Posts by hilary@theatrebayarea.org

We’ve been using this space to share a peek behind the curtain on the exciting transformation-in-process here at TBA. In the past six weeks, we have welcomed three new leaders into the fold: our Executive Director, Sean Fenton, and two new board members, Juan Manzo and Calvin Kai Ku. With this coalescence of emerging and…

Spring Greetings, Everyone, After a busy month and a half here at TBA, it’s a pleasure to re-connect with our “insiders.” What a treat it was to join nearly 150 artists and administrators in Berkeley on April 4th to listen, learn, and chat at the first in-person TBA Conference since 2019. The conference, “Brick by…

DEAR MEMBERS, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES, After participating as a Theatre Bay Area Board member for many seasons, I am delighted to be involved in leading our organization through this period of transition, development and growth. Throughout this interim period, I’m honored to use this column to update you about the transition and provide a window…

by Sam Hurwitt Interim managing director Ann Marie Lonsdale comes to Theatre Bay Area at a transitional time for the organization. Brad Erickson is scheduled to end his 18-year tenure as executive director on February 28, 2022, with the search for his successor still underway.  It’s been a while since Theatre Bay Area actually had…

by Sam Hurwitt  When COVID-19 pandemic precautions started closing venues in March of 2020, theaters were hungry for any information about what they could expect. That’s when consulting firm WolfBrown began to put together the Audience Outlook Monitor, an international research project reporting back on shifting attitudes and concerns of theater audiences over time. Alan Brown…

by Rotimi Agbabiaka Tis the season for holiday shows and after an almost two-year hiatus, live, in-person holiday theatre is back. In keeping with the unprecedented times, many of the productions on Bay Area stages are adapting, updating, or reimagining  classic tales in ways that marry tradition with the needs of a world wearily emerging…

by Jean Schiffman “Today we are practicing the art of letting go,” said Debórah Eliezer, artistic director of FoolsFURY, at a recent public closure ceremony at the Mission Cultural Center. Her “sunset speech” marked the ensemble’s graceful withdrawal, as a company, from the local theatre scene after 23 years. Concrete symbols of that withdrawal were…

by Sam Hurwitt Bay Area arts organizations want you to know that they’re ready. They’re ready to invite patrons back into their spaces in as safe a way as can be managed amid an ongoing pandemic. They’re ready to envelop audiences in arts experiences that challenge the mind and nurture the soul.  That’s the message…

by Edward Guthmann When COVID hit early last year, Cindy Goldfield was rehearsing Nine to Five at Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. She was playing Violet Newstead, the role Lily Tomlin made famous, and feeling “very excited” about the work when Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 19,…

by Rotimi Agbabiaka  When Brad Erickson announced this June that he would be departing his role as Theatre Bay Area executive director after 18 years of service, the organization was faced with the challenge of finding someone to take over the helm and steer the company on a post-pandemic course. Over the past month, TBA…