Editor's Cut

I've Moved

2009-07-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

In case you all haven't discovered it yet, I'm doing most of my blogging over at the Chatterbox.

Chad Jones Jumps the Fence

2009-06-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

The news that Chad Jones, former theatre critic at Oakland Tribune and the man behind the TheaterDogs, “jumped the fence” to become the new communications manager at Berkeley Rep has been flying around email inboxes and theatre lobbies. The obvious questions come to mind, specifically: Will he still write TheaterDogs? Will he still freelance for the Chronicle (and Theatre Bay Area, for that matter)? But the bigger question seems to be what happens to a theatre critic once he or she starts working for a theatre company? Traditional thinking says that once the critic jumps the fence, he can’t jump back.

Now, Chad hasn’t been the first critic to jump the fence, so his move is by no means groundbreaking. But most of us can’t think of another high-profile critic who’s done so in the past several years. So, while I wonder what will happen to TheaterDogs and all that, what I think about more is what a move like his says about the current world of arts journalism, both online and print. What does it mean when one of the Bay Area’s best theatre critics, one of the best theatre writers and the most successful (in terms of readership) local theatre blogger chooses a fulltime job at a theatre company, leaving the journalism career he built up over decades?

Let’s get two things out of the way: I am not criticizing Chad’s decision, and I’m not belittling fulltime jobs at theatre companies.

What I am wondering is if the journalism is changing/imploding so quickly that the traditional lines between journalists and their subjects (theatre companies) are blurring. In his Diacritical blog at ArtsJournal, editor Douglas McLennan asked, back in April: “Why don’t arts organizations have critics in residence?” Theatre companies turn more to Facebook, Twitter and other social media (and their own sites and e-communications, I hope) to communicate with their audiences because they can no longer rely on newspaper reviews and features—yet a 2008 Patron Mail survey showed that reading arts features was the third most-popular thing people did online, after reading email and searching Google. And it’s not news that laid-off journalists—even those with huge national bylines—are starting their own blogs and not getting paid for them because they feel a responsibility to, to the best of their ability, keep important stories in the public discourse. That’s what TheaterDogs is all about.

You know, all the layoffs at our local papers do hurt theatre companies in terms of coverage, but if more of these journalists started working at theatre companies like Chad has, it could be a huge asset to the companies. Berkeley Rep’s press release announcing Chad’s appointment noted that he’s seen every show at Berkeley Rep except one in the past 12 years. What company wouldn’t want a talented writer, who’s been writing for local audiences, with that kind of knowledge about their productions on their staff?

A Futurist Shakes Up Theatre

2009-06-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

The concept of “bubbles” came up a few times at the TCG Conference: individual artists around the country feeling like they were in bubbles, the bubbles of cities (and Bay Area citizens can definitely relate), economic bubbles and the theatre bubble. With all the drilling down that breakout sessions and coffee-break conversations engender, I felt very tunnel visioned.

So, no surprise that I believe the most relevant, inspiring and brilliant speaker at the Conference wasn’t a theatre person, but a futurist. His name is Andrew Zolli, a friend of the arts and proud Italian with an impeccable sense of comedic timing. His talk, “The Road Ahead,” encompassed population demographics, global warming, trends in communications and technology.

Regarding trends in the media, he showed three images of threats: Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and a disappearing glacier. The threat of terrorists, he pointed out, would affect 1 of several tens of thousands of people. The threat of global warming would affect 1 in 6. Yet we spend trillions on terrorism and nothing on global warming. Many reasons for this, but his general point is that humans respond better to fast-moving immediate threats. We are not conditioned to respond to slow-moving ones.

He went on to talk about population, the gist of which could also be found in the article he wrote a few years back for Fast Company. The main points: Nearly half of the world’s population in 2050 hasn’t even been born yet, and the world’s largest cities haven’t been built yet—and most will be in Asia and Middle East. His example: two photos of Dubai; one in the early 1990s and one in 2005. In just over 10 years. Stunning. The US population will look like an hourglass, with a high population of boomers and Gen Yers/Millenials with us poor, pessimistic Xers sandwiched in the middle. He pointed out that women my age will take care of their mothers longer than they took care of us. Thanks to the current economy, half of Boomers will not retire and most of them will live so long they’ll run out of money and move back in with their Xer children. Half of Xers will hit the glass ceiling that the unretired Boomers built, and the Yers will make up the majority of the workforce (because their population is greater).

