

Adenikeh (Tanika Baptiste), the Oprah of Lagos, dishes on her talk show in San Francisco Playhouse’s “Nollywood Dreams.” Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

Her outsized female persona foils his suave, understated but sweeping masculinity. Our verbal reactions to his story of marital and extramarital love up the ante of our emotional engagement. Through some Nigerian film history projections we meet the final two characters in this play: Wale the endearing lover-boy actor already well-known to Nigerian audiences, and Fayola (Anna Marie Sharpe), an established actress whose career has hit an impasse. Sharp’s wise-cracking subtlety must be seen to be believed.

Who will be cast in this next movie? How will previous dating relationships, careers (or lack thereof) and political machinations solve the casting choices? The set revolves to reveal the director’s office, where auditions of a kind, amid spats and jealousies, play out evoking old loves and new emotional blooming. A favorite scene involves Dede’s curse on the rival actress to aid sister Ayamma’s chances for snagging a role.

Nigerian film director Gbenga (Tre’Vonne Bell) dishes on a talk show in San Francisco Playhouse’s “Nollywood Dreams” Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli

Nollywood Dreams is a terrifically paced production of a laugh-out-loud script, filled with characters who pop with iconic familiarity. The show is blessed with performing excellence, directorial finesse and assurance and production values that excel in every scene. As fabulous or ordinary costumes (Jasmine Milan Williams, designer) change from one quick scene to another we wonder how they can top the previous look.

Theater veteran and director Margo Hall has coaxed the utmost from her richly talented cast. The eye-candy set and projections, and especially the unexpected finale, deliver a luscious dessert of a play that on opening night provoked a sustained standing ovation. Nollywood Dreams is exactly the feel-good antidote we need today.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager. An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com.

ASR NorCal Executive Editor Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: barry.m.willis@gmail.com.

 

ProductionNollywood Dreams
Written byJocelyn Bioh
Directed byMargo Hall
Producing CompanySan Francisco Playhouse
Production DatesThru Nov 4th
Production AddressSF Playhouse
450 Post Street
San Francisco, CA
Websitewww.sfplayhouse.org
Telephone(415) 677-9596
Tickets$30 - $125
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ “Anna Christie” – Eugene O’Neill’s Fallen-Woman Play Rescues the Genre from Convention

By Susan Dunn

The annual Eugene O’Neill Festival is dedicated this year to the voices of women, and Anna Christie is the play that delivers that goal. To get there, we took a Festival Bus to an old barn on a remote hill in Danville to be entertained, time-warped, and enveloped by three compelling characters.

It’s the story of a former prostitute who must reveal her past to her father and fiancé. The denouement is a nut to crack enveloped in fog. Is this a drama, a tragedy, or a melodrama? Anna Christie has occasional aspects of all of these elements. But the engaging characters, their stories, and ultimately their charm work their magic.

Look up and see the stars through the holes in the barn ceiling. Pray that rain won’t come during the performance. Crickets crawl across the stage, and flies waft by. Where is this superb venue? At the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site, managed with cooperation and support from the Eugene O’Neill Foundation.

…a triumph for one of O’Neill’s best plays to our delight…

Before showtime, one can tour O’Neill’s former residence, Tao House, now a complete museum and gift shop, just a short walk from the barn. At the end of September, the whole cast and production will perform again at The Eugene O’Neill International Festival of Theatre in New Ross, Ireland. It’s an annual cultural and civic celebration of the strong ties between Ireland and the United States exemplified by O’Neill’s Irish heritage.

Anna Christie opens with a glimpse of Anna, now a refugee from a hard-knock life, scurrying through the scene with her belongings in hand. Adriene Deane’s every expression reveals a 20-year-old who is oppressed but aching to recover from her past. It’s a subtle and primarily low-key role that is an excellent foil to her two loves. Her father, Chris Christopherson, hasn’t tried to see her in 15 years. He’s a crusty, boisterous, hard-drinking womanizing scamp ably captured by Charles Woodson Parker. He packs a hidden, vulnerable heart of filial love and a penchant for cursing “Ye old devil sea!” on whom he blames all life’s challenges.

Into this unlikely duo charges Matt Burke, a lowly Irish sailor whose profession is stoking coal on ships and living the itinerant life of the sea. Expertly played by Kyle Goldman, Matt makes up for his ignominious status with an explosive personality. His body writhes, his limbs contort or strut, his eyes bug and pinch, his eyebrows arch, and his chatter is non-stop, with an appeal that makes us want to take him home. This reviewer couldn’t wait for his next entrance.

