How can we trust in love if it’s reducible to brain chemistry?

Ilana Walder-Biesanz reviews Vietgone, American Conservatory Theater's (A.C.T.) latest production, now playing at The Strand in San Francisco. Humor is not what you’d expect from a play about the Vietnam War, but Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone consistently had the whole audience in stitches. Inspired by his own family history (“Any resemblance...

Widowers’ Houses is, by Shaw’s own categorization, a “play unpleasant.” No one on the stage is remotely likeable. Certainly not Blanche (Megan Trout), the spoiled young lady with a temper so violent that she beats her maid. Her on-and-off fiancé Trench (Dan Hoyle) is perpetually slack-jawed, a Bertie Wooster without...

Chances are many of your favorite childhood memories are triggered by a certain smell or sound. In my case, like Mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies, perfect for a stormy winter night in Ottawa. Or, my grandfather filling the night sky in the backyard with a whimsical solo on his...

In Review: Man of La Mancha at Custom Made Theatre Co., San Francisco. Don Quixote has no shortage of adaptations – cinematic, balletic, theatrical, and operatic – and all draw on different aspects of Cervantes’ famous novel. The 1964 musical Man of La Mancha shows Cervantes awaiting trial by the...

Fans of magic, get ready for some of San Francisco's best. EXIT Theatre has announced its annual Fog City Magic Fest will run January 24-27, 2018. Festival co-founder Jay Alexander (The Marrakech Magic Theater) kicks things off with a performance at the opening night gala on Wednesday, January 24. Magicians and stars...

“A fun weeknight out @cirquedusoleil with the kiddos and my parents  🏟 #LUZIA" Cirque du Soleil's new show Luzia – A Waking Dream of Mexico apparently has Jessica Alba's seal of approval. The actress and model Heidi Klum attended the Los Angeles premiere at Dodger Stadium, and were spotted earlier on the red carpet....

The Bay Area’s favorite holiday tradition returns as American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) presents the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. Now in its 41st year at A.C.T., A Christmas Carol welcomes the return of James Carpenter as Ebenezer Scrooge and Ken Ruta as the ghost of Jacob Marley. Last weekend...

Lead photo: (front row, l to r) Jonah Horowitz (Bodo Muller), Emma Curtin (Babette Muller), and Elijah Alexander (Kurt Muller); (back row, l to r) Sarah Agnew (Sara Muller) and Silas Sellnow (Joshua Muller) in Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine at Berkeley Rep. It makes sense that Lillian Hellman’s 1941...

The enthusiastic San Francisco audience went “crazy” with excitement.