His other main point: The Internet is not a technology, it is a philosophy. It’s a philosophy of community. And here we theatre people are wondering how to use Facebook to market, how we use Twitter to market, and many of us (sorry, Boomers) hide our heads in the sand saying we don’t understand this “Internet technology.”

And, oh, by the way, this so-called recession is actually a massive reorganization. Things will not go back to the way they were before—financially, socially, etc etc.

Zolli’s talk echoed some of the thoughts and concerns that have been brewing in the back of my mind, and—depressing as some of his facts seemed—I walked out with some sort of sense of relief that I could start connecting my daily life with the larger world and future trends.

And while theatre companies are all greatly affected by the immediate financial situation, it is an immediate threat. Any number of them will be lucky enough to avoid this bomb. But if they aren’t paying attention to the melting glacier (what their audiences and workforce will look like, and how Yers/Millenials like to engage/experience things), what will happen to them in the future?

Fun in Baltimore @TCG

2009-06-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

TCG wrapped the first day of its conference (yesterday) with an evening reception at the American Visionary Art Museum, a museum dedicated to artists with no formal training--and the most inspiring museum I've seen. The sculpture in front of the museum included a chandelier tree, an art bus, and a huge bird, with a violin for a body, whose head reached the balcony on the second floor that was designed like a nest. The museum itself stayed open late for us, and its exhibits included a floor featuring OCD art (highly detailed geometric drawings so detailed with lines and squiggles that magnifying glasses were provided; 26 pencil stubs each with 1 letter of the alphabet carved out of the lead--incredibly small, precise and carved w/o a magnifying glass), other pieces of kinetic installations--I can hardly describe it all. Of course the gift shop was so awesome. Imagine a couple of hundred theatreworkers set free in a place like that.

Today, day 2, uninspired by the thought of a boxed lunch, I headed across the street to the "world famous" Lexington Market, not sure what to expect. Turns out it's a huge food court of all different kinds of food with musical entertainment in the center court (harmonicas, when I passed by). This is where all the locals were, and I soon stumbled upon Faidley's seafood, with its famous crab cakes. Now, the crab in Baltimore is amazing. The all-lump crabcake is as big as your fist. And they ship all over the country.

You're probably wondering about theatre, and sadly, I haven't been to any. There are no planned theatre outings as part of the conference, and tonight I opted for one of the dine-abouts, dinner gatherings each hosted by a local theatre company at a restaurant in the city. But one dine-about took place at Liz Lerman's house, a narrow 3- or 4-story wonderfully quirky place with a balcony with a view to die for. The featured menu item was Baltimore's best deep-dish pizza.

Actually, what I said about not seeing theatre isn't exactly true. The Albugga Theatre from Sudan performed a 30-minute piece in a conference room. The company was about 12 or 15 performers, but only 8 were granted visas, but no matter. The performance was energetic, funny and very well received--and all was symbolic of TCG's energy around international and cultural exchange, evident in American Theatre's expanded international coverage. (While I did talk a few times with editor Jim O'Quinn, senior editor Randy Gener was off in Switzerland or some such on assignment.)

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference, and I'm jumping on a plane right after, so my next post will probably be after the fact. Happily, the weather is supposed to be clear tomorrow, so I shouldn't have to spend an hour on the runway waiting for 30 other planes, all delayed by thunderstorms, to take off.

Ah, the thunderstorms. Actual repetitive lighting strikes. There's some fun!

@TCG

2009-06-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

I'm standing (not sitting) at the TCG Conference cyber cafe, which is comprised of a few laptops on bistro tables in the Hippodrome lobby. Excuse any typos!

We have an awesome Bay Area contingent in Baltimore: Cal Shakes, Berkeley Rep, Cutting Ball (director Rob Melrose is one of the TCG Spotlighted artists, so he had a artist table where he presented his portfolio--the fact that he was able to show video of his work made his table one of the most attractive, and looked like it generated a lot of interest), CounterPulse, San Jose Rep, Dell Arte, PCPA and more.

