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"content": "\u003cp>Pharus Jonathan Young is gifted beyond measure, and affirms that fact every time he opens his mouth to sing. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You see, there’s a sheen on his pipes, informed by his ancestry, the self-assured values of his theology and the knowledge that he, and no one else, needs to be the centerpiece of the choir at Charles R. Drew Preparatory School for Boys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But young men who aren’t terribly masculine-presenting don’t get the privilege of being themselves. While Pharus’ quick and sly tongue matches his perfect pitch, every note he sings with persuasion is a threat to the other young Black men at the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966179\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966179\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/221_Miles_Meckling_Lockeroom-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miles Meckling as Bobby in Shotgun Players’ production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s ‘Choir Boy.’ \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz/Courtesy Shotgun Players)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Shotgun Players’ tension-rich production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s \u003cem>Choir Boy\u003c/em>, a young, effeminate teen faces self-imposed pressure. But the weight he creates for himself can’t compare to the heaviness placed on him by others. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a voice built and blessed by the Lord, Pharus (William Schmidt) is a high school junior who is chosen to lead the choir at commencement exercises. Yet after Pharus decides to react onstage to a homophobic slur quietly delivered mid-song by Bobby (Miles Meckling), Headmaster Marrow (Fred Pitts) must take punitive action. After all, the audience had been loaded with well-connected Drew men, and words like “honor” and “integrity” are bandied about constantly at Drew, issued to students as a way of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the headmaster demands answers, Pharus’ commitment to being all-Drew through and through means that outing the homophobe isn’t an option. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is too simplistic to suggest Choir Boy is a coming-of-age tale, but the nuances of similar plays about teens navigating very specific challenges are present in McCraney’s story. Director Darryl V. Jones implements an insightful staging that allows the flow of information and ideas to move smoothly through 110 consecutive minutes, even with a fair share of different locations. And while at times the acting can be uneven, even a little hokey, the devices that tell the story are implemented with a keen, sharp eye. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966178\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1185\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966178\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-800x474.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-1020x604.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-160x95.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-768x455.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-1536x910.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-1920x1138.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) William Schmidt as Pharus, Omar Stewart as David, Wesley Barker as AJ, Brandon DiPaola – Ensemble, Miles Meckling as Bobby and Chachi Delgado as Junior in Shotgun Players’ production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s ‘Choir Boy.’ \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz/Courtesy Shotgun Players)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A highlight is how music and dance is built to express the richness of the story, and its intersection of religion and sexuality. Luscious harmonies are carefully crafted by music director Daniel Alley, and recordings of multiple numbers, brilliantly engineered by Michael Kelly, create a smoking-hot fusion of sound that houses many surprises expressed through Ashby Stage’s speakers. The stepping in the show, driven home with a thunderous, authoritative boom, is masterful in the hands of choreographer AeJay Anotonis Marquis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strength of McCraney’s script, as well as Jones implementing his specific vision, is found in the fact that stock characteristics of teenage students do not dominate the storytelling. The students have piercing conversations about a variety of topics: how honor and trust applies in real time, gospel’s true role during chattel slavery, how to live an authentic life while not asking and not telling. Their brittle hearts break with each new discovery that shapes their future worldview, but those same hearts soar when the clouds of adolescence part for even the briefest of moments. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unsung hero is AJ (Wesley Barker), who feels no threat by having a roommate many others would never allow in their presence. AJ is playful, handsome and deep. With AJ, Pharus can embrace his full self, accepting the soft in his dorm room as he deals constantly with the rough everywhere else. Barker advocates beautifully for AJ in a perceptive performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966180\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1408\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966180\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-800x563.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-1020x718.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-768x541.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-1536x1081.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-1920x1352.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wesley Barker as AJ in Shotgun Players’ production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s ‘Choir Boy.’ \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz/Courtesy Shotgun Players)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Others round out the cast swimmingly. David (Omar Stewart) carries a mysterious bent, harboring secrets of his own, with Stewart keeping his David on the periphery of fuller engagement. Yet his voice is unmistakable, each note coming from a darker and more guttural place that ultimately leads to his brutal gut punch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Mr. Pendleton, the only white character, Malcolm B. Rodgers is able to offer the cringiest cringe while still assuring that his turn as the bumbling teacher has some depth. And as the headmaster, Pitts nicely portrays conflicts that so many carry when reckoning with the issues of authority, morality and tolerance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one of the play’s tenderest and most poignant moments, AJ invites Pharus into his bed at the end of a long day. It turns out, with the weight of the world on Pharus’ broad, suffocated shoulders, the offer of a shared pillow and some sweet bonding over a good night’s sleep is the most beautiful gift one friend can offer the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Choir Boy’ runs through Oct. 26 at Shotgun Players’ Ashby Stage in Berkeley. \u003ca href=\"https://shotgunplayers.org/Online/default.asp\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the headmaster demands answers, Pharus’ commitment to being all-Drew through and through means that outing the homophobe isn’t an option. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is too simplistic to suggest Choir Boy is a coming-of-age tale, but the nuances of similar plays about teens navigating very specific challenges are present in McCraney’s story. Director Darryl V. Jones implements an insightful staging that allows the flow of information and ideas to move smoothly through 110 consecutive minutes, even with a fair share of different locations. And while at times the acting can be uneven, even a little hokey, the devices that tell the story are implemented with a keen, sharp eye. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966178\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1185\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966178\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-800x474.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-1020x604.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-160x95.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-768x455.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-1536x910.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/122_BoysDancing-1920x1138.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) William Schmidt as Pharus, Omar Stewart as David, Wesley Barker as AJ, Brandon DiPaola – Ensemble, Miles Meckling as Bobby and Chachi Delgado as Junior in Shotgun Players’ production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s ‘Choir Boy.’ \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz/Courtesy Shotgun Players)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A highlight is how music and dance is built to express the richness of the story, and its intersection of religion and sexuality. Luscious harmonies are carefully crafted by music director Daniel Alley, and recordings of multiple numbers, brilliantly engineered by Michael Kelly, create a smoking-hot fusion of sound that houses many surprises expressed through Ashby Stage’s speakers. The stepping in the show, driven home with a thunderous, authoritative boom, is masterful in the hands of choreographer AeJay Anotonis Marquis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strength of McCraney’s script, as well as Jones implementing his specific vision, is found in the fact that stock characteristics of teenage students do not dominate the storytelling. The students have piercing conversations about a variety of topics: how honor and trust applies in real time, gospel’s true role during chattel slavery, how to live an authentic life while not asking and not telling. Their brittle hearts break with each new discovery that shapes their future worldview, but those same hearts soar when the clouds of adolescence part for even the briefest of moments. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unsung hero is AJ (Wesley Barker), who feels no threat by having a roommate many others would never allow in their presence. AJ is playful, handsome and deep. With AJ, Pharus can embrace his full self, accepting the soft in his dorm room as he deals constantly with the rough everywhere else. Barker advocates beautifully for AJ in a perceptive performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966180\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1408\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966180\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-800x563.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-1020x718.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-768x541.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-1536x1081.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/076Wesley_Barker_as_AJ-1920x1352.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wesley Barker as AJ in Shotgun Players’ production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s ‘Choir Boy.’ \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz/Courtesy Shotgun Players)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Others round out the cast swimmingly. David (Omar Stewart) carries a mysterious bent, harboring secrets of his own, with Stewart keeping his David on the periphery of fuller engagement. Yet his voice is unmistakable, each note coming from a darker and more guttural place that ultimately leads to his brutal gut punch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Mr. Pendleton, the only white character, Malcolm B. Rodgers is able to offer the cringiest cringe while still assuring that his turn as the bumbling teacher has some depth. And as the headmaster, Pitts nicely portrays conflicts that so many carry when reckoning with the issues of authority, morality and tolerance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one of the play’s tenderest and most poignant moments, AJ invites Pharus into his bed at the end of a long day. It turns out, with the weight of the world on Pharus’ broad, suffocated shoulders, the offer of a shared pillow and some sweet bonding over a good night’s sleep is the most beautiful gift one friend can offer the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Choir Boy’ runs through Oct. 26 at Shotgun Players’ Ashby Stage in Berkeley. \u003ca href=\"https://shotgunplayers.org/Online/default.asp\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "ride-the-cyclone-musical-review-san-francisco",
"title": "In the TikTok-Revived Musical ‘Ride the Cyclone,’ Mortality Is a Game",
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"content": "\u003cp>TikTok’s algorithm revives all manner of cultural errata: the Cocteau Twins, baggy jeans, \u003cem>Juno\u003c/em>. Some of it is inexplicable (“Running Up That Hill”? Really?), while other Gen Z revivals make complete sense, like the 2008 musical \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the show, a group of high school choir students thrown from a derailed roller coaster at a local carnival are sent into purgatory, where they must vote unanimously for only one among them to go back to Earth and experience life anew. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Death, competition, popularity, sex — these are constant obsessions of the American teenager. So it’s no surprise that \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em>’s run at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco has been extended due to high demand. What may be a surprise is that, in the hands of director Stephanie Temple, the production is thoroughly enjoyable, no matter if you’re 13 or 59. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966074\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sage Alberto, center, in ‘Ride the Cyclone’ at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Jenni Chapman/Courtesy NCTC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Anne Norland adroitly drives the action as Ocean, a peppy overachiever who immediately argues for herself to be the one that gets to return to life. As her deferential friend Constance, Sage Alberto displays expert dry wit and comic timing that turns to introspection when she assesses her place in the social hierarchy. Kaylyn Dowd nails the role of The Amazing Karnak, the Zoltar-esque fortune telling machine that orchestrates the students’ game of mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Noel (an effervescent Jon Gary Harris) is overdramatic, very gay, and yearning for a grittier life — or, at least, one more meaningful than working at the Taco Bell in the mall. Mischa (Matt Skinner) puts on a gangsta veneer to cloak his passion, and Milo Boland’s Ricky, mute on Earth but reacquainted with his voice in purgatory, gets to speak his innermost desires (spoiler alert: it involves cats). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966081\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp.jpg\" alt=\"Black actor with feather boa, white woman in pink wig smiles big\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1483\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966081\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-800x593.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-1020x756.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-768x569.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-1536x1139.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-1920x1424.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">L: Jon Gary Harris in ‘Ride the Cyclone’; R: Kaylyn Down as The Amazing Karnak. \u003ccite>(Jenni Chapman/Courtesy NCTC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If the story hangs a little raggedly at times, it at least avoids the cliché of putting each student into a different high school clique, focusing instead on their family background, personality and outlook on life. And while each character’s featured song doesn’t always work as an argument to be brought back to life (most, in fact, are simply teen fantasies writ large), the larger purpose, I think, is to show the hopes, dreams and fragility of young lives. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s as evident in Ocean’s razzle-dazzle opener, “What the World Needs,” as it is in Mischa’s novelty rap number “This Song Is Awesome” or Constance’s “Jawbreaker.” Although Noel’s sultry “Noel’s Lament” is a crowd-pleasing showstopper, the most jaw-dropping song here is from Grace Margaret Craig as a girl whose remains were so mangled that she could not be identified — a Jane Doe — and whose incredible range propels “The Ballad of Jane Doe.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966072\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grace Margaret Craig in ‘Ride the Cyclone’ at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Jenni Chapman/Courtesy NCTC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With moving character development, moments of hilarity and an unexpectedly emotional ending, \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em> is a rousing 90 minutes — and a reminder to make the most of the other minutes you’ve got. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Ride the Cyclone’ runs through Oct. 27 at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://nctcsf.org/event/ride-the-cyclone/\">Tickets and details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>TikTok’s algorithm revives all manner of cultural errata: the Cocteau Twins, baggy jeans, \u003cem>Juno\u003c/em>. Some of it is inexplicable (“Running Up That Hill”? Really?), while other Gen Z revivals make complete sense, like the 2008 musical \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the show, a group of high school choir students thrown from a derailed roller coaster at a local carnival are sent into purgatory, where they must vote unanimously for only one among them to go back to Earth and experience life anew. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Death, competition, popularity, sex — these are constant obsessions of the American teenager. So it’s no surprise that \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em>’s run at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco has been extended due to high demand. What may be a surprise is that, in the hands of director Stephanie Temple, the production is thoroughly enjoyable, no matter if you’re 13 or 59. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966074\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Front-Center_-Sage-Alberto.-Back-Ensemble.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sage Alberto, center, in ‘Ride the Cyclone’ at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Jenni Chapman/Courtesy NCTC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Anne Norland adroitly drives the action as Ocean, a peppy overachiever who immediately argues for herself to be the one that gets to return to life. As her deferential friend Constance, Sage Alberto displays expert dry wit and comic timing that turns to introspection when she assesses her place in the social hierarchy. Kaylyn Dowd nails the role of The Amazing Karnak, the Zoltar-esque fortune telling machine that orchestrates the students’ game of mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Noel (an effervescent Jon Gary Harris) is overdramatic, very gay, and yearning for a grittier life — or, at least, one more meaningful than working at the Taco Bell in the mall. Mischa (Matt Skinner) puts on a gangsta veneer to cloak his passion, and Milo Boland’s Ricky, mute on Earth but reacquainted with his voice in purgatory, gets to speak his innermost desires (spoiler alert: it involves cats). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966081\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp.jpg\" alt=\"Black actor with feather boa, white woman in pink wig smiles big\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1483\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966081\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-800x593.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-1020x756.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-768x569.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-1536x1139.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC-Jon-Gary-Harris.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1_comp-1920x1424.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">L: Jon Gary Harris in ‘Ride the Cyclone’; R: Kaylyn Down as The Amazing Karnak. \u003ccite>(Jenni Chapman/Courtesy NCTC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If the story hangs a little raggedly at times, it at least avoids the cliché of putting each student into a different high school clique, focusing instead on their family background, personality and outlook on life. And while each character’s featured song doesn’t always work as an argument to be brought back to life (most, in fact, are simply teen fantasies writ large), the larger purpose, I think, is to show the hopes, dreams and fragility of young lives. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s as evident in Ocean’s razzle-dazzle opener, “What the World Needs,” as it is in Mischa’s novelty rap number “This Song Is Awesome” or Constance’s “Jawbreaker.” Although Noel’s sultry “Noel’s Lament” is a crowd-pleasing showstopper, the most jaw-dropping song here is from Grace Margaret Craig as a girl whose remains were so mangled that she could not be identified — a Jane Doe — and whose incredible range propels “The Ballad of Jane Doe.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966072\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/RideTheCycloneNCTC_-Grace-Margaret-Craig.-Photo-by-Jenni-Chapman-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grace Margaret Craig in ‘Ride the Cyclone’ at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Jenni Chapman/Courtesy NCTC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With moving character development, moments of hilarity and an unexpectedly emotional ending, \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em> is a rousing 90 minutes — and a reminder to make the most of the other minutes you’ve got. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Ride the Cyclone’ runs through Oct. 27 at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://nctcsf.org/event/ride-the-cyclone/\">Tickets and details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Maggie Smith, Scene-Stealing Actor Famed for ‘Downton Abbey’ and Harry Potter, Dies at 89",
