Podcasts about sf playhouse

Vorhang auf für den ersten Wunderbar-Together-Theater-Podcast mit Susi Damilano – bei dem eine der Hauptdarstellerinnen beinahe ihren Einsatz verpasst hätte. Solche F-Ups seien am Theater an der Tagesordnung, haben wir von Susi gelernt, die uns gleich noch eine Lebensweisheit mitgegeben hat: Don't apologize: No matter how you enter the stage, you own up to it. Und das haben wir – nachdem Felix mit feinsten Improvisationskünsten geglänzt hat – dann auch gemacht.

It's been a while but Norman and I are back and we have Jake Fong – Jake has been on Episodes 228, 235 and 287 – I always love having Jake on as a guest host. Jake is currently understudying for the Glass Menagerie, now playing at SF Playhouse. Now he comes with his lovely wife and actress Jessica Fong, who just finished doing Sol, the Musical. Jessica shares her origin story, what theatre means to her and where she sees herself in the future. Norman and I have been working diligently on the Baldwin Project, where our eventual play will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of one black's great poet laureates, James Baldwin. Check out new readings and updates here: https://www.baldwincentennialproject.com We also want to thank Charles Blades Barbershop for sponsoring The Yay! Charles Blades Barbershop is located at 180 Second Street in downtown Oakland. It's a very cool, relaxing place where you can get your cuts and they'll even serve you a complimentary drink. Charles is also selling men's hair products on his website https://cbbgroominingproducts.myshopify.com Hair Gels, Pomades, Shampoos and Conditioners. Hop online, give the products a try and support minority businesses like my man Charles Blades. Book an appointment online here: https://www.cbb.hair Plethos Productions (run by Karin & Jon Richey – Episode 185) has a fundraiser going on to create a new theatre space in downtown Hayward! As part of the fundraising campaign, Plethos is hosting a retreat at Camp Monologa on the weekend of July 26-28. Along with a host of teaching classes by some of the best bay area theatre artists, The Yay will be hosting a live episode taping, plus gourmet kid-camp inspired food by Mad Creationz served at the Mess Hall, a swimming hole, wine and paint night, plus and so much more! You can find more about the fundraiser and give a donation here: https://givebutter.com/letsplethos SHOWS: The Glass Menagerie (SF Playhouse) May 2 – June 15 Jake Fong is understudying for the show Jeffrey Lo (Episode 153) is directing the show https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/ Blue Door (Aurora Theatre) April 19 – May 19 Michael J. Asberry (Episode 183) is in the show https://www.auroratheatre.org/index.php/shows-events/20232024-season/blue-door The Fillmore Eclipse (Walking Cinema) May 3 – 12 Pete Fitzsimmons (Episode 65) and Jay Krohnengold (Episode 105) is in the show https://www.walkingcinema.org/projects/eclipse The Tutor (New Conservatory Theatre Company) April 5 – May 12 Torange Yeghiazarian wrote the play https://nctcsf.org/event/the-tutor/ Pac & Biggie Are Dead (Lower Bottom Playaz) June 1 - 30 Dr. Ayodele Nzinga (Episode 257) is directing the show Cat Brooks (Episode 283) is in the show Reg Clay is stage managing the show http://www.lowerbottomplayaz.com Nan (part of the 2024 Bay Area Playwright's Festival) May 6-12, streaming On Demand Eiko Moon-Yamamoto (Episodes 120 & 225) will be in the play Jeannie Barroga (Episodes 18, 32, 221 & 243) is the dramaturg https://playwrightsfoundation.org/2024-bay-area-playwrights-festival/ The Chinese Lady (The Pear Theatre) April 19 – May 12 Eiko Moon-Yamamoto will perform as Afong Moy on April 20 (8pm); April 25 (7:30pm); April 28 (2pm); May 4 (8pm) and May 12 (2pm) https://www.thepear.org/whats-playing Love Letters (The Pear Theatre) April 19 – May 11 Fred Pitts (with his lovely wife Kelly Rinehart) will perform May 10, 8pm Eiko Moon-Yamamoto will perform May 3rd, 2pm https://www.thepear.org/whats-playing Darkheart (Bindlestiff Studios) May 16 – June 1 Golda Sargento aka Rebel Maria (Episode 220) wrote the musical https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MjA2MzY2 As You Like It (SF Shakes) Feb – May in various areas Jen Coogan (Episode 239) is part of the musical creative team for this show https://sfshakes.org/tour/ Reg Clay (@Reg_Clay) Norman Gee (@WhosYrHoosier)

We begin Part 2 with talk of how Bill and Susi's love of the work needed to get SF Playhouse started really helped them overcome any fear that might've hindered them. Their first brick-and-mortar spot on Sutter Street was meant to be retrofitted. The landlords wouldn't lease it to the new acting company, but they'd rent it cheaply one month at a time. To get themselves up and running, they staged a play they'd done before, one that was good for the holidays that were coming up.   The play was It Had to Be You by Joe Bologna and Renée Taylor. To drum up ticket sales, Bill and Susi would walk down to Union Square, where there used to be a spot folks could line up for discount theater tickets. They handed out SF Playhouse flyers and it taught them that they had sales acumen and hustle.   That original space had a hole in the ceiling, which made it cold. But Bill's day job in these days was carpentry, which he learned doing set building. Susi came in with her business background, which we learned a little about in Part 1. She set up the books, but also acted in plays. Both of them directed and acted, in fact.   Susi still worked her day job as a CPA, but became an indie contractor, and then an HR professional. She did all this to support her theater work at night. Fast-forward four years and Bill had phased out of carpentry. Susi had so many ideas of what they could do with their space—she wanted real seats, not fold-ups. They painted, hung Christmas lights for ambience, and handed out blankets to theater-goers.   Their first “season,” which they now admit wasn't a true season at all, ended with a staging of The Glory of Living by Rebecca Gilman, a popular play at the time. Bill describes it as a dark, difficult play, which he liked. He felt it challenged the audience. He says that the nature of the play required critics to come because no one in the Bay Area was staging it. Artistic directors came, probably wondering why SF Playhouse dared to do it.   As luck would have it, this all helped to put them on the map. The Chronicle called it an intriguing play and young theater company.   Susi had wanted to do Thrill of the Kill, a play about a group of suburban housewives whose husbands had locked themselves into a meat locker in the basement. The dilemma: To let the men out or not? This time, the Chronicle said: It's good, better in fact than the New York production of the same play. Bill had wanted to play El Gallo in The Fantasticks, so they got another director and did it. They got some bigger Bay Area names to act in it, and it ran all summer.   They remained in that first location for three years, until the retrofit work finally happened. They were bummed to leave and were told they could come back once the work was completed. But when that day came, the landlords informed them that to move back in, they'd need to pay five times their previous rent and fork over $1 million up-front. They balked at such a ridiculous sum.   But as luck would have it, a spot became available across Sutter, and they moved in in 2006. They stayed on Sutter from then until 2012, when the space inside the Elks Lodge building on Post opened. They pounced and have been there ever since.   SF Playhouse was established as a non-profit theater from Day 1. Susi thought it was the way to go. Doing so meant that could get donors and subscribers and at least aim to break even.   The spot on Post opened as they were doing Fair Lady at their old location on Sutter. It was so popular that they were turning folks away. Time for a bigger theater, they decided. The space on Post had been empty for years. It was originally an Elk's Lodge meeting hall, but had been converted to a 700-seat theater toward the end of the 20th century. Bill had always imagined 200-250 seats as the ideal capacity. He'd learned about non-profit theaters from various trips to New York.   Susi shares the story of what they encountered when they took over. The Elks had created it, but it had a bad energy when SF Playhouse came in. An Elks bartender told Susi that the place had ghosts … and they gave off bad juju. Susi connected with a friend of a friend who could look at the space. This person wanted to left alone there for two hours. She came back from that and told them some of the spirits were angry and others excited. And so this person invited those who weren't happy to leave, while those creative ghosts who were happy could stay and help. Susi says that when she came back after this, the place felt great and has ever since.   Then we talk about the current run of Guys and Dolls at SF Playhouse (which my wife, Erin, and I saw and absolutely loved). Bill, who's directing the show, describes it as a satire on black-and-white thinking and the polarization so prevalent in our world today. This leads us to discuss Bill's idea of the theater as an “Empathy Gym.” Visitors come to see another point of view. Everything that SF Playhouse does comes out of that idea.   In addition to visiting their website for tickets and info, you can call 415-677-9596 or email info@sfplayhouse.org. They're on Instagram and TikTok @sfplayhouse.

Susi Damilano was born in Germany and raised in the South Bay. Many of her German aunts married US servicemen, but Susi's mom married a German man and the family soon moved to Silicon Valley.   Susi shares a history of that area, noting thatnot too long ago, it was primarily orchards. Growing up, Susi would cut through those orchards to get to school. Now that area is housing.   She grew up in the 1970s and graduated high school then. As a young adult in the '70s and '80s, Susi visited SF often and says she always dreamed of living in "the big city." She would listen to her parents' stories of racing down hills and being escorted home by cops, and got excited. Susi and her friend who had a car would drive up to The City and up and down Polk Street, cruising and people-watching.   Despite the allure of San Francisco, she ended up going to college in San Diego at SD State. She liked it there enough—the weather, the people. An accounting major, she says that the job market wasn't great in that area, and so she returned home to the South Bay and got a job at CPA firm in San Jose, where she worked a handful of years with clients like the fledgling Apple Computer.   Still, she couldn't shake wanting to live in SF. She found a job at another CPA firm, this time in The City. She lived in the Marina on Chestnut and was there during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.   Susi loved being here and got her taste for theater from reading Herb Caen columns. She started going to live theater and loved it. Around this same time, she was getting burnt out on her accounting job. A friend dared her to dream what else she could do. She decided that she wanted an Oscar, even though she didn't act (yet). To get started, Susi took an acting class in Sunnyvale.   Then we meet Bill English, Susi's husband and cofounder of SF Playhouse. Originally from Evanston, Illinois, Bill spent his high school and college years in Tempe, Arizona. Then it was back to Illinois for grad school at Northwestern in Evanston.   Bill says that he was an instrumentalist earlier in his life and never thought much about theater. He played in orchestra his freshman year at ASU for a theater production, and it was here that he was “hit by lightning.” From the orchestra pit, he looked up and decided that he wanted to be on stage.   He tried out for and got some roles, first backing and then eventually, lead parts. He had always been a singer. Bill says that both his parents are musicians—his dad was a band director, in fact. He decided right away that he preferred the stage to playing music.   As a kid, Bill came to San Francisco from time to time with his family and loved it. He says that he always associated SF with theater. He didn't end up pursuing theater after college, but instead played piano in rock and country bands. He moved around a bit, from Chicago and Phoenix to LA and eventually The City.   This was the early 1980s and he had just had a daughter, which meant he couldn't do music anymore. In his limited spare time, Bill tried out for some plays. And he's been in it ever since.   At this point in Part 1, Bill and Susi share the story of their meeting. It was the late '90s, and Susi was taking an acting class at the Jean Shelton school here. Bill had studied there, too, and they had some friends in common. Their first meeting was on a street outside a theater. She was starstruck but figured he had no idea who she was. Susi volunteered to work concessions to get a theater ticket, which is where she first crossed paths with the young performer. She thought: That guy's cute!   Over the next couple of years, she started seeing him at parties. Bill came to a show, and Susi was there with one of his friends. The friend asked if Susi wanted to join them (after the show) for a drink at a spot across the street from the Clift Hotel. At the bar, Bill was bemoaning the lack of new scripts, but a friend of Susi's had one that needed producing. And so Susi told him as much. She recalls his reaction being something along the lines of: “Sure. I've heard this before.”   But Susi followed through and sent him the script in the mail. She got an answering machine message from him soon after this saying that the script she'd sent him was good. He also complimented her for following through. He asked her to dinner, and it turned out to be their first date ... sorta.   This was 1997, the same night that Princess Diana died (August 31, to be exact). They and a couple of friends were soon involved in a play that doubled as their courtship. They were married in 1999. After the run of the play, they were all still friends and decided to start a little theater company. They called it DreamStackers. And that company evolved into San Francisco Playhouse in 2003.   Check back this Thursday for Part 2 on SF Playhouse and Bill and Susi.   We recorded this podcast at SF Playhouse in November 2023.   Photography by Jeff Hunt