Yesterday I attended a breakout on email marketing presented by Patron Mail, the premise of which was "are you an e-blaster or e-mail marketer?" They started with statistics based on their study showing that e-mail is an important marketing tool. One of the statistics was something like 80% of respondents preferred to receive info about shows via email. Of course, the respondents were made up of people from on the lists of Patron Mail clients--people who are receiving e-mails from theatre companies and who respondent to this survey sent out via e-mail. Hmmmm. Another statistic showed that while newspaper use was dropping, respondents used the Internet to 1. email 2. google and 3. read news. The second way people heard about shows, behind e-mails from the companies, was through newspaper articles. (Preseumably read mostly online.) More evidence that while newspaper use is declining, audiences for that content is increasing.

At an impromptu meeting at a Starbucks with our executive director Brad and marketing manager Clay and another executive director, where we were talking about online content, the idea was brought up that aggregators (like Arts Journal) were going to be primary in the future. But, of course, aggregators don't have anything to aggregate if all the content providers go away. Most online content that people are looking for is created by newpaper reporters. More to chew on.

Baltimore's John Waters (Hairspray) gave the keynote last night, which was, naturally, much more funny and irreverent than inspirational. Of course.

More later; there's a line.

Pay More Rent

2009-05-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

When I got home from Spamalot (such fun!) last night, I received an email from the SHN folks announcing that Rent tickets go on sale today at 10AM for a limited run in October. Yeah, I know, I was thinking the same thing: Why? Especially after that dismal last touring production? Well, because this one features Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp. One hopes in their same roles.

Playwriting's Chronic Identity Crisis

2009-05-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

Playwright/screenwriter/director Stephen Belber wrote quite an amusing and insightful piece in LA Times that is therapeutic and instructive reading for playwrights--and should be required reading for producers/artistic directors.

I ran across it via Extra Criticum, which credits someone else for finding it, and so the thread goes.

News Bits from My Inbox

2009-05-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

Exit Theatre is adding yet another space. The new 49-seater will be in the space previously occupied by a youth center. It's launched a $125,000 capital campaign over the next 18 months.

Carrie Fisher returns to Berkeley Rep for more Drinking, July 9-23. Berkeley Rep also offers a free talk with Amy Freed on June 15.

San Francisco Free Civic Theatre has avoided demise and continues at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center Auditorium. AD Glenn Havlan is vigorously campaigning to keep it at the Randall Museum Theater as well.

Foothill Theatre Company hasn't fared as well: after months of fundraising, it went dark this week and is having a costume shop sale.

Finally: The June/July double issue of Theatre Bay Area magazine will be mailed next Tuesday; please allow up to 10 business days to receive the magazine.
The double issue allows the staff to take some real vacation time (instead of working twice as long before and after a vacation any other time of the eyar, which isn't vacation time so much as comp time), so I'm going to try to take time off next week. Hence the upcoming silence.

Blog du Campbell

2009-05-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Tipped off by a Facebook friend's status update, I recently checked out actor Ron Campbell's blog--he's currently playing King of the Clowns in Cirque du Soleil's Kooza.

Now, I subscribe to a ton of blogs, which link daily to a ton of other blogs, so I usually just end up skimming everything and saving items to read later. Hence, I have a backlog of a couple hundred items to "read later," some of which go back a year. But, when I landed on Ron's blog, I was so hooked I spent a good half hour reading it.

I knew Ron was an excellent writer--we published an article he penned in our August 2007 issue--and some of his blog writing is downright exquisite. His insights and attention to detail come from a veteran actor's eye and a martial artist's discipline. Take his post about visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and observing not just the art, but how other people observe the art. The one about what Cirque du Soleil artists talk about and what they never, ever talk about (I'm sure you can guess). His humorous behind-the-Cirque-scenes photos and lovely photos from Japan (snow monkeys!). His comments about auditioning for and working with clown David Shiner: "Having David Shiner teach you clowning is like having Micheal Jordan help you with your jump shot, Mario Andretti teach you how to drive or Barack Obama teach you how to give a speech."

