Podcast appearances and mentions of ross valley players

Hello and welcome back to the 68th episode of Loving Later Life, and I have to say that you are in for such a very special treat. You're about to hear a story proving the fact that it is never, ever too late to see your dreams come true. This is a story of two incredible women in their 80's…one of whom is my mother. It is a story of friendship, of courage, tenacity, resilience, love, and passion. It is a story that comes full circle spotlighting relationships, perseverance, and timing. I am so excited to say that due to a change in their schedule while my mom was in town for a presentation they were doing about Sarah at Dominican University, I was able to grab them for 30 minutes for an impromptu recording at a small park sitting at a picnic table. You all met my mom Elaine Lang Ockner in episode 35 of LLL and if you haven't listened to it yet, you must check it out after you listen to this episode. She is is a pianist/composer, and Musical Director. She has composed the music for many musical stage productions and created original music for Bravo's TV documentaries on the lives of Sarah Brightman, Jackie Chan and Nathan Lane. She was also pianist and Musical Director for Princess Cruises, Royal Viking, and Sitmar Cruise Lines. My mom met June Richards in 1979. June is a professional actress, theatre director and emeritus professor. June created theatre programs for Dominican University, Contra Costa College, and served as Chair of Visual and Performing Arts at San Diego City College, and has directed more than 100 productions. Since they met, they've been dear friends and artistic partners. Over the years their collaboration created many theatrical projects and wacky adventures behind the scenes. As single mothers they persisted even as they experienced heartache and sadness with relationships and loss of loved ones; choosing not to be taken down but instead to focus on their creative passion. One constant thread in the quilt of their creations was a musical they wrote in the 1980's of the story of Sarah Bernhardt, the renowned French actress who also defied the odds and never gave up. Fast forward 40+ years later to right now, their musical “The Divine Sarah” has been selected out of over 40 submissions of new works by the Ross Valley Players in Marin County, California to be produced this month, March 2024. Ironically, 100 years after Sarah's death, Paris recently had a Sarah Bernhardt exhibition. Vogue magazine had a spread, and Barbra Streisand is a super fan, talking about Sarah in her new book. (And if you're listening Ms. Barbra, there is a ticket waiting for you at the theatre!) Loving Later Life listeners, if you want to be moved and inspired, you must listen to these women tell their story. Annnd, be sure to listen all the way through because I got special permission to share with you a one-minute sneak preview of one of the songs played by my mom, the composer, Elaine Lang Ockner. So now, picture if you will, I'm sitting at a picnic table with these two beautiful and talented women in the warm sun, birds chirping, (the occasional car driving by), and my phone resting on the table to record their incredible story….

On this episode of the Yay, Norman and I welcome Marah Catanus Sotelo, a talented actress and opera-trained singer. I worked with Marah when we did Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown at the Town Hall Theatre. Marah's next performance will be at the Ross Valley Players, along with Mountain Play, doing She Loves Me. We talk about Marah's growing up in the Chicago suburbs, her four year experience in the bay area, and where she sees herself in the future. You can reach out to Marah directly via Facebook or Instagram (@MarahSotelo). SHOUTOUTS: Stories High XIX (Bindlestiff Studios – Bindlestiff turns 30) Sept 12-21 https://www.bindlestiffstudio.org/stories-high-xix The Flick (Shotgun Players) Aug 22 – Sept 22 https://shotgunplayers.org/Online/default.asp The Glass Menagerie (Role Players Ensemble) Aug 30 – Sept 15
 www.roleplayersensemble.com She Loves Me (Mountain Play – Ross Valley) Nov 14-Dec 22nd https://www.mountainplay.org/2020-season/ Three Musketeers (Douglass Morrison Theatre) Sept 12-29 https://www.dmtonline.org/the-three-musketeers Gene Moscy (Episode 14) and Cynthia Lagodzinski (Episode 96) is in the show

MOST AMBITIOUS SHOW YET --> 5 Guests, 2 Hours, 1 Great show Guests: Todd Mosby (Guitarist & Composer - 8:42), Lauren Mayer (Musical artist & Comedian - 26:55), Adrian Elfenbaum's (Director of The Mousetrap at Ross Valley Players - 58:52), Patrick Nims (Director of The Humans at Novato Theater Company - 1:20:54), Jake Wong (Professional Baseball Player with the San Jose Giants - 1:45:30) For more check out @PascosPerspctve & @KXSFsports on Twitter

INTERVIEW with Pat Nims, Director of Crimes of the Heart at the Ross Valley Players