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Guys & Dolls” at San Francisco Playhouse through January 13, 2023. The post Review: “Guys & Dolls” at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!  Today we speak to Michael Gene Sullivan (he/him) (Head Writer, SFMT Collective), SF Mime Troupe about its current production, "Breakdown," July 1-Sept. 4. MGS has performed with all four of the Bay Area's Tony award-winning theaters: American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, TheatreWorks, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe (where he is also a Collective Member, director, and as Resident Playwright has written or co-written over 25 plays). He has also worked with SF Playhouse, California Shakespeare Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Co., Aurora Theatre Co., Magic Theatre, TheatreFirst, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, African American Shakespeare Co., and the SF Shakespeare Festival. Michael is the author of the internationally produced stage adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, of the critically-acclaimed The Great Khan, and in 2022 Michael was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship as a Dramatist. www.michaelgenesullivan.com      

Jim Calder and Devin Shacket join me for episode 062 of Actorcast, and they do not disappoint! In this episode, we dive deep into the craft of acting and the important things that actors should keep in mind (or out of their mind) when performing. We discuss why Jim and Devin became acting teachers, what makes a good actor, and the common struggles that actors come up against in the rehearsal and audition room. We talk about experience versus explanation, the illusion of the word "instinct," and so much more. You can learn more about Jim and Devin's work by visiting https://www.thenewyorkdramacenter.com or @thenewyorkdramacenter. Jim Calder is the Head of Movement at New York University Tisch Graduate Acting Department. He is the winner of the David Payne Carter Excellence in Teaching Award and Artistic Director of La Pietra Summer Theatre Festival in Florence, Italy. Jim has directed at various locations in New York City including the Lincoln Center Institute, Pearl Theatre, Classic Stage Company, The Public, New York Theater Workshop and HERE. Jim was movement and creative consultant for the upcoming film ‘Silent Retreat” written and directed by Todd Straus-Schulson, on ‘Pericles' at Berkeley Rep, (Director Mark Wing-Davey), ‘Passion Play' by Sarah Ruhl (Director Mark Wing-Davey) and movement director on Broadway for ‘Therese Raquin' staring Keira Knightley, (director Evan Cabnet). Jim has performed at The Old Globe, P.S. 122, and throughout Europe. He was the lead actor and creative consultant in PBS's ‘Noddy & Friends'. Jim trained at Ecole Jacques and performed under the direction of Jacques LeCoq in numerous TV specials in France. Devin Shacket is an actress, casting professional, audition coach, and on-camera acting teacher.  Devin began coaching and taping auditions in early 2013, while working in the House of Cards: Season 2 casting department. Her casting credits include the second season of House of Cards, alongside Emmy Award winning casting director, Julie Schubert, feature films including Good Funk, Black Nativity, Three Backyards, and theatre projects and the San Francisco Playhouse. Her students have appeared on television shows such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Iron Fist, Happy, Gotham, New Amsterdam, Switched at Birth, Tyrant, Ramy, The Deuce, Jack Ryan, Sneaky Pete, Quantico, Infierno Verde, Jessica Jones, Blue Bloods, Sweet Bitter, The Looming Tower, FBI, Dickinson, The Blacklist, The Godfather of Harlem, and more.  In addition to private coaching and audition taping, Devin teaches on camera acting and audition technique to adults and young actors internationally.  She has been a guest lecturer at NYU Stonestreet School for Film and Television, SF Playhouse, SF State University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, dBs Berlin Film School, and several private studios in New York City.  She is the founder and Artistic Director of the New York Drama Center. Follow my work at https://www.patrick-mcandrew.com/

Today, I am delighted to have Cassidy Brown as my guest. He is a highly acclaimed actor based in San Francisco and has graced the stages of various theaters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Berkeley Rep, SF Playhouse, Theatreworks, and many more. Besides his acting career, Cassidy is also a co-host of the podcast "All the Answers," which delves into the fascinating connection between performing arts and spirituality. Currently, Cassidy is busy rehearsing for the "Tea Party," a riveting play by Gordon Dahlquist, which is being directed by the talented Erin Merritt. In this 90-minute comedy thriller, "Tea Party," Cassidy along with the rest of the cast portray the logical consequences of violent political rhetoric in America's near future. With its taut and sophisticated storyline, "Tea Party" promises to be an enthralling and thought-provoking theatrical experience. "Tea Party" Tickets For more information call 415-637-4250 ________________________________________________________________________ Dear Listeners - A free way to support our show is by leaving it a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It's a chance to tell us what you love about the show and it helps others discover it, too.  Leave a review on Apple Podcasts (Itunes) Green Room On Air Web Site: http://greenroomonair.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raysgreenroom/ Opening and Closing Music by Carly Ozard: http://carlyozard.com Contact Ray at Green Room on Air: greenroomonair@gmail.com 

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! SF Mime Troupe's "Back to the Way Things Were" up on vemeo through November 6. The shows are free. donations accepted.  https://www.sfmt.org/ (Code "Power to the People") 1. Michael Gene Sullivan (he/him) (Head Writer, SFMT Collective) has performed with all four of the Bay Area's Tony award-winning theaters: American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Theatreworks, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe (where he is also a Collective Member, director, and as Resident Playwright has written or co-written over 25 plays). He has also worked with SF Playhouse, California Shakespeare Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Co., Aurora Theatre Co., Magic Theatre, TheatreFirst, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, African American Shakespeare Co., and the SF Shakespeare Festival. Michael is the author of the internationally produced stage adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, of the critically-acclaimed The Great Khan, and in 2022 Michael was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship as a Dramatist. www.michaelgenesullivan.com  

NOTE: On this podcast, we talk a great deal (from the 15 to the 30 minute mark) on the very serious subject of suicides. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the bay area theatre scene knows our next guest, Dorian Lockett – he has graced so many stages and is recently finished with Water By The Spoonful at SF Playhouse. We'll get to know Dorian's origin story, how he got into theatre, what techniques he's learned and where he sees himself in the future. On June 4th, Dorian will be hosting a workshop called Auditioning and Agent Hunting for Voice Actors – check out the link here: https://www.eventcombo.com/e/new-date---auditioning--agent-hunting-for-voice-actors-w-dor-44919?fbclid=IwAR3TTdW0ZWvcAT-De3v0sBDhDOxoMoKMmCO5q3xyxneciLbwGkWmiAtKXKM You can find out more information on Dorian Locket via a profile of him from the Pulitzer Center's website: https://pulitzercenter.org/people/dorian-lockett SHOWS: Imogen Says Nothing (SF Shakes) Monday May 9th – 7pm Maryssa Wanlass (Episode 93) is directing the piece Part of Bay Area Women's Theatre Festival http://www.sfshakes.org/events/152 The Incrementalist (Aurora Theatre) Now through May 15 Michael Ashberry (Episode 183) is in the show Dawn Monique Williams (Episode 112) is directing the show https://www.auroratheatre.org/index.php Crowns (Contra Costa Civic Theatre) April 22 – May 15 Kimberly Ridgeway (Episode 155) is directing the show https://ccct.org/crowns/ The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (SF Playhouse) May 4 – June 18 Jeffrey Lo (Episode 153) is directing the show Sharon Shao (Episode 176) is in the show https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/2021-2022-season/the-paper-dreams-of-harry-chin/ Pear Slices (The Pear Theatre) May 13 – 29 Reg Clay is in the show Anne Yumi Kobori (Episode 192), Bridgette Dutta-Portman (Episode 75) and Linda Amayo-Hassan (Episode 83) has written for the show https://www.thepear.org/season-20 Damn Yankees (Tri Vallely Repertory Theatre) April 30 – May 15 Steven McCloud (Episode 144) is in the show https://www.trivalleyrep.org/shows/damn-yankees Inay Dalisay's World Famous Lechon (Bindlestiff Studios) June 16-25 Reg Clay (yours truly) is in the show Rebel Maria (Episode 220) is in the show Aureen Almario (Episode 156) is directing the show https://www.bindlestiffstudio.org Steel Magnolias (Sierra Repertory Theatre) April 14-May 15 Eiko Yamamoto is in the play https://www.sierrarep.org/events/steel-magnolias/ Epic Western (Playwright's Center for San Francisco) June 12 playreading Neil Harkins (Episode 222) wrote the play Gary Graves (Episode 24), Lamont Ridgell (Episode 122) and Evan Held (Episode 226) are in the reading Available to see via Zoom. Here is the link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_I03SbST7RGivQTm4Tj_Fjg Barry Graves (Episode 104) has a new podcast out! The Black Man's Heart On Spotify and all your podcast apps Our wonderful consulting producer Mallory Somera (Episode 151) is producing a podcast for KCBS Radio called Connect The Dots, a weekly news podcast, hosted by WCBS Newsradio 880's Lynda Lopez. Check out “Connect The Dots” on any podcast app. Also, Bindlestiff Studios has a podcast called the Fobcast, exploring Filipino American immigrant stories. Check out The Fobcast in any podcast app. The Yay (Twitter: @TheYay3) Reg Clay (@Reg_Clay) Norman Gee (@WhosYrHoosier)