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"content": "\u003cp>Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for 1969 film \u003cem>The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie\u003c/em> and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em> and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith’s sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, with two Oscars, a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She remained in demand even in her later years, despite her lament that “when you get into the granny era, you’re lucky to get anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith drily summarized her later roles as “a gallery of grotesques,” including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: “Harry Potter is my pension.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tpb1XyqGOQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of \u003cem>Suddenly, Last Summer\u003c/em>, said she was “intellectually the smartest actress I’ve ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jean Brodie\u003c/em>, in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for best actress, and the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for \u003cem>California Suite\u003c/em> in 1978, Golden Globes for \u003cem>California Suite\u003c/em> and \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em>, and BAFTAs for lead actress in \u003cem>A Private Function\u003c/em> in 1984, \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em> in 1986 and \u003cem>The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne\u003c/em> in 1988.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also received Academy Award nominations as a supporting actress in \u003cem>Othello\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Travels with My Aunt\u003c/em>, \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Gosford Park\u003c/em>, and a BAFTA award for supporting actress in \u003cem>Tea with Mussolini\u003c/em>. On stage, she won a Tony in 1990 for \u003cem>Lettice and Lovage\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 2010, she was the acid-tongued Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in hit TV period drama \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em>, a role that won her legions of fans, three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe and a host of other awards nominations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kobB4Q5qO8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she chafed at television fame. When the show’s run ended in 2016, Smith said she was relieved. “It’s freedom,” she told The Associated Press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not until \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em> was I well-known or stopped in the street and asked for one of those terrible photographs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She continued acting well into her 80s, in films including the big-screen spinoff to \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em> in 2019, its 2022 sequel \u003cem>Downton Abbey: A New Era\u003c/em> and 2023 release \u003cem>The Miracle Club\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith had a reputation for being difficult, and sometimes upstaging others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Burton remarked that Smith didn’t just take over a scene in \u003cem>The VIPs\u003c/em> with him: “She commits grand larceny.” However, the director Peter Hall found that Smith wasn’t “remotely difficult unless she’s among idiots. She’s very hard on herself, and I don’t think she sees any reason why she shouldn’t be hard on other people, too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith conceded that she could be impatient at times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s true I don’t tolerate fools, but then they don’t tolerate me, so I am spiky,” Smith said. “Maybe that’s why I’m quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critic Frank Rich, in a \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> review of \u003cem>Lettice and Lovage\u003c/em>, praised Smith as “the stylized classicist who can italicize a line as prosaic as ‘Have you no marmalade?’ until it sounds like a freshly minted epigram by Coward or Wilde.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith famously drew laughs from a prosaic line — “This haddock is disgusting” — in a 1964 revival of Noel Coward’s \u003cem>Hay Fever\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She repeated the gift for one-liners in \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em>, when the tradition-bound Violet witheringly asked, “What is a weekend?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fellow actors paid tribute to her on Friday. Hugh Bonneville, who played the son of Smith’s character in \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em>, said “anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/RobLowe/status/1839668066793423319\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rob Lowe, who co-starred with her in \u003cem>Suddenly, Last Summer\u003c/em>, said the experience was “unforgettable … sharing a two-shot was like being paired with a lion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She could eat anyone alive, and often did. But funny, and great company. And suffered no fools. We will never see another. God speed, Ms. Smith!” Lowe wrote on X.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Smith “a true national treasure whose work will be cherished for generations to come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Margaret Natalie Smith was born in Ilford, on the eastern edge of London, on Dec. 28, 1934. She summed up her life briefly: “One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, one’s still acting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her father was assigned in 1939 to wartime duty in Oxford, where her theater studies at the Oxford Playhouse School led to a busy apprenticeship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did so many things, you know, round the universities there … If you were kind of clever enough and I suppose quick enough, you could almost do weekly rep because all the colleges were doing different productions at different times,” she said in a BBC interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She took Maggie as her stage name because another Margaret Smith was active in the theater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laurence Olivier spotted her talent, invited her to be part of his original National Theatre company and cast her as his co-star in a 1965 film adaptation of \u003cem>Othello\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said two directors, Ingmar Bergman and William Gaskill, both in National Theatre productions, were important influences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alan Bennett, preparing to film the monologue “A Bed Among the Lentils,” said he was wary of Smith’s reputation for becoming bored. As the actor Jeremy Brett put it, “she starts divinely and then goes off, rather like a cheese.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So the fact that we only just had enough time to do it was an absolute blessing really because she was so fresh and just so into it,” said Bennett. He also wrote a starring role for Smith in \u003cem>The Lady in the Van\u003c/em>, as Miss Shepherd, a redoubtable woman who lived for years in her vehicle on Bennett’s London driveway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However extravagant she may have been on stage or before the cameras, Smith was known to be intensely private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She never wanted to talk about acting. Acting was something she was terrified to talk about because if she did, it would disappear,” said Simon Callow, who performed with her in \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the equivalent of a knight, in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She married fellow actor Robert Stephens in 1967. They had two sons, Christopher and Toby — who both grew up to be actors — and divorced in 1975. The same year she married the writer Beverley Cross, who died in 1998.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hilary Fox in London contributed to this story. Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed biographical material to this obituary before his death in 2018.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for 1969 film \u003cem>The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie\u003c/em> and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em> and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith’s sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, with two Oscars, a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She remained in demand even in her later years, despite her lament that “when you get into the granny era, you’re lucky to get anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith drily summarized her later roles as “a gallery of grotesques,” including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: “Harry Potter is my pension.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2Tpb1XyqGOQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2Tpb1XyqGOQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of \u003cem>Suddenly, Last Summer\u003c/em>, said she was “intellectually the smartest actress I’ve ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jean Brodie\u003c/em>, in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for best actress, and the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for \u003cem>California Suite\u003c/em> in 1978, Golden Globes for \u003cem>California Suite\u003c/em> and \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em>, and BAFTAs for lead actress in \u003cem>A Private Function\u003c/em> in 1984, \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em> in 1986 and \u003cem>The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne\u003c/em> in 1988.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also received Academy Award nominations as a supporting actress in \u003cem>Othello\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Travels with My Aunt\u003c/em>, \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Gosford Park\u003c/em>, and a BAFTA award for supporting actress in \u003cem>Tea with Mussolini\u003c/em>. On stage, she won a Tony in 1990 for \u003cem>Lettice and Lovage\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 2010, she was the acid-tongued Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in hit TV period drama \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em>, a role that won her legions of fans, three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe and a host of other awards nominations.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/-kobB4Q5qO8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/-kobB4Q5qO8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>But she chafed at television fame. When the show’s run ended in 2016, Smith said she was relieved. “It’s freedom,” she told The Associated Press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not until \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em> was I well-known or stopped in the street and asked for one of those terrible photographs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She continued acting well into her 80s, in films including the big-screen spinoff to \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em> in 2019, its 2022 sequel \u003cem>Downton Abbey: A New Era\u003c/em> and 2023 release \u003cem>The Miracle Club\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith had a reputation for being difficult, and sometimes upstaging others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Burton remarked that Smith didn’t just take over a scene in \u003cem>The VIPs\u003c/em> with him: “She commits grand larceny.” However, the director Peter Hall found that Smith wasn’t “remotely difficult unless she’s among idiots. She’s very hard on herself, and I don’t think she sees any reason why she shouldn’t be hard on other people, too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith conceded that she could be impatient at times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s true I don’t tolerate fools, but then they don’t tolerate me, so I am spiky,” Smith said. “Maybe that’s why I’m quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critic Frank Rich, in a \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> review of \u003cem>Lettice and Lovage\u003c/em>, praised Smith as “the stylized classicist who can italicize a line as prosaic as ‘Have you no marmalade?’ until it sounds like a freshly minted epigram by Coward or Wilde.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith famously drew laughs from a prosaic line — “This haddock is disgusting” — in a 1964 revival of Noel Coward’s \u003cem>Hay Fever\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She repeated the gift for one-liners in \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em>, when the tradition-bound Violet witheringly asked, “What is a weekend?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fellow actors paid tribute to her on Friday. Hugh Bonneville, who played the son of Smith’s character in \u003cem>Downton Abbey\u003c/em>, said “anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Rob Lowe, who co-starred with her in \u003cem>Suddenly, Last Summer\u003c/em>, said the experience was “unforgettable … sharing a two-shot was like being paired with a lion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She could eat anyone alive, and often did. But funny, and great company. And suffered no fools. We will never see another. God speed, Ms. Smith!” Lowe wrote on X.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Smith “a true national treasure whose work will be cherished for generations to come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Margaret Natalie Smith was born in Ilford, on the eastern edge of London, on Dec. 28, 1934. She summed up her life briefly: “One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, one’s still acting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her father was assigned in 1939 to wartime duty in Oxford, where her theater studies at the Oxford Playhouse School led to a busy apprenticeship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did so many things, you know, round the universities there … If you were kind of clever enough and I suppose quick enough, you could almost do weekly rep because all the colleges were doing different productions at different times,” she said in a BBC interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She took Maggie as her stage name because another Margaret Smith was active in the theater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laurence Olivier spotted her talent, invited her to be part of his original National Theatre company and cast her as his co-star in a 1965 film adaptation of \u003cem>Othello\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith said two directors, Ingmar Bergman and William Gaskill, both in National Theatre productions, were important influences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alan Bennett, preparing to film the monologue “A Bed Among the Lentils,” said he was wary of Smith’s reputation for becoming bored. As the actor Jeremy Brett put it, “she starts divinely and then goes off, rather like a cheese.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So the fact that we only just had enough time to do it was an absolute blessing really because she was so fresh and just so into it,” said Bennett. He also wrote a starring role for Smith in \u003cem>The Lady in the Van\u003c/em>, as Miss Shepherd, a redoubtable woman who lived for years in her vehicle on Bennett’s London driveway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However extravagant she may have been on stage or before the cameras, Smith was known to be intensely private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She never wanted to talk about acting. Acting was something she was terrified to talk about because if she did, it would disappear,” said Simon Callow, who performed with her in \u003cem>A Room with a View\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the equivalent of a knight, in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She married fellow actor Robert Stephens in 1967. They had two sons, Christopher and Toby — who both grew up to be actors — and divorced in 1975. The same year she married the writer Beverley Cross, who died in 1998.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hilary Fox in London contributed to this story. Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed biographical material to this obituary before his death in 2018.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Review: Love Is an Argentinian Tango in ACT’s ‘Private Lives’",
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"content": "\u003cp>The tango is a luscious expression of lost love, nostalgia and melancholia — and a staple of Argentinian life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the hands of Elyot and Amanda, their tango is perfect: a soft kick here, a gentle spin there, with bodies that flutter close together to turn their hot breath into hotter fire. But when the dance pauses, the fire of their passion turns to embers, reminding them why they got divorced in the first place. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The aesthetically pleasing production of Noël Coward’s \u003cem>Private Lives\u003c/em> at American Conservatory Theater (ACT), running through Oct. 6, conveys an irresistible sensuality. Tanya Orellana’s scenic design is its own star of the show, with bright splashes of color that contrast with the darkness of Coward’s heady script. The terrific cast of four is guided masterfully by director KJ Sanchez (paired smoothly with tango instructor Lisette Perelle), who pulls every little ditty of physical humor out of Coward’s pithy comedy of manners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965260\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hugo E. Carbajal and Sarita Ocón in Noël Coward’s ‘Private Lives’ at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, there aren’t nearly enough of those ditties to sustain the humor over the play’s two-hour run time. Too many moments lack purposeful urgency. The script itself is a relic and meanders far too long, oftentimes being overly chatty without saying much. The task of a modern production like ACT’s — one in which it mostly succeeds — is to gloss over these deficiencies with aplomb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13963021']Elyot Chase (Hugo E. Carbajal) and his new bride Sibyl (Gianna DeGregorio Rivera) are on their honeymoon, toasting to new beginnings. Elyot’s marriage to Amanda (Sarita Ocón) is a thing of the past, and Amanda is now the bride of Victor (Brady Morales-Woolery). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As fate would have it, only a small fence separates the couples at their honeymoon hotel. On the hotel balcony, love, lust and loathing overtake Elyot and Amanda in equal measure; their harmonious accord as dance partners makes the inadequacies of prior passions easy to forget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965256\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Hugo E. Carbajal, Gianna DiGregorio Rivera and Brady Morales-Woolery in Noël Coward’s ‘Private Lives’ at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As is to be expected in a genre where social conventions are upended by manipulative characters shallower than a dry puddle, Amanda and Elyot take turns being more awful than the other, all while consuming an endless fountain of brandy. Negotiating the whims of Elyot and Amanda is its own dance for Sibyl and Victor, collateral damage in the selfish pursuits of two who treat marriage as less important than an elementary school promise ring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the dialogue drags, the production positively soars in the machinations of physicality. You can feel the creativity of Sanchez oozing into every little onstage step, stutter and shake. As Elyot, Carbajal’s motions are loaded with spry dexterity. (Take note of his stylized pushups, his fantastically sensual bit with a robe, and his command of the tango.) Even moments of the script’s problematic nature, dealing with domestic violence, are treated softly and skillfully with highly choreographed and playful physicality from the entire talented cast. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every bit Carbajal’s equal is Ocón, a phenomenal performer built for both classic and contemporary interpretations. While her Amanda is putty in the hands of Elyot’s smooth sauntering, Ocón’s ability with some of Coward’s most universe-revealing lines in response to Elyot’s raging misogyny is a marvel. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965258\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965258\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarita Ocón, Hugo E Carbajal, Gianna DiGregorio Rivera and Brady Morales-Woolery in Noël Coward’s ‘Private Lives’ at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Both Rivera and Morales-Woolery force their characters to disrupt the chaos that Elyot and Amanda bring, and their subtlety at allowing Coward’s humor to flow naturally presents delightful foils to their counterparts. They are part of an overall cast unified with skill and substance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a million reasons why the characters in \u003cem>Private Lives\u003c/em> shouldn’t be anywhere near a relationship with another human. But if this reinvention of Coward’s classic proves anything, it’s that when a problem comes face-to-face with the tango, the stirring and sophisticated dance has always been, and forever will be, undefeated. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Private Lives’ runs through Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Toni Rembe Theater in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/2024-25-season/private-lives/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The tango is a luscious expression of lost love, nostalgia and melancholia — and a staple of Argentinian life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the hands of Elyot and Amanda, their tango is perfect: a soft kick here, a gentle spin there, with bodies that flutter close together to turn their hot breath into hotter fire. But when the dance pauses, the fire of their passion turns to embers, reminding them why they got divorced in the first place. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The aesthetically pleasing production of Noël Coward’s \u003cem>Private Lives\u003c/em> at American Conservatory Theater (ACT), running through Oct. 6, conveys an irresistible sensuality. Tanya Orellana’s scenic design is its own star of the show, with bright splashes of color that contrast with the darkness of Coward’s heady script. The terrific cast of four is guided masterfully by director KJ Sanchez (paired smoothly with tango instructor Lisette Perelle), who pulls every little ditty of physical humor out of Coward’s pithy comedy of manners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965260\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_154-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hugo E. Carbajal and Sarita Ocón in Noël Coward’s ‘Private Lives’ at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, there aren’t nearly enough of those ditties to sustain the humor over the play’s two-hour run time. Too many moments lack purposeful urgency. The script itself is a relic and meanders far too long, oftentimes being overly chatty without saying much. The task of a modern production like ACT’s — one in which it mostly succeeds — is to gloss over these deficiencies with aplomb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Elyot Chase (Hugo E. Carbajal) and his new bride Sibyl (Gianna DeGregorio Rivera) are on their honeymoon, toasting to new beginnings. Elyot’s marriage to Amanda (Sarita Ocón) is a thing of the past, and Amanda is now the bride of Victor (Brady Morales-Woolery). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As fate would have it, only a small fence separates the couples at their honeymoon hotel. On the hotel balcony, love, lust and loathing overtake Elyot and Amanda in equal measure; their harmonious accord as dance partners makes the inadequacies of prior passions easy to forget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965256\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_197-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Hugo E. Carbajal, Gianna DiGregorio Rivera and Brady Morales-Woolery in Noël Coward’s ‘Private Lives’ at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As is to be expected in a genre where social conventions are upended by manipulative characters shallower than a dry puddle, Amanda and Elyot take turns being more awful than the other, all while consuming an endless fountain of brandy. Negotiating the whims of Elyot and Amanda is its own dance for Sibyl and Victor, collateral damage in the selfish pursuits of two who treat marriage as less important than an elementary school promise ring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the dialogue drags, the production positively soars in the machinations of physicality. You can feel the creativity of Sanchez oozing into every little onstage step, stutter and shake. As Elyot, Carbajal’s motions are loaded with spry dexterity. (Take note of his stylized pushups, his fantastically sensual bit with a robe, and his command of the tango.) Even moments of the script’s problematic nature, dealing with domestic violence, are treated softly and skillfully with highly choreographed and playful physicality from the entire talented cast. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every bit Carbajal’s equal is Ocón, a phenomenal performer built for both classic and contemporary interpretations. While her Amanda is putty in the hands of Elyot’s smooth sauntering, Ocón’s ability with some of Coward’s most universe-revealing lines in response to Elyot’s raging misogyny is a marvel. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965258\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965258\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/PVL_235-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarita Ocón, Hugo E Carbajal, Gianna DiGregorio Rivera and Brady Morales-Woolery in Noël Coward’s ‘Private Lives’ at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Both Rivera and Morales-Woolery force their characters to disrupt the chaos that Elyot and Amanda bring, and their subtlety at allowing Coward’s humor to flow naturally presents delightful foils to their counterparts. They are part of an overall cast unified with skill and substance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a million reasons why the characters in \u003cem>Private Lives\u003c/em> shouldn’t be anywhere near a relationship with another human. But if this reinvention of Coward’s classic proves anything, it’s that when a problem comes face-to-face with the tango, the stirring and sophisticated dance has always been, and forever will be, undefeated. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Private Lives’ runs through Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Toni Rembe Theater in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/2024-25-season/private-lives/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "review-handmaids-tale-opera-margaret-atwood-san-francisco",