Anna re-enters her father’s life, playing her last and lost family card, and hopes for help to recover from the abuse of her former professions: farm worker-slave, nurse, governess, and finally prostitute, a past she must hide. She moves onto the barge with her father and Matt. She ultimately is restored by the sea and the fog, which hides her past life from her consciousness, and the attentions and affections of Matt, who takes her for a well-bred young woman.

By Act III, this restorative happiness is challenged by Matt’s proposing marriage and her father’s attempts to control her – to steer her back to the land, to stability, to permanence, and away from the sea and the life of a sailor’s wife. She finally finds her voice and declares her love for both of them–and her right to personal responsibility and determinism.

Assisted by minimal but appropriate production elements, three featured roles, and the embrace of being set next to O’Neill’s former residence, the play delivers a triumph for one of O’Neill’s best plays to our delight and the Festival’s excellence.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager.

An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionAnna Christie
Written by Eugene O’Neill
Directed byEric Fraisher Hayes
Producing CompanyThe Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Tao House
Production DatesThrough Sept 24th
Production AddressThe Old Barn, Tao House, 1000 Kuss Rd
Danville, CA 94526
Websitehttps://eugeneoneill.org/event/eugene-oneills-anna-christie/
Telephone(925) 838-0249
Tickets$60
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Script4.5/5
Stagecraft3/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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PICK! ASR Theater ~~ Theater and Politics Send-up: “Mondragola” at CentralWorks

By Susan Dunn

Gary Graves new play sends up both theater and politics where the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Niccolo Machiavelli is commonly known as the cynical and amoral philosopher of politics from his signature work, “The Prince” (Il Principe). Who would guess that Machiavelli, living the good life as Secretary in the Medici government for many years, would be exiled and forced into writing saucy comedies to eke out his living?

… taps every production’s nightmare…

Mondragola (Mandrake) takes its name from a farce Machiavelli wrote in exile, along with “The Prince”, while hoping to return to the Medicis’ good graces and the sustenance of government life. On opening, Machiavelli, handsomely played by Rudy Guerrero, describes how critical this play performance is to his future career. He hopes that the Cardinal who will be in attendance and loves comedies, will be so impressed that he will commission him to write a history of Florence, but his actors have fled with the production money, and it’s eight hours to showtime!

(l to r): Battista (Edwin Jacobs) and Zenobia (Monique Crawford) agree to perform in Niccolo Machiavelli’s silly comedy. –At TheaterWorks

In desperation, he cajoles his gangster producers, Battista and Luigi, into covering as actors, along with the revolutionary Zenobia, girlfriend to Battista. This works as the joke of “taking actors off the street” almost literally. As the drama “to pull the drama off” continues, another drama—of revolution and murder—is organized behind Machiavelli’s back. As he tries frantically to get the actors to learn their lines and rehearse, we discover the printed scripts have only each separate actor’s lines. Without cues, they must memorize without context. And since they are non-actors, they make up their own words, to the fury of the playwright.

Mondragola taps every production’s nightmare, and giving more of the story would be a spoiler. But a fine cast of individuals brings out individual personalities. Edwin Jacobs as Battista is a slick hoodlum and secret revolutionary who pulls off his many faces of bravado and bewilderment with finesse. Monique Crawford is imperious as a committed political rebel and activist, while Steve Ortiz, as Luigi, the crazed, crazy and hilarious thug/sidekick can talk his way out of anything.

Florence, 1522. Fifty years before Shakespeare: Niccolo Machiavelli, author of “The Prince” – the infamous “handbook for tyrants”- has returned to perform his silly comedy “Mondragola” for the Cardinal de’ Medici.

The four actors address all three wings of the “in the round” arena stage with great skill and breathless pace thanks to Jan Zvaifler’s direction. It all made sense and played to every part of the house. A special treat of this production is Gregory Sharpen’s sound design, which expands this trim conceit of four backstage actors to Machiavelli’s actual play going on outside.

The feast in Mondragola is historical, theatrical, political and comedic. There is also a large dose of irony at the play’s end, with each actor finding a new end or a new beginning, depending on the circumstances. Recommended for those who like a big meal served in a short space of 65 minutes.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager.

An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionMondragola
Written byGary Graves
Directed byJan Zvaifler
Producing CompanyCentral Works
Production DatesThru Apr 16th
Production AddressBerkeley City Club
2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704
WebsiteCentralWorks.org
Telephone(510) 558 -1381
Tickets$35 - $40
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance5/5
Script5/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!