A must read, now.

New Cal Perfs Director Announced

2009-05-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

At a press conference today, Cal Performances announced its new director, 39-year-old Matias Tarnopolsky, who assumes leadership on August 10 from outgoing director Robert Cole.

Tarnopolsky is the vice-president for artistic planning at the New York Philharmonic and prior to that worked at Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he spearheaded collaborative projects with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Art Institute and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in music and musicology from University of London, King's College, and worked as a producer for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers.

Easy Virtue

2009-05-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

I missed a press screening on Monday of Easy Virtue, the second film adaptation of Noel Coward's play of the same name, directed by Stephen Elliott (Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) and starring Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth.

The film is already available on DVD (if you want to order it from England and pay in pounds); otherwise it opens May 29 at the Embarcadero in SF, the Albany in Berkeley and Camera 7 in San Jose.

"Spam Spam Spam Spam"

2009-05-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

Spamalot opens May 27, and there's Spam all over the place. The May issue features a cover story, and if you're a Theatre Bay Area member, I hope you opened your Weekly Update e-blast this week, because we're giving away tickets! (If you're not a member, why not? The two free tickets you could have won is alone more than the price of membership. If you're a member and not getting the Weekly Update, you're missing out on free Spamalot tickets, plus many more free tickets offered each week.)

That's not all. SHN is sponsoring a "Bright Side of Life" Video Contest--the grand prize is having part of your video incorporated into a Spamalot commercial that will run during the Tony Awards. This is a no-brainer for any local performer, especially sketch comedy groups. Grab your camera and find out more here.

There's more fun over at the SHN site. Check out the SHNews page, which features links to "Spamalot stories in the news," news about another Spamalot ticket lottery and more. The SHN folks have also been pumping out podcasts: three on Spamalot and an archive of a bunch of other shows. SHN is also on Facebook, where it offers more invites and giveaways. So, if you love your Spam, happily this time, there's no shortage of it.

(Photo: John O'Hurley as King Arthur. Photo by Eric Jamison.)

2009 Playwright Collaboration Awards

2009-05-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hey, California playwrights and Bay Area organizations, The Gerbode Foundation and The Hewlett Foundation want to give you big money for new work.

Under the title of the 2009 Playwrights Collaboration Awards, the two foundations will award $25,000 to a California playwright, $25,000 to one or two California collaborators, and $25,000 to a Bay Area nonprofit that will produce the world premiere production between December 2010 and December 2012.

The deadline is August 20. Click here for more info and the application.

Editing Beowulf

2009-04-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

"Horses and swords, horses and swords and hoooooorses."

If you saw Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage last year, those lyrics must be familiar.
Beowulf won the Glickman Award for best new play to premiere in the Bay Area in 2008--and Theatre Bay Area magazine publishes the Glickman winner in each June/July double issue. I've been editing Beowulf for the past few weeks, and every time I read it again, I get this earworm.
This is the fifth Glickman winner we'll publish--I can't believe we've done five already. And I love editing plays. Before Theatre Bay Area took over administration of the Glickman, I couldn't figure out the best way to select a play for publication, which I always wanted to do, like American Theatre.

And now I've published work by Liz Duffy Adams, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and even Leigh Fondakowski. I believe that all the Glickman plays that appeared in the magazine were the first time these plays had been published. And I still get calls and emails about them. Just last month a guy from Australia was looking for The People's Temple by Leigh Fondakowski et al. Apparently the only place to find that play is still in Theatre Bay Area.

What does editing a play entail? Well, because all of the scripts have been working scripts, there's no need for the playwrights to concern themselves with making sure all mentions of things like time, numbers, streets are consistent. They may use both numerals and spelled-out numbers; they may use all different forms of time. Whether a number is a numeral or spelled out makes no different when viewing the play. The actor reads it aloud the same way. But the people reading the play at home do notice the inconsistencies.