"title": "‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Opera Is Ferociously Faithful to Margaret Atwood’s Dystopia",
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"headTitle": "‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Opera Is Ferociously Faithful to Margaret Atwood’s Dystopia | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The lights have just gone up for intermission at the opening night of San Francisco Opera’s long-awaited production of \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em>. As people begin to rise and excitedly chatter about what we’ve just witnessed, the woman next to me turns to her companion and sighs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well,” she says, “this is unrelentingly bleak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13963021']Anyone familiar with \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> will tell you that is certainly a fair assessment. This is, after all, the story of a woman violently torn from her family and forced into a life of sexual servitude by a theocratic regime. America is no more, replaced by the Republic of Gilead, whose leaders attempt to solve an infertility crisis by forcing fertile women to reproduce with the commanding elite. These “handmaids,” living with their assigned commanders’ families, are considered disposable vessels, unworthy of even retaining their own names. The woman at the center of \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> is known only as Offred — literally “of Fred,” the commander she’s been assigned to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963881\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963881\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt.jpg\" alt=\"A stage set featuring a backdrop decorated with a large triangle and eye. On stage are 18 women all dressed in long red cloaks.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ at San Francisco Opera. \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Running through Oct. 1 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, composer Poul Ruders’ and librettist Paul Bentley’s interpretation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/margaret-atwood\">Margaret Atwood\u003c/a>’s 1985 novel is a faithful yet incredibly innovative rendering of the original story. For opera attendees stepping into this patriarchal dystopia for the first time, however, the shock may be significant. (The “unrelentingly bleak” lady couldn’t possibly have known how much darker things were going to get in the second act.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider, for example, the scene in which two women have hoods thrown over their heads and are hung by their necks from the rafters. Or the one in which a man is beaten to death \u003cem>in slow motion\u003c/em> by a group of handmaids. Or the two in which Offred is ritually raped by Commander Fred while a shocking refrain of “Amazing Grace” plays in the background. Another, depicting the violent breakup of Offred’s family, made the man in front of me jump out of his seat. Directed by John Fulljames, \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> opera — like the book and enormously popular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/tag/the-handmaids-tale\">Hulu series\u003c/a> — is not for the faint of heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13964252\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13964252\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred.jpg\" alt=\"A perturbed looking woman wearing a red cloak and white bonnet sits on a twin bed.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Irene Roberts as Offred in San Francisco Opera’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lifeblood of this particular production is Irene Roberts as Offred. The mezzo-soprano’s heartrending vocal delivery is matched by a grueling physical performance in which Roberts must endure physical groping by several male cast members, dressing and undressing repeatedly (including the removal of underwear), as well as running, crouching and falling to the floor. Roberts’ performance here is consistently astonishing — the reason all eyes stayed glued to the stage throughout, even during the most harrowing of scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other wonderful aspect of this particular \u003cem>Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> is the on-stage juxtaposition of Offred’s current reality in Gilead with the life she lived before. Pre-Gilead Offred is played with a compelling naïveté by Simone McIntosh. This Offred, in her regular clothes, free to watch TV and read magazines and make love to her husband, is a shadow lurking in the background throughout the opera, as Offred mentally hangs onto the shreds of her previous life. It’s a staging quirk that could easily have failed with the wrong casting, but that’s an incredibly effective device in this production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13962857']Truthfully, nothing about \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> opera slouches. Sarah Cambidge’s purposefully piercing vocals make her the perfect Aunt Lydia, the dominating woman who does her best to indoctrinate the handmaids. Caroline Corrales as Offred’s best friend Moira provides a true sense of liberty and rebellion, audaciously delivering much-needed zingers throughout. And Commander Fred’s presence is all the more intimidating because of John Relyea’s deep bass delivery. This strong cast is upheld by the baton of Karen Kamensek, conducting the orchestra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13964256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13964256\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632.jpg\" alt=\"A woman kneels dejected on the floor as she is goaded and mocked by a group of other women. All but one are wearing red dresses and white bonnets.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Irene Roberts as Offred and Sarah Cambidge (in the green uniform) as Aunt Lydia in San Francisco Opera’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then there are the sets. Chloe Lamford’s designs evoke the prison state of Gilead via a series of stark and striking walls. A symbolic wall with an ever-watchful eye. The corrugated walls of the handmaid’s training compound. The stark white wall where traitors are hung. The layered, somehow infinite walls of the Commander’s house. The automated “Soul Scrolls” prayer wall, dinging away like Las Vegas slots. The sense of ceaseless confinement persists throughout, as it did in Atwood’s novel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only place where this \u003cem>Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> goes wrong is in a pandering (and a little confusing) tableau that gets plopped onto the stage in the last minute of the opera. This moment features a self-conscious attempt to leave things on an optimistic note. They shouldn’t have bothered. \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> is always, in all formats, at its most powerful when it’s, well, unrelentingly bleak.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ runs through Oct. 1, 2024, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/operas/handmaids-tale/\">Details and tickets here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The opera will be livestreamed on Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/tickets/seated-reserve-page/?performanceId=7729\">Livestream tickets here.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ San Francisco Opera Review | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The lights have just gone up for intermission at the opening night of San Francisco Opera’s long-awaited production of \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em>. As people begin to rise and excitedly chatter about what we’ve just witnessed, the woman next to me turns to her companion and sighs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well,” she says, “this is unrelentingly bleak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Anyone familiar with \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> will tell you that is certainly a fair assessment. This is, after all, the story of a woman violently torn from her family and forced into a life of sexual servitude by a theocratic regime. America is no more, replaced by the Republic of Gilead, whose leaders attempt to solve an infertility crisis by forcing fertile women to reproduce with the commanding elite. These “handmaids,” living with their assigned commanders’ families, are considered disposable vessels, unworthy of even retaining their own names. The woman at the center of \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> is known only as Offred — literally “of Fred,” the commander she’s been assigned to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963881\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963881\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt.jpg\" alt=\"A stage set featuring a backdrop decorated with a large triangle and eye. On stage are 18 women all dressed in long red cloaks.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/hmt-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ at San Francisco Opera. \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Running through Oct. 1 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, composer Poul Ruders’ and librettist Paul Bentley’s interpretation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/margaret-atwood\">Margaret Atwood\u003c/a>’s 1985 novel is a faithful yet incredibly innovative rendering of the original story. For opera attendees stepping into this patriarchal dystopia for the first time, however, the shock may be significant. (The “unrelentingly bleak” lady couldn’t possibly have known how much darker things were going to get in the second act.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider, for example, the scene in which two women have hoods thrown over their heads and are hung by their necks from the rafters. Or the one in which a man is beaten to death \u003cem>in slow motion\u003c/em> by a group of handmaids. Or the two in which Offred is ritually raped by Commander Fred while a shocking refrain of “Amazing Grace” plays in the background. Another, depicting the violent breakup of Offred’s family, made the man in front of me jump out of his seat. Directed by John Fulljames, \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> opera — like the book and enormously popular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/tag/the-handmaids-tale\">Hulu series\u003c/a> — is not for the faint of heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13964252\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13964252\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred.jpg\" alt=\"A perturbed looking woman wearing a red cloak and white bonnet sits on a twin bed.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/offred-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Irene Roberts as Offred in San Francisco Opera’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lifeblood of this particular production is Irene Roberts as Offred. The mezzo-soprano’s heartrending vocal delivery is matched by a grueling physical performance in which Roberts must endure physical groping by several male cast members, dressing and undressing repeatedly (including the removal of underwear), as well as running, crouching and falling to the floor. Roberts’ performance here is consistently astonishing — the reason all eyes stayed glued to the stage throughout, even during the most harrowing of scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other wonderful aspect of this particular \u003cem>Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> is the on-stage juxtaposition of Offred’s current reality in Gilead with the life she lived before. Pre-Gilead Offred is played with a compelling naïveté by Simone McIntosh. This Offred, in her regular clothes, free to watch TV and read magazines and make love to her husband, is a shadow lurking in the background throughout the opera, as Offred mentally hangs onto the shreds of her previous life. It’s a staging quirk that could easily have failed with the wrong casting, but that’s an incredibly effective device in this production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Truthfully, nothing about \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> opera slouches. Sarah Cambidge’s purposefully piercing vocals make her the perfect Aunt Lydia, the dominating woman who does her best to indoctrinate the handmaids. Caroline Corrales as Offred’s best friend Moira provides a true sense of liberty and rebellion, audaciously delivering much-needed zingers throughout. And Commander Fred’s presence is all the more intimidating because of John Relyea’s deep bass delivery. This strong cast is upheld by the baton of Karen Kamensek, conducting the orchestra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13964256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13964256\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632.jpg\" alt=\"A woman kneels dejected on the floor as she is goaded and mocked by a group of other women. All but one are wearing red dresses and white bonnets.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/75A0632-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Irene Roberts as Offred and Sarah Cambidge (in the green uniform) as Aunt Lydia in San Francisco Opera’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then there are the sets. Chloe Lamford’s designs evoke the prison state of Gilead via a series of stark and striking walls. A symbolic wall with an ever-watchful eye. The corrugated walls of the handmaid’s training compound. The stark white wall where traitors are hung. The layered, somehow infinite walls of the Commander’s house. The automated “Soul Scrolls” prayer wall, dinging away like Las Vegas slots. The sense of ceaseless confinement persists throughout, as it did in Atwood’s novel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only place where this \u003cem>Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> goes wrong is in a pandering (and a little confusing) tableau that gets plopped onto the stage in the last minute of the opera. This moment features a self-conscious attempt to leave things on an optimistic note. They shouldn’t have bothered. \u003cem>The Handmaid’s Tale\u003c/em> is always, in all formats, at its most powerful when it’s, well, unrelentingly bleak.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ runs through Oct. 1, 2024, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/operas/handmaids-tale/\">Details and tickets here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The opera will be livestreamed on Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/tickets/seated-reserve-page/?performanceId=7729\">Livestream tickets here.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "best-plays-musicals-bay-area-fall-2024-guide",
"title": "The Best Plays and Musicals to See This Fall in the Bay Area",
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"headTitle": "The Best Plays and Musicals to See This Fall in the Bay Area | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>This past July is officially on record as the hottest California month in decades. And while cooler temperatures will be ushered into the Bay Area soon, theater companies are hoping that local stages continue to stay hot well into the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies are also gearing up to showcase their most artistic selves while continuing to find creative ways to achieve and maintain financial solvency. Here are 10 terrific shows from Labor Day to Thanksgiving one can start with to help support Bay Area theater companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1301\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963219\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-1020x691.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-768x520.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-1536x1041.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarita Ocón and Hugo E. Carbajal in ‘Private Lives.’ \u003ccite>(Tim Fuller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/2024-25-season/private-lives/\">Private Lives\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Toni Rembe Theater, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nSept. 12–Oct. 6, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loathsome couple Elyot and Amanda aren’t looking for a reunion when they embark on a French vacation with new spouses. Yet the pull of their prior passions proves to be too much to resist, and a humor-filled comedy of manners ensues, rich with Noël Coward’s exquisite use of prose. A reunion of sorts from an acclaimed bilingual production of \u003cem>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/em> at Cal Shakes in 2022, multiple cast members now move to American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theater to be directed by KJ Sanchez. The play’s original setting of France, meanwhile, is swapped out for Argentina, where an exotic and sensual tango informs Coward’s narrative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963072\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After serving as artistic director of the Peninsula’s Pear Theatre since early 2020, Sinjin Jones is entering his final season helming the company, kicking off the 2024 campaign directing the musical ‘Once on This Island.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sinjin Jones)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.thepear.org/\">Once on This Island\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Pear Theatre, Palo Alto\u003cbr>\nSept. 13–Oct. 13, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story of a young Black peasant girl and the love she finds with a mixed-race aristocrat in Haiti is the basis for this one-act musical. While the show itself carries a history of consequential productions, its significance as the kickoff for The Pear Theatre season is tinted with an impending loss. Sinjin Jones, who took over as artistic director of the Palo Alto company in early 2020, will leave at the end of the 2025 season. Jones has played a vital role in leading the company through the pandemic, all while revitalizing the 22-year-old theater troupe by promoting diversity and equity in addition to strengthening the company’s educational and community programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1103\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-800x552.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-1020x703.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-768x529.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-1536x1059.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marie (Dominique Thorne) observes the wedding dress of Jaja (Somi Kakoma) in the Broadway production of ‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,’ heading to Berkeley this fall.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Matthew Murphy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.berkeleyrep.org/shows/jaja-s-african-hair-braiding/\">Jaja’s African Hair Braiding\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley\u003cbr>\nNov. 8–Dec. 15, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Playwright Jocelyn Bioh is no stranger to Berkeley Rep, having premiered the musical \u003cem>Goddess\u003c/em> there in 2022. Her next visit to the East Bay is with Broadway’s sleeper hit of last fall, \u003cem>Jaja’s African Hair Braiding\u003c/em>, with Whitney White returning to the director’s chair in this co-production with Arena Stage and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Bioh’s play is an exercise in joy with serious themes about immigration and access to the American dream, all fused with a scorching Afrobeat soundtrack of the genre’s biggest stars. The play also features one of the coolest stage effects in recent memory throughout the entire show, culminating in some true theater magic at the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1065\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963070\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">TheatreWorks Silicon Valley artistic director Giovanna Sardelli and Pulitzer-finalist playwright Rajiv Joseph have developed a long collaboration over the years. Joseph’s play ‘King James’ kicks of TheatreWorks’s 54th season. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theatreworks.org/mainstage/king-james/\">King James\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Mountain View\u003cbr>\nOct. 9–Nov. 3, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the rousing success of the United States men’s national basketball team, capped by a thrilling finish and a gold medal, there’s no better time to dive into this story of two friends who enter into an unexpected connection. These men, whose fortunes run through the early, prodigious career of Lebron James, are the creation of Pulitzer-finalist playwright Rajiv Joseph. TheatreWorks’ artistic director Giovanna Sardelli, a frequent collaborator of Joseph, kicks off the company’s 54th season directing this tale of hoops and hopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963069\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1035\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963069\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-800x518.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-1020x660.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-768x497.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-1536x994.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The New Conservatory Theatre Center cast of ‘Ride the Cyclone,’ a show described as ‘weird and wondrous.’\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(New Conservatory Theatre Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://nctcsf.org/\">Ride the Cyclone\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nSept. 