The Moor the Merrier

Three local companies present three very different takes on Othello this summer.
Read my feature story in Oakland Magazine and Alameda Magazine. Read more
Good “Fences” from Good Neighbors

Cal Shakes’s Fences brings maternal power to a tale of fathers and sons.
Read my review in the East Bay Times and Mercury News. Read more
Tell Me of Your Dreaming

Cal Shakes goes back to the Golden Age of Spanish drama with Life Is a Dream.
Hot Plays for Hot Days

Way over yonder on KQED Arts, I give a few recommendations of plays and musicals not to miss this summer. Head on over and
Daisey Does Shakespeare

Mike Daisey is back with four separate monologues about the Bard’s great tragedies.
Read my review on KQED Arts. Read more
The Great Outdoors

Outdoor theater is everywhere you look this summer, and every summer. I give you the lowdown on KQED Arts.
Seven Against Illyria

A magnificent seven local actors–all female–take on Shakespeare’s ever-durable comedy Twelfth Night. My review is on KQED Arts.
Lady Windermere’s Fan Club

A stunning local cast makes a sparkling Oscar Wilde classic a must-see at Cal Shakes. You can read my review over on KQED Arts.
American History Mex

California Shakespeare Theater’s season opener, Richard Montoya’s American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose, is completely bonkers. KQED Arts has my review.
Embarrassment of Riches

Boy, this was a hard year to reduce to a Top Ten. When I look over the list of the 117 shows I attended in 2012, eight strike me as shoo-ins for the list, and then there are fifteen other shows vying for the remaining two slots. Mind you, that’s a good problem to have; there really was a lot of good theater in the Bay Area this year—and, of course, some so-so and not very good theater as well. And of course there’s not any inherent virtue in the vast theaterscape of 2012 being reducible to a list in the first place, so maybe I should quit my kvetching, suck it up, and get to it. Although I’m restricting myself to ten, these shows aren’t ranked or numbered and are listed in chronological order.