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THEATRE NEWS FOR SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Posted by:	Richard Connema 11:56 am EDT 07/27/14

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 23rd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Gina Gionfriddo’s (After Ashley, Becky Shaw) RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN. Can any woman have it all? After graduate school, Catherine and Gwen chose different paths. Catherine built a career as a rock star academic and media darling, writing books linking Internet pornography with 9/11, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other’s life. When Catherine returns home to look after her ailing mother, a risky game of musical chairs begins as three generations of women struggle with feminism’s foibles. A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2012. Called “An intensely smart, immensely funny new play” by The New York Times and hailed as Gionfriddo’s “most gleefully heedless and hilariously uncalculated foray into the un-politically-correct thus far” by New York Magazine, this sharp, witty comedy examines the pursuit of happiness in the wake of 20th century feminist ideals. Desdemona Chiang (The Hundred Flowers Project) makes her Aurora directing debut with this unflinching look at modern gender politics, featuring Gabriel Marin (This Is How It Goes), Rebecca Schweitzer (A Delicate Balance, The First Grade), Marilee Talkington (Salomania), Lilian Bogovich, and Nicole Javier. DATES: Previews: August 29, 30, September 3 at 8pm; August 31 at 2pm; September 2 at 7pm Opens: September 4, 2014 Post-show Talkbacks: September 9, 11, 17, 26 Closes: September 28 SHOWS: Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm and 7pm WHERE: Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA TICKETS: For tickets (Previews $35; Regular Performances $32-50; Limited Opening Night Seating $60) the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. Half-off tickets for Under 35, student, and group discounts available. ######################################## SMUIN BALLET OPENS 21ST SEASON WITH “UNTAMED” DANCE SERIES Program includes: Serenade for Strings by Garrett Ammon Objects of Curiosity by Amy Seiwert Frankie & Johnny by Michael Smuin PALACE OF FINE ARTS THEATRE, SAN FRANCISCO October 3-11, 2014 Smuin Ballet will kick off its 21st Season October 3-11 at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts with its Untamed Dance Series. The program features the West Coast premiere of Serenade for Strings by Wonderbound (formerly Ballet Nouveau Colorado) Artistic Director and choreographer Garrett Ammon, set to Tchaikovsky’s breathtaking score. Premiered by Ballet Nouveau Colorado in 2013 as part of a collaborative evening entitled Perpetual Beauty, Serenade for Strings uses movement to reflect the intensity and precision evident in Tchaikovsky’s composition. Also on the Untamed bill is Objects of Curiosity, an evocative ballet by Choreographer-in-Residence Amy Seiwert, set to a delicate score by Philip Glass and Foday Muso Suso. Given its World Premiere in 2007 by Smuin Ballet, Objects of Curiosity examines the tensions between desire and restraint, mirroring the tension of the music in an exploration of shape and form. Smuin Ballet also brings back the tempestuous story ballet Frankie & Johnny. In this sinister Latin saga, Michael Smuin combined authentic Mambo with traditional ballet to tell the story of Frankie and her faithless lover, Johnny. Accompanied by music from some of the biggest names in Latin and Mambo music, Frankie’s desires run wild in a dance that melds American Jazz idiom and Smuin’s trademark storytelling in a piece Michael Smuin dedicated to the legendary dancer/choreographer Gene Kelly. (NOTE: this ballet contains material that is intended for mature audiences.) This program repeats in March, 2015 in Walnut Creek, Mountain View, and Carmel. WHERE: Palace of Fine Arts Theatre 3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco WHEN: October 3-11, 2014 Friday, October 3 at 8pm Saturday, October 4 at 2pm and 8pm Sunday, October 5 at 2pm Thursday, October 9 at 8pm Friday, October 10 at 8pm Saturday, October 11 at 8pm TICKETS: For single tickets ($24-$67) or season subscriptions ($120-$174), the public can call 415.912.1899 or visit the Smuin Ballet website at www.smuinballet.org. ############################## LGBTQ Issues Explored in Three Shows at 23nd Annual San Francisco Fringe Festival, Sept 5-20 Three works come to grips with love, family, spirituality, isolation, disability, and death Every year, the San Francisco Fringe Festival attracts a number of shows that explore subjects pertinent to the LGBTQ community. 