20–Oct. 20, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This grizzled and gritty musical follows a Canadian school choir group who perish on the Cyclone roller coaster — but, while in limbo, are offered a chance to return to life via a mechanical fortune teller. The piece has had a bit of a zany history since its 2008 premiere, created by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. The musical’s success reached something of a zenith in 2022 – on TikTok, millions of Gen Z users began diving deep into \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em> songs, stories and lore. The musical is dark, but also quite fun, and its regional premiere gives the Bay Area a chance to see what the hype is all about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1020px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1020\" height=\"679\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963068\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sara Porkalob, seen here during the Marin Theatre Company production of ‘Dragon Lady’ in November of 2023, weaves a captivating tale of her grandmother’s perilous journey from Manila to the United States. Porkalob’s one-person show makes a return to the Bay Area via Walnut Creek at Center Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.lesherartscenter.org/programs/center-repertory-company\">Dragon Lady\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Center Repertory Company, Walnut Creek\u003cbr>\nOct. 27–Nov. 24, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seattle’s Sara Porkalob is a piercing, shooting star, tackling the theater world on her own terms, and her trilogy of plays that chronicle the women in her life are produced all over the country. For those who missed her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938714/powerful-dragon-lady-weaves-tales-of-trauma-karaoke-and-a-very-memorable-matriarch\">critically acclaimed run\u003c/a> in Marin last fall of \u003cem>Dragon Lady\u003c/em>, where she morphs into multiple characters while showcasing her buttery singing voice, a second chance in Walnut Creek is a gift. Presented in association with Marin Theatre Company, Porkalob’s one-person show about her grandmother’s perilous and painful journey from Manila to the United States is a masterclass in how to command a theater space with splash and panache.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963076\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/TonyKushner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963076\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/TonyKushner.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/TonyKushner-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tony Kushner’s ‘Angels in America’ gets a reimagined production from the Oakland Theater Project. \u003ccite>(Maury Phillips/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandtheaterproject.org/angels\">Angels in America, Parts I and II\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oakland Theater Project at Marin Shakespeare Company\u003cbr>\nSept. 27–Oct. 27, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For this interpretation of one of theater’s greatest achievements, Tony Kushner’s two-part opus \u003cem>Angels in America\u003c/em>, Oakland Theater Project goes on the road to San Rafael at Marin Shakespeare Company’s new indoor space. Kushner is not known for writing pieces that are slim, and over two plays, \u003cem>Angels\u003c/em> easily surpasses seven hours. But what exists within those hours is incredibly powerful, raw and utterly thrilling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are endless themes within this story about AIDS’ impact on multiple couples in 1985. The Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play encompasses the taboo of homosexuality in the 1980s, the AIDS crisis that disproportionately impacted gay couples, and the crisis of religious faith, all intersecting with appearances by historical figures. The Bay Area is home to \u003cem>Angels in America\u003c/em> in many ways, from its initial commission at the former Eureka Theatre in San Francisco in 1990 to a hugely consequential production at Berkeley Rep in 2018. (Lisa Ramirez, featured in OTP’s production, also played The Angel in Berkeley that year.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963077\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Lizzie Borden case is fodder for a new punk musical. \u003ccite>(Bill Greene/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://6thstreetplayhouse.com/shows/2024-25/lizzie-the-musical/\">Lizzie: The Musical\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa\u003cbr>\nOct. 4–27, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892. In 1893, she was fully acquitted and lived the rest of her life in the same city the murders took place, Fall River, Massachusetts. And now, in Santa Rosa in 2024, her story is ready to shred at 6th Street Playhouse in the form of the 2009 rock musical. Expect all the components that make for a brutal tale of rage, sex, murder and mystery, plus power chords. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a precursor to the bloody delights of the visceral musical’s sharp rock score, some gentler fare is going down at 6th Street, with the musical \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://6thstreetplayhouse.com/shows/2024-25/four-guys-named-jose-and-una-mujer-named-maria/\">4 Guys Named José…and Una Mujer Named María\u003c/a>\u003c/em> opening at the end of August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963078\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1231\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963078\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-800x492.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-1020x628.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-160x98.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-768x473.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-1536x945.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-1920x1182.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sam Jackson, left, takes on the joyful role of Rosalind, pursuing the love of Orlando, played by Wiley Naman Strasser, in Cal Shakes’s 50th anniversary production of William Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ in Orinda. \u003ccite>(Cal Shakes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://calshakes.org/asyoulikeit/\">As You Like It\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Bruns Amphitheater, Orinda\u003cbr>\nSept. 12–29, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Shakes faced some serious uphill battles to produce their first full production in two years, implementing a fundraising campaign that netted $365,000 — over their stated goal. While the future of the company is still fluid (the fundraiser is only supplementing the budget for this production), the company is firmly focused this 50th anniversary production of William Shakespeare’s classic at their picturesque outdoor space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elizabeth Carter directs this pastoral comedy with one of Shakespeare’s most beloved female characters, Rosalind, who flees persecution in search of safety and love in the Forest of Arden, with many colorful characters entering her world along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"501\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13963079\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami-768x481.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.zspace.org/murakami\">Murakami: The Strange Library\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Z Space and Word for Word, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nNov. 13–Dec. 8, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A library best described as a nightmare is the setting for Haruki Murakami’s short novel \u003cem>The Strange Library\u003c/em>. With a lonely young boy, a mysterious girl and a tortured sheep man, the story is brought to life by Word for Word, a program of Z Space. The program has performed more than 70 stories since 1996, bringing theatrical flair to written word of all types. Lead teaching artist with the Youth Theater Project Lisa Hori-Garcia collaborates with Bay Area actor and designer Keiko Shimosato Carreiro to direct Murakami’s popular children’s story.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>This past July is officially on record as the hottest California month in decades. And while cooler temperatures will be ushered into the Bay Area soon, theater companies are hoping that local stages continue to stay hot well into the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies are also gearing up to showcase their most artistic selves while continuing to find creative ways to achieve and maintain financial solvency. Here are 10 terrific shows from Labor Day to Thanksgiving one can start with to help support Bay Area theater companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1301\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963219\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-1020x691.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-768x520.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Opt_6B5A2580_Credit-Tim-Fuller-1536x1041.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarita Ocón and Hugo E. Carbajal in ‘Private Lives.’ \u003ccite>(Tim Fuller)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/2024-25-season/private-lives/\">Private Lives\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Toni Rembe Theater, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nSept. 12–Oct. 6, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loathsome couple Elyot and Amanda aren’t looking for a reunion when they embark on a French vacation with new spouses. Yet the pull of their prior passions proves to be too much to resist, and a humor-filled comedy of manners ensues, rich with Noël Coward’s exquisite use of prose. A reunion of sorts from an acclaimed bilingual production of \u003cem>Romeo and Juliet\u003c/em> at Cal Shakes in 2022, multiple cast members now move to American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theater to be directed by KJ Sanchez. The play’s original setting of France, meanwhile, is swapped out for Argentina, where an exotic and sensual tango informs Coward’s narrative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963072\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After serving as artistic director of the Peninsula’s Pear Theatre since early 2020, Sinjin Jones is entering his final season helming the company, kicking off the 2024 campaign directing the musical ‘Once on This Island.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sinjin Jones)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.thepear.org/\">Once on This Island\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Pear Theatre, Palo Alto\u003cbr>\nSept. 13–Oct. 13, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story of a young Black peasant girl and the love she finds with a mixed-race aristocrat in Haiti is the basis for this one-act musical. While the show itself carries a history of consequential productions, its significance as the kickoff for The Pear Theatre season is tinted with an impending loss. Sinjin Jones, who took over as artistic director of the Palo Alto company in early 2020, will leave at the end of the 2025 season. Jones has played a vital role in leading the company through the pandemic, all while revitalizing the 22-year-old theater troupe by promoting diversity and equity in addition to strengthening the company’s educational and community programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1103\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-800x552.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-1020x703.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-768x529.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-2-1536x1059.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marie (Dominique Thorne) observes the wedding dress of Jaja (Somi Kakoma) in the Broadway production of ‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,’ heading to Berkeley this fall.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Matthew Murphy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.berkeleyrep.org/shows/jaja-s-african-hair-braiding/\">Jaja’s African Hair Braiding\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley\u003cbr>\nNov. 8–Dec. 15, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Playwright Jocelyn Bioh is no stranger to Berkeley Rep, having premiered the musical \u003cem>Goddess\u003c/em> there in 2022. Her next visit to the East Bay is with Broadway’s sleeper hit of last fall, \u003cem>Jaja’s African Hair Braiding\u003c/em>, with Whitney White returning to the director’s chair in this co-production with Arena Stage and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Bioh’s play is an exercise in joy with serious themes about immigration and access to the American dream, all fused with a scorching Afrobeat soundtrack of the genre’s biggest stars. The play also features one of the coolest stage effects in recent memory throughout the entire show, culminating in some true theater magic at the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1065\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963070\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-3-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">TheatreWorks Silicon Valley artistic director Giovanna Sardelli and Pulitzer-finalist playwright Rajiv Joseph have developed a long collaboration over the years. Joseph’s play ‘King James’ kicks of TheatreWorks’s 54th season. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theatreworks.org/mainstage/king-james/\">King James\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Mountain View\u003cbr>\nOct. 9–Nov. 3, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the rousing success of the United States men’s national basketball team, capped by a thrilling finish and a gold medal, there’s no better time to dive into this story of two friends who enter into an unexpected connection. These men, whose fortunes run through the early, prodigious career of Lebron James, are the creation of Pulitzer-finalist playwright Rajiv Joseph. TheatreWorks’ artistic director Giovanna Sardelli, a frequent collaborator of Joseph, kicks off the company’s 54th season directing this tale of hoops and hopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963069\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1035\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963069\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-800x518.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-1020x660.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-768x497.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-4-1536x994.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The New Conservatory Theatre Center cast of ‘Ride the Cyclone,’ a show described as ‘weird and wondrous.’\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(New Conservatory Theatre Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://nctcsf.org/\">Ride the Cyclone\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nSept. 20–Oct. 20, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This grizzled and gritty musical follows a Canadian school choir group who perish on the Cyclone roller coaster — but, while in limbo, are offered a chance to return to life via a mechanical fortune teller. The piece has had a bit of a zany history since its 2008 premiere, created by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. The musical’s success reached something of a zenith in 2022 – on TikTok, millions of Gen Z users began diving deep into \u003cem>Ride the Cyclone\u003c/em> songs, stories and lore. The musical is dark, but also quite fun, and its regional premiere gives the Bay Area a chance to see what the hype is all about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1020px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1020\" height=\"679\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963068\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/unnamed-5-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sara Porkalob, seen here during the Marin Theatre Company production of ‘Dragon Lady’ in November of 2023, weaves a captivating tale of her grandmother’s perilous journey from Manila to the United States. Porkalob’s one-person show makes a return to the Bay Area via Walnut Creek at Center Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.lesherartscenter.org/programs/center-repertory-company\">Dragon Lady\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Center Repertory Company, Walnut Creek\u003cbr>\nOct. 27–Nov. 24, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seattle’s Sara Porkalob is a piercing, shooting star, tackling the theater world on her own terms, and her trilogy of plays that chronicle the women in her life are produced all over the country. For those who missed her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938714/powerful-dragon-lady-weaves-tales-of-trauma-karaoke-and-a-very-memorable-matriarch\">critically acclaimed run\u003c/a> in Marin last fall of \u003cem>Dragon Lady\u003c/em>, where she morphs into multiple characters while showcasing her buttery singing voice, a second chance in Walnut Creek is a gift. Presented in association with Marin Theatre Company, Porkalob’s one-person show about her grandmother’s perilous and painful journey from Manila to the United States is a masterclass in how to command a theater space with splash and panache.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963076\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/TonyKushner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963076\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/TonyKushner.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/TonyKushner-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tony Kushner’s ‘Angels in America’ gets a reimagined production from the Oakland Theater Project. \u003ccite>(Maury Phillips/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandtheaterproject.org/angels\">Angels in America, Parts I and II\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oakland Theater Project at Marin Shakespeare Company\u003cbr>\nSept. 27–Oct. 27, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For this interpretation of one of theater’s greatest achievements, Tony Kushner’s two-part opus \u003cem>Angels in America\u003c/em>, Oakland Theater Project goes on the road to San Rafael at Marin Shakespeare Company’s new indoor space. Kushner is not known for writing pieces that are slim, and over two plays, \u003cem>Angels\u003c/em> easily surpasses seven hours. But what exists within those hours is incredibly powerful, raw and utterly thrilling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are endless themes within this story about AIDS’ impact on multiple couples in 1985. The Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play encompasses the taboo of homosexuality in the 1980s, the AIDS crisis that disproportionately impacted gay couples, and the crisis of religious faith, all intersecting with appearances by historical figures. The Bay Area is home to \u003cem>Angels in America\u003c/em> in many ways, from its initial commission at the former Eureka Theatre in San Francisco in 1990 to a hugely consequential production at Berkeley Rep in 2018. (Lisa Ramirez, featured in OTP’s production, also played The Angel in Berkeley that year.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963077\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-141199711-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Lizzie Borden case is fodder for a new punk musical. \u003ccite>(Bill Greene/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://6thstreetplayhouse.com/shows/2024-25/lizzie-the-musical/\">Lizzie: The Musical\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa\u003cbr>\nOct. 4–27, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892. In 1893, she was fully acquitted and lived the rest of her life in the same city the murders took place, Fall River, Massachusetts. And now, in Santa Rosa in 2024, her story is ready to shred at 6th Street Playhouse in the form of the 2009 rock musical. Expect all the components that make for a brutal tale of rage, sex, murder and mystery, plus power chords. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a precursor to the bloody delights of the visceral musical’s sharp rock score, some gentler fare is going down at 6th Street, with the musical \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://6thstreetplayhouse.com/shows/2024-25/four-guys-named-jose-and-una-mujer-named-maria/\">4 Guys Named José…and Una Mujer Named María\u003c/a>\u003c/em> opening at the end of August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963078\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1231\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963078\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-800x492.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-1020x628.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-160x98.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-768x473.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-1536x945.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/AsYouLikeIt-1-1920x1182.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sam Jackson, left, takes on the joyful role of Rosalind, pursuing the love of Orlando, played by Wiley Naman Strasser, in Cal Shakes’s 50th anniversary production of William Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ in Orinda. \u003ccite>(Cal Shakes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://calshakes.org/asyoulikeit/\">As You Like It\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Bruns Amphitheater, Orinda\u003cbr>\nSept. 12–29, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Shakes faced some serious uphill battles to produce their first full production in two years, implementing a fundraising campaign that netted $365,000 — over their stated goal. While the future of the company is still fluid (the fundraiser is only supplementing the budget for this production), the company is firmly focused this 50th anniversary production of William Shakespeare’s classic at their picturesque outdoor space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elizabeth Carter directs this pastoral comedy with one of Shakespeare’s most beloved female characters, Rosalind, who flees persecution in search of safety and love in the Forest of Arden, with many colorful characters entering her world along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"501\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13963079\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Murakami-768x481.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.zspace.org/murakami\">Murakami: The Strange Library\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Z Space and Word for Word, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nNov. 13–Dec. 8, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A library best described as a nightmare is the setting for Haruki Murakami’s short novel \u003cem>The Strange Library\u003c/em>. With a lonely young boy, a mysterious girl and a tortured sheep man, the story is brought to life by Word for Word, a program of Z Space. The program has performed more than 70 stories since 1996, bringing theatrical flair to written word of all types. Lead teaching artist with the Youth Theater Project Lisa Hori-Garcia collaborates with Bay Area actor and designer Keiko Shimosato Carreiro to direct Murakami’s popular children’s story.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "farewell-to-cutting-ball-theater-a-bastion-of-fearless-experimentation",