We had Eiko Yamamoto (Episode 120) on back in July of 2019. She was doing Hello Dolly and Eureka Day. Since then, she's done Working, The Book of Will, Twelfth Night and has worked with a variety of companies, including SF Playhouse, Silicon Valley Shakes, African American Shakes, The Pear Theatre, PianoFight and many, many more. Eiko will be in Steel Magnolias at the Sierra Repertory Theatre. We'll talk about how her career has grown since our last meeting, how COVID-19 has affected her and things are doing with her at home with her partner and her son. We also have a very engaging conversation about cultural appropriation in theatre, the Emmitt Till Opera controversy and the ugly rise of Anti-Asian hate. You can learn more about Eiko from her personal webpage: https://www.eikoyamamoto.com Eiko is also on Instagram: @eikoyh SHOWS: Never Mind (Bay Area Women's Theatre Festival – Bay Area WTF) March 21 at the Aurora Theatre Eiko Yamamoto is in the piece https://bayareawomenstheatrefestival.com/biwoc%2B-2022 Steel Magnolias (Sierra Repertory Theatre) April 14-May 15 Eiko Yamamoto is in the play https://www.sierrarep.org/events/steel-magnolias/ Child's Play: Adapted Nursery Rhymes (Playground-SF) Part of Monday Night Playground March 21 Reg Clay has written a short piece for the show Katja Rivera (Episode 168) and Jim Kleinmann (Episode 178) will be directing two pieces https://playground-sf.org/monday/ Coffee Lady (Awesome Theatre) March 31 – May 5 Anne Yumi Kobori (Episode 192) is in the show Bridgette Dutta Portman (Episode 75) wrote the piece https://awesometheatre.org/2022/03/01/coffee-lady/ Time After Time Again (Ross Valley Players) Part of RAW Festival of New Plays March 20 Madeline Puccioni (Episode 205) wrote the play http://www.rossvalleyplayers.com/tickets/ August: Osage County (San Jose Stage) March 30 – April 24 Terrance Smith (Episode 102) is in the show https://www.thestage.org VietGone (City Lights Theatre) March 24 – April 24 Jeffrey Lo (Episode 153) is directing the show https://cltc.org/explore-our-2021-22-season/ Escape from the Asylum (Central Works) March 17 – April 17 Alan Coyne (Episode 29) and Jan Zvaifler (Episode 170) are in the show Gary Graves (Episode 24) is directing the show http://centralworks.org/escape-from-the-asylum/ DOT (New Conservatory Theatre Center) March 4 – April 3 Kim Donovan (Episode 80) and Kimberly Ridgeway (Episode 155) is in the show ShawnJ West (Episodes 146 and 172) is directing the show https://www.nctcsf.org/21-22-Season/Dot Dr. Stephanie Johnson (Episode 177) is teaching a class on lighting, hosted by the Oakland Theatre Project. The Magic Of Lighting – March 7-28 in person https://oaklandtheaterproject.org/adult-classes Barry Graves (Episode 104) has a new podcast out! The Black Man's Heart On Spotify and all your podcast apps Our wonderful consulting producer Mallory Somera (Episode 151) is producing a podcast for KCBS Radio called Connect The Dots, a weekly news podcast, hosted by WCBS Newsradio 880's Lynda Lopez. Check out “Connect The Dots” on any podcast app. Also, Bindlestiff Studios has a podcast called the Fobcast, exploring Filipino American immigrant stories. Check out The Fobcast in any podcast app. The Yay (Twitter: @TheYay3) Reg Clay (@Reg_Clay) Norman Gee (@WhosYrHoosier)

Amy Glazer began her career in theater, directing numerous award winning plays in the San Francisco Bay Area including TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Company, San José Rep., Eureka Theatre, Traveling Jewish Theatre and serving as an Associate Artist at Magic Theatre and Associate Artistic Director of SF Playhouse, where she also directed numerous plays. She made her screen directing debut with Barry Gifford's Ball Lightning (2003), Drifting Elegant by Stephen Belber (2006) and went on to make Seducing Charlie Barker (2010) by Teresa Rebeck, which had its world premiere at SFIFF. She went on to co-write with Sylvia Brownrigg and direct Kepler's Dream (2016) and The Surrogate (aka Beautiful Dreamer) 2020, also an official selection scheduled to premiere at the 2020 SFIFF. Amy is currently in post-production on Meli, a feature film recently shot on location in Oahu Hawaii. Watch her current feature film THE SURROGATE ON AMAZON PRIME. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bravemaker/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bravemaker/support

Margo Hall is an award-winning activist, educator, actor, director, playwright, and newly-appointed Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, San Francisco's premier African American Theatre. Originally from Detroit, Hall has been an active director and performer in the Bay Area for over 30 years. She recently directed "How I Learned What I Learned" at the Marin Theatre Company and "Barbecue" for SF Playhouse, as well as acted in "Ah, Wilderness!" for the American Conservatory Theater. She was also recently seen in the films "Blindspotting" with Oakland native Daveed Diggs and "All Day and a Night" on Netflix. Her most recent on-stage credit is "Exit Strategy" at the Aurora Theatre. Margo Hall has also won many awards for her outstanding work, including the Glickman Award for best new play in the Bay Area for her play "The People's Temple," featured at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2005. Margo devotes herself not only to the Theatre, but her community as well. She is a founding member of Campo Santo, a multicultural San Francisco-based theater company that collaborates with local theater artists to put on new works for Bay Area audiences. She is also a theatre professor at UC Berkeley and Chabot College, where her mission is to support and mentor young actors and playwrights who are discovering their voice. Through her devotion to the dynamic world of theatre, her students, and her theater community, Margo has been able to enrich not only herself, but the Bay Area at large. We are very excited to have the unique opportunity of interviewing someone who is so passionate about the Theatre! For more information about Margo Hall, please visit: https://www.margohall.com/ Meet Margo Hall!

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! We listen to presenters and the Artistic Director and Founder of the San Francisco International Arts Festival, Andrew Woods discuss the Autumn Season beginning this week with online and in person performances: October 20-24, 2021. Michael Gene Sullivan, playwright, joins us to talk about his latest work, The Great Khan, a collaboration between SF Mime Troupe and SF Playhouse opening Oct. 20 for an person and a recorded online production.  We close with a conversation with Adia Whitaker, Ase Dance Theatre Collective, 2018 production of her "Have (K)no(w) Fear: A Blussical at ODC in SF. It was lovely (smile). 

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. Andrew Woods, founder and Artistic Director, San Francisco International Arts Festival, joins us to talk about the Autumn Program which began, Oct. 18 and contonues through Oct. 24 at Ft. Mason Center and online. We are also joined by Michelle Jacques, CHELLE & Friends and Nkechi Emeruwa-Neuberg. 2. Michael Gene Sullivan, SF Playhouse, The Great Khan. Opens tonight, Oct. 20, 2021. Visit www.michaelgenesullivan.com Music: Amikaela Gaston's "Nature Boy." 3. Rebroadcast Adia Tamar Whitaker re: "Have K(no!)w Fear: A Bluessical at ODC 10/19-20/2019

Devin is an incredible acting and audition coach based in New York. I had the opportunity to take one of her classes and was blown away by her knowledge and useful and practical advice for actors. In this episode, Devin talks about common traps that actors fall into during auditions, how to steer clear of generalizations while performing a character, and how to adjust to performing in front of a camera.Devin Shacket is an actress, casting professional, audition coach, and on-camera acting teacher.  Devin began coaching and taping auditions in early 2013, while working in the House of Cards: Season 2 casting department. Her casting credits include the second season of House of Cards, alongside Emmy Award winning casting director, Julie Schubert, feature films including Good Funk, Black Nativity, Three Backyards, and theatre projects and the San Francisco Playhouse. Her students have appeared on television shows such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Iron Fist, Happy, Gotham, New Amsterdam, Switched at Birth, Tyrant, Ramy, The Deuce, Jack Ryan, Sneaky Pete, Quantico, Infierno Verde, Jessica Jones, Blue Bloods, Sweet Bitter, The Looming Tower, FBI, Dickinson, The Blacklist, The Godfather of Harlem, and more.  In addition to private coaching and audition taping, Devin teaches on camera acting and audition technique to adults and young actors internationally.  She has been a guest lecturer at NYU Stonestreet School for Film and Television, SF Playhouse, SF State University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, dBs Berlin Film School, and several private studios in New York City.  She is the founder and Artistic Director of the New York Drama Center.You can learn more about Devin by visiting https://www.thenewyorkdramacenter.com and https://www.devinshacketoncamera.comSign up for the Actorcast Newsletter at Actorcast and join our membership to gain access to exclusive content at Become an Actorcast Premium Member | Actorcast. 

Melissa Ortiz is an actor based in Los Angeles. She recenlty appeared in the Bay Area calle "Shoot Me When" by Ruben Grijalva at SF Playhouse in San Francisco.

Jessica Lea Risco is a Los Angeles-based actress, filmmaker and yoga teacher, originally from Minnesota. Theatrically, Jessica is best known for her role as Dorothy in the Bay Area's immersive project The Speakeasy, for which she was nominated for Broadway World's Best Featured Actress. Jessica recently relocated from the Bay Area where she worked with the SF Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Shotgun Players and Golden Thread Productions to name a few. Jessica made her LA film debut in the feature film, 86 Melrose Avenue, which can currently be seen in festivals around the world. A budding filmmaker and lover of new works development, Jessica has written and produced several films to be released in 2021, created a producing collective called All New People and continues to pursue her career in film and television. Jessica also teaches yoga online. To learn more about Jessica, visit her website: www.JessicaRisco.com and follow her on social media (Instagram): @jessica.l.risco.

Things are once again approaching normal as we hear that Broadway and Off-Broadway shows are planning on re-opening in September. ---SF Playhouse is opening with a very innovative production in June! ---- Get tickets SHOOT ME WHEN… By Ruben Grijalva Directed by Susi Damilano Commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse PLAY DETAILS Jackie has dementia. She also has a pact, carefully crafted with her two daughters, for how to depart on her own terms when the time comes. Well, the night has arrived, the girls have gathered, the plan is in motion—but Jackie forgot the pact. Shoot Me When… is a heartfelt and humorous exploration of love, responsibility, and finding joy in life's challenges. ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Ruben Grijalva is an award-winning San Francisco-based playwright and filmmaker. His short plays include Full Steam Ahead and the PianoFightShortLived winning All The Worlds Are Stages. His full-length plays include Foresight, Anna Considers Mars, and the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award-winning Value Over Replacement. He lives in San Francisco's Sunset District with a Labrador named Retha, a human named Keli, and a tiny human named Genevieve, whose arrival served as the very hard deadline for the first draft of this play. THE PLAYERS Blythe de Oliveira Foster Dan Hiatt Lorri Holt Melissa Ortiz ___________________ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts (Itunes) Green Room On Air Web Site: http://greenroomonair.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raysgreenroom/ Opening and Closing Music by Carly Ozard: http://carlyozard.com Contact Ray at Green Room on Air: greenroomonair@gmail.com 

It's time to grab another book Off the Shelf with ISC! In today's episode of Off the Shelf, ISC Ensemble Member, William Elsman, reads to you the spine-chilling tale of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat." Known for his stories full of mystery and macabre, Edgar Allan Poe take audiences for a disturbing ride in "The Black Cat" as the unnamed narrator's strong affection for his pet black cat turns deadly. William Elsman- as a company member with ISC, William has performed several seasons with the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival. Favorite roles include Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Simonides in Pericles, Saturninus in Titus Andronicus, Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Angelo in Measure for Measure. Regional credits include work with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (School Visit Program), Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Sierra Madre Playhouse, A Noise Within (understudy, Macbeth), Sacramento Theater Company, The Mountain Play, Capital Stage, Sierra Rep, SF Playhouse, Marin Shakespeare Company and the Pennsylvania and Texas Shakespeare Festivals. He has also taught acting at New York Film Academy, and as a private coach or guest instructor. BFA, Rutgers University, MFA, University of Delaware. www.williamelsman.com When asked why he selected this short story to read, William Elsman responded, "During this pandemic, I've kept busy (and employed) performing audiobooks. I began to reflect on how reading out loud was something that I'd always delighted in, even when I was very young. I was introduced to Edgar Allan Poe in the 7th grade, and am grateful to my teacher, Mr. Ferraro, for tasking me with the assignment of memorizing and reciting the opening lines from "The Tell Tale Heart." It was great fun, and it paired well with my desire to perform. We explored several of Poe's stories, and the words had an arresting quality that grabbed my attention with their macabre musicality. I was also captivated by the peek they afforded into the minds of those eccentric and disturbed characters. It felt dangerous to read, but also thrilling!" Enjoy this week's hair-raising Art Break. Follow us! Website: www.iscla.org Instagram & Twitter: @indyshakes Facebook: Independent Shakespeare Co.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!  1. We rebroadcast an interview with Margo Hall, Artistic Director, first woman Artistic Director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Ms. Hall shares stories of LHT coproduction with SF Playhouse up through April 3, Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s [hieroglyph]. 2. We close with another interview with Margo from 2013 when she speaks about her play, BeBopBaby. 