2014 is no exception, with three works - a four-character drama and two solo shows - that focus on LGBT issues. All 2014 SF Fringe performances take place at the EXIT Theatreplex, 156 Eddy Street in downtown San Francisco. Love At Home by Mary Matoula Webb will come directly from a month at the New York International Fringe Festival. Playwright Webb asks, “can a Lesbian and a Mormon find love at home?” Follow two sisters from their early teens in the 1990′s to their adulthood in the summer after Proposition 8 was passed, as they struggle to find a loving space between faith and family. A challenging play that questions the complexities of a unique religion in the face of massive social change. Actor/playwright Webb is a Bay Area native now living in New York City. Three of the four cast members, Cat Cabral, Denise Hungerford, and Richard Harrison Webb, are New York actors, and Tygar Hicks, who plays Diana, is from the Bay Area. Love at Home plays on the EXIT Theatre Mainstage on the following days: FRIDAY SEPT 5 at 7:00 PM TUESDAY SEPT 9 at 7:00 PM WEDNESDAY SEPT 10 at 7:00 PM THURSDAY SEPT 11 at 9:00 PM SUNDAY SEPT 14 at 9:00 PM The show runs 90 minutes; tickets are $10 ($12.99 online) Matthew Shepard Meets Coyote by Harry Cronin presents Coyote, the trickster god of the Native American People is sent by the ‘Great Spirit’ to visit Matthew Shepherd, beaten and left for dead in a deserted field outside Laramie, Wyoming. Coyote’s task is to inspire Matthew to move away from the cruel tricks life has played on him. The solo show, directed by Alan S. Quismorio, blends Christianity, Native American folklore, and modern spirituality. Playwright Cronin interprets the final moments of Matthew Shepard’s life as manipulated by the trickster god of the American West as performed in a witty and poignant solo performance by Christopher P. Kelly. The show is a production of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS) and the Center for Art, Religion, and Education (CARE) in Berkeley. Matthew Shepard Meets Coyote plays at EXIT Stage Left on the following days: FRIDAY SEPT 5 at 9:00 PM SUNDAY SEPT 14 at 4:30 PM WEDNESDAY SEPT 17 at 7:00 PM SATURDAY SEPT 20 at 1:00 PM The show runs 55 minutes; tickets are $10 ($12.99 online) My Body Love Story by Berkeleyite Dominika Bednarska chronicles the most important relationships we have: the one with our own body. Queer disabled femme Bednarska’s solo performance takes us through dance floors, shopping malls, and theaters to tell the story of how she learned to love her body. This isn’t a simple story about hating your body, then loving it, but about the body and the self attempting to get along. Be prepared for rhinestones, storytelling, dancing, and many laughs! My Body Love Story plays at EXIT Stage Left on the following days: SATURDAY SEPT 6 at 4:30 PM SUNDAY SEPT 7 at 9:00 PM SATURDAY SEPT 13 at 2:30 PM FRIDAY SEPT 19 at 7:00 PM The show runs 60 minutes; tickets are $10 ($12.99 online) Tickets for all three shows, and the other 32 shows in the 2014 San Francisco Fringe Festival, are available at www.sffringe.org ####################################### Just Theater Presents the World Premiere In From The Cold by Jonathan Spectordirected by Christine Young Nov 1 – 23 (Press Nite Monday, Nov 3)(Previews Nov 1 & 2) Live Oak Theater Live Oak Theatre - Live Oak Park 1301 Shattuck Ave, (at Berryman) North Berkeley, CA 94709 JUST THEATER (JT) presents the World Premiere of In From The Cold by Jonathan Spector, opening with a press night on Monday, November 3 (Previews Nov 1 & 2) running through November 23 in the Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck Ave (at Berryman) in North Berkeley, in which a Cold War spy’s past maybe isn’t past after all, the secret meaning of 80s movies is revealed, and its Ladies Night at Chilis. In From The Cold is a funny and provocative new play about what is means when you used to mean a lot, and now you don’t mean much anymore. Following up on it’s hit production