"title": "Farewell to Cutting Ball Theater, a Bastion of Fearless Experimentation",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Bay Area theatre world was dealt a major blow this week when San Francisco’s Cutting Ball Theater — a bastion of experimental work for the last 25 years — \u003ca href=\"https://cuttingball.com/\">announced that it would be closing its doors for good\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cutting Ball ceases operations at the end of 2024, it will hardly be alone; several of its fellow Tenderloin-based theatres have closed in the last two years. But with Cutting Ball, the Bay Area loses something special: a deep commitment to experimentation, both in material presented and, in later years, in business structure, as the company shifted to a collectively run, non-hierarchical model.[aside postid='arts_13919459']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Founded in 1999 by Princeton graduates and married couple Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball quickly established itself as a company that challenged the parameters of what small theatres could produce. Cutting Ball’s productions were thoughtfully designed, rigorously rehearsed, and frequently challenging in terms of subject matter and in style.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A staple of Cutting Ball’s earlier seasons was the “Risk Is This… The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival,” a series of staged readings of cutting-edge works by mostly local playwrights. (Some of these became mainstage productions in later seasons, such as \u003cem>…and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi\u003c/em> by Marcus Gardley, and \u003cem>Tontlawald\u003c/em> by Eugenie Chan.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13853373\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeune%CC%81e-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13853373\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeune%CC%81e-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeunée Simon and chair in Cutting Ball Theater’s 2019 production of ‘La Ronde.’ \u003ccite>(Cheshire Issacs)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>New translations of classic works — frequently translated by Melrose himself — were also a mainstay. Audiences were treated to wild reimaginings of plays such as \u003cem>Pelléas and Mélisande\u003c/em> by Maurice Maeterlinck and \u003cem>Woyzeck\u003c/em> by Georg Büchner. The excitement of experimentation was only heightened by the space’s intimacy: At its maximum capacity, the room seated between 70 and 80 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2023, the company transitioned to a collective model in which everyone in the organization had an equal vote and equal say in how the company was run. While the shift was initially suggested by then-Artistic Director Ariel Craft (who stepped away from the company in 2022), it immediately made sense to company members: Education Director Cathryn Cooper says prior to the change, the core members were essentially already operating as heads of their own “piece of the pie,” and working in a self-directed manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, the company spent months on the transition, even engaging the services of a consultant in order to develop their operational approach. “It wasn’t just a whim,” says Cooper, adding, “It is disheartening to hear that people believe we’re in a financial struggle because of our collective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Steele, Cutting Ball’s curation director, agrees. “Institutionally, we’ve acknowledged the [traditional] model doesn’t work … if you ask any artistic director or executive director how many hours they work outside of their expected work hours, it’s a lot. That’s why we have so much burnout in this field. So it only makes sense to take that workload and spread it amongst the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele and Cooper both say that, since the company split two board-allotted full-time executive salaries between seven collective members, the collective model of part-time workers didn’t increase overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13888112\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13888112\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater.jpg\" alt=\"a zoom screen showing nine people acting out a play\" width=\"1000\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-800x442.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-768x424.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-672x372.jpg 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The ensemble cast of Cutting Ball Theater’s ‘Utopia,’ by Charles Mee, in a virtual performance in 2020. Pandemic-related delays and postponements contributed to the company’s financial woes in recent years. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cutting Ball Theater)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other factors led to increased expenses, including persistent pandemic-related delays and postponements of shows. Cutting Ball also went to great lengths to pay guest artists more equitably, such as compensating actors for \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/sf-cutting-ball-theater-closure-18663641.php\">time spent running lines outside rehearsal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, insiders say \u003ca href=\"https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205270275\">the loss of grant money over the past few years\u003c/a> was the biggest contributor to Cutting Ball’s woes, as funding the company relied on for operational costs was greatly diminished. Specifically, major funders such as Grants for the Arts have moved away from providing “unrestricted” grant funding, which companies can use on quotidian expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody is really funding the basic day-to-day work of making theater happen,” Steele says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coma Te, director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission, said the Cutting Ball Theater has received about $400,000 in grants from the City, including over $312,000 from the Grants for the Arts and $90,000 from the Arts Commission, over the last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking on behalf of the mayor’s office, Te added that “transforming Downtown into a leading arts, culture, and nightlife destination is one of the key revitalization strategies laid out in Mayor Breed’s Roadmap to San Francisco’s future.” But the link included in Te’s email — Mayor Breed’s proposal for \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news/mayor-breed-proposes-creation-first-downtown-entertainment-zone-and-announces-grants-support\">a downtown “entertainment zone”\u003c/a> — makes no mention of either the existing or the recently shuttered small theatre venues in the area. In December 2024, when Cutting Ball’s lease on their venue space, EXIT on Taylor, is up, the company will become the ninth theatre closure in the area since 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1503px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_.jpg\" alt=\"two people in brightly dressed clothing on stage\" width=\"1503\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_.jpg 1503w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1503px) 100vw, 1503px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) The burglar (Patricio Becerril) and Taki (Edna Raia) team up in fear of an even bigger threat — La Karen — in Cutting Ball Theater and IN THE MARGIN’s ‘Exhaustion Arroyo: Dancin’ Trees in the Ravine’ by W. Fran Astorga. \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To many in the theatre community, leaving theatre out of the conversation about revitalization is a grave missetep. “Theatres are … economic cornerstones to the communities beyond their walls, bringing in investment through tourism, increased foot traffic, and community engagement,” said Art Quiñones, a spokesperson from the 50-year-old nonprofit Theatre Bay Area, in a statement, noting that each job in California’s performing arts scene \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.actorsequity.org/docs/Report%20on%20California%20Performing%20Arts.pdf\">brings in $13,287 in state and local tax revenue\u003c/a>. But “in San Francisco, skyrocketing costs and diminishing funding have kept small theatres in precarity. We need to ensure the theatres that are here can afford to stay.”[aside postid='arts_13928279']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, Cooper and Steele say there is much to celebrate as they wrap up their tenures with the company. For Cooper, her work building the community and education arm of the company from scratch — serving Tenderloin youth via workshops and theatre enrichment cohorts — has been personally and professionally rewarding. In a larger or more traditionally-structured organization, she says, she’d never have had the freedom she had in developing these programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Steele, adapting and directing Karel Capek’s Rossum’s \u003cem>Universal Robots\u003c/em> on the mainstage to open this now-final season was an especially proud moment. “We had a really strong mix of established (theatre) veterans and people that were almost, if not truly, brand new to the stage,” recalls Steele. “And that dynamic was just so exciting and cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just having been a part of Cutting Ball’s story is an experience that both will treasure: a legacy of fearlessness over the course of a quarter-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t experiment, and we don’t take risks, we’ll never have anything worth it,” Steele says. “You have to risk in order to achieve.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Farewell to Cutting Ball Theater, a Bastion of Fearless Experimentation | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Bay Area theatre world was dealt a major blow this week when San Francisco’s Cutting Ball Theater — a bastion of experimental work for the last 25 years — \u003ca href=\"https://cuttingball.com/\">announced that it would be closing its doors for good\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cutting Ball ceases operations at the end of 2024, it will hardly be alone; several of its fellow Tenderloin-based theatres have closed in the last two years. But with Cutting Ball, the Bay Area loses something special: a deep commitment to experimentation, both in material presented and, in later years, in business structure, as the company shifted to a collectively run, non-hierarchical model.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Founded in 1999 by Princeton graduates and married couple Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball quickly established itself as a company that challenged the parameters of what small theatres could produce. Cutting Ball’s productions were thoughtfully designed, rigorously rehearsed, and frequently challenging in terms of subject matter and in style.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A staple of Cutting Ball’s earlier seasons was the “Risk Is This… The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival,” a series of staged readings of cutting-edge works by mostly local playwrights. (Some of these became mainstage productions in later seasons, such as \u003cem>…and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi\u003c/em> by Marcus Gardley, and \u003cem>Tontlawald\u003c/em> by Eugenie Chan.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13853373\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeune%CC%81e-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13853373\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeune%CC%81e-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/Jeunée-Simon_credit_Cheshire-Issacs-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeunée Simon and chair in Cutting Ball Theater’s 2019 production of ‘La Ronde.’ \u003ccite>(Cheshire Issacs)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>New translations of classic works — frequently translated by Melrose himself — were also a mainstay. Audiences were treated to wild reimaginings of plays such as \u003cem>Pelléas and Mélisande\u003c/em> by Maurice Maeterlinck and \u003cem>Woyzeck\u003c/em> by Georg Büchner. The excitement of experimentation was only heightened by the space’s intimacy: At its maximum capacity, the room seated between 70 and 80 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2023, the company transitioned to a collective model in which everyone in the organization had an equal vote and equal say in how the company was run. While the shift was initially suggested by then-Artistic Director Ariel Craft (who stepped away from the company in 2022), it immediately made sense to company members: Education Director Cathryn Cooper says prior to the change, the core members were essentially already operating as heads of their own “piece of the pie,” and working in a self-directed manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, the company spent months on the transition, even engaging the services of a consultant in order to develop their operational approach. “It wasn’t just a whim,” says Cooper, adding, “It is disheartening to hear that people believe we’re in a financial struggle because of our collective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Steele, Cutting Ball’s curation director, agrees. “Institutionally, we’ve acknowledged the [traditional] model doesn’t work … if you ask any artistic director or executive director how many hours they work outside of their expected work hours, it’s a lot. That’s why we have so much burnout in this field. So it only makes sense to take that workload and spread it amongst the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steele and Cooper both say that, since the company split two board-allotted full-time executive salaries between seven collective members, the collective model of part-time workers didn’t increase overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13888112\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13888112\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater.jpg\" alt=\"a zoom screen showing nine people acting out a play\" width=\"1000\" height=\"552\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-800x442.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-768x424.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/10/utopia_ensemble_screenshot_credit_CuttingBallTheater-672x372.jpg 672w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The ensemble cast of Cutting Ball Theater’s ‘Utopia,’ by Charles Mee, in a virtual performance in 2020. Pandemic-related delays and postponements contributed to the company’s financial woes in recent years. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cutting Ball Theater)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other factors led to increased expenses, including persistent pandemic-related delays and postponements of shows. Cutting Ball also went to great lengths to pay guest artists more equitably, such as compensating actors for \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/sf-cutting-ball-theater-closure-18663641.php\">time spent running lines outside rehearsal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, insiders say \u003ca href=\"https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205270275\">the loss of grant money over the past few years\u003c/a> was the biggest contributor to Cutting Ball’s woes, as funding the company relied on for operational costs was greatly diminished. Specifically, major funders such as Grants for the Arts have moved away from providing “unrestricted” grant funding, which companies can use on quotidian expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody is really funding the basic day-to-day work of making theater happen,” Steele says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coma Te, director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission, said the Cutting Ball Theater has received about $400,000 in grants from the City, including over $312,000 from the Grants for the Arts and $90,000 from the Arts Commission, over the last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking on behalf of the mayor’s office, Te added that “transforming Downtown into a leading arts, culture, and nightlife destination is one of the key revitalization strategies laid out in Mayor Breed’s Roadmap to San Francisco’s future.” But the link included in Te’s email — Mayor Breed’s proposal for \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news/mayor-breed-proposes-creation-first-downtown-entertainment-zone-and-announces-grants-support\">a downtown “entertainment zone”\u003c/a> — makes no mention of either the existing or the recently shuttered small theatre venues in the area. In December 2024, when Cutting Ball’s lease on their venue space, EXIT on Taylor, is up, the company will become the ninth theatre closure in the area since 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1503px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929122\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_.jpg\" alt=\"two people in brightly dressed clothing on stage\" width=\"1503\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_.jpg 1503w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Exhaustion.Arroyo.Press6_-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1503px) 100vw, 1503px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) The burglar (Patricio Becerril) and Taki (Edna Raia) team up in fear of an even bigger threat — La Karen — in Cutting Ball Theater and IN THE MARGIN’s ‘Exhaustion Arroyo: Dancin’ Trees in the Ravine’ by W. Fran Astorga. \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To many in the theatre community, leaving theatre out of the conversation about revitalization is a grave missetep. “Theatres are … economic cornerstones to the communities beyond their walls, bringing in investment through tourism, increased foot traffic, and community engagement,” said Art Quiñones, a spokesperson from the 50-year-old nonprofit Theatre Bay Area, in a statement, noting that each job in California’s performing arts scene \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.actorsequity.org/docs/Report%20on%20California%20Performing%20Arts.pdf\">brings in $13,287 in state and local tax revenue\u003c/a>. But “in San Francisco, skyrocketing costs and diminishing funding have kept small theatres in precarity. We need to ensure the theatres that are here can afford to stay.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, Cooper and Steele say there is much to celebrate as they wrap up their tenures with the company. For Cooper, her work building the community and education arm of the company from scratch — serving Tenderloin youth via workshops and theatre enrichment cohorts — has been personally and professionally rewarding. In a larger or more traditionally-structured organization, she says, she’d never have had the freedom she had in developing these programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Steele, adapting and directing Karel Capek’s Rossum’s \u003cem>Universal Robots\u003c/em> on the mainstage to open this now-final season was an especially proud moment. “We had a really strong mix of established (theatre) veterans and people that were almost, if not truly, brand new to the stage,” recalls Steele. “And that dynamic was just so exciting and cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just having been a part of Cutting Ball’s story is an experience that both will treasure: a legacy of fearlessness over the course of a quarter-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t experiment, and we don’t take risks, we’ll never have anything worth it,” Steele says. “You have to risk in order to achieve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Sing Sing’ Tenderly Probes the Joys – and Limits – of Art in Prison",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s crucial, and foreboding, that \u003cem>Sing Sing\u003c/em> begins on a stage during a stirring performance of \u003cem>A Midsummer Night’s Dream\u003c/em>. John “Divine G” Whitfield (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909135/colman-domingo-strand-theater-valentines-euphoria-walking-dead-zola\">Colman Domingo\u003c/a>) recites the play’s final lines to rapturous applause, in a production that’s been fully realized with lighting, costumes, and props. The cast is a group of lively and committed actors who also happen to be incarcerated at the notorious New York maximum-security prison. It quickly becomes clear this isn’t a dream or a flashback, it’s sometime in the 2000s — and Sing Sing’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program has already bore nurturing fruit for its participants for some time now. Before we see anything else, Divine G and his other incarcerated castmates are introduced as creative spirits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13960599']The easy way to tell a story of finding hope in even the bleakest of circumstances has been done many times over: Milk the despair; swoop in with a savior; heal the wayward souls through the power of arts, sports, etc. These narratives may mean well, but such a neatly curated dramatic arc is typically reductive and pathologizing of the very people it purports to humanize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Director Greg Kwedar’s \u003cem>Sing Sing\u003c/em> is, mercifully and beautifully, different. Co-written with Clint Bentley but very much a collaborative effort with input from participants and alumni of the prison’s RTA program, the poignant drama avoids the well-trodden path at nearly every turn. It doesn’t ignore the despair, but it doesn’t wallow in it, either. And it understands that joining a character in the middle of their journey can be an even more compelling and truthful artistic exercise than mining the agonizing details of their origin story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3dXc6P3zH8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On screen, under the energetic direction of RTA volunteer Brent Buell (Paul Raci), the crew is close-knit, a refuge from the harsher realities of life within Sing Sing’s walls. In fact, the program has been so well-received that there’s a waiting list of would-be thespians eager to join the ensemble for its next production. Playwright and novelist Divine G, the group’s de facto heart and soul, decides to recruit Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, another incarcerated person he’s been observing around the block. Divine Eye is a tough and prickly loner who’s dealing drugs within the jail, but he’s also really into Shakespeare, and is receptive to — if a little wary of — getting in on the program. (The formerly incarcerated Maclin, an absorbing presence, plays a version of himself here, as do several other colorful \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>performers. The real-life inspiration for Domingo’s character has a small cameo early in the film.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13957481']By its own design, \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>presents multiple complex thematic threads and then unspools them with specificity and tenderness. A lighthearted “let’s put on a show” attitude courses throughout, as the cast rehearses an original comedic play, \u003cem>Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code\u003c/em>, sprung from their own vivid imaginations. (It’s a wacky time-traveling epic starring a hodge-podge of pop culture figures, including Captain Hook, Hamlet, and … Freddy Krueger.) Divine Eye’s arrival shakes up the group’s dynamic a bit, and a fascinating dilemma arises when Divine G, like any diligent artist who’s protective of their craft, finds himself having to check his ego for the good of the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1784px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM.png\" alt=\"Five men gather at the back of the room, each watching something off-camera. Three of the men are laughing. \" width=\"1784\" height=\"1078\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM.png 1784w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-800x483.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-1020x616.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-160x97.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-768x464.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-1536x928.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1784px) 100vw, 1784px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Raci, Sean San José, Colman Domingo, Sean ‘Dino’ Johnson, and Mosi Eagle. \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, minor frustrations behind the collaborative art process are complicated by unusually high stakes. RTA operates as a lifeline for these men — a way, as one of them puts it, for them to “become human again” within the confines of a place deliberately structured to strip them of their humanity. The film takes time to clearly communicate this often; it’s especially effectively rendered during an exercise where volunteer director Brent prompts each performer to imagine a favorite memory or place, and then describe it aloud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kwedar and Bentley are careful to not give in to mawkish trappings, and just when it seems as though the movie might be veering close to “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64SctPKmqk\">O Captain, my Captain!