MARGO HALL is an award-winning actor, director, activist, educator, and newly appointed Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. She has graced Bay Area stages for 30 years as a performer and director. She recently appeared in the hit film Blindspotting with Oakland native Daveed Diggs and All Day and a Night on Netflix. She was last seen onstage in Exit Strategy at The Aurora Theater. She recently directed How I Learned What I Learned at Marin Theatre Company, BARBECUE (which she also starred in) and Red Velvet for SF Playhouse and Brownsville, b-side for tray for Shotgun Players. Other acting credits include: Marin Theater Company- JAZZ, Skeleton Crew, Gem of the Ocean, Fences and Seven Guitars. 

Cate Hayman, a Bay Area Local, made her SF Playhouse debut as Sally Bowles.  She recently graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with her BFA in Drama. Past roles include: Fräulein Kost in Cabaret, The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and Charity in Sweet Charity.  Cate Hayman Web Site SF Playhouse Web Site Green Room on Air Web Site Carly Ozard ________ greenroomonair@gmail.com  

The Tony Award-Winning SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE debuts a NEW Activist Adaptation of the Dickens Classic as a Radio Play A RED CAROL An Activist Adaptation of the Dickens Classic Written and Directed by Michael Gene Sullivan A 21st. Century SFMT spin on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Online Fri. Dec. 11, 2020 - Jan. 17, 2021 -  FREE (suggested $20 donation) https://www.sfmt.org/   Michael Gene Sullivan (Writer, Director,Actor, SFMT Collective) is an award-winning actor, director, and playwright based in SF. As an actor Michael has worked with the American Conservatory Theatre, the Denver Center Theater Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Theatreworks, CA Shakespeare Theatre, SF Playhouse, SF and the African American Shakespeare Companies, and the Aurora, the Marin, the Magic, the Lorraine Hansberry Theater, and has been a principle actor for the SF Mime Troupe for over 30 years. Michael's directing credits include work with SF Shakespeare Festival, TheatreFirst, the African American Shakespeare Company, Street Of Dreams Theatre Company, and over a dozen shows with SFMT. Michael was also director of the all-woman, all-clown Circus Finelli. From 1992 -1999 Michael was a Contributing Writer for the despite-its-name-never-silent, Tony and OBIE Award-winning SF Mime Troupe before being named SFMT's Resident Playwright 2000 to present. Michael is also a Resident Playwright for the Playwrights Foundation, and in 2017 was playwriting resident at the Djerassi Arts Center. Mr. Sullivan's political dramas, musicals, and satires include Walls (Ningun Humano Es Ilegal!), Treasure Island, For The Greater Good, Freedomland, Red Carol, Too Big To Fail, Did Anyone Ever Tell You-You Look Like Huey P. Newton?, Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan (with Josh Kornbluth), Godfellas, Too Big to Fail, Possibilidad or The Death of the Worker, the all-woman farce Recipe, and his one person show, Did Anyone Ever Tell You -- You Look Like Huey P. Newton? Mr. Sullivan's plays have been performed at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the International Festival of Verbal Art (Berlin), The Hong Kong Arts Festival, and in Greece, Spain, Columbia, Argentina, New Zealand, Ukraine, England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Mexico, as well as in theaters throughout the USA. 1984, his critically-acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwell's dystopic novel of the oppressive present/future, had its world premiere in 2006 at the Actors' Gang, directed by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins. After several extended runs in LA, 1984 has gone on to several national and international productions, has been translated into six languages, and published in two. Michael is also a Collective Member and Board Member of the SF Mime Troupe.  www.michaelgenesullivan.com

During this episode, I sat down with Khalia Davis, Davied Morales, and Justin Ellington who are all a part of the creative team for A Kids Play About Racism. Khalia adapted this script from Jelani Memory's book, A Kids Book About Racism. Davied is the lead actor and lyricist on this project and Justin is the composer and sound designer. Like always, like, follow, and subscribe for future content. More info about the artists below. Khalia Davis(she/her) is a bicoastal multidisciplinary artist splitting her time between the San Francisco/Bay Area and New York. Directed and devised new works with prominent theaters such as Bay Area Children’s Theater, Atlantic Theater Company’s Atlantic for Kids, New York City Children’s Theater, Spellbound Theatre and more. Ms. Davis recently served as the Director of Inclusion and Education with Brooklyn Children’s Theatre restructuring their children’s musical theater programming through an anti-racism lens and currently teaches with New York City Children's Theater, the Atlantic Acting School, and for Disney Theatrical Group leading music and movement workshops and facilitating audience and community engagement. She is also an Artistic Associate for the nationally-known arts education organization The Story Pirates. As a performer, she has worked regionally and toured nationally on both coasts. Recently awarded the 2019 Emerging Leader Fellowship with TYA/USA and the NYCCT Leader Fellowship for 2019/2020. BA in Theater Arts from the University of Southern California. To learn more about Ms. Davis, check her out at www.khaliadavis.com. Davied (he/him) is an actor and rapper born and raised in the Bay Area. Last year he released an album called "Light Hearted" on all music platforms, starred in SF Playhouse's White Girl's Guide to International Terrorism as Gabe, and recently branched out into film where he was an Elf on Nickelodeon's show "Top Elf" as Zippy Twinkles. Mr. Morales received most of his training through Foothill College where he earned his AA in Theatre Arts and featured in many of their productions. Since then he has worked for companies such as City Lights Theatre Company where he played Nelson in The Siegel, and Anthony in I and You., Shotgun Players where he played Tray in Brownsville Song (B-side for Tray). Morales has also understudied at TheatreWorks in their production of Calligraphy and Proof, and at A.C.T. in their production of Gloria. Throughout the week Davied works at The Red Ladder Theatre Company, teaching improv workshops in prison. Justin Ellington, Composer and Sound Designer, (he/him) Broadway Credits include: Other Desert Cities Off-Broadway credits include: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons); The Rolling Stone, Pass Over, Pipeline (Lincoln Center); Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (ArsNova); The House That Will Not Stand, Fetch Clay Make Man (New York Theatre Workshop); He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box, The Winter’s Tale (Theatre for a New Audience); Familiar (Steppenwolf); Father Comes Home From the Wars, How to Catch Creation, Until the Flood (Goodman Theatre); Floyd’s, Trouble In Mind (The Guthrie); and Kill Move Paradise (Wilma Theatre). International credits include As You Like It (Stratford Festival) and The American Clock (The Old Vic). www.justinellington.com