Topics Covered: INTERVIEW w/Josh Appelbaum - The Action Network (15:18), INTERVIEW w/Chloe Bronzan - Deathtrap at the Ross Valley Players (43:30), INTERVIEW w/David Hammock - Fantasy Movie League Podcast (1:13:30), Imagine Dragons Concert Review, MLB Free Agency + Music

If you’re trying to avoid attending the umpteenth production of The Nutcracker in your lifetime, Marin theatre companies are providing several other entertainment options for this holiday season. Last year, the Marin Theatre Company (marintheatre.org) was one of the participants in the rolling world premiere of Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. The continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was a smashing success, so it’s no surprise that Gunderson and Melcon have returned to the material and created a companion piece entitled The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley. While Miss Bennet dealt with the folks celebrating Christmas ‘upstairs’ at the manor, The Wickhams is more of a ‘downstairs’ piece focusing on the estate’s staff as they deal with an unwelcome visitor and a potential holiday disaster. Megan Sandberg-Zakian directs the show which will no doubt be colorfully costumed and impressively designed. The College of Marin Performing Arts Department (pa.marin.edu) will be presenting the musical comedy Nuncrackers in their Kentfield campus’s studio theater. Yes, it’s a Nunsense Christmas musical. Creator Dan Goggins’s Little Sisters of Hoboken return to stage a Christmas special in their new basement cable access TV studio to raise funds for the Mount Saint Helens School. The nuns will be singing songs like “The Twelve Days Prior to Christmas” and “Santa Ain’t Comin’ to Our House”, dancing in their habits, and handing out fruit cake. I think Sister Amnesia makes a return appearance, but I can’t remember. Actors Basement is staging PacSun contributor David Templeton’s one-man holiday show Polar Bears at The Belrose (thebelrose.com) in San Rafael. It’s the autobiographical tale of a father’s attempt to keep his children’s belief in Santa Claus alive way past the point most others do. Templeton has performed the piece in Sonoma County several times in the past few years. For this Marin production of his “heartwarming holiday tragedy”, Templeton moves into the director’s chair and turns over the performance duties to actor Chris Schloemp. The Ross Valley Players (rossvalleyplayers.com) are giving audiences the chance to completely forget about the holiday season with their production of The Odd Couple. The Neil Simon classic comedy about a mismatched pair of middle-aged roommates that’s been a proven laugh-getter since it’s 1965 Broadway premiere. For those willing to travel and in the mood for a big holiday musical extravaganza, the Transcendence Theatre Company (transcendencetheatre.org) will be presenting their Broadway Holiday Spectacular with three performances up at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center and two performances out at the Lincoln Theatre in Yountville. There’s nary a Sugar Plum Fairy in sight on these North Bay stages. You can find links to all these shows and more on the calendar page of the North Bay Stage and Screen web site at northbaystageandscreen.com

With September come football games that actually matter, open season on California tree squirrels (daily limit of four) and the opening of the new artistic season for many North Bay theatre companies. Here’s some of what they have in store for local audiences: Petaluma’s Cinnabar Theater (cinnabartheater.org) transforms itself into Berlin’s Kit Kat Club and bids you willkommen, bienvenue, and welcome to the classic Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret. Broadway veteran Michael McGurk and Petaluma native Alia Beeton take on the roles that won Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli their Oscars. The Spreckels Theatre Company of Rohnert Park (spreckelsonline.com) opens its season with the multi-Tony-Award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Fans of the Mark Haddon novel about a young boy on the autism spectrum investigating the death of a neighborhood dog will find that it’s been somewhat reworked for the stage, but Tony voters liked it enough to name it 2015’s Best Play. Sebastopol’s Main Stage West (mainstagewest.com) opens its season with the world premiere of an original comedy by local playwright Bob Duxbury. Savage Wealth examines the impact of the sale of a Lake Tahoe home and the vacant lot next to it on a pair of brothers and their childhood friend. John Shillington directs a cast of three in a story that also manages to work new age philosophy, politics, and romantic betrayal into it. Dancing and singing New York “wiseguys” take over Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse (6thstreetplayhouse.com) as they present Guys and Dolls. Summer Repertory Theatre Artistic Director James Newman moves to Railroad Square to helm what has been called “the greatest of all American musicals”. Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre (leftedgetheatre.com) continues to provide North Bay audiences with recently written plays never before seen in the area with the U.S. premiere of a hit British comedy. David Simpson’s The Naked Truth involves charity fundraising, female empowerment, and pole dancing. Argo Thompson directs and somehow has worked former Second Row Center host David Templeton into the mix. The Pegasus Theatre Company of Guerneville (pegasustheater.com) will present its 12th annual Tapas: New Short Play Festival. This year’s festival will include seven short plays by Northern California playwrights and will be the first production overseen by new Artistic Director Rich Rubin. Healdsburg’s Raven Players (raventheater.org) open with two contemporary dramas that deal with a host of complex issues including war, PTSD, gun violence, politics and religion. Time Stands Still and Church & State will run in “rep”. In Marin, the Novato Theater Company (novatotheatercompany.org) hopes to have one singular sensation with their production of A Chorus Line, while Mill Valley’s Marin Theatre Company (marintheatre.org) will present the West Coast premiere of the 2017 Best Play Tony-winning political thriller Oslo. Ross Valley Players buck the trend and bring Shakespeare indoors for a change with their production of Twelfth Night. Napa’s Lucky Penny Productions (luckypennynapa.com) invites you Into the Woods, where director James Sasser has apparently added another layer of “fun” to the musical fairy tale mash-up. Plenty of options for the avid theatregoer. Information on all these shows can be found in the “Calendar” section of the North Bay Stage and Screen web site at northbaystageandscreen.com

