"It's a pseudo documentary about reality in the theater," says one of the characters/actors in David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy which premiered last night at SF Playhouse. It's one of several, pithy lines that occasionally inject entertainment value into the otherwise uneven gender-bending production. The pieces don't add up and instead of a...

AURORA THEATRE COMPANY SCRIPT CLUB New installment examines LaBute and Williams Monday, November 30, 2009, 7:30pm WHAT: Berkeley’s acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company presents the second Aurora Script Club meeting of the season with Tennessee Williams’ 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Aurora Theatre Company Education Director Michael Mansfield hosts this moderated...

Guest post by Pat Reardon. Sideman: A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he is not a regular member. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit smoothly into...

Near the end of Fat Pig, a no-holds barred look at how we think about ourselves and others, plus-size Helen says, "I would change for you." But the real question is whether Tom, her peer-pressure laden lover, will do the same. Written by American playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute, the...

Otello, often considered one of Verdi's grandest and most challenging operas, is based on Shakespeare's play by the same name. San Francisco Opera's enactment of Verdi's masterpiece displays both the blinding power of jealousy and its tragic consequences. It was a surprisingly sunny day in San Francisco, but once the...

This past Friday, I attended a John Kolvenbach marathon at Magic Theatre—a double dose of comedy and heartbreak starting with Goldfish and concluding with Mrs. Whitney. I had seen the Bay Area Premiere of Goldfish previously, (review) but decided I wanted to experience the entire pacing and flow across both...

Talk about a disappointment, and then some. Based on expectations and early hype, we had high hope for the political satire November now playing at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. But it's a turkey. Maybe two of them. Blowing up in unison. There is just not much here,...

It was just another absurdist, edgy, Devo-like evening for us last night at the opening of The Bald Soprano at The Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco. Experimental theater I'm guessing is a lot like experimental drugs. It seems like a good idea at the time; there are colors, happiness,...

The new, provocative, and highly successful (8 Tony Awards) Broadway hit, Spring Awakening, opened last night downtown San Jose and proved why it has garnered so much love and attention. The reinvention of the musical genre owes a debt of gratitude to this production. Directed by Michael Mayer, who also superbly guided...

Truvy's Beauty Parlor provides the perfect sanctuary for six women who share and support each other in the joys, tragedies and curve balls that life throws at them, all while maintaining perfect hair. Hillbarn Theatre's production of this Robert Harling classic Steel Magnolias is true to the spirit of the...