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky.   Bookwaves Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Erik Larson is the author of several best-selling works of narrative non-fiction, including Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts and The Devil in the White City. His latest book takes us one year, from May 1940 to May 1941, a time which encompasses not only Winston Churchill's first year as Prime Minister of England, but also the Blitz, the often daily air raids by the Germans on London, Coventry and other cities, which began at the same time and ended almost to the day one year later. We follow the Churchill family's quotidian lives during that time, from watching to bombs to various wartime love affairs and break-ups, along with a look at how both the British and German governments worked during that year. In the interview, Erik Larson discusses his source material, and compares some of what went on then to what's happening today, particularly in terms of heroic and destitute patterns of leadership.   Arts-Waves A ten-minute interview with Gore Vidal, from 1998, in which he discusses his film, theatre and stage work with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff. Complete 40-minute interview.         Announcements. Central Works Script Club, where you read the script of a new play and send comments to the playwright. The July script is The Lady Matador's Hotel by Christina Garcia. A podcast with the playwright, hosted by Patricial Milton, will be posted to the Central Works website on July 28. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is launching a new streaming service featuring full length videos of recent plays. The Copper Children plays through July 22, followed by A Midsummer Night's Dream, also through July 22. Tickets through the website. Theatreworks Silicon Valley is presenting Shakespeare In Vegas, a new play by Suzanne Bradbeer, with Karen Ziemba and Patrick Page, directed by Giovanna Sardelli, streaming July 23-27, free. Book Passage. David Mitchell, and his new book Utopia Avenue, in conversation with Michael Chabon this afternoon, July 16, at 4 pm Pacific, tickets available on their website. This weekend's conversations with authors features Miss Manners, Judith Martin on Saturday, and Amy Tan with John Muir Laws on Sunday. Bay Area Book Festival. Various Unbound conversations available streaming. Aurora Theatre's Aurora Connects series of interviews, every Friday at 4 pm. July 17: Joy Carlin and Nancy Carlin. Other interviews in the series are available streaming. The Booksmith lists its entire July on-line schedule of interviews and readings on their website, which includes Lockdown Lit every Tuesday at 11 am Theatre Rhino Thursday play at 8 pm July 9, 2020 on Facebook Live is Dance Macabre, A Tale of the Plangue, conceived and performed by John Fisher. The Death of Ruby Slippers by Stuart Bousel, available streaming. Shotgun Players. Streaming, the folk opera Iron Shoes. Recorded in spring 2018, continuing through July 17, and The Claim, workshop production. The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess,has been extended with live performances July 17-18 through Zoom. Registration required. San Francisco Playhouse. Every Monday, SF Playhouse presents Zoomlets, a series of short play table reads. 42nd Street Moon. Friday July 17 at 8 pm, Full Moon Live Cabaret: Super songs from not so super Shows, Kepler's Books presents Refresh the Page, on line interviews and talks. Registration required. Lincoln Center Live Through September 8, 2020: Carousel, with Kelli O'Hara & Nathan Gunn. National Theater At Home on You Tube: Amadeus.         The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – July 16, 2020: Erik Larson, “The Splendid and the Vile” appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Announcements. Central Works Script Club, where you read the script of a new play and send comments to the playwright. The July script is The Lady Matador's Hotel by Christina Garcia. A podcast with the playwright, hosted by Patricial Milton, will be posted to the Central Works website on July 28. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is launching a new streaming service featuring full length videos of recent plays. The Copper Children plays through July 15, followed by A Midsummer Night's Dream through July 22. Tickets through the website. Theatreworks Silicon Valley is presenting another live solo performance from Florence, Italy with Hershey Felder, Beethoven, A play with Music on Sunday July 12 at 5 pm Pacific. Tickets through the website. Moliere in the Park presents Richard Wilbur's translation of Tartuffe, starring Raul Esparza and Samira Wiley, recorded live with actors superimposed on a set, through July 12. Book Passage's Conversations with Authors features Tim Cahill, Saturday July 11 at 4 pm Pacific time and Ann Patchett Sunday July 12 also at 4 pm Pacific. And David Mitchell in conversation with Michael Chabon, hosted by Tom Barbash airs on Thursday, July 16, again at 4 pm Pacific time. Aurora Theatre's yearly fundraising event, Supernova, is open and free, on Monday July 13th. Registration required. Bay Area Book Festival. Various Unbound conversations available streaming. The Booksmith lists its entire July on-line schedule of interviews and readings on their website, which includes Lockdown Lit every Tuesday at 11 am Theatre Rhino Thursday play at 8 pm July 9, 2020 on Facebook Live is Modjeska, San Francisco's First Superstar, conceived and performed by John Fisher. The Death of Ruby Slippers by Stuart Bousel, available streaming. Shotgun Players. Streaming, the folk opera Iron Shoes. Recorded in spring 2018, continuing through July 17, and The Claim, workshop production. The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, July 9-12, 7 pm. Registration required. San Francisco Playhouse. Every Monday, SF Playhouse presents Zoomlets, a series of short play table reads. 42nd Street Moon. A live evening of Sondheim songs, Friday July 10th on Facebook Live, featuring an array of local theatrical talent. Kepler's Books presents Refresh the Page, on line interviews and talks. Registration required. Lincoln Center Live July 10 – September 8, 2020: Carousel, with Kelli O'Hara and Nathan Gunn. National Theater At Home on You Tube: The Deep Blue Sea.   Bookwaves Barry Lopez, whose latest book is “Horizon”, now out in trade paperback, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. From Barry Lopez's website: From the National Book Award-winning author of the now-classic Arctic Dreams, a vivid, poetic, capacious work that recollects the travels around the world and the encounters–human, animal, and natural–that have shaped an extraordinary life. Taking us nearly from pole to pole–from modern megacities to some of the most remote regions on the earth–and across decades of lived experience, Barry Lopez, hailed by the Los Angeles Times Book Review as “one of our finest writers,” gives us his most far-ranging yet personal work to date, in a book that moves indelibly, immersively, through his travels to six regions of the world: from Western Oregon to the High Arctic; from the Galápagos to the Kenyan desert; from Botany Bay in Australia to finally, unforgettably, the ice shelves of Antarctica. Extended 45-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast. Special thanks to the Bay Area Book Festival and Cherilyn Parsons.   Arts-Waves Margaret Atwood, discussing her novel “The Robber Bride,” recorded in San Francisco on November 24, 1993 with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, from the “Probabilities” archive. The second of eight interviews with Margaret Atwood, author of such novels as The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Graceand the Oryx and Crake trilogy. In this interview, she discusses her novel “The Robber Bride,” as well as what it feels like to be a Canadian author, her views on Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. LeGuin and science fiction and genres in general, and some of the thought processes behind writing her books.     The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – July 9, 2020: Barry Lopez – Margaret Atwood appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Announcements. Bay Area Book Festival. Merlin Sheldrake and Michael Pollan on Entangled Life, Tuesday July 7, 2020, noon Pacific. The Booksmith lists its entire July on-line schedule of interviews and readings on their website, which includes Lockdown Lit every Tuesday at 11 am, July 7: Meredith O'Brien and Lesley Gray Streeter. July 8, 7 pm, Thea Matthews with her collection, Unearth. Theatre Rhino Thursday play at 8 pm July 2, 2020 on Facebook Live is Johnson, conceived and performed by John Fisher. The Death of Ruby Slippers by Stuart Bousel, on Zoom, July 7, 2020, 7 pm, register in advance. Shotgun Players. Streaming, the folk opera Iron Shoes. Recorded in spring 2018, starting July 3 and continuing through July 17, and The Claim, workshop production. The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, July 9-12, 7 pm. Registration required. San Francisco Playhouse. Every Monday, SF Playhouse presents Zoomlets, a series of short play table reads. Monday July 6, 7 pm: The Forgotten Place by Jeff Locker. Registration required. 42nd Street Moon presents a zoom musical theatre trivia contest on Sundays at 8 pm You can get the meeting ID on their website. Kepler's Books presents Refresh the Page, on line interviews and talks, July 6, 7 pm Daniel Mason with Andrew Sean Greer; July 7, 6 pm, Kalyn Josephson with Shannon Price. Registration required. Lincoln Center Live July 10 – September 8, 2020: Carousel, with Kelli O'Hara and Nathan Gunn. National Theater At Home on You Tube: Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry.   Bookwaves Carlos Ruiz Zafon, who died on June 19, 2020 in Los Angeles of colorectal cancer at the age of 55, burst onto the literary scene in 2001 with his novel, The Shadow of the Wind, first of an interrelated group of four novels titled The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, set in Barcelona, Spain, his birthplace. This interview, recorded in May, 2009, focuses on the second novel in the series, The Angel's Game.  The next book in the series, The Prisoner of Heaven, came out in 2012, and the final book, The Labyrinth of Spirits, was published in 2018. There were also four young adult novels, three published after this interview. Complete 54-minute interview.   Arts-Waves Rupert Everett and Richard Wolinsky. Rupert Everett in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, September 26, 2018 about the film he wrote, directed and starred in, The Happy Prince, about Oscar Wilde's final years in exile. Rupert Everett's film career took off with lead roles in the British films “Another Country” and “Dance with a Stranger” in the mid 1980s before his career took a nosedive when he came out as gay. He resurfaced in the late 1990s as a Hollywood star in the film “My Best Friend's Wedding,” a period that lasted a short time before roles again dried up. Shortly afterward, he began working on a screenplay about Oscar Wilde's final years, which finally has reached the screen as “The Happy Prince. The film stars Rupert Everett, who also served as director and screenwriter. The Happy Prince is now available for STARZ subscribers as well as On Demand.     The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – July 2, 2020: Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Rupert Everett appeared first on KPFA.