So, I set a basic style sheet. For Beowulf, all numbers (except in characters, such as Warrior 1) were spelled out. (To compare, in the magazine in general, we spell out one through nine and use numerals for 10 and greater.) The style sheet also notes spellings of characters, whether parenthetical stage directions take end punctuation and whether they are in italics--things like that. I read the script over and over until I catch everything in the style sheet. You can't catch everything all at once, so I take a pass making sure the section headings were treated the same: boldface, title case (not all caps), stage direction one line break after the heading. A second pass to focus on character names, another on basic proofreading in the dialogue, another and another....

No matter how many times I read the scripts, something stays with me. It may, like in Beowulf's case, be the lyric earworms. Reading The People's Temple over and over was emotionally draining--there were many scenes that made me teary every single time. Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's Hunter Gatherers just made me giggle a lot.

A unique challenge with the Beowulf script is how to format the lyrics in cases when, for example, many characters sing the same lines simultaneously, or when they do call and responses. The original script divided these section into columns and rows, where the character headed the column and the lyrics made up the rows. We're having problems fitting all the lyrics on one row in our two-column script format, so we may end up breaking up the columns into a regular script format. It's worth mentioning that Beowulf is the first "musical" we've published, though creator Jason Craig doesn't call it a musical; he calls it a songplay. We won't be publishing the actual music, created by Dave Malloy.

Jason, like all the playwrights, has been wonderful to work with. Most of them hadn't had a full play published before, and all of them have seemed very happy with the final product. And that makes me happy, because the main reason why I like editing the magazine is because I enjoy other people's art, and I want to help share it with others. I can do that with features in the magazine, but the playscripts are much more immediate. I hope you enjoy Beowulf, upcoming in the June/July double issue, hitting the streets in the beginning of June.

R&J Cast Announced

2009-04-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

Cal Shakes announces the cast and design team of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Jonathan Moscone.

Alex Morf and Sarah Nealis play the titular lovers. Cal Shakes associate artist Catherine Castellanos portrays Juliet’s nurse and Lady Montague, with fellow associates James Carpenter and Julie Eccles as the Capulets, L. Peter Callender as Montague and the Apothecary, and Dan Hiatt as Friar Laurence. Liam Vincent plays Paris, Jud Williford portrays Mercutio and Craig Marker takes on the role of Tybalt. Julian Lopez-Morillas plays the Prince. Others in the cast include Thomas Azar (Benvolio), Nick Childress (Gregory), Avery Monsen (Sampson/Balthasar), and Patrick Lane (Abram); rounding out the ensemble are Matt Hooker, Omoze Idehenre and Marilet Martinez.

Neil Patel is the set designer, Raquel M. Baretto is the costume designer, Andre Pluess does music and sound, Russell H. Champa is the lighting designer, MaryBeth Cavanaugh does choreography and Dave Maier handles fight choreography.

R&J opens May 27.

Boy and His Soul Going off-Broadway

2009-04-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

Tony Kelly of Thick Description dropped me an email last week saying that Colman Domingo's A Boy and His Soul is going off-Broadway to the Vineyard Theatre (which produced the off-Broadway premiere of Avenue Q). The show played at the Thick House under the direction of Kelly, who will direct it in New York also.
See Playbill.com.

Free Show Tonight for TBA Members

2009-04-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

TheatreFirst has a special offer only for Theatre Bay Area members for tonight's performance of Old Times.
Theatre Bay Area members can see tonight's performance for free--just show your membership card at the door.
Harold Pinter's Old Times is at the Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston Wy., Berkeley. Showtime is 8 p.m.

Open Casting Call for Spider Man

2009-04-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

OMG, just got the open casting call notice for Spider Man in my email inbox.

Spider Man, the Julie Taymor/Bono & The Edge musical that allegedly has a budget so big the show has to like sell out for a thousand years to make its money back.

They are "seeking principals and understudies for the roles of Peter Parker, Mary Jane, and Female Lead Villian. The production is looking for performers with dynamic rock/pop voices including those with experience in bands and as solo performers. Regardless of experience, anyone who thinks they might be qualified is encouraged to audition."