\u003c/a>” territory, it reins itself back in. It helps that \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>is unafraid to acknowledge art’s limitations as a vessel for those who are incarcerated, even as it celebrates the joys art can produce — not everyone in the group is able to access their happy place during that exercise. It’s also buoyed by the collective strength of the performances which make each character, even those we learn just a few details about, distinctive and memorable. Domingo and Maclin in particular share a special kinetic energy that oscillates as any friendship can over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13956038']For decades a movement opposed to the country’s mass incarceration epidemic has been gaining momentum, and \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>comes at an interesting time. In 2024, two of the summer’s biggest movies — \u003cem>Bad Boys: Ride or Die \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F —\u003c/em> continue the grand Hollywood tradition of dramatizing the pursuit and capture of “bad guys” by law enforcement. Dick Wolf’s \u003cem>Law & Order \u003c/em>franchise is still going strong, too. Kwedar’s film, on the other hand, isn’t especially interested in designating “bad” or “good” guys, and the offenses the characters have been accused and convicted of aren’t all that important to the story. The main exception is Divine G, seeking clemency for a wrongful murder conviction based on evidence that clearly exonerates him — and perhaps some audiences will find this to be a little too convenient as a narrative conceit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Divine G’s story is true-to-life. And to borrow from a different play entirely: It’s all-too \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45CzgrLE9s\">easy to be hard\u003c/a>. \u003cem>Sing Sing\u003c/em>, and its characters, gamely seek out the more challenging work of excavating authentic compassion and empathy for those who rarely receive it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Sing Sing’ opens in New York and Los Angeles on July 12 and is released nationwide on Aug. 2, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The easy way to tell a story of finding hope in even the bleakest of circumstances has been done many times over: Milk the despair; swoop in with a savior; heal the wayward souls through the power of arts, sports, etc. These narratives may mean well, but such a neatly curated dramatic arc is typically reductive and pathologizing of the very people it purports to humanize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Director Greg Kwedar’s \u003cem>Sing Sing\u003c/em> is, mercifully and beautifully, different. Co-written with Clint Bentley but very much a collaborative effort with input from participants and alumni of the prison’s RTA program, the poignant drama avoids the well-trodden path at nearly every turn. It doesn’t ignore the despair, but it doesn’t wallow in it, either. And it understands that joining a character in the middle of their journey can be an even more compelling and truthful artistic exercise than mining the agonizing details of their origin story.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/j3dXc6P3zH8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/j3dXc6P3zH8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>On screen, under the energetic direction of RTA volunteer Brent Buell (Paul Raci), the crew is close-knit, a refuge from the harsher realities of life within Sing Sing’s walls. In fact, the program has been so well-received that there’s a waiting list of would-be thespians eager to join the ensemble for its next production. Playwright and novelist Divine G, the group’s de facto heart and soul, decides to recruit Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, another incarcerated person he’s been observing around the block. Divine Eye is a tough and prickly loner who’s dealing drugs within the jail, but he’s also really into Shakespeare, and is receptive to — if a little wary of — getting in on the program. (The formerly incarcerated Maclin, an absorbing presence, plays a version of himself here, as do several other colorful \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>performers. The real-life inspiration for Domingo’s character has a small cameo early in the film.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>By its own design, \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>presents multiple complex thematic threads and then unspools them with specificity and tenderness. A lighthearted “let’s put on a show” attitude courses throughout, as the cast rehearses an original comedic play, \u003cem>Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code\u003c/em>, sprung from their own vivid imaginations. (It’s a wacky time-traveling epic starring a hodge-podge of pop culture figures, including Captain Hook, Hamlet, and … Freddy Krueger.) Divine Eye’s arrival shakes up the group’s dynamic a bit, and a fascinating dilemma arises when Divine G, like any diligent artist who’s protective of their craft, finds himself having to check his ego for the good of the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1784px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM.png\" alt=\"Five men gather at the back of the room, each watching something off-camera. Three of the men are laughing. \" width=\"1784\" height=\"1078\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM.png 1784w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-800x483.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-1020x616.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-160x97.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-768x464.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-12-at-11.59.16-AM-1536x928.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1784px) 100vw, 1784px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Raci, Sean San José, Colman Domingo, Sean ‘Dino’ Johnson, and Mosi Eagle. \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, minor frustrations behind the collaborative art process are complicated by unusually high stakes. RTA operates as a lifeline for these men — a way, as one of them puts it, for them to “become human again” within the confines of a place deliberately structured to strip them of their humanity. The film takes time to clearly communicate this often; it’s especially effectively rendered during an exercise where volunteer director Brent prompts each performer to imagine a favorite memory or place, and then describe it aloud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kwedar and Bentley are careful to not give in to mawkish trappings, and just when it seems as though the movie might be veering close to “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64SctPKmqk\">O Captain, my Captain!\u003c/a>” territory, it reins itself back in. It helps that \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>is unafraid to acknowledge art’s limitations as a vessel for those who are incarcerated, even as it celebrates the joys art can produce — not everyone in the group is able to access their happy place during that exercise. It’s also buoyed by the collective strength of the performances which make each character, even those we learn just a few details about, distinctive and memorable. Domingo and Maclin in particular share a special kinetic energy that oscillates as any friendship can over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For decades a movement opposed to the country’s mass incarceration epidemic has been gaining momentum, and \u003cem>Sing Sing \u003c/em>comes at an interesting time. In 2024, two of the summer’s biggest movies — \u003cem>Bad Boys: Ride or Die \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F —\u003c/em> continue the grand Hollywood tradition of dramatizing the pursuit and capture of “bad guys” by law enforcement. Dick Wolf’s \u003cem>Law & Order \u003c/em>franchise is still going strong, too. Kwedar’s film, on the other hand, isn’t especially interested in designating “bad” or “good” guys, and the offenses the characters have been accused and convicted of aren’t all that important to the story. The main exception is Divine G, seeking clemency for a wrongful murder conviction based on evidence that clearly exonerates him — and perhaps some audiences will find this to be a little too convenient as a narrative conceit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Divine G’s story is true-to-life. And to borrow from a different play entirely: It’s all-too \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45CzgrLE9s\">easy to be hard\u003c/a>. \u003cem>Sing Sing\u003c/em>, and its characters, gamely seek out the more challenging work of excavating authentic compassion and empathy for those who rarely receive it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Sing Sing’ opens in New York and Los Angeles on July 12 and is released nationwide on Aug. 2, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "lifespan-of-a-fact-review-aurora-theatre-berkeley-fact-checking",
"title": "Bringing the Fact-Checker to a Play About Fact-Checking",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the world of journalism, a fact-checker performs invisible work. No one, save the writer or editor of a story, really notices it. And yet at the country’s top magazines on down to its remaining newspapers, copy desks engage in that tireless task of reviewing stories for a paramount goal: accuracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bringing this work to the literal spotlight is \u003cem>The Lifespan of a Fact\u003c/em>, a 90-minute play running through July 21 at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre. In it, a magazine writer, fact-checker and editor quarrel over an essay’s tiny details, and how they do, or do not, affect the resonance of its bigger themes. It’s essentially a question about the old Mark Twain maxim, writ large: Should you ever let the truth get in the way of a good story?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file.jpg\" alt=\"A blonde woman in blue sits atop a sofa, while staring at the table along with a bearded man in a grubby T-shirt and a young man sitting at a table.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Paff, Elijah Alexander and Hernán Angulo in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Linda Houser doesn’t think so. As a 24-year veteran of the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>’s copy desk who fact-checks stories daily, her life is a trifecta of clarity, consistency and accuracy. Which I why I decided to bring her along to see \u003cem>The Lifespan of a Fact\u003c/em>. Who better to “review” the play than the copy chief at the Bay Area’s newspaper of record? (I knew I’d brought the right person when, just before curtain, Houser mused aloud if “lifespan” should be one word or two.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Lifespan of a Fact\u003c/em> opened on Broadway in 2018, and is based on the real-life disputes between writer John D’Agata (played here by Elijah Alexander) and fact-checker Jim Fingal (Hernán Angulo) over a magazine story about a teen suicide. With Carrie Paff as editor Emily Penrose, and directed by Jessica Holt, the play \u003ca href=\"https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/aurora-lifespan-of-a-fact-review-19513552\">takes some liberties\u003c/a> while raising broad questions about human nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After opening night, Houser and I posted up on Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley to talk about it. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960481\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hernán Angulo in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED: First things first. Did you like the play? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Linda Houser\u003c/strong>: I did like the play! I kind of liked and hated a couple of the characters, by turns, and so it was very thought-provoking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How true would you say it is to the work that you do, of fact-checking?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a newspaper, we wouldn’t have something quite so scandalous. In the play, the writer’s an essay guy, a magazine guy, and he’s basically writing fiction. We wouldn’t even check some those details, because it would never occur to a daily newspaper journalist to not have the facts right, or to blatantly disregard them, like he does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So the very granular detail of fact-checking in this play — that doesn’t come up at a daily newspaper?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, we do check. But usually when we’re checking, it’s a math error, where people maybe forget about a leap year. Was the date wrong, or was the number of days wrong? Was one of those numbers a typo? Adding is a big part of the job. That’s a lot of what we do, and we hammer that out very easily. There’s no arguing, or flying to Vegas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960480\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960480\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Paff as magazine editor Emily Penrose in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Was there any part of the play that best illustrated the work that you’ve done for the past 24 years? Where you went, “Yes! That’s what I do!”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t like the kid at first, the fact-checker, because it seemed like he was really trying to make the story about himself. But then he would make a great catch, and find something really important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had a freelance writer a few years ago who filed a feature story. They were quoting an excerpt of something at the beginning, and they said it was Emily Dickinson, or someone like that. And it just didn’t sound right. I checked and it was a Prince lyric. It was the oddest thing ever! We had a good laugh about that one. Like, is it April 1? Because that is ridiculous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Was there an aspect of the play that was off to you? That made you say, “Oh, come on, it’s not like that at all”?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, you know, there were the Triscuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Right, the fact-checker really wanted to know if they were actually eating Triscuits. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know how much of it is the kid going to Harvard. I’ve known some people who went to Harvard and are not that annoying. But I don’t think the Triscuits matter at all, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>That’s the central tension in this play, the debate over whether or not to let facts and accuracy get in the way of a larger truth. And I was a little convinced at times that some details didn’t matter as much as the story’s rhythm, or pacing. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I will say, I feel like the writer didn’t really \u003cem>need\u003c/em> all the numbers that he seemed to need. Even his own editor thought there was something special about the number four.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1277px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1277\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file.jpg 1277w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-800x1203.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-1020x1534.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-1022x1536.jpg 1022w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1277px) 100vw, 1277px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elijah Alexander as writer John D’Agata in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have there ever been times when you’ve taken a fact out of a story because it seemed incidental or unimportant, and then regretted it later?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No. We did have an editor once on the city desk. His motto was “when in doubt, take it out.” I wouldn’t always loop him in, because sometimes there are things that are nice to have in the story, and he would take it out if it didn’t matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What about additions? The true story that this play is based on, the fact-checking process went on for seven years, partly because new facts came to light. Have you ever had a stop-the-presses moment over new facts that emerged at the last minute that fundamentally changed the story?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, but I did get to kill a story once. I was slotting it, which means the editor had read it, and then the rim copy editor had read it. And this freelancer, a good writer and a respected writer, was writing about someone who’d died. It was this writer’s idea that clearly the wife had done it. They cited some vague facts, and then leapt to a conclusion. They did not talk to the wife, or the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it was very juicy for a minute. I was like, “Oh my gosh, she totally did it.” Of course, that’s everyone’s first impression. But then I was like, I know we are the features section, but this is perhaps too much. I checked with my people on the city desk who deal with crime and legal issues all the time. And they said, “Linda, no! We cannot put that in the paper.” So we plugged it with a different story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960483\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960483\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elijah Alexander and Carrie Paff in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We live in an age of proliferating disinformation. Obviously, most of it is out of your personal control. But do you see your job, in its small way, as protecting truth, and by extension, protecting the importance of truth? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, we certainly try, but it’s crazy. You can just repeat things, and so many people believe them. You can have AI magnify them and make them bigger. And people, when they see it so much, they’re like, “Well, of course it’s true.” They don’t even know what they’re reading, but it looks legitimate and they believe it, and it isn’t. And then they distrust us because people say, “Oh, the \u003cem>media\u003c/em>. The \u003cem>mainstream media\u003c/em>.” Like, maybe we are the mainstream media because we have gone to college, and we’ve studied, and we try hard. But they don’t care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bring back gatekeepers!\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I’m not just pantomiming what you’re saying, I actually think we should bring back gatekeepers. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’d be nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1277px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960479\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1277\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file.jpg 1277w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-800x1203.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-1020x1534.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-1022x1536.jpg 1022w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1277px) 100vw, 1277px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hernán Angulo and Elijah Alexander in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Near the end of this play, the young fact-checker is warning the older editor and writer about this new online paradigm, where you can’t just make things up or fudge facts, because people on Reddit and 4Chan and Twitter will seize upon it and publicize that it’s wrong, and it will be a giant scandal. And I had this very depressing feeling that, while that may have been true at the time, it’s not now. A hundred people could correct the facts online and it would not matter. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. I liked the fact-checker. He was very eager. I thought he was too eager, but he was right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Last question: No one really sees the work you do. What would you like people to understand about your job as a copy editor and fact-checker?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, I’m just reading the newspaper. It’s a little different now with the website, but back in the day, I got to read the paper before people could read the paper. And I’m really just another reader. If something looks iffy to me, it will look iffy to the audience we have. And I want to fix that before it gets out there. There’s less of us now, of course. We have the shrinking staff that everybody has. So it’s a lot of pressure, and maybe it’s underappreciated, but it is important.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ runs through July 21 at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ca href=\"https://www.auroratheatre.org/index.php/shows-events/20232024-season/the-lifespan-of-a-fact\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the world of journalism, a fact-checker performs invisible work. No one, save the writer or editor of a story, really notices it. And yet at the country’s top magazines on down to its remaining newspapers, copy desks engage in that tireless task of reviewing stories for a paramount goal: accuracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bringing this work to the literal spotlight is \u003cem>The Lifespan of a Fact\u003c/em>, a 90-minute play running through July 21 at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre. In it, a magazine writer, fact-checker and editor quarrel over an essay’s tiny details, and how they do, or do not, affect the resonance of its bigger themes. It’s essentially a question about the old Mark Twain maxim, writ large: Should you ever let the truth get in the way of a good story?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file.jpg\" alt=\"A blonde woman in blue sits atop a sofa, while staring at the table along with a bearded man in a grubby T-shirt and a young man sitting at a table.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13941-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Paff, Elijah Alexander and Hernán Angulo in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Linda Houser doesn’t think so. As a 24-year veteran of the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>’s copy desk who fact-checks stories daily, her life is a trifecta of clarity, consistency and accuracy. Which I why I decided to bring her along to see \u003cem>The Lifespan of a Fact\u003c/em>. Who better to “review” the play than the copy chief at the Bay Area’s newspaper of record? (I knew I’d brought the right person when, just before curtain, Houser mused aloud if “lifespan” should be one word or two.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Lifespan of a Fact\u003c/em> opened on Broadway in 2018, and is based on the real-life disputes between writer John D’Agata (played here by Elijah Alexander) and fact-checker Jim Fingal (Hernán Angulo) over a magazine story about a teen suicide. With Carrie Paff as editor Emily Penrose, and directed by Jessica Holt, the play \u003ca href=\"https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/aurora-lifespan-of-a-fact-review-19513552\">takes some liberties\u003c/a> while raising broad questions about human nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After opening night, Houser and I posted up on Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley to talk about it. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960481\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960481\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13937-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hernán Angulo in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED: First things first. Did you like the play? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Linda Houser\u003c/strong>: I did like the play! I kind of liked and hated a couple of the characters, by turns, and so it was very thought-provoking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How true would you say it is to the work that you do, of fact-checking?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a newspaper, we wouldn’t have something quite so scandalous. In the play, the writer’s an essay guy, a magazine guy, and he’s basically writing fiction. We wouldn’t even check some those details, because it would never occur to a daily newspaper journalist to not have the facts right, or to blatantly disregard them, like he does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So the very granular detail of fact-checking in this play — that doesn’t come up at a daily newspaper?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I mean, we do check. But usually when we’re checking, it’s a math error, where people maybe forget about a leap year. Was the date wrong, or was the number of days wrong? Was one of those numbers a typo? Adding is a big part of the job. That’s a lot of what we do, and we hammer that out very easily. There’s no arguing, or flying to Vegas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960480\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960480\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13929-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Paff as magazine editor Emily Penrose in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Was there any part of the play that best illustrated the work that you’ve done for the past 24 years? Where you went, “Yes! That’s what I do!”