Tonight on Youth Theatre Interview, Ben Siegel interviews Davied Morales, an actor and rapper from San Jose. Davied is a recipient of the Leigh Weimers Award for emerging artists. He has performed around the Bay Area at SF Playhouse, City Lights, Shotgun Players, Northside Theatre Company and TheatreWorks. You can follow him on any Social Media @activepoet where he frequently posts about his music and upcoming projects he is working on! Davied is also the host of the upcoming Theatre Bay Area "Together We Rise" virtual fundraiser on Monday, June 29 at 6:30pm. 40% of live donations on the evening will go to the Performing Arts Worker Relief Fund, 50% will go to TBA. Also, as part of TBA's values of equity, diversity, and inclusion, 10% of donations made during the event will go to the NAACP. Tickets are available for every income level. For more information visit https://e.givesmart.com/events/hqI/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Announcements. Pride 2020: Playbill/Pride Plays: The Men from the Boys by Mart Crowley, directed by Zachary Quinto, streams through June 29, 2020. Pride Spectacular Sunday June 28,2020 at 5 pm Pacific. Global Pride live stream, focusing on Black Lives Matter, and featuring guests ranging from Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi to Adam Lambert and Lavern Cox and the Dixie Chicks, starts Saturday June 27, 2020 at 7:30 am Pacific time, continuing through Sunday. San Francisco Pride is hosting two days of live events, with multiple streams featuring musical guests, panel discussions and more, starting Saturday morning and continuing through Sunday. Sunday main stream special guest is singer Thelma Houston, along with W. Kamau Bell and BLM co-founder Alicia Garza. A second stream features community programmed stages The Oasis Pride Drag Show starting on Saturday June 27th at 7 pm. Theatre Rhino  Post-pride Zoom community mixer with Peaches Christ on Monday June 29 , 7 pm. Register at therhino.org New Conservatory Theatre Center A Night Out with Katya Smirnoff Skyy Tues., June 30, 6 pm. Other Announcements. The Playground is presenting, in honor of Black Lives Matter, a Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project: Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids by Vincent Terrell Durham, Streaming through June 30th. Co-sponsored by 30 companies, including Berkeley Rep, Marin Theatre Company, Custom Made Theatre, Cal Shakes, Cutting Ball, etc. Bay Area Book Festival. Merlin Sheldrake and Michael Pollan on Entangled Life, Tuesday July 7, 2020, noon Pacific. The Booksmith lists its entire June on-line schedule of interviews and readings on their website, which includes Lockdown Lit every Tuesday at 11 am. Book Passage author events: Dominique Crenn, Sat. June 27, 4 pm Pacific; Jill Biden, Sun. June 28, 4 pm Pacific. Registration required. Theatre Rhino Thursday play at 8 pm June 11, 2020 on Facebook Live is Frank Kameny: Eyes on the Stars, conceived and performed by John Fisher. The Death of Ruby Slippers by Stuart Bousel, on Zoom, July 7, 2020, 7 pm, register in advance. Shotgun Players. Streaming: The Claim, workshop production. The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, July 9-12, 7 pm. Registration required. San Francisco Playhouse.Every Monday, SF Playhouse presents Zoomlets, a series of short play table reads. Monday June 29, 7 pm: Rules of Comedy by Patricia Cotter. Kepler's Books presents Refresh the Page, on line interviews and talks, June 25, 7:30 Mohsin Hamid. June 30, 7 pm: Joyce Carol Oates with Leila Lalami National Theater At Home on You Tube: A Midsummer Night's Dream.   Bookwaves Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Recorded in January 2013. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie revolves around the matriarch of a black family of the Great Migration and her children and grandchildren, and was an Oprah Book Club selection. From the New York Times review: “Hattie Shepherd, the title character of Ayana Mathis's piercing debut novel, is at once a tragic heroine with mythic dimensions and an entirely recognizable mother and wife trying to make ends meet. Her story, set in 20th-century Philadelphia, is one of terrible loss and grief and survival, a story of endurance in the face of disappointment, heartbreak and harrowing adversity.” This was a debut novel. Complete 44-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast.   Arts-Waves Mart Crowley, author of “The Boys in the Band” and its sequel, “The Men from the Boys,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky on October 31, 2002. Mart Crowley's play The Boys in the Band, which deals with the lives of gay men in the 1960s burst upon the off-Broadway scene in 1968 and ran for a thousand performances, becoming a film directed by William Friedkin two years later. In 2002, he wrote a sequel titled The Men from the Boys, which took place 35 years later, after Stonewall and after the AIDS epidemic. It premiered at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre on November 9, 2002. This past year, Broadway saw a revival of The Boys in the Band, featuring Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannels and Jim Parsons. Several members of that cast, including Mario Cantone and Denis O'Hare return to their roles for a live stream of The Men From the Boys, directed by Zachary Quinto, streams through June 29, 2020 on playbill.com/prideplays Mart Crowley died of a heart attack on March 7, 2020 at the age of 84. Complete 62-minute Bay Area Theater podcast.     The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 25, 2020: Ayana Mathis – Mart Crowley appeared first on KPFA.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Announcements. The Playground is presenting, in honor of Black Lives Matter, a Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project: Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids by Vincent Terrell Durham, June 19th at 7 pm. Via Zoom On Demand. Co-sponsored by 30 companies, including Berkeley Rep, Marin Theatre Company, Custom Made Theatre, Cal Shakes, Cutting Ball, etc. Bay Area Book Festival. Coming Together fundraiser from March with Viet Thanh Nguyen, Anthony Doerr and and RO Kwon now streaming as a benefit; available free in the future. The Booksmith lists its entire June on-line schedule of interviews and readings on their website, which includes Lockdown Lit every Tuesday at 11 am. Book Passage author interviews: Elizabeth George, Saturday June 20 at 4 pm and Jason and Paris Rosenthal Sunday June 21 at 4 pm. Registration required. Theatre Rhino Thursday play at 8 pm June 11, 2020 on Facebook Live is Wahoo, conceived and performed by John Fisher,on Facebook Live. and Lavender Scare can be streamed through the KALW website.   Shotgun Players. Streaming: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, 2018 production. The Claim, workshop production. June 20, 2020, 5 pm via Zoom, podcast. San Francisco Playhouse. Thursday June 18, 7 pm Artistic Director Bill English interviews Michael Gene Sullivan. Every Monday, SF Playhouse presents Zoomlets, a series of short play table reads. Monday June 22, 7 pm: The Jewish Wife by Bertolt Brecht, with Susi Damilano and Anthony Fusco, directed by Carey Perloff. Kepler's Books presents Refresh the Page, on line interviews and talks, June 18th, 6:30 featuring Neil Shubin with Kishore Hari. Robert Reich Tuesday June 23rd at 8 pm, American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) presents Take Ten, a series of six ten-minute interactive theatre games for adults and children. National Theater At Home on You Tube: Small Island. Bookwaves: Judy Juanita, author of the novel “Virgin Soul,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky, recorded spring, 2013. Judy Juanita is a poet, novelist and playwright. In her younger days, as Judy Hart, while at San Francisco State, she served as editor in chief of The Black Panther newspaper, and lived in one of the Black Panther safe houses in 1967. Along the way she came to know such figures as Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. In 2013, her first novel, Virgin Soul, was published. It's a fictionalized memoir of her life in the black student movement and with the Panthers. This interview, recorded recorded in the spring of 2013, goes into detail about her life during the Panther days, about the relationship of the book to actual history, and about Judy Juanita's life after the Panthers. Since 2013, Judy Juanita has continued to write and teach Her collection of essays, DeFacto Feminism: Essays Straight Outta Oakland was published in 2016, and she recently had a story published in the collection Oakland Noir. Judy Juanita recently completed a second novel. Extended podcast. Bookwaves: Bonnie Tsui discusses her book, Why We Swim, which examines the human need for moving in water, from the history of swim strokes, to how physiology plays a role in swimming, to the history of swimming from ancient times in the Sahara to Rome and to the present, and how swimming became a sport. Bonnie Tsui lives in the Bay Area and swims regularly at the Albany Pool, when it's open, and also swims in San Francisco Bay. She is also the author of American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods. In the interview she discusses some of the topics in her book, and how the pandemic has affected Asian Americans. Recorded using internal Mac microphones on the zencastr website. Extended 34-minute podcast. Bonnie Tsui portrait photo: copyright Lindsay Skiba. By permission of the publisher. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 18, 2020: Judy Juanita – Bonnie Tsui appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky discusses theatre closings, streaming plays by Bay Area theatre companies, and theatre you can watch on-line, including how to watch shows from Berkeley Rep, ACT and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Text of commentary: Live entertainment has shut down all across the Bay Area. This is particularly problematic for local theatre companies. Shows that were in the midst of their runs were forced to close early. Shows in rehearsal shut down, never to open. Shows on the schedule and in pre-production involving set, lighting and costume design, even before rehearsal have been cancelled. Free-lancers who were already reeling bedue to the collateral damage of AB 5, which affected theatre companise relying on gig economy workers, now are in bigger trouble. Actors, directors, lighting designers, set designers and other key technical staffers are all out of work. But expenses — from rent to insurance to utilities do go on, and all companies will move toward the red. The fallout will be severe, and we don't yet know its full extent. Some companies will fold. And we also don't know when this will end, or how it will end, which means it's wishful thinking on the part of artistic directors when they say they'll cancel the upcoming show, but not the one after that, and they all know it. When a show is cancelled, it's hard to reschedule because cast members often have commitments far into the future. In this summer of Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday, special productions of Follies at SF Playhouse or the two versions of Merrily We Roll Along at 42nd Street Moon will especially be missed if they are cancelled.   We also, of course, don't know when this will end, which means it's probably wishful thinking on the part of most artistic directors when they say they'll cancel the next show, but will produce the one after that. Nobody knows.   Of the larger companies, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun, and Aurora are all dark for the current and next production, at least. The Curran has cancelled performances of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Broadway SF of Hamilton until May 1st. Again, wishful thinking, but we'll see.   The Bay Area's three largest non-profit theatre companies Berkeley Rep, ACT and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley have all negotiated separately with the various unions to stream recordings of their most recent shows on-line. How to see the shows and the dates involved are different for each.   If you have a ticket to either of the two Berkeley Rep shows, the two ACT shows or the Theatreworks show, you'll be sent, or have been sent, an email with instructions on how to access the streaming recording.   Berkeley Rep's upcoming show School Girls, or the African Mean Girls Play, was scheduled to play the Roda. A recording was made at a performance following two tech rehearsals. Costumes weren't completed and there was no audience. The general public can buy tickets to see the show streaming at Broadway HD through the Berkeley Rep website, Berkeleyrep.org, or by calling the box office at 510-647-2949, through tomorrow, Friday March 20th, at 5 pm. Ticket holders only for Culture Clash Still in America can still see a recorded performance, and e-mails are being sent out. All ticket holders will have two weeks to see their respective shows.   Over at ACT, Gloria at the Strand was in the middle of its run, and Toni Stone had just completed its opening performance when the shows were shut down. Patrons who had purchased tickets prior to the cancellations can also see the shows in their own homes on the Broadway HD app or website. For new ticket buyers interested in streaming Gloria and/or Toni Stone, go to www.act-sf.org or call A.C.T. at 415-749-2228. Purchasers will receive a link to a password-protected site from A.C.T. to view the production. Ticket buyers have until Friday, April 3 at midnight to purchase tickets and all ticket holders have until Sunday, April 5 at midnight to view the recordings online. ACT is asking ticket buyers to consider choosing a price point for themselves that feels generous, as well as financially accessible, keeping in mind the number of people in their household who will be watching the production.   Theatreworks was playing They Promised Her The Moon by Laurel Ollstein at the time they closed down. The show will be available for streaming by patrons who have already bought tickets to the show, and e-mails will be sent when the negotiations are finalized. For up to date information you can go to theatreworks.org. Ragtime, which was scheduled to be the next show for the company, has been moved to spring, 2021.   For those who need their theatre fix, there is Broadway HD, which has a free 7 day trial period in which you can binge as many shows as you can. Both Amazon Prime and Netflix have theatrical recordings, but you have to search really hard to find them, going down several rabbit holes, but they're there. There's also Kanopy, a free streaming service from your local library that has an incredible line-up of films and recorded plays. There's a monthly limit on what you can see, and your library pays $2 for each viewing, but it's free to you.   A personal plea here: If you have tickets for cancelled performances at any theatre venue in the Bay Area. Please consider ripping up the tickets rather than asking for a refund. This is true for companies like Marin Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, New Conservatory, Brava, Piano Fight or Shotgun, or Bay Area Musicals, 42nd Street Moon, Ubuntu, Aurora, Virago, I can't name them all, and down to the smallest theatre company or school production, as well as the various community theatres that keep the canon of musicals and classic plays alive. Just as with restaurants and small businesses, we don't know what will survive the shutdown, and the more that stay open, the richer the entire Bay Area will be. Think about it. I'm Richard Wolinsky on Bay Area theatre for KPFA. If you miss any information I've given here, feel free to contact me at Richard at kpfa.org       The post Bay Area Theater Coronavirus Update appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Tiny Beautiful Things,” based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, at San Francisco Playhouse through March 7, 2020. Text of review: The writer Cheryl Strayed hit the best-seller charts in 2012 with her memoir, Wild, the story of a trek she took over the length of the Pacific Coast Trail in 1995. It was her second book. Her first, Torch, a novel had been published six years earlier to good reviews and little national notice. But it was in 2010, struggling as a free lance writer, that she was offered the job – not really a job because there was no pay involved – to take over an advice column, Dear Sugar, for the Rumpus on-line literary magazine, which she then wrote for two years. Those columns were collected in the book, Tiny Beautiful Things, which has been adapted by Nia Vardalos into a theatre piece now at San Francisco Playhouse through March 7th directed by Bill English. After a brief opening in which Cheryl gets the gig, the rest of the play consists of questions from the Rumpus audience, and Cheryl's extended autobiographical responses, which almost serve as parables to the conundrums she's been presented with. Some questions are short, with brief answers, and some are longer, and deal with weighty issues like grief suicide, sexual abuse, not to mention, of course, queries involving relationships. Without a through line, a plot, or really, any characters other than Cheryl Strayed, there's very little forward movement to the story, if there's even a story. Thus it's up to the actors, the director, and the design of a production to keep things moving, and most of the way, San Francisco Playhouse does just that. Susi Damilano as Cheryl does her part, in a warm and witty performance that often transcends material that could easily become mawkish or sentimental. She is ably assisted by Mark Anderson Phillips, Kina Kantor and Jomar Tagatec as all her interlocutors – who switch gender, age and character in the blink of an eye. Constant movement by all four actors inside a busy high-tech space gives the audience a roving eye, absolutely necessary when the text itself only consists of questions and answers. It helps, of course, that Cheryl Strayed is such a good writer, and that the stories of her life, and how she responds to her Rumpus readers, are of themselves both interesting and profound. She's no advice expert, she has no training, and even admits that maybe, some of her advice is wrong. But Tiny Beautiful Things is never less than honest, and even though the play starts to lag just past the one hour mark, it's still a lovely and often moving night in the theatre. Tiny Beautiful Things, adapted by Nia Vardalos from the book by Cheryl Strayed, directed by Bill English, plays at San Francisco Playhouse through March 7. For more information, go to sfplayhouse.org. I'm Richard Wolinsky on Bay Area theater for KPFA.     The post Review: Tiny Beautiful Things, at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Groundhog Day: The Musical” directed by Susi Damilano, at San Francisco Playhouse through January 17, 2020 SF Playhouse website Text of review (differs from the edited audio version).. The entertainment world has always used branding to sell its products. Adapting best-sellers and hit plays to the screen, and adapting films to television has been going on for decades, using the same name as the book or the film to draw audiences into the new iteration. For Broadway, it hasn't quite worked that way. Musicals tended to take on new names. So Pygmalion became My Fair Lady, Anna and the King the King and I, Seven and a half cents the Pajama Game. But after Giuliani, Bloomberg and the Walt Disney Company turned Broadway into a corporate cash cow, branding now rules the street. Whether jukebox shows or film adaptations, the bigger the name the greater the hedging of bets by producers. But still, three quarters of all shows flop. Which brings us to the musicals Pretty Woman, Tootsie, King Kong, and Groundhog Day – and this last one is getting its Bay Area premiere not in a touring company but in a production at San Francisco Playhouse directed by the company's own Susi Damilano. Here's the thing, though – putting aside the Disney adaptations of animated musicals — the successful ones, like Kinky Boots or The Band's Visit or Light in the Piazza, came about not because the brand was so great, but because the story itself could sing. Groundhog Day and those other shows came about because the names were brands. What Groundhog Day, and its three compatriats all have in common is that the musical iteration, despite good reviews for all except Kong, failed to find audiences, and flopped. Familiarity apparently breeds not contempt, but indifference. Producers hedged their bets, and played not to lose. And as a character noted in the film Crazy Rich Asians, hopefully never a musical, if you play not to lose, you lose. So Groundhog Day saw its shadow, went into hiding, and never went on tour, which allowed regional theaters like SF Playhouse to pick up the mantle. Luckily for the Bay Area, this production is very good indeed. Ryan Drummond takes the Bill Murray role in a new direction; he owns the part of Phil Connors in a way one might have thought impossible given Bill Murray in the film. Elizabeth Apostal as Rita, Phil's foil and eventual lover, easily outshines Andie McDowell. In fact, the entire cast, the set, the revolving stage, all bring this show as close to a Broadway touring version as its going to get. Which helps a lot, because the songs by Tim Minchin aren't memorable, and the script by Danny Rubin is constantly fighting itself to both be original and still maintain the iconic scenes that made the film a classic. It works, kind of, but also doesn't work. Ultimately, the story of Groundhog Day could also be a metaphor for Groundhog Day the musical. It's hero Phil Conners, who sees the same day, over and over and over again, eventually achieves an epiphany. The audience of Groundhog Day, sadly, isn't as lucky. Groundhog Day, the musical, directed by Susi Damilano, plays at San Francisco Playhouse through January 18th. For more information you can go to SFplayhouse.org. I'm Richard Wolinsky on Bay Area theatre for KPFA>. The post Review: Groundhog Day, the Musical, at San Francisco Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