Other Voices…

"Playwright Gary Graves has taken facts about Machiavelli and added his own creative twist in a fascinating play..."East Bay Times
"...history’s most famous political strategist...finds himself a pawn in someone else’s gambit. But some tricksters don’t know about Machiavelli’s past life..."San Francisco Chronicle
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ASR Theater ~~ Gordon Dahlquist’s “Tea Party” More Political Future-Scape than “Mad Hatter”

By Susan Dunn

Tea Party opens on a black box stage with political interrogation. No set distracts us from the fireworks to come. A government agent (Cassidy Brown) rips into a political prisoner, exposing her liberal, left-wing persuasions. A right-wing prisoner joins the cross-examination, and is physically brutalized and bloodied by the agent.

(L-R): Livia Gomes Demarchi and Cassidy Brown. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs

Many such scenes ensue, transitioned by music of competing voices ranging from choral to hard rock. The first scenes are from the present, then revert to the past, and finally address the future, playing out in that sequence. One is left hoping the scenes come together into a sensible tableau by the end of the play. More on that later.

Dahlquist’s play posits that the Tea Party movement–which began during the presidency of Barack Obama and effectively over time changed our politics to a zero-sum game–has created this nation’s current divisions.

From “Tea Party” Photo by Jeff Rumans.

I think there is a real misunderstanding about what the Tea Party movement is. The Tea Party movement is a sentiment that government is broken, free market principles have been abandoned, with both parties to blame,  and if we don’t do something soon, this exceptional country will be lost.

…a strong cast of featured actors…

So agrees director Erin Merritt, in her director’s notes. She exhorts us to recognize this nationwide divide and governmental failure and get involved to bridge it, or civil war will be our future.

Characters represent left-wing, right-wing, and government. All sides are shown with their problems and power struggles exposed. Cassidy Brown, first as a government agent, then as a Dutch journalist, leads us through key scenes, with a strong cast of featured actors assuming different roles. Special mention goes to Anthony Cistaro and Bob Greene who cover their parts with diverse movement and vocal projection.

(L-R) Cassidy Brown and Livia Gomes Demarchi at work in “Tea Party”. Photo by Cheshire Isaacs

Other performers sometimes suffer from static blocking and muffled delivery to an audience surrounding a thrust stage. The many violent scenes are carried out with finesse through the guidance of Dave Maier.

Although delving into the Tea Party is most timely, and delivered to a mainly liberal and politically receptive part of the country, this reviewer believes that Dahlquist’s message could use more dramatic tools to help the audience lock in and see a path to activism. I was also left with the feeling the playwright missed the boat on addressing the impact negative social media has had on our national discourse: enabling the spread of disinformation, distrust, and animosity.

And as mentioned earlier, I felt that better identification of various scenes would have also gone a long way to sustain this viewer’s interest in this otherwise engaging production. This play, and its message, deserve it.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager.

An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionTea Party
Written by
Gordon Dahlquist
Directed byErin Merritt
Producing CompanyOne Of Our Own Theater
Production DatesThru Mar 19th, 2023
Production AddressThe Rueff at ACT’s Strand Theater, 1127 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Websitehttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/tea-party-a-world-premiere-play-tickets-528984997367
Telephone-----------------------
Tickets$20- $50
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3/5
Performance3/5
Script3/5
Stagecraft2/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?----
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PICK! ASR Theater ~~ “The Travelers” — A Wonder at the Magic Theatre

By Susan Dunn

Luis Alfaro exposes our strengths and weaknesses in a climate-changing world with The Travelers at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco’s Fort Mason arts complex.

Five ordinary men appear on a candle-lit stage and start to strip down. Provocative, right? But soon they are covered by cassocks of the Carthusian Order of Catholic brothers. Before we can get to know these individuals, a stranger staggers into their monastery and collapses in a mound of dirt, bleeding from a chest wound.

Excellence abounds in Catherine Castellanos’s direction…

Luckily, the wound did not pierce his heart, but Alfaro’s play is all about heart and the ways we find to mend so many that are broken by circumstance.

But where are we?

We are in Grangeville, CA, a semi-abandoned town of now only 49 in the Central Valley. Drought has forced people from their occupations, many from working the fields. They either leave town or find places of succor such as the old monastery, which is still supported by the Archdiocese.

Important back-wall projections herald each change of scene, such as “Transformation,” helping us understand why the men shed their clothes and enter the seminary. They are desperate and leaving their former lives behind. The captivating set is mostly dirt floor, candles, and ceiling candelabras. The lights create a hierarchy: memorial candles set in the small dirt piles on the floor are for the commoners who worship there, and the multitude of brass candelabras overhead, to which the brothers often visually appeal, sway and flicker as the support from the Archdiocese gives hope and then peters out.

