Theater review: ‘Goldfish’ West Coast premiere at Magic Theatre

The Bay Area Premiere of "Goldfish" is a gritty and heart wrenching study by playwright John Kolvenbach into the bonds that unite us as fathers, mothers, sons and daughters and what happens when change threatens them. Leo (Rod Gnapp) is the father to a loving teenage son, Albert (Andrew Pastides)....

Theater review: ‘The Chosen’ an ideological evening

With 'The Chosen,' TheatreWorks' latest production tackles large issues, including the Holocaust, faith, and Zionism. Not bad for a Saturday night. As stage entertainment, however, it delivers mixed results. On the one hand, intensity and poignancy abound as two teenage boys and their fathers search for their place in a...

Theater review: ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at Coastal Repertory Theatre

How would you remember your past? In 'The Glass Menagerie', Tennessee Williams' first successful play as a playwright, we are drawn into the very personal memories of Tom Wingfield (Peter K. Owen) as he recalls his earlier life living with his loving, but often overbearing, mother and his shy, crippled...

Theater review: ‘First Day of School’ brings laughs

"Would you like to have sex with me?" David (Bill English) walks the school grounds asking other parents and watches as they react to his direct approach. Meanwhile his wife Susan (Zehra Berkman) is doing the exact thing across the lot, ending up eventually in a bagel shop, before their...

Theater review: ‘The Pillowman’ a horrifically good time

Stephen King, your play is ready. Martin McDonagh, winner of an Olivier Award for best new play, brilliantly mixes black comedy, horror and crime drama into an innovative, and often disturbing, script. Throughout the opening night I kept thinking to myself that it would make a good little horror flick...

Theater review: ‘American Idiot’ an energetic journey

The lead actor John Gallagher, Jr., although looking more Jay Kay than Billie Joe, puts 110% into his role as the despondent teen looking to escape suburbia.

‘The Last Days of Judas Iscariot’: Wickedly hilarious and provocatively profound

Even before I stepped into the theater, the premise of this piece intrigued me. The entire play is set in purgatory, the place between heaven and hell where, according to the production's playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, a Judge Littlefield (Bill Davidovich) has presided for over 140 years providing the last...

Theater review: ‘Brief Encounter’ a masterful composition of classic cinema and theater

Lights, camera, action! The romance of classic cinema—think Humphrey Bogart—married with the immersion of live theatre whisked me off for a brief rendezvous. It started innocently as any other theatre visit to the ACT on opening night; some murmur of excitement is always expected with the rolling out of the...

The British Are Coming to A.C.T. with Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter

Kneehigh Theatre's groundbreaking production melds film, theater, and Noël Coward songs. This unique theater event commemorates the legacy of A.C.T.'s historic home as a movie theater during its 100th-anniversary celebratory season. SAN FRANCISCO, CA, July 22, 2009—American Conservatory Theater(A.C.T.) launches its exciting 2009–10 season with the U.S. premiere of the...

Manoel Felciano Joins A.C.T. Core Acting Company

From TheaterMania: Tony nominee Manoel Felciano has joined the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)'s core acting company, and will be playing three roles on its mainstage this season. He will be appearing as The Representative of the National Association of Turkey and Turkey Products Manufacturers in David Mamet's November(October 23-November 15, 2009); as Azdak...