We were so excited to join forces with both the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the California Institute for Integral Studies for a night of stories exploring our understanding of self and the fluidity of identity. An amazing group shared personal stories inspired by the CJM exhibition Show Me as I Want to be Seen. The lineup: Kelly Beardsley has been telling wacky stories around SF for the last 15 years.  His stories have been heard on This American Life, The California Report, KQED and a bunch of Porchlight events. He works as a BART train operator and lives in Oakland. India Marie Chakraverty was raised in a small town in the Central Valley before enrolling at San Francisco State University. They are getting a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing and loving every minute of their starving artist life. They live with their boyfriend and cat (one for now) in this wonderful and expensive city and work as the General Books supervisor at the SFSU Bookstore. They are working on three novels and two short stories and aspire to be a rich author, but will settle to be an editor, because reading is wonderful and who wouldn’t love to get paid to read all day. They love cats, books, Star Wars, and so many other things, but love to smile even more. Eddie Jen is a writer and drag queen in San Francisco. He writes about life, beauty, and food, and recently won his first case as an attorney when he obtained asylum for a Guatemalan minor. Juliana Delgado Lopera is an award-winning Colombian writer, historian, speaker and performance artist based in San Francisco. The recipient of the 2014 Jackson Literary award  she’s the author of Quiéreme (Nomadic Press 2017) and ¡Cuéntamelo! an illustrated bilingual collection of oral histories by LGBT Latinx immigrants which won a 2018 Lambda Literary Award and a 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award. She's received fellowships from Brush Creek Foundation of the Arts, Lambda Literary Foundation, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and The SF Grotto, and an individual artist grant from the SF Arts Commission. She's the recipient of the 2016 Jeanne Córdova Words Scholarship. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Eleven Eleven, Foglifter, Four Way Review, Broadly, TimeOut Mag to name a few. She’s the creative director of RADAR Productions  a queer literary non-profit in San Francisco.    Donna Persona is a 71 year old San Francisco transgender/ gay community activist and drag queen performer. She began her career and activism at the age of 59. At age 20, she was associated with SF drag legends. Around 2005 i reunited with then and began a public life. She has been of the boards of Trans March, Trans Visibility, and Trans Day of Remembrance. She has worked to name SF streets after a trans woman and an historical event in The SF Tenderloin,  Compton's Cafeteria Riot.  She went on to co- write a play about the riot which had a successful run in San Francisco last year and will be remounted this year. She is currently working with a filmmaker on a documentary on her experiences. She also continues to perform on stages, stay involved with activism, and entertain gay seniors and patients in hospitals and several retirement homes. Donna helped fly the transgender flag with Mayor London Breed and has been nominated as Grand marshall for 2019 Pride. Nic Sommerfeld is an Oakland based actor and playwright, originally from Montana.  They wrote for Best of Playgound 2018 and have written for UCSF, Killing My Lobster, and The Olympians Festival. As an actor they have performed with Berkeley Playhouse, SF Playhouse, Fuse Theatre, Landmark Musicals, and others.  They are also a drag king known as Chester Vanderbox.  Hosted by Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick.  Music by Marc Capelle.  Podcast produced by Brandi Howell.

Devin Shacket joins us in episode 032 of SHIPS. We discuss her incredibly unique career in the entertainment industry, working in casting, acting, and coaching. She talks to us about the importance of preparation, being prepared in your craft, and sharing your own experience. We also discuss the value in asking great questions and the power in asking "why." To learn more about Devin and the great work she is doing, be sure to check out https://www.devinshacketoncamera.com/ and http://www.thenewyorkdramacenter.com/. Devin Shacket is an actress, casting professional, audition coach, and on-camera acting teacher. Devin began coaching and taping auditions in early 2013, while working in the House of Cards: Season 2 casting department. Her casting credits include the second season of House of Cards, alongside Emmy Award winning casting director, Julie Schubert, feature films including Good Funk, Black Nativity, Three Backyards, and theatre projects and the San Francisco Playhouse. Her students have appeared on television shows such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Iron Fist, Happy, Gotham, New Amsterdam, Switched at Birth, Tyrant, Ramy, The Deuce, Jack Ryan, Sneaky Pete, Quantico, Infierno Verde, Jessica Jones, Blue Bloods, Sweet Bitter, The Looming Tower, FBI, Dickinson, The Blacklist, The Godfather of Harlem, and more. In addition to private coaching and audition taping, Devin teaches on camera acting and audition technique to adults and young actors internationally. She has been a guest lecturer at NYU Stonestreet School for Film and Television, SF Playhouse, SF State University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, dBs Berlin Film School, and several private studios in New York City. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the New York Drama Center. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/relate-patrick-mcandrew/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/relate-patrick-mcandrew/support

Cate Hayman, a Bay Area Local, is making her SF Playhouse debut as Sally Bowles! She is a rising senior musical theatre major at Carnegie Mellon University.  SF Playhouse Web Site Green Room on Air Web Site Carly Ozard ________ greenroomonair@gmail.com  

Ready to interview the fabulous Cate Hayman (Sally Bowles) at SF Playhouse, I forgot to turn on the recorder and we talked but nothing was saved. This is a mistake I will never make again! Cabaret at SF Playhouse is a must see musical.  Get your tickets here. __________ Green Room On Air Opening and Closing music by Carly Ozard  

Ray talks about his second time seeing Hamilton, more on Cabaret at SF Playhouse, living life as a cabby, and the Toure de France. www.raysgreenroom.com

On this episode of the Yay, Norman and I rap with Rondrell McCormick, an actor and director who is a graduate of ACT – he has graced the stages of San Jose Stage Company, SF Playhouse, Center REP, Highways Performance Space and the Sundance Institute, among many others. Rondrell talks about growing up in racially charged North Carolina, his studies at ACT (where he met the great Denzel Washington) and how theatre bay area life is treating him. You can reach him via twitter (@anonymousdrell) SHOUTOUTS: As You Like It (Shakespeare In The Park) Saturday, July 6 https://www.evensi.us/free-shakespeare-in-the-park-as-you-like-it-amador-valley/314452269 Norman Gee is in the show Hairspray (Bay Area Musicals) July 4 – August 11 Victoria Theatre https://www.bamsf.org/hairspray?fbclid=IwAR37NP64VHMhkaBT8-voIqo4ArBfPAfojrOO5w-0n7CEgBlWny5sIdzIYOk Heathers The Musical (Gatehouse Theatre Company) July 5 – July 14th Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason https://fortmason.org/event/heathers-the-musical/ Reg Clay (@Reg_Clay) Norman Gee (@WhosYrHoosier)

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “The Fit” by Carey Perloff, directed by Bill English, at the Reuff black box at the Strand, through June 29, 2019. The post Review: The Fit, at SF Playhouse, The Reuff at the Strand appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theatre critic reviews “Significant Other,” written by Joshua Harmon and directed by Lauren English, at SF Playhouse through June 15, 2019. San Francisco Playhouse website The post Review: Significant Other, at San Francisco Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

  Do YOU think it's OK to wear yoga pants when you are NOT doing yoga? Do you think it's OK to judge people for what they look like in yoga pants? What if they are wearing yoga pants after yoga? While doing a play about yoga? You might think "Yoga Play" is a play about yoga, that's only 1% correct. It's actually about ALL the social justice issues of our time -- and it's funny! Join me at the SF Playhouse for an interview with star & co-producer Susi Damilano and then... is it crudite, is it cruciferous, is it compost? What *IS* that in your veg drawer? It's Broccolini Rhapsody! There's no time sooner than now to eat your veg ;)

On this episode of the Yay, Norman and I talk to Krystle Piamonte-Jong, a veteran actress I've worked on stage with at Bindlestiff Studios. You can find her at www.krystlepiamonte.com. Krystle is currently in King of the Yees, a SF Playhouse production – that will be from Jan 22 to March 2. Krystle is on Instagram at XLE. SHOUTOUTS: Ah Wilderness (Douglas Morrison Theatre) Feb 14 – Mar 3 (https://www.dmtonline.org/upcoming-shows) Cynthia Lagodzinski is in the show Sojourn (the Pear Theater) March 15 – Apr 7 (https://www.thepear.org/boxoffice/sojourn) Cynthia Lagodzinski is in the show A History of World War II (Marsh Theatre) extended until March 9th. (www.themarsh.org) John Fisher (Episode 30) wrote and is acting in the show Honky (Role Players Ensemble Theatre) Jan 31 – Feb 10 Khary Moye (Episode 45) is acting in the show King of the Yees (SF Playhouse) by Laura Yee, directed by Joshua Brody Jan 22 – March 2 Galatea: A New Rock Musical (CounterPulse) Feb 21-24 http://www.counterpulse.org/galatea/ Eliza Boivin and Alisa Sacha Ross, two good friends of mine, are in the show.