Valentine’s Day is less than a month away, and love is already in the air at some local theaters. Well, love and sex, and betrayal … and sex, and also mathematics … and sex, and stage-fright, fake kissing, real kissing … and sex. Sound fun? Let’s start in Ross, in Marin County, where the Ross Valley Players have just opened a four-week run of Lauren Gunderson’s surreal 2010 drama, ‘Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight.’ That’s an unwieldy but intriguing title for an intriguing but unwieldy play, the true story, sort of, of the Emile Du Châtelet, an 18th Century mathematician, physicist and philosopher who scandalized French society by becoming the lover of the famous playwright-adventurer Voltaire - and challenged scientific assumptions by writing papers finding fault with some of the most esteemed thinkers of her day. In Gunderson’s poetically convoluted version, the show’s heroine has just died. Robyn Grahn plays her with undeniable charm, yet always feels strangely distant from us, as if she is relating her story from beyond the mists of time, which she is. The script is written that way. Offered a chance to relive and review her life, possibly even getting to finish her life’s work — a book describing the Life Force as a mathematical equation — Emilie finds that actually touching these memory-people she encounters leads to a nasty electric shock. Nice sound effects, by the way. Anyway, whenever Emilie’s story gets “physical,” in that she remembers doing the nasty with Voltaire or any of her other occasional lovers, she avoids ethereal electrocution by calling in a younger version of herself, played by Neiry Rojo, to handle all the kissing and groping. Director Patricia Miller takes a very bold, but ultimately unsuccessful risk in casting Catherine Luedtke as Voltaire. Luedkte, a first-rate actor, does everything she can, but the choice doesn’t work, taking an already over-analytical, over-complex story, and adding another level of unreality, pushing it all even further from the grasp of the audience’s emotions. We want to feel for this brave, intelligent woman, but she never seems real enough, despite Grahn’s best efforts to make her so. Yes, the scientific stuff is frequently thrilling, but the sexy parts - mainly reduced to men chasing women while shouting “hoo-hoo-hoo” - are about as un-sexy as a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Considerably sexier—and considerably more convincing—is 6th Street Playhouse’s production of Ruhl’s “Stage Kiss,” directed with welcome farcical fury by Marty Pistone. This one is definitely easier to wrap one’s head around, but only so much. As written by Ruhl, this story of stage actors in love is so oddly structured as to require constant audience effort to absorb what’s happening some of the time. Structured as a play-within-a-play—followed by another play-within-a-play—‘Stage Kiss’ gives us two ex-lovers, He and She, played by Edward McCloud and Jenifer Coté. Both He and She are actors, thrown together in a very bad 1930’s play called ‘The Last Kiss.’ The other actors in the play-within-a-play are a delightfully underachieving bunch, played gleefully by Rusty Thompson, Lydia Revelos, Abbey Lee, and Tim Kniffin, all of them guided by a woefully unprepared Director, played by mollie boice. ‘Stage Kiss,’ as promised in the title, contains a whole lot of kissing - some serious, some very, very funny - and it’s entertaining to watch the way fake kissing can lead to real kissing, then back again. Though ultimately kind of pointless, vague, and a bit overly mean-spirited, Stage Kiss is an enjoyable enough romp, cleverly comparing the easy promises of love-struck fantasy with the hard-but-worthwhile work of creating real-life love. ‘Emilie’ runs Thursday–Sunday through February 5 at Ross Valley Players. www.rossvalleyplayers.com. 'Stage Kiss’ runs Thursday–Sunday through February 5 at 6th Street Playhouse. www.6thstreetplayhouse.com