Here's the info:
ORLANDO, FL (Thursday, April 9; 10 AM – 5PM)
Orlando Marriott World Center
8701 World Center Drive
Orlando, FL 32821

NEW YORK, NY (Monday, April 13; 10 AM – 5PM)
The Knitting Factory
74 Leonard Street
New York, NY 10013

LOS ANGELES, CA (Saturday, April 18; 10 AM – 5PM)
Hollywood United Methodist Church
6817 Franklin Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90028

SEATTLE, WA (Monday, April 20; 10 AM – 5PM)
LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED

CHICAGO, IL (Thursday, May 7; 10 AM – 5 PM)
LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED

AUSTIN, TX (Wednesday, May 27; 10 AM – 5 PM)
LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED

The production is looking for candidates to fill the following roles (both principals and understudies):
PETER PARKER – Male. 16-20’s. Must have a great rock tenor voice. Can be nerdy with understated sex appeal and a good sense of humor.
MARY JANE – Female. 16-20’s. Beautiful girl next door. Strong pop/rock singing voice required.
LEAD FEMALE VILLAIN – Female. 25-35 years old. All ethnicities encouraged. Must have an amazing rock voice. Think Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern /Bulgarian/Greek twist. Foreign and/or world music types are great. Foreign accents are great.

WHAT TO BRING:
All interested people should bring a snapshot or photo of themselves and a brief pop/rock or rock song to sing. Please note that no accompanist or audio equipment will be provided.
For more information, updated casting call information, or if you are not able to attend any of the above casting calls, please e-mail: SpiderManCasting@gmail.com or visit www.SpidermanOnBroadway.com.

SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark will open in New York on Thursday, February 18, 2010.

Theatrical Garden

2009-03-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

The Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley presents the first reading from the new theatrical adaptation of Michael Pollan's book, The Botany of Desire, on April 24 at 5:30. Pollan will be in attendance and will apparently talk afterward on the experience of seeing his book turned into a play. (Pollan has a loose connection to the acting world: he's Michael J. Fox's brother-in-law.)

Dan Hiatt plays the role of The Gardener.

This "new play with music" is by director Alex Harvey and composer John Gromada, who are artists-in-residence at the Center. According to the press release, "Harvey and Gromada say they plan to contrast solo monologues that capture Pollan’s wry, inquisitive first-person narrative with more operatic, expressionistic scenes that bring to life the array of characters who wander through his tale—American pioneers, Dutch burghers, Ottoman Turks, genetic scientists, and even Dionysus himself. Following the four-part structure of the book, which explores the history of the apple, tulip, cannabis, and potato, a series of episodes will transport the Gardener to times and places throughout history, always returning him to his garden—physically unscathed yet spiritually altered. The reading at Berkeley will feature the apple section."

Love that last line. I haven't read the book, but it certainly sounds scathing.

Berkeley Rep Premieres Green Day Musical

2009-03-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Holy shit--here's some awesome crazy news for a Monday morning.

On September 4, 2009, Berkeley Rep presents the world premiere of Green Day's American Idiot. The band, which as many know came up from Berkeley's punk movement, is collaborating with Spring Awakening director Michael Mayer, and SA producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman will also be connected with the American Idiot production.

Says Billie Joe Armstrong in a press release, “We are really excited to be working with Michael Mayer on this project. We’d been thinking of bringing American Idiot to the stage, but knew we needed to find the right partners. After meeting with Michael to discuss the possibility, he invited us to see Spring Awakening. We were so impressed with that production, as well as his vision for American Idiot, that we knew we’d found the perfect collaborator. Plus, doing it in our hometown at Berkeley Rep was an obvious bonus. They’re an amazing theatre group, very adventurous, and their willingness to take chances is in keeping with the spirit of the album. The end result will be terrific, and we’re really proud.”

American Idiot (the musical) includes every song from the album plus several songs from its upcoming release 21st Century Breakdown.

Tickets for American Idiot are on sale now.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

2009-03-29T19:59:00.001-07:00

I just couldn't wait until Monday to add Chad Jones's Theater Dogs back to my blogroll. Welcome back, sir!

ACT Season (Hint: Marco)

2009-03-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

American Conservatory Theater announced its season today, and those waiting to see Marco Barricelli back on stage will only have to wait, well, about another year. Marco shares the stage with Olympia Dukakis in Morris (The Overcoat) Panych's Vigil next March.