Brian River, Juan Amador, & Ogie Zulueta, at work. Photo by Jay Yamada.

In Alfaro’s inimitable style, we learn the stories and personalities of these brothers, and their new recruit, Juan, who has so dramatically joined the order with a bullet wound and street-trash vocabulary – a most unlikely student for this seminary run by Brother Brian. And Juan in turn unmasks the mystery of the man who lives in the bathtub without a cassock, brother Ogie. Each brother has a backstory of loss: of family, of nurture, of education. They profess a bond with church and God just as long as the tenuous support of the church sustains. When that door closes on them, they become again travelers to parts unknown.

And in “Seminary,” only one heart is lifted.

Kinan Valdez, Ogie Zulueta in “The Travelers.” Photo by Jay Yamada.

This play is a full meal with much to absorb and digest later. Excellence abounds in Catherine Castellanos’s direction of so many quirky characters and scenes, casting of spot-on actors and clear rendering of script. Although some disjointed elements of this play may leave viewers scratching their heads, I dare you not to marvel at its humanity and scope.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager.

An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionThe Travelers
Written byLuis Alfaro
Directed byCatherine Castellanos
Producing CompanyMagic Theatre
Production DatesThru March 5th, 2023
Production AddressMagic Theatre Ft. Mason Center, Bldg D 2 Marina Blvd. San Francisco, CA.
Websitemagictheatre.org
Telephone(415) 441-8822
Tickets$20 – $70
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4.5/5
Script4/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK!YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ “Exodus to Eden” – A Fever Dream and Journey of Hope

By Susan Dunn

In a reverse metaphor from Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, in Exodus to Eden, a company of wanderers travels from California, which climate change has rendered a dust-bowl, to Oklahoma, which offers the possibility of affordable housing and hope for new life.

The always-unique Oakland Theater Project goes to the mat in this sprawling three-hour new production which seeks to save us from our current gods of capitalism and power. In a promo video, Arielle Powell, who plays the lead role Miriam, shares that this new play, written and directed by Michael Socrates Moran, is about this theater company coming together to try to right our seriously-wronged community.

According to The Man: “Exodus isn’t about ‘The People.’ It’s about gods. Gods fighting over a nation’s economy.”

What is wrong? That’s not always clear in the mix of character groups, historical and theatrical allusions, fuzzy transitions between dream sequences and reality, and above all, the difficulties with everyday communications across our own community. What’s wrong is conveyed to us from harangues, from bodily reactions, from mysteries, from the weather, and from technology. These elements arrive helter-skelter. Sorting this out through the play is the audience’s challenge.

The prologue announces the end of history, the end of the Cold War, and the takeover by capitalism and power. Embodied by “The Man,” we are lectured that the world is now ruled by contracts, by transactions to individuals. The social covenant is the glue which binds our communities across all different peoples. And that covenant is now dissipated by drugs.

The Man and a prisoner at work for Oakland Theater Project.

As technology advances our lives, it also destroys our planet. In a brilliant touch, a guardian angel shadows and protects The Man with a ray gun which zaps our cares for the planet by shooting off constant TV announcements of trouble. Readily available drugs help the rest of us chill out, like soma in 1984.

For the wanderers, life is a prison boxing them in. Their journey, the search for home, for house, for safety and sustenance, is to find out how to get out of that prison. As they face enormous odds, most will not survive.

Does technology “zap” our lives? See “Exodus to Eden” and find out.

This panorama of issues is fitted out with fascinating costumes, projections, sound effects and props which help to punctuate and sort out the many themes and characters. However, the road forward through the central character of Miriam, is not easily understood. She has dodged a deal with the devil throughout the play.

What she carries forward with her new child is up to our imaginations. See this play for the scope, the passion and occasional magic of the work, and decide which world you need to live in.

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Since arriving in California from New York in 1991, Susan Dunn has been on the executive boards of Hillbarn Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, Berkeley Playhouse, Virago Theatre and Island City Opera, where she is a development director and stage manager.

An enthusiastic advocate for new productions and local playwrights, she is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a recipient of a 2015 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award. Contact: susanmdunn@yahoo.com

ProductionExodus to Eden
Written byMichael Socrates Moran
Directed byMichael Socrates Moran
Producing CompanyOakland Theater Project
Production DatesThru Feb 26th, 2023
Production AddressFlax Art and Design, 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, CA 94612
Websitewww.oaklandtheaterproject.or
Telephone(510) 646-112
Tickets$10– $55
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3/5
Performance3/5
Script2/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK!----