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Mary Poppins,” directed by Susi Damilano, at San Francisco Playhouse through January 12, 2018. SF Playhouse website. The post Review: “Mary Poppins” at San Francisco Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “You Mean to Do Me Harm” by Christopher Chen, directed by Bill English, at San Francisco Playhouse through November 3, 2018. SF Playhouse website The post Review: You Mean to Do Me Harm, at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews the James Lapine-Stephen Sondheim musical, “Sunday in the Park with George,” directed by Bill English, at San Francisco Playhouse through September 8, 2018. SF Playhouse website   The post Review: Sunday in the Park with George, at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Born Yesterday” by Garson Kanin, at San Francisco Playhouse through March 10, 2018. SF Playhouse website The post Review: Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin, at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

Bill English, Artistic Director of San Francisco Playhouse, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Every year or so, Bill English comes over to KPFA to discuss his theater company and the upcoming season. In this interview, he talks about the origins of SF Playhouse and how it came to be in its current location at 450 Post Street. The discussion includes a look at the upcoming season, including the musical “A Christmas Story' which runs during the 2017 holiday season into January 2018, as well as the company's previous productions this season. San Francisco Playhouse website The post Interview: Bill English, San Francisco Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! Rebroadcast of Nov. 10, 2017 show: 1. Ethel Long-Scott, Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP) talks about the Teach-in at Laney College Forum, Wed., Nov. 15, 9 AM-12 noon and 6 PM to 9 PM in the Forum Bldg. There is a CBO Fair in the Quad at 12 noon. 2. Dr. Mona Vaughn Scott, Ms. Faye Carol and members of the cast, join us to talk about the Nina Simone Story at Black Rep Nov. 11-13, 2017. 3. Margo Hall, director, Robert O'Hara's Barbecue at SF Playhouse. Closed 11/11. 4. Orisa Urban World Festival highlights for weekend 2: 11/10-11-12.     

KPFA theater critic Richard Wolinsky reviews the West Coast premiere of “Barbecue”, directed by Margo Hall, at San Francisco Playhouse through November 11, 2017. SF Playhouse website The post Review: Barbecue, at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

Halili Knox plays Lillie Anne in the production of “Barbeque” at SF Playhouse. Barbeque runs at SF Playhouse through November 11th. For tickets and information, visit sfplayhouse.org

Halili Knox plays Lillie Anne in the production of “Barbeque” at SF Playhouse. Barbeque runs at SF Playhouse through November 11th. For tickets and information, visit sfplayhouse.org

On a special episode of The Yay, I talk with longtime stage manager Jennifer Daly - also a longtime member of Eastenders, whom I've worked with many times. Jen talks about the life of a stage manager, some of the history of Eastenders, her own personal journey and what theater means to her. Jen recommends the Fisher King, which happens to star a mutual friend of ours, Wylie Herman; she also recommends Romeo y Julieta (www.hmbshakespeare.org) and La Cage Au Folles by the SF Playhouse (www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/)

KPFA theater critic Richard Wolinsky reviews the musical “La Cage aux Folles” at San Francisco Playhouse through September 16, 2017. SF Playhouse website The post Review: La Cage aux Folles at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theater critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “The Roommate” by Jen Silverman, directed by Becca Wolff, at San Francisco Playhouse through July 1, 2017. SF Playhouse website The post Review: The Roommate at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA theater critic Richard Wolinsky reviews a new production of “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn, directed by Susi Damilano,  at San Francisco Playhouse through May 13, 2017. SF Playhouse website The post Review: Noises Off by Michael Frayn, at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Drama Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “The Christians,” a play  by Lucas Hnath, at San Francisco Playhouse through March 11th. For more info: San Francisco Playhouse website The post Review: The Christians by Lucas Hnath, at SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

Bill English, the artistic director of SF Playhouse, joins Brian in-studio to discuss the 2017 season. He's also directing a new show he's directing called "The Christians." For ticket information, visit sfplayhouse.org

“She Loves Me,” the classic 1963 musical with book by Joe Masteroff, music and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, directed by Susi Damilano, now at San Francisco Playhouse through January 14, 2017. Reviewed by KPFA Chief Theater Critic Richard Wolinsky. SF Playhouse website. The post Review: She Loves Me appeared first on KPFA.

Bill English, Artistic Director of San Francisco Playhouse, discusses the 2016-2017 season with host Richard Wollinsky. In this yearly update, Bill English talks about the process of creating a world premiere, from commission to production, examines the previous and upcoming season at San Francisco Playhouse and talks about the theater as a vehicle for empathy and social change. San Francisco Playhouse is located at 450 Post Street in San Francisco. The first play of the season is “Seared” by Theresa Rebeck, a world premiere commissioned by the Playhouse, about the battle between art and commerce at an upscale restaurant in Brooklyn. The post SF Playhouse: Bill English appeared first on KPFA.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. 1. Donald Lacy "Colorstruck" 2016-17 Conversations N'Color Tour begins Sept. 30-Oct. 1 in Oakland at Laney College Theatre, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland.  2. Jarrel Phillips, curator, "I Am San Francisco: Black Past and Presence Exhibition, including magazine release party for "Power in Place," the latest issue of "Race, Poverty and Environment" (published by Reimagine!) at City College of San Francisco, 40 Phelan Ave., at the Rpsenberg Library, 3rd floor Atrium & room 305. 3. Cast from the SF Playhouse production of All of What You Love and None of What You Hate: Tristan Cunningham (Girl B) and Indiia Wilmont(Mother) 4. Justice for Kayla Moore. Join supporters in court this Friday, Sept. 23, 9 a.m.                                                          

Radio Wolinsky 2: A Conversation with Bill English, Artistic Director of San Francisco Playhouse. San Francisco Playhouse is one of the mid-sized regional theaters in the Bay Area, on Post Street in Union Square. This is a wide-ranging discussion recorded July 28, 2015 about various issues in the theater world, including the past and current seasons of San Francisco Playhouse. A shorter version aired on KPFA's Arts-Waves program. Hosted by Richard Wolinsky and recorded in the studios of KPFA. San Francisco Playhouse website. The post Bill English, SF Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!   1. Bryan Keith Thomas, CCA professor, painter, speaks about his exhibits (5), up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Heirlooms at Joyce Gordon Galllery in Oakland closes this weekend, March 1. 2. Ryan Nicole Austin ("Tigs"/Antigone) returns to talk about Nambi E. Kelley's Xtigone, directed by Rhodessa Jones, at African American Shakespeare Company, Sat. (8 p.m.) & Sun. (3 p.m.), through March 8 at the Buriel Clay Theater (AAACC) in San Francisco. 3. We speak to actors Carl Lumbly (Leo Price) & Cathleen Riddley (Mrs. Jessalyn Price) who are mother, son, in the SF Playhouse current production of Julie Hébert's Tree directed by Jon Tracey. 4. We close with visual artist, Marie Johnson Calloway, whose work is the topic of an artist talk early March 8, 2015, 2-3:30 PM, at the MoAD San Francisco.

   Our guests today are Pamela Rand, Joan Mankin, and Hester Schell, the stars and Writer/Director of NewzBeats! PAMELA RAND (Comedienne, Co-Writer/Producer) is a veteran of theater & film in the US and Europe.  Rand began acting at age 5 on television in her native San Francisco. Her penchant for broad physical comedy blossomed when she studied with Jacques Lecoq at his acclaimed school of movement, mime and theater in Paris, France. JOAN MANKIN (Comedienne, Co-Writer) is  a Bay Area actress. Mankin has performed with the SF Mime Troupe, American Conservatory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Marin Theater Company, Aurora Theater, Theatreworks, SF Playhouse, San Jose Rep, and many others.  Teaching credits include Berkeley Repertory Theater, San Francisco State University and Marin Theater Company. Mankin was a clown with both Pickle Family Circus and Make-A-Circus. HESTER SCHELL (Director, Co-Writer/Producer) is an award winning actor and director delighted to be working with Pam and Joan on Newzbeats. Schell moved to California after graduate school to teach theatre and film at De Anza College in Cupertino where she ran the theater department. Recent directing credits include the world premiere of SINGULARITEEN by Patrick M. Brennan in the 2013 San Francisco Fringe Festival, winning 5 awards including "Best of Show," and producing her sell-out stand up comedy troupe, Hysterical Housewives.

This morning we will speak to Ulysses Owens Jr., drummer, about his work and the legacy of Rashied Ali who passed from this life a week ago. Ali played with John Coltrane and Coltrane's late wife, Alice Coltrane. We'll play some of Ulysses' favorite Rashied tracks along with some of my Ulysses's favorites, from his latest, "U.O. Project 'It's Time for U." "It's Time" is a wonderful work featuring vocals as well as instrumental work, all peppered with Owens' distinctive or perhaps the correct term is signature percussion. We'll take calls if you want to share Rashied Ali memories or reflections. We played music from a number of albums, many from: "No One In Particular" Rashied Ali Quintet featuring:Ravi Coltrane on saxes, Gene Ess on guitar, Greg Murphy on piano, Matt Garrison on bass and the unstoppable spirit of Rashied Ali on drums. Visit http://bitmunk.com/media/6341966. Thursday, August 20, we'll have a special broadcast from 1-3 PM. Guests will be from SF Playhouse's current staging of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and perhaps Lolis Eric Elie, the principle or subject of "Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of New Orleans." There is a benefit for the Oakland Public Conservatory Saturday, August 29, 2009. The event is scheduled to coincide with the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The event is at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, August 29, at the Kaiser Center Auditorium, 300 Lakeside Drive, 2nd Floor. On hand to discuss the film with audiences will be its co-producer, co-writer and central narrator, nationally renowned New Orleans newspaperman Lolis Eric Elie. Director Dawn Logsdon and producer Lucie Faulknor will also bring their perspective and expertise to the panel discussion.

Today are speaking to T.J. Windham & cast of "On Both Sides of the Wall: The Two Way Struggle" on stage at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek tonight, April 17 & tomorrow, April 18; Margo Hall, director, and members of the cast: Dwight Huntsman, Halili Knox, & Craig Marker of The Story currently at SF Playhouse through April 25; Jacinta Vlach, choreographer and director of Liberation Dance Theater, who's "Animal Farm" is debuting next week at ODC Theater in San Francisco, April 24-25; closing with an interview with Algenis Perez Soto, star in directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's film, "Sugar," currently in theatres everywhere.