Southern Dialectic
The Apotheosis of Pig Husbandry is an unwieldy name for a play. But it’s just about right for a scholarly treatise, which is what the object of the same name is within the world of William Bivins’s “agricultural noir” play on SF Playhouse’s Second Stage.
Ain’t Over Till the Bald Puppeteer Bows
THEATER REVIEW: SAN FRANCISCO
Show #58: Harlekin, Derevo/San Francisco International Arts Festival, May 20.
Mountain High Rollers
I reviewed this one for Thursday’s Marin Independent Journal, so pick up a copy if you’re in the North Bay or check it out online.
It’s a Beautiful Day in the Barrio
Like a lot of theater fans, I got hooked on the late Canadian TV show Slings and Arrows, a thinly veiled parody of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival involving some of the same people who created The Drowsy Chaperone. One problematic consequence is that any new urban musical inevitably reminds me of the ridiculously over-the-top East Hastings: The Musical shown on that series.
The Waking Point
It’s a good thing that Lisa Kron’s new play has been renamed since its premiere this March at L.A.’s Kirk Douglas Theatre. Down there it was called The Wake, which is misleading because although a funeral is mentioned at one point, it’s not really a major plot point. Now that the world premiere production has come to Berkeley Rep it’s called In the Wake, which may be a bit cryptic but is more apt, as ultimately the play deals with the damage each of us leaves in his or her wake like Godzillas of emotion.
New Review Zoo
I reviewed both ACT and AlterTheater’s new shows for today’s Marin Independent Journal, so you can check out my Round and Round the Garden review here and my Owners review here. Or pick up a copy if you’re in the North Bay, because it looks way better in print.
