LOTS of great shows happening/coming up here in the Bay Area, and YOU should be aware of them!
Saturday Write Fever XI: OMG THEY HAVE KNIVES!!! presented by San Francisco Theater Pub
Tomorrow! Saturday March 8th at 8:30 at the Exit Theatre. This is ALWAYS a good time, one of my all-time favorite theater events in the Bay Area! I can’t make it Saturday (seeing another show), so be sure to be there with knives for me!
“San Francisco Theater Pub and the Exit Theatre are proud to present a tenth round of Saturday Write Fever, this time on Saturday, March 8th, 2014, with Saturday Write Fever XI: OMG THEY HAVE KNIVES!!!
Every second Saturday of the month, we invite writers, actors, directors, theater creators and theater audiences alike to a free evening of quick script-making and flash-fried performance! March 8th isn’t exactly the Ides of March… but it’s never too early to get paranoid, right? Writers will be teamed up and tasked with creating DUOLOGUES OF MURDER, with prompts inspired by assassins and their targets. With material generated for both sides of the… um… relationship… the work will then be paired with actors who bring the words to life… and untimely death.
Join us in the Exit Cafe (156 Eddy Street) for an 8:30 pm mixer followed by a 9:00 pm writing sprint where writers have 30 minutes (more or less) to generate original monologues based around that night’s pre-generated prompts. We cast actors from the crowd (no experience necessary), then at 9:30 pm, they perform the work on stage in the café for an on-the-spot, one-night-only instant festival! Come join in the communal creativity, either as writer, performer, or audience!
Hosted by local writers Stuart Bousel and Megan Cohen, admission to this event is free, with the Café staying open and staffed so you can purchase drinks and snacks all night long! No need for reservations, though get there early to get your name on the writer list as we will cap it at 24. Of course, if we get 24 writers, that means we’ll also need 24 actors…”
Mommy Queerest presented by Guerrilla Rep and DIVAfest
Running now until March 29th at the Exit Theatre. I caught the show last weekend, and I laughed the whole time. Don’t miss it!
“MOMMY QUEEREST begins with young teenaged Kat having her earth shattered when she realizes that she and her mother are both lesbian. Too bad her mom hasn’t figured it out yet despite the fact she’s been living with her partner since Kat was six years old! After a spectacularly failed attempt to share this epiphany with her mom, Kat lurches through her own teenage sexploration with guys and girls, trying to figure out how she fits in with her family, community and self. After a decade of attempting to educate this wayward parent about what it means to be lesbian, she discovers there is still a thing or two she can learn from her mom.
Kat Evasco tackles conflict with humorous insight, while illustrating the experience of being a Filipina lesbian, gay Christian, survivor of sexual abuse and young American just trying to get some. Written by Kat Evasco and John Caldon, performed by Kat Evasco, and directed by John Caldon, MOMMY QUEEREST chronicles the coming out process of a lesbian daughter and a closeted lesbian mother, illustrating how the reclaiming of their sexuality challenges and strengthens their relationship.”
Top Girls by Caryl Churchill at Custom Made Theatre Co.
Running March 14 – April 13. I have never seen a production of Top Girls, so I am especially excited to see what Custom Made does.
“Directed by Laura Lundy-Paine Starring: Monica Cappuccini, Cary Cronholm Rose, Cat Luedtke, Megan Putnam, Katie Robbins, Carina Lastimosa Salazar and Mimu Tsujimura
Marlene has just been made president of Top Girls Employment Agency in London, beating out her more established male colleague and taking the agency by storm. She has achieved her dream to become successful and the top executive, but what now?
A sumptuous dinner, of course, with wine, gourmet food, and five of the most famous and scandalously adventurous women in history: Adventurer Isabella Bird, Courtesan Lady Nijo, Dull Gret from Brueghel’s masterpiece, Pope Joan, and Patient Griselda from The Canterbury Tales. Shocking and hilarious, these six women take the restaurant by storm with stories of battles and high jinks, masquerading as men, passionate love-making, and beating their oppressors bloody.
Churchill’s gift for rapid-fire exchanges, overlapping dialogue and fearless thrust of her subject matter are as breath-taking now as they when “Top Girls” was presented in the 80’s as a scathing attaching on the individualist nature of Margaret Thatcher’s England. Sadly, not much has changed since then, and not only the 1% should ask: at what price success?”
Kristin Hersh’s RAT GIRL adapted by Stuart Bousel
The show plays May 1-24, and I’m telling you about it this early because IT WILL SELL OUT BEFORE IT OPENS! Yep, it’s the hot ticket come May, so get your calendar in order and purchase your ticket today! But tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/577015
More about the show:
“Part biography, part rock concert, part experimental theater, RAT GIRL is based on Hersh’s memoir of the same name. It tells the story of how, in one year, she went from a gifted college student to an icon of art rock music when her band, Throwing Muses, was signed onto the British label 4AD Records. Along the way, Hersh discovered that she was bi-polar after a suicide attempt landed her in a mental hospital, and that she was pregnant with her first child. As much a story about one woman’s struggle to live with her own particular demons as it is about the rise of a gifted and unique artist, the play is a surreal and often comical exploration of how we make peace with who we are.
The show will feature covers of songs from the self-titled Throwing Muses album, which was recorded at the time RAT GIRL takes place and went on to become a cornerstone of the American alternative music movement.
RAT GIRL is part of this year’s DIVAfest, which began in 2002 as a response to the lack of opportunities for female playwrights in the larger theater industry and over the years has produced over 60 new plays by women. In 2011 DIVAfest evolved from being an annual EXIT Theatre festival into an independent, year-long producing organization dedicated to broadening its impact and diversity. Each Spring culminates in an annual festival showcasing playwrights, actors, directors, designers, musicians, dancers, poets, visual artists, craftswomen, burlesque performers, and forums, all with a focus on female perspective and experiences. Throughout the year DIVAfest supports new and developing work with co-productions, bi-monthly work-shopping opportunities at DIVAs Tell All, and DIVA or Die Burlesque, a monthly revue. At its core, DIVAfest remains a celebration of female power and creativity, encouraging female artists, allies, and audiences to broaden their horizons and exceed boundaries.
Featuring Christina Augello, Nathan Brown, Eli Diamond, Allison Fenner, Tim Green, Heather Kellogg, Sam Jackson, Shay Wisniewski. Directed by Claire Rice. Musical Direction by James Grady. Sound Design by Christine McClintock, Set Design by Joshua Saulpaw, Lighting Design by Beth Cockrell, Projections by Colin Johnson.”
SFSU Fringe Festival featuring Much Ado About Mathletes
Running May 14-18! More specific dates/times tba!
My hilarious one-act play about an all-girls mathletes team is being produced at SFSU, and you should mark your calendars!
I’ll be announcing info about my director and cast soon!
Program 1:
- Much Ado About Matheletes, by Rachel Bublitz
- Knife Skills, by Luke Dani Blue
- Inay’s Wedding Dress, by Conrad Panganiban
- The Night Bus, by Patricia Reynoso
Program 2:
- Turn Your Head Away, by Hunter Ridenour
- The African Spaghetti, by Casey Robbins
- My Time Has Come, by Jonathan Spector
So those are my picks, and but there are a lot of shows I missed, so be sure to see things I didn’t mention. Seeing theater is good for the heart, soul, and body, it’s a medical fact.
Enjoy!