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t like the kid at first, the fact-checker, because it seemed like he was really trying to make the story about himself. But then he would make a great catch, and find something really important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had a freelance writer a few years ago who filed a feature story. They were quoting an excerpt of something at the beginning, and they said it was Emily Dickinson, or someone like that. And it just didn’t sound right. I checked and it was a Prince lyric. It was the oddest thing ever! We had a good laugh about that one. Like, is it April 1? Because that is ridiculous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Was there an aspect of the play that was off to you? That made you say, “Oh, come on, it’s not like that at all”?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, you know, there were the Triscuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Right, the fact-checker really wanted to know if they were actually eating Triscuits. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know how much of it is the kid going to Harvard. I’ve known some people who went to Harvard and are not that annoying. But I don’t think the Triscuits matter at all, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>That’s the central tension in this play, the debate over whether or not to let facts and accuracy get in the way of a larger truth. And I was a little convinced at times that some details didn’t matter as much as the story’s rhythm, or pacing. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I will say, I feel like the writer didn’t really \u003cem>need\u003c/em> all the numbers that he seemed to need. Even his own editor thought there was something special about the number four.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1277px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1277\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file.jpg 1277w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-800x1203.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-1020x1534.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13933-file-1022x1536.jpg 1022w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1277px) 100vw, 1277px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elijah Alexander as writer John D’Agata in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have there ever been times when you’ve taken a fact out of a story because it seemed incidental or unimportant, and then regretted it later?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No. We did have an editor once on the city desk. His motto was “when in doubt, take it out.” I wouldn’t always loop him in, because sometimes there are things that are nice to have in the story, and he would take it out if it didn’t matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What about additions? The true story that this play is based on, the fact-checking process went on for seven years, partly because new facts came to light. Have you ever had a stop-the-presses moment over new facts that emerged at the last minute that fundamentally changed the story?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, but I did get to kill a story once. I was slotting it, which means the editor had read it, and then the rim copy editor had read it. And this freelancer, a good writer and a respected writer, was writing about someone who’d died. It was this writer’s idea that clearly the wife had done it. They cited some vague facts, and then leapt to a conclusion. They did not talk to the wife, or the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it was very juicy for a minute. I was like, “Oh my gosh, she totally did it.” Of course, that’s everyone’s first impression. But then I was like, I know we are the features section, but this is perhaps too much. I checked with my people on the city desk who deal with crime and legal issues all the time. And they said, “Linda, no! We cannot put that in the paper.” So we plugged it with a different story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960483\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960483\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13939-file-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elijah Alexander and Carrie Paff in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We live in an age of proliferating disinformation. Obviously, most of it is out of your personal control. But do you see your job, in its small way, as protecting truth, and by extension, protecting the importance of truth? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, we certainly try, but it’s crazy. You can just repeat things, and so many people believe them. You can have AI magnify them and make them bigger. And people, when they see it so much, they’re like, “Well, of course it’s true.” They don’t even know what they’re reading, but it looks legitimate and they believe it, and it isn’t. And then they distrust us because people say, “Oh, the \u003cem>media\u003c/em>. The \u003cem>mainstream media\u003c/em>.” Like, maybe we are the mainstream media because we have gone to college, and we’ve studied, and we try hard. But they don’t care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bring back gatekeepers!\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I’m not just pantomiming what you’re saying, I actually think we should bring back gatekeepers. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’d be nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960479\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1277px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960479\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1277\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file.jpg 1277w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-800x1203.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-1020x1534.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/file-13934-file-1022x1536.jpg 1022w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1277px) 100vw, 1277px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hernán Angulo and Elijah Alexander in ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Near the end of this play, the young fact-checker is warning the older editor and writer about this new online paradigm, where you can’t just make things up or fudge facts, because people on Reddit and 4Chan and Twitter will seize upon it and publicize that it’s wrong, and it will be a giant scandal. And I had this very depressing feeling that, while that may have been true at the time, it’s not now. A hundred people could correct the facts online and it would not matter. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. I liked the fact-checker. He was very eager. I thought he was too eager, but he was right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Last question: No one really sees the work you do. What would you like people to understand about your job as a copy editor and fact-checker?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, I’m just reading the newspaper. It’s a little different now with the website, but back in the day, I got to read the paper before people could read the paper. And I’m really just another reader. If something looks iffy to me, it will look iffy to the audience we have. And I want to fix that before it gets out there. There’s less of us now, of course. We have the shrinking staff that everybody has. So it’s a lot of pressure, and maybe it’s underappreciated, but it is important.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ runs through July 21 at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. \u003ca href=\"https://www.auroratheatre.org/index.php/shows-events/20232024-season/the-lifespan-of-a-fact\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Bumpy Return Trip to Oklahoma for Tom Joad’s Descendants",
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"content": "\u003cp>There is a searing urgency to the lyrical poetry and luscious prose of playwright Octavio Solis. In his Berkeley Repertory Theatre debut production of \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em>, each character has a mission to “dale gas,” a Spanish phrase that urges a firm pedal to the metal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite some storytelling that veers into quizzical directions, it’s that very urgency that provides \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em> with its sharpest moments, informed by one of literature’s most decorated novels. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Steinbeck’s Pultizer- and Nobel-winning \u003cem>The Grapes of Wrath\u003c/em> provides the texture for this modern sequel, borne of Solis’ grand imagination and brought to the stage via David Mendizábal’s sharp direction. The 1939 novel’s flawed yet virtuous hero Tom Joad is heavily present in \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em>, as his bloodline runs deep inside his descendant, Martín Jodes (Emilio Garcia-Sanchez). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cher Álvarez (Amelia), James Carpenter (William Joad), and Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Martín Jodes) in ‘Mother Road,’ by Octavio Solis, at Berkeley Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martín doesn’t have much going for himself in California. He struggles to make ends meet as a migrant farmworker, moving from crop to crop. A marriage engagement to Amelia (Cher Álvarez) has gone kaput. So when a man named William Joad (James Carpenter) arrives with a mysterious proposition to bequeath 2,000 acres of Oklahoma land to Joad descendant Martín, the young man joins his older relative in a return trip to Oklahoma on Route 66, which Steinbeck dubbed “The Mother Road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That legendary stretch of highway, which held so much peril for the Joad clan, offered the false and cruel hopes of a California where golden crops and crisp bills grew everywhere. While the Dust Bowl caused tenant farmers to flee Oklahoma in the 1930s due to economic hardship, drought and agricultural shifts, Martín, despite seeing the state as less than desirable, sees it giving his fortunes a massive boost. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That boost is not just reserved to these two road-trip compatriots, with Martín hopeful and William battling life-threatening health issues. The newfound power of Martín means hiring his passion-fueled cousin Mo (Lindsay Rico), who provides a burst of energy essential to any good road trip story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960265\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960265\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Duque-Estrada (Abelardo), Lindsay Rico (Mo), and Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Martín Jodes) in ‘Mother Road,’ by Octavio Solis, at Berkeley Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Joyous moments come as the trio barrels down Route 66 in their beat-up pickup truck. (The truck itself is one of the stars of the show, with many bells and whistles — even a restaurant complete with neon sign, inside the vehicle — designed by Tanya Orellana.) Yet the road is still filled with the dangers of modern society, especially when a brown man and queer brown woman are riding in a sketchy vehicle through unwelcoming locales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who loves \u003cem>The Grapes of Wrath\u003c/em> will be pleased to engage in this adaptation. Several Easter eggs recall the harrowing nature of the Joad family. As in the novel, the dream of acquiring land and the role of protectors expanding in this modern universe is ever-present. There is a luscious excitement in connecting the brutal parallels of Tom and Martín, with each tasked to deliver critical oration that punctuates the story. (Sound by Jake Rodriguez and original music by Ritmos Tropicosmos provide scintillating texture.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Garcia-Sanchez’s performance lacks in variety is made up for by his brooding intensity. Paired with Carpenter, a veteran of the highest order, their chemistry can sometimes be hit-or-miss. They craft a bond that isn’t always fluid, but their willingness to engage and share each of their character’s vulnerabilities pushes the story toward a satisfying, powerful denouement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960263\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Moreland Milligan (Roger), Benny Wayne Sully (Curtis), Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Martín Jodes), Courtney Walsh (Ivy), and Branden Davon Lindsay (James) in ‘Mother Road,’ by Octavio Solis, at Berkeley Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The multiple characterizations of the cast are highlighted beautifully by Álvarez, who lets her various characters breathe inside some powerful discoveries. Solis emphasizes multiple stylings and humor in his narrative; one of the most effective moments comes when Álvarez delivers some critical words in Spanish. Rico’s Mo offers up laughs in some nice setups, while in one embattled moment, her range powerfully comes into play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em> could use a bit of trimming to tighten its narrative, the story still has a gripping power, coming from some of the greatest source material in literature. Solis handles his inspiration from Steinbeck with aplomb, and \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em> accentuates one devastating fact consistently: In a world that has always offered more danger than respite to its most marginalized, sometimes the best thing to do is hit the pavement hard and “dale gas,” no matter what.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Mother Road’ runs through Sunday, July 21 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyrep.org/shows/mother-road/\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There is a searing urgency to the lyrical poetry and luscious prose of playwright Octavio Solis. In his Berkeley Repertory Theatre debut production of \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em>, each character has a mission to “dale gas,” a Spanish phrase that urges a firm pedal to the metal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite some storytelling that veers into quizzical directions, it’s that very urgency that provides \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em> with its sharpest moments, informed by one of literature’s most decorated novels. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Steinbeck’s Pultizer- and Nobel-winning \u003cem>The Grapes of Wrath\u003c/em> provides the texture for this modern sequel, borne of Solis’ grand imagination and brought to the stage via David Mendizábal’s sharp direction. The 1939 novel’s flawed yet virtuous hero Tom Joad is heavily present in \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em>, as his bloodline runs deep inside his descendant, Martín Jodes (Emilio Garcia-Sanchez). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_074-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cher Álvarez (Amelia), James Carpenter (William Joad), and Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Martín Jodes) in ‘Mother Road,’ by Octavio Solis, at Berkeley Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martín doesn’t have much going for himself in California. He struggles to make ends meet as a migrant farmworker, moving from crop to crop. A marriage engagement to Amelia (Cher Álvarez) has gone kaput. So when a man named William Joad (James Carpenter) arrives with a mysterious proposition to bequeath 2,000 acres of Oklahoma land to Joad descendant Martín, the young man joins his older relative in a return trip to Oklahoma on Route 66, which Steinbeck dubbed “The Mother Road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That legendary stretch of highway, which held so much peril for the Joad clan, offered the false and cruel hopes of a California where golden crops and crisp bills grew everywhere. While the Dust Bowl caused tenant farmers to flee Oklahoma in the 1930s due to economic hardship, drought and agricultural shifts, Martín, despite seeing the state as less than desirable, sees it giving his fortunes a massive boost. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That boost is not just reserved to these two road-trip compatriots, with Martín hopeful and William battling life-threatening health issues. The newfound power of Martín means hiring his passion-fueled cousin Mo (Lindsay Rico), who provides a burst of energy essential to any good road trip story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960265\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960265\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_104-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Duque-Estrada (Abelardo), Lindsay Rico (Mo), and Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Martín Jodes) in ‘Mother Road,’ by Octavio Solis, at Berkeley Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Joyous moments come as the trio barrels down Route 66 in their beat-up pickup truck. (The truck itself is one of the stars of the show, with many bells and whistles — even a restaurant complete with neon sign, inside the vehicle — designed by Tanya Orellana.) Yet the road is still filled with the dangers of modern society, especially when a brown man and queer brown woman are riding in a sketchy vehicle through unwelcoming locales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who loves \u003cem>The Grapes of Wrath\u003c/em> will be pleased to engage in this adaptation. Several Easter eggs recall the harrowing nature of the Joad family. As in the novel, the dream of acquiring land and the role of protectors expanding in this modern universe is ever-present. There is a luscious excitement in connecting the brutal parallels of Tom and Martín, with each tasked to deliver critical oration that punctuates the story. (Sound by Jake Rodriguez and original music by Ritmos Tropicosmos provide scintillating texture.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Garcia-Sanchez’s performance lacks in variety is made up for by his brooding intensity. Paired with Carpenter, a veteran of the highest order, their chemistry can sometimes be hit-or-miss. They craft a bond that isn’t always fluid, but their willingness to engage and share each of their character’s vulnerabilities pushes the story toward a satisfying, powerful denouement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960263\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/MTR_137-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Moreland Milligan (Roger), Benny Wayne Sully (Curtis), Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Martín Jodes), Courtney Walsh (Ivy), and Branden Davon Lindsay (James) in ‘Mother Road,’ by Octavio Solis, at Berkeley Rep. \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The multiple characterizations of the cast are highlighted beautifully by Álvarez, who lets her various characters breathe inside some powerful discoveries. Solis emphasizes multiple stylings and humor in his narrative; one of the most effective moments comes when Álvarez delivers some critical words in Spanish. Rico’s Mo offers up laughs in some nice setups, while in one embattled moment, her range powerfully comes into play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em> could use a bit of trimming to tighten its narrative, the story still has a gripping power, coming from some of the greatest source material in literature. Solis handles his inspiration from Steinbeck with aplomb, and \u003cem>Mother Road\u003c/em> accentuates one devastating fact consistently: In a world that has always offered more danger than respite to its most marginalized, sometimes the best thing to do is hit the pavement hard and “dale gas,” no matter what.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Mother Road’ runs through Sunday, July 21 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyrep.org/shows/mother-road/\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sanctuary-play-san-francisco-black-queer-joy-church-dance-mission-theater",
"title": "New Ways of Expressing Black Queer Joy In the Church",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959660\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1228px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13959660 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Singer and thespian, 3LISE, with a fierce black church hat and purple fan.\" width=\"1228\" height=\"1628\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM.png 1228w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-800x1061.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-1020x1352.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-160x212.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-768x1018.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-1159x1536.png 1159w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1228px) 100vw, 1228px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Singer and thespian 3LISE is the music director and songwriter for the play, ‘Sanctuary.’ \u003ccite>(pejamane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During a performance at The Chapel a couple years ago, singer ASTU was in the middle of performing the song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOaSD7_vlAU\">G4U\u003c/a>” when their band broke into a gospel melody. Still in performance mode, ASTU called folks to the front of the venue — and the crowd responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had all these Black gay girls twerking to gospel music,” ASTU reflects, on a recent phone call. “I’m like, ‘This is church, \u003cem>literally\u003c/em>.’ People were just totally free. It was an incredible feeling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959663\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13959663\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29%E2%80%AFAM-800x1066.png\" alt=\"Jaz on Drums at a rehearsal for the play, Sanctuary. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1066\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-800x1066.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-1020x1359.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-160x213.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-768x1023.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-1153x1536.png 1153w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM.png 1234w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaz on Drums at a rehearsal for the play ‘Sanctuary.’ \u003ccite>(pejamane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That feeling inspired the new play ‘\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sanctuary-tickets-available-for-friday-june-14th-saturday-june-15th-tickets-893723831037?\">Sanctuary\u003c/a>\u003c/em>,’ a musical journey through church and spirituality that’s steeped in Afro-fantasy and queer joy. The story, written by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/astu.music/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ASTU\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/isntshelovey/\">Lovey\u003c/a> and made possible by a grant from the \u003ca href=\"https://18thstreet.org/californiacreativecorps/#ASTU\">18th Street Arts Center\u003c/a> and support from \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcenter.org/\">SF LGBT Center\u003c/a>, features original music from ASTU, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/a_r_o_m_a_/\">AroMa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/3lisemusic/\">3LISE\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The message,” ASTU says, “is that we start in victory. On top, in the church.” Part of reimagining spirituality through the church, they explain, is uplifting the idea of coming from abundance, not from a deficit. And with that, the ways in which we connect with the divine can shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13825157']“In the Black church,” says ASTU, “music has been something that has saved us, across the diaspora.” As a former preacher who stepped away from the family practice to pursue their own dream, ASTU says they still enjoy the music — they will literally throw their hands in the air while dancing to gospel. “It just frees you,” ASTU says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they’re clear that showing a new way to express joy in the church — like twerking — might ruffle some feathers. But that’s not going to stop them from doing it. “To reclaim that space as a gay Black femme person, there’s something incredible about that,” says ASTU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13959665\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53%E2%80%AFAM-800x596.png\" alt=\"A behind the scenes shot of Wesley Leonx, Mia Pixley, and Chanelle Ignant rehearsing for the play 'Sanctuary.' \" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-800x596.