Other offerings include the world premiere of The Tosca Project in June (2010), which explores 100 years of the famed Tosca Cafe, the world premiere of Phedre, in association with the Canada's ~~New Burbage~~ Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the U.S. premiere of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter with England's Kneehigh Theatre, and the West Coast premiere of David Mamet's November.

Rounding things out are Caucasian Chalk Circle, Ayckbourne's Round and Round the Garden, and...Christmas Carol.

For those who can't wait until next year to see Marco perform, he's scheduled to do a staged reading of a Mark Twain piece at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, where he's currently the AD, on April 5.

Thom Pain Rocks

2009-03-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

OK, I don't usually do this sort of thing, and I'm hyper-sensitive about it because we try to be fair to everyone, but when I heard that some of the weekly papers and the Chronicle haven't yet been to Cutting Ball's production of Thom Pain (based on nothing), I couldn't believe it.

Because the show totally rocks!

Look, just because it's a solo show doesn't mean it's slight. The script is brilliant (read more about playwright Will Eno's thoughts on the fourth wall), really inventive in its deviations. And, I've never had the chance to see actor Jonathan Bock before, so I won't say "where did this guy come from?," but he was totally spot-on on opening night. Seriously. He had the tone and the lines down perfect, as if he had been performing for two months already.

Admittedly, I'm a little biased. My husband has worked (and still is) with CB's Rob Melrose, and we're more than acquaintances with Rob and Paige.

Also, I'm well aware that there are several awesome shows (and companies) out there that the Chron doesn't see or review, and that falls under the whole problem of the past decade (at least) wherein the Chron doesn't devote enough writers or space to theatre, and now newspapers are all dying anyway, so what the heck are theatres gonna do then, and the May issue of the magazine will have at least one article touching on the "future of theatre criticism" topic, so I won't go into here. Clearly.

And, to be a little more fair, here are the other shows I've seen in the past couple of weeks that were all intriguing:
A Beautiful View at Theatre Rhino
Machinal at Brava
Skin at Climate
Where the Sidewalk Ends at Boxcar
(I actually haven't been seeing a whole lot of small SF theatre lately, so I was trying to catch up)

And here's what's on my to-see list (so far):
Lydia at Marin Theatre Company
Kite Runner at SJ Rep
War Music at ACT
Miss Julie at Aurora
Over the Mountain at Brava

Vibrator on Broadway

2009-03-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Today Berkeley Rep announced that Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play), which just closed last week, receives its Broadway debut at the Shubert in October. This will also be the Broadway debut for both Ruhl and director Les Waters (who will stage a new production after having staged the world premiere at the Rep). This is the eighth show in eight years that Berkeley Rep developed and sent to New York.

7 Lucky Website Tips

2009-03-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

Every month after my staff and I process a couple hundred listings, we notice the same problems with companies’ websites. Here’s a little list of 7 lucky website tips—lucky, because it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m giving out a little luck o’ the Irish.

But seriously, this stuff is important, because often calendar editors and journalists look at companies’ websites for more information on a press release, or to double-check spelling and show info.

1. Make sure the “current show” is actually the current show, not the show that closed 2-6 months ago. Seriously.

2. Complete and correct information for your current/next show. This includes the correct dates. I find that about 50% of the time, the press release for the current show has different dates than the site.

3. Your current season, with correct dates. Update the list as needed. We use your sites to determine articles and Editors’ Picks up to three months in advance.

4. Your past seasons/production history. This is incredibly useful for journalists—we often want to reference your past productions, or simply want to find that info.

5. Your box office number in an easy-to-find place, and/or a link to buy tickets online. Why wouldn’t you want to have these on your site?

6. Contact info for all important staff members. Again, spell their names correctly, and if you list an email address and/or phone number, please make sure they check their email and voicemail often. I can’t tell you how many smaller theatre companies I’ve wanted to do an Editors’ Pick on and didn’t simply because they returned my phone calls and emails more than a week after I sent them.

7. Downloadable production photos for you current production. Include lower-res for the web and higher-res for print. Caption the photos and credit the photographer.