In author-playwright Mary Spletter’s world premiere, Arches, Balance and Light, the East Bay playwright takes on a difficult, if not impossible, task—telling the personal behind-the-scenes life story of the legendary Julia Morgan, California’s first license female architect. Why is that so impossible? Well, though much is known of Morgan’s professional career and long list of accomplishments—including the design of Hearst Castle and over 700 others—almost nothing is known of Morgan’s real personal life. She stands amongst history’s most notoriously secretive and private people. It hasn’t stopped others from trying. A few years ago, playwright Belinda Taylor brought out her own attempt, the well-received “Becoming Julia Morgan,” which managed to stitch the bare facts of Morgan’s life into a captivating adventure tale, while avoiding speculation on its subject’s private life, loves and rumored secret scandals. Spletter takes a very different approach. In her somewhat convoluted play-within-a-play-within-a-play, now running at Ross Valley Players, Spletter has blended snippets of solid, historical reality with a kind of juicy, fanciful “fan fiction,” making up from whole cloth a series of possible explanations for Morgan’s deeply private demeanor, all of which results in an entertaining if somewhat shaggy-doggish fantasy romance that is rich with emotion, but absent the kind of ‘Wow! I-Never-Knew-That’ kick that comes from watching actual, fact-driven biography. That said, what Spletter and director Joe Manley have created, with the contributions of a charming cast, is a delightfully well-constructed bit of theatrical misdirection, though perhaps saddled with a few too many bits of clichéd humor, as in the moment a young Julia Morgan loses her temper and angrily shouts that she never loses her temper. The rest of the script is too clever to deserve moments so hackneyed and silly. Also, and this may just be a matter of taste, I’d suggest the play is perhaps encumbered by one too many “framing devices.” As the show begins, Julia Morgan’s somewhat prickly spirit—played by an excellent Ellen Brooks—appears on stage alongside a chorus of ghosts, addressing the audience with a quick summary of her life, followed by the “memory” of a visit from an elegant young Parisian named Marguerite, played with watchful intensity by Anastasia Bonaccorso. The visitor, we quickly learn, is intent on determining whether or not Julia is her mother. In response, Julia—aided by those spirits—describes her early days as a young student in Paris in the late 1800s, her younger self played with plucky charm, and considerable guts, by Zoe Swenson Graham, who stepped into the role just three days before opening. Initially denied entrance to a prestigious French architecture school, the determined Julia finds an enemy in the old-fashioned University director played with austere harumphery by John Simpson), while finding a friend and mentor in Victor, the amiable middle-aged teacher who sees Julia’s potential as a designer, and possibly a bit more. Victor is played with openhearted charm by Robin Schild. Revealing anything else that happens would spoil the surprises, of which there are many. As already stated, it is unlikely that any of what unfolds actually happened, of course. But around the edges of Spletter’s pleasantly quirky drama—basically a love story, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as a memory—the writer’s obvious admiration for Julia Morgan’s remarkable legacy is brought to vivid, infectious life. ‘Arches, Balance and Light’ runs Thursday–Sunday through March 6 at Ross Valley Players. www.rossvalleyplayers.com

Oh, the glory of the human voice. And the power of the human mind to hear one’s own voice, and somehow experience it as beautiful when to other’s it’s . . . not. Not Beautiful. Not even good. Which brings us to Florence Foster Jenkins. That’s her we are listening to now, from a recording she made in 1944. Jenkins was, in her time, a famous singer. She once sold out Carnegie Hall, packing the place with people eager to find out if the wacky socialite from Manhatten was really as bad as everyone said she was. The wild thing was, Jenkins was one of the only people who had no idea what she actually sounded like. Was she mistaken, mislead perhaps, mentally ill, or just really, really in love with the idea of being a singer? Those are the questions that are raised in the play Glorious! by Peter Quilter, running through October 18 at Ross Valley Players in Ross, in Marin County. It’s a little ironic that in creating a script that celebrates Florence Foster Jenkins, the playwright has created something as eccentric and strange and unexpectedly sweet as Jenkin’s herself . . . and just as mediocre. In all fairness, there isn’t really much about the Jenkins life from which to build a full story, and this ultra slight, plot-thin comedic farce avoids some of the more interesting things. The result is, well, kind of a one-joke story with no real story. And the running joke about a really old dog does not count as plot. There is charm in the story, certainly. But is charm enough? Glorious! suffers from the same malady that Jenkins did—a woeful insensitivity to tone, pitch, and pacing. And though it makes a herculean effort at turning Jenkins into some kind of self-actualized heroine, it can’t escape the uncomfortable truth that her popularity was, in many way, a deeply cruel joke. In the Ross Valley Players staging—unevenly orchestrated by the usually excellent director Billie Cox—the best thing about the show is the charming, infectiously upbeat performance of Ellen Brooks as Jenkins. She’s delightful. There is also fine additional support by Mitchell Field as Jenkins’ roguish common-law husband St. Clair, a frequently unemployed, alcoholic actor, who depended on his paramour’s money, but seemed genuinely devoted to her and her singing efforts. Also, good, if a little one-note, is Dan Morgan as the accompanist McMoon, whose transition from grudging employee to affectionate friend provides what little there is in the way of plot. As Maria—Jenken’s cranky Mexican maid, Maureen O’Donoghue does a lot with a slight role, but as an affronted music fan attempting to burst Jenkin’s bubble, Jackie Blue is allowed to do far too much with far too little. Apparently intended as the antagonist of the play, she’s far too ridiculous and cartoonish to be taken seriously, even as comic relief. As Jenkins friend supporter Dorothy, Ellen Fisher creates a goofy but affectionate caricature of a devoted friend, who might be even crazier than Jenkins. Through it all, there is an authentic sweetness to the proceedings, but the play is ultimately as lacking in substance and depth as was the infamous singing voice of its hapless subject. Glorious! is diverting and amusing and sometimes funny, but funny in a sad way. Just like Jenkins. ‘Glorious!’ runs Thursday–Sunday through Oct. 18 at Ross Valley Players. Rossvalleyplayers.com