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-1020x760.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-160x119.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-768x573.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-1536x1145.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-2048x1527.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-1920x1431.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A behind-the-scenes shot of Wesley Leonx, Mia Pixley and Chanelle Ignant rehearsing for the play ‘Sanctuary.’ \u003ccite>(pejamane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the play, as in life, there will be moments of both pain and joy. But what matters in the end is surrendering to ourselves, finding peace and honoring all of the parts of ourselves, says ASTU: “That’s kind of the journey we go on throughout the play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Sanctuary’ runs Friday and Saturday, June 14 and 15, at \u003ca href=\"https://dancemissiontheater.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dance Mission Theater\u003c/a> in San Francisco. Admission is free. \u003ca href=\"https://dancemissiontheater.org/2024/04/18/june-14-15-sanctuary/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959660\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1228px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13959660 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"Singer and thespian, 3LISE, with a fierce black church hat and purple fan.\" width=\"1228\" height=\"1628\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM.png 1228w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-800x1061.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-1020x1352.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-160x212.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-768x1018.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-9.52.09 AM-1159x1536.png 1159w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1228px) 100vw, 1228px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Singer and thespian 3LISE is the music director and songwriter for the play, ‘Sanctuary.’ \u003ccite>(pejamane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During a performance at The Chapel a couple years ago, singer ASTU was in the middle of performing the song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOaSD7_vlAU\">G4U\u003c/a>” when their band broke into a gospel melody. Still in performance mode, ASTU called folks to the front of the venue — and the crowd responded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had all these Black gay girls twerking to gospel music,” ASTU reflects, on a recent phone call. “I’m like, ‘This is church, \u003cem>literally\u003c/em>.’ People were just totally free. It was an incredible feeling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959663\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13959663\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29%E2%80%AFAM-800x1066.png\" alt=\"Jaz on Drums at a rehearsal for the play, Sanctuary. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1066\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-800x1066.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-1020x1359.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-160x213.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-768x1023.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM-1153x1536.png 1153w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.03.29 AM.png 1234w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaz on Drums at a rehearsal for the play ‘Sanctuary.’ \u003ccite>(pejamane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That feeling inspired the new play ‘\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sanctuary-tickets-available-for-friday-june-14th-saturday-june-15th-tickets-893723831037?\">Sanctuary\u003c/a>\u003c/em>,’ a musical journey through church and spirituality that’s steeped in Afro-fantasy and queer joy. The story, written by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/astu.music/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ASTU\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/isntshelovey/\">Lovey\u003c/a> and made possible by a grant from the \u003ca href=\"https://18thstreet.org/californiacreativecorps/#ASTU\">18th Street Arts Center\u003c/a> and support from \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcenter.org/\">SF LGBT Center\u003c/a>, features original music from ASTU, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/a_r_o_m_a_/\">AroMa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/3lisemusic/\">3LISE\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The message,” ASTU says, “is that we start in victory. On top, in the church.” Part of reimagining spirituality through the church, they explain, is uplifting the idea of coming from abundance, not from a deficit. And with that, the ways in which we connect with the divine can shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“In the Black church,” says ASTU, “music has been something that has saved us, across the diaspora.” As a former preacher who stepped away from the family practice to pursue their own dream, ASTU says they still enjoy the music — they will literally throw their hands in the air while dancing to gospel. “It just frees you,” ASTU says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they’re clear that showing a new way to express joy in the church — like twerking — might ruffle some feathers. But that’s not going to stop them from doing it. “To reclaim that space as a gay Black femme person, there’s something incredible about that,” says ASTU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13959665\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53%E2%80%AFAM-800x596.png\" alt=\"A behind the scenes shot of Wesley Leonx, Mia Pixley, and Chanelle Ignant rehearsing for the play 'Sanctuary.' \" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-800x596.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-1020x760.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-160x119.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-768x573.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-1536x1145.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-2048x1527.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-12-at-10.18.53 AM-1920x1431.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A behind-the-scenes shot of Wesley Leonx, Mia Pixley and Chanelle Ignant rehearsing for the play ‘Sanctuary.’ \u003ccite>(pejamane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the play, as in life, there will be moments of both pain and joy. But what matters in the end is surrendering to ourselves, finding peace and honoring all of the parts of ourselves, says ASTU: “That’s kind of the journey we go on throughout the play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Sanctuary’ runs Friday and Saturday, June 14 and 15, at \u003ca href=\"https://dancemissiontheater.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dance Mission Theater\u003c/a> in San Francisco. Admission is free. \u003ca href=\"https://dancemissiontheater.org/2024/04/18/june-14-15-sanctuary/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Biko Eisen-Martin’s New Play Grapples With a 1966 Uprising in Hunters Point",
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"content": "\u003cp>While the Vietnam War raged in 1966, and the onset of California’s prison industrial complex began to ravage Black and low-income communities in a dreadfully systematic way, San Francisco’s Hunters Point residents were hurled onto the frontlines of their own conflict. On Sept. 27 of that year, the Third Street Riot (or \u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Hunters_Point_Uprising\">Hunters Point Uprising\u003c/a>) ignited after an SFPD officer killed Matthew “Peanut” Johnson — a neighborhood teenager the police were pursuing after a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson’s violent — and presumably racially motivated — death ignited a series of community actions that crescendoed with a citywide outbreak of demands for justice. Though largely overlooked in modern history (despite being \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hunter-s-point-san-francisco-uprising-1966/\">the largest riot in San Francisco history at the time\u003c/a>), the event offers a critical look at San Francisco’s decades-long struggles with racial segregation, police brutality and community neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959620\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 727px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959620\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image5.jpeg\" alt=\"Black-and-white headshot of man with facial hair\" width=\"727\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image5.jpeg 727w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image5-160x209.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Biko Eisen-Martin. \u003ccite>(Jeremiah Cumberbatch)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For local actor and filmmaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/saybiko/?hl=en\">Biko Eisen-Martin\u003c/a>, it’s an essential chapter of San Francisco’s past that has yet to be fully excavated by the public. For him, growing up in San Francisco and listening to his family members and elders speak about the revolutionary time inspired Eisen-Martin to write and direct \u003ca href=\"https://www.bikoeisenmartin.com/3rd-palou\">\u003ci>3rd and Palou\u003c/i>\u003c/a> — a community-centered performance premiering as a staged reading at the historic \u003ca href=\"https://rwoh.org/#\">Ruth Williams Opera House\u003c/a> (also known as the Bayview Opera House) on the night of Juneteenth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is based on community testimonies. Right now, there isn’t a pipeline for these stories. This isn’t stuff that is readily available; it hasn’t been properly archived,” Eisen-Martin says. “But it happened right here on Third Street. There were tanks rolling down the streets of San Francisco. There are still bullet holes in the Bayview Opera House from it all. That’s why I wanted to make [the Opera House] ground zero and activate the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Directly inspired by Eisen-Martin’s godmother, Ida McCrae — who was a teenager navigating issues of patriarchy, racism and rising incarceration at the time — the play is a semi-biographical coming-of-age tale that focuses deeply on one woman’s experience, rather than trying to abstractly retell the story of the entire uprising itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[McCrae] is a revolutionary with a long, rich story,” says Eisen-Martin. “This is just a clip of it all. One year before the riots, the Youth Authority opened, \u003ca href=\"https://ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/14214NCJRS.pdf\">a huge prison\u003c/a> where Bay Area youth were sent. Ida was a victim of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a theatrical performance, \u003ci>3rd & Palou\u003c/i> is a dramatized depiction that takes creative liberties. But the core of McCrae’s story — who Eisen-Martin interviewed extensively while scripting his play — is central to much larger truths about Northern California’s Black communities, going far beyond just Hunters Point (the riots eventually spilled into other Black neighborhoods around San Francisco).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959621\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 618px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959621\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image4.jpeg\" alt=\"Black-and-white photograph of police crouched in street with guns while people stand in doorway of building \" width=\"618\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image4.jpeg 618w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image4-160x104.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Bayview-Hunters Point Community Center under siege during the 1966 uprising. \u003ccite>(Photo by Jean-Antony Du Lac; Courtesy San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a moment in time but it’s also a microcosm of what we still see today,” he continues. “At the time, learning about imperialism was at the forefront of popular consciousness. Reading political magazines was a day to day thing, not just a subculture. [During the testimonies], I really could see the love the community had for each other back then. We need an entire curriculum, films, books about this. I’m just trying to be a spark; it’s a big, old oven full of stuff, and this is just the preheating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13958706']Additional research on Eisen-Martin’s part included correspondence with Stanford PhD candidate \u003ca href=\"https://history.stanford.edu/people/aliyah-dunn-salahuddin\">Aliyah Dunn-Salahuddin\u003c/a> — who was formerly the head of the African American Studies department at the City College of San Francisco. Her dissertation, “A Forgotten Community, A Forgotten History: San Francisco’s 1966 Uprising” was excerpted in \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://nyupress.org/9781479820337/the-strange-careers-of-the-jim-crow-north/\">The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle Outside of the South\u003c/a>\u003c/i>, which Eisen-Martin heavily referenced while weaving together various threads for his own work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former teacher at Berkeley High School and a product of the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/\">Youth Speaks\u003c/a> program for rising poets, Eisen-Martin has been comfortable with standing in front of an audience since he was able to walk. His mother, Arlene Eisen, was active in exposing Biko’s (as well as his older brother, San Francisco’s Poet Laureate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893308/tongo-eisen-martin-on-a-poets-role-in-a-protest\">Tongo Eisen-Martin\u003c/a>) to the Bay Area’s diverse tapestry of arts, activism and community organizing. Offering free acting classes and directly asking for the community’s feedback is a part of Biko’s everyday existence as a writer and actor with generational ties to Frisco’s Black histories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In both San Francisco and New York City — where the artist splits his time working and performing — Eisen-Martin is all too familiar with the erasure of not just the arts, but the deep-seated stories in communities who have long fostered them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great feeling to do a show off Broadway, being in New York and spilling out into the street with all the big lights, but there’s something to being in your own community and activating the future of your community with a craft you love and watching others fall in love with it, too,” says Eisen-Martin. “We don’t need the big lights, they need us. Some of the work gets shine, some doesn’t; but the work is what has a lasting impression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eisen-Martin makes clear that he doesn’t have any answers. But, as poets and artists in times of struggle often do, he’s willing to ask questions in search of catharsis and healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>‘3rd & Palou’ takes place as a free staged reading at the \u003ca href=\"https://rwoh.org/#\">Ruth Williams Opera House\u003c/a> (4705 Third St., San Francisco) on June 19, 2024 at 7 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>While the Vietnam War raged in 1966, and the onset of California’s prison industrial complex began to ravage Black and low-income communities in a dreadfully systematic way, San Francisco’s Hunters Point residents were hurled onto the frontlines of their own conflict. On Sept. 27 of that year, the Third Street Riot (or \u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Hunters_Point_Uprising\">Hunters Point Uprising\u003c/a>) ignited after an SFPD officer killed Matthew “Peanut” Johnson — a neighborhood teenager the police were pursuing after a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson’s violent — and presumably racially motivated — death ignited a series of community actions that crescendoed with a citywide outbreak of demands for justice. Though largely overlooked in modern history (despite being \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hunter-s-point-san-francisco-uprising-1966/\">the largest riot in San Francisco history at the time\u003c/a>), the event offers a critical look at San Francisco’s decades-long struggles with racial segregation, police brutality and community neglect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959620\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 727px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959620\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image5.jpeg\" alt=\"Black-and-white headshot of man with facial hair\" width=\"727\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image5.jpeg 727w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image5-160x209.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Biko Eisen-Martin. \u003ccite>(Jeremiah Cumberbatch)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For local actor and filmmaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/saybiko/?hl=en\">Biko Eisen-Martin\u003c/a>, it’s an essential chapter of San Francisco’s past that has yet to be fully excavated by the public. For him, growing up in San Francisco and listening to his family members and elders speak about the revolutionary time inspired Eisen-Martin to write and direct \u003ca href=\"https://www.bikoeisenmartin.com/3rd-palou\">\u003ci>3rd and Palou\u003c/i>\u003c/a> — a community-centered performance premiering as a staged reading at the historic \u003ca href=\"https://rwoh.org/#\">Ruth Williams Opera House\u003c/a> (also known as the Bayview Opera House) on the night of Juneteenth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is based on community testimonies. Right now, there isn’t a pipeline for these stories. This isn’t stuff that is readily available; it hasn’t been properly archived,” Eisen-Martin says. “But it happened right here on Third Street. There were tanks rolling down the streets of San Francisco. There are still bullet holes in the Bayview Opera House from it all. That’s why I wanted to make [the Opera House] ground zero and activate the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Directly inspired by Eisen-Martin’s godmother, Ida McCrae — who was a teenager navigating issues of patriarchy, racism and rising incarceration at the time — the play is a semi-biographical coming-of-age tale that focuses deeply on one woman’s experience, rather than trying to abstractly retell the story of the entire uprising itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[McCrae] is a revolutionary with a long, rich story,” says Eisen-Martin. “This is just a clip of it all. One year before the riots, the Youth Authority opened, \u003ca href=\"https://ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/14214NCJRS.pdf\">a huge prison\u003c/a> where Bay Area youth were sent. Ida was a victim of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a theatrical performance, \u003ci>3rd & Palou\u003c/i> is a dramatized depiction that takes creative liberties. But the core of McCrae’s story — who Eisen-Martin interviewed extensively while scripting his play — is central to much larger truths about Northern California’s Black communities, going far beyond just Hunters Point (the riots eventually spilled into other Black neighborhoods around San Francisco).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959621\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 618px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959621\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image4.jpeg\" alt=\"Black-and-white photograph of police crouched in street with guns while people stand in doorway of building \" width=\"618\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image4.jpeg 618w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/image4-160x104.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Bayview-Hunters Point Community Center under siege during the 1966 uprising. \u003ccite>(Photo by Jean-Antony Du Lac; Courtesy San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s a moment in time but it’s also a microcosm of what we still see today,” he continues. “At the time, learning about imperialism was at the forefront of popular consciousness. Reading political magazines was a day to day thing, not just a subculture. [During the testimonies], I really could see the love the community had for each other back then. We need an entire curriculum, films, books about this. I’m just trying to be a spark; it’s a big, old oven full of stuff, and this is just the preheating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Additional research on Eisen-Martin’s part included correspondence with Stanford PhD candidate \u003ca href=\"https://history.stanford.edu/people/aliyah-dunn-salahuddin\">Aliyah Dunn-Salahuddin\u003c/a> — who was formerly the head of the African American Studies department at the City College of San Francisco. Her dissertation, “A Forgotten Community, A Forgotten History: San Francisco’s 1966 Uprising” was excerpted in \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://nyupress.org/9781479820337/the-strange-careers-of-the-jim-crow-north/\">The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle Outside of the South\u003c/a>\u003c/i>, which Eisen-Martin heavily referenced while weaving together various threads for his own work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former teacher at Berkeley High School and a product of the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/\">Youth Speaks\u003c/a> program for rising poets, Eisen-Martin has been comfortable with standing in front of an audience since he was able to walk. His mother, Arlene Eisen, was active in exposing Biko’s (as well as his older brother, San Francisco’s Poet Laureate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893308/tongo-eisen-martin-on-a-poets-role-in-a-protest\">Tongo Eisen-Martin\u003c/a>) to the Bay Area’s diverse tapestry of arts, activism and community organizing. Offering free acting classes and directly asking for the community’s feedback is a part of Biko’s everyday existence as a writer and actor with generational ties to Frisco’s Black histories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In both San Francisco and New York City — where the artist splits his time working and performing — Eisen-Martin is all too familiar with the erasure of not just the arts, but the deep-seated stories in communities who have long fostered them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great feeling to do a show off Broadway, being in New York and spilling out into the street with all the big lights, but there’s something to being in your own community and activating the future of your community with a craft you love and watching others fall in love with it, too,” says Eisen-Martin. “We don’t need the big lights, they need us. Some of the work gets shine, some doesn’t; but the work is what has a lasting impression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eisen-Martin makes clear that he doesn’t have any answers. But, as poets and artists in times of struggle often do, he’s willing to ask questions in search of catharsis and healing.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>‘3rd & Palou’ takes place as a free staged reading at the \u003ca href=\"https://rwoh.org/#\">Ruth Williams Opera House\u003c/a> (4705 Third St., San Francisco) on June 19, 2024 at 7 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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