of A Maze, Just Theater brings this hilarious, troubling new work inspired by the little known true story of the Cold-War’s biggest spy. In From The Cold exposes the personal consequences of political actions and asks deep questions about the trade-offs we make in the name of our ideals. In From The Cold gives life to the actions of a former spy, playing out when a prodigal son returns home to take up residence in the basement with both funny and tragic results. ”A few years ago I discovered that one of the biggest spies from the Cold War had lived in hiding across the street from my suburban high school, and that I’d actually met him a few times. I'm always interested in people who are caught up in moments of great historical change, and in the incongruity of the large social forces and mundane everyday life - like the fact that this guy who may have prevented WWIII still had to worry about moving his car on Tuesdays for street sweeping.” remarks playwright and Just Theater Co-Artistic Director Jonathan Spector. In From The Cold is directed by Christine Young, featuring Seton Brown, Julian Lopez-Morillas, Harold Pierce, Sarah Moser, David Sinaiko (Actors Equity). ########################### OREGON SHAKESPEARE NEWS: OSF to Host Shakespeare on the Road Road trip to 14 North American Shakespeare festivals includes stop in Ashland July 28-August 1 .— The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) will host four Shakespeare on the Road travelers July 28-August 1, 2014, as part of the group’s 60-day, 10,000-mile road trip to 14 Shakespeare festivals in the U.S. and Canada to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. During their Ashland visit, Shakespeare on the Road members will get an in-depth look at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, both on stage and behind the scenes. The traveling team includes Dr. Paul Edmondson, Head of Research and Knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon; Dr. Paul Prescott, Reader in English at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom), AJ Leon, Founder and Chief Maker of Trouble at the “nomadic creative shop” Misfit, Inc.; and Melissa Leon, Chief of Staff at Misfit, Inc. They began their road trip July 4 at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Kansas City and will finish it in Washington, D.C., in early September. “The amount of Shakespearean theatre-making in America dwarves that of any other country, the UK included, said Dr. Paul Prescott, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick. Every summer, from sea to shining sea—and at all points in between—from spit-and-sawdust performances in local parks to slick professional productions in reconstructed Elizabethan playhouses, the Bard busts out all over the USA. This trip will take the pulse of Shakespeare in America over the course of one remarkable summer in 2014 and is a perfect way of celebrating his enduring popularity and the 450th anniversary of his birth.” The team is gathering material for a book, podcasts and a radio program and mapping the trip on the Shakespeare on the Road website through interviews, photos and short blogs. While at OSF, they will see Richard III, The Comedy of Errors and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, tour the campus, and meet with various departments. On July 30 at 10:30 a.m. in Carpenter Hall, the Shakespeare on the Road travelers will present the Festival with a commemorative plaque made from a piece of a cedar tree that grew in the garden of Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. This welcoming ceremony will be followed by a Festival Noons lecture by Dr. Prescott titled "Bard in the USA: A Summer on the Road in Search of Shakespeare, with Some Thoughts on OSF's Richard III.” “We’re thrilled that the traveling troupe known as Shakespeare on the Road is coming to our town,” said Dr. Lue Douthit, OSF’s Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy. “It isn’t often that we get visits from scholars across the pond, and we’re excited to show them what we’ve been up over here. They are fascinated with America’s fascination with Shakespeare and I can’t think of a better ‘laboratory’ to study audiences than at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which has THE BEST audiences in the world.”

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