Making an audience laugh is not an easy task for any playwright, or for the actors indebted with bringing the author’s words to life on stage. Humor is primarily a matter of taste. Where one of might think a joke about geometry is hilarious, another prefers to watch an actor plummet headlong into a birthday cake. Expecting an entire audience to snort and guffaw at any one gag or line of dialogue is as optimistic as thinking that every patron in a restaurant will start salivating at the same single entree on the menu. Unless, of course, it’s one very special entrée. Which brings us to two brilliant-but-unconventional plays currently running in the North Bay. In Sarah Ruhl’s 2004 "The Clean House," a Brazilian comedian-turned-house cleaner, Matilde - played by Livia Demarchi - confesses in her opening monologue that cleaning houses depresses her. Unfortunately, her over-stressed employer Lane - an excellent Sylvia Burboeck - is a surgeon who likes things clean. Meanwhile, Lane’s sister Virginia - Tamar Cohn, also wonderful - just isn’t happy unless she’s cleaning something, so a secret arrangement is made between Virginia and Maitilde wherein the former sneaks in to clean cleans Lane’s house every day while Matilde lies on the couch trying to think up the perfect joke - a joke, she says, that will be “somewhere between an angel and a fart.” When Lane’s cancer surgeon husband Charles announces he’s fallen in love with a much older woman on whom he’s just performed a double mastectomy, life suddenly takes on a series of twists and turns for everyone, proving that, as tidy as we might like our lives to be, sometimes things just get messy. Directed with energy and sensitivity by JoAnne Winter, "The Clean House" is packed with surprises, and is as funny as it is genuinely, authentically moving. Jason Wells’ "The North Plan," on the other hand is both broader and darker. Directed with a taste for farce and a furious sense of wicked glee by Rick Eldridge, "The North Plan" finds humor in the disconcerting not-too-distant future, a future made possible by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s pronouncement that torture isn’t torture if it’s applied not as punishment but as interrogation. Ready to laugh? Believe it or not, I think you will. A mysterious shadow government has taken over the White House and declared martial law, and Carlton, a fugitive government employee has stolen a secret list of “government enemies.” Carlton is played by Sam Coughlin with a manic intensity reminiscent of Woody Allen, only more believable. When Carlton winds up in a rural Missouri jail awaiting the arrival of two scary government agents - John Browning and Jared Wright - he has no choice but to try and enlist the help of his jailers, the patient police chief Swenson, John Craven, and bored administrator Shonda, played by Miranda D. Lawson. When he strikes out there, he has no choice but to try and get through to his agitated, foul-mouthed fellow prisoner Tanya - played by Sharia Pierce, who is a hoot). Sharia is an unhinged local motor-mouth whose just turned herself in for drunk driving, and what happens next shouldn’t be funny, but in this cleverly crafted fable of fermenting revolution, the end of the world miraculously becomes wildly, inspiringly - and a bit frighteningly - hilarious. "The North Plan" runs Thursday–Sunday through June 21 at Main Stage West. www.mainstagewest.com "The Clean House" runs Thursday–Sunday through June 14 at Ross Valley Players. www.rossvalleyplayers.com I’m David Templeton, Second Row Center, for KRCB.