Charlie Varon News

Palo Alto Players for the first time in its recent history will premiere an original one-man show by Bay Area actor Fred Pitts. AREN’T YOU…? recounts Pitts’ hilarious journey to visit all 21 California Mission churches, where he discovers being black makes him an instant celebrity – the question is which one?

Fan favorite Dan Hoyle returns to The Marsh for an intimate night of online theater, comedy, and community with an experimental workshop, Talk to Your People, available to stream via MarshStream.

Author, storyteller, and former Palo Alto history teacher Ron Jones returns to The Marsh for performance excerpts of three works (Breanna, Birds, and Escape) that touch on the topics of race, family, love, living through the COVID-19 pandemic, and more on Stephanie's MarshStream.

If your former spouse wrote a book describing how they left you to take up with someone else, even quoting your personal letters during the breakup – what would you do? That is the tantalizing question explored by Lynne Kaufman in her newest play, 'Divine Madness,' debuting January 30th and 31st on MarshStream. Local stage favorites Julia McNeal and Charles Shaw Robinson will play the roles of celebrated writer Elizabeth Hardwick and poet Robert Lowell, who had a long and intensely complicated marriage. Lowell went on the win the Pulitzer for this work, while Hardwick was left destroyed. What are the chances you would reunite after that kind of public betrayal? BroadwayWorld spoke with Kaufman from her home in San Francisco to learn more about what prompted her to write about Hardwick and Lowell, and also to talk about her long and productive partnership with The Marsh, where her play Who Killed Sylvia Plath? recently won top honors at the The MarshStream International Solo Fest. Kaufman is a terrific conversationalist, at once uncommonly erudite and naturally chatty. It is also clear that she is a born storyteller. Even the simplest question can lead her to unexpected places, like a fascinating tale of meeting spiritual guru Ram Dass in Hawaii.

Kathryn Keats is turning a harrowing experience into a positive message of hope with her new, solo stage musical, 'The Hummingbird,' premiering on Thursday, October 8 on ZOOM as part of the MarshStream International Solo Fest in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Marsh announces the line-up for its first-ever digital global festival, MarshStream International Solo Fest, presenting performers aged 16 to 79 from across the nation and around the world, including Russia, Scotland, Israel, Canada, and Australia, as well as some of The Marsh's fan-favorites in a four day online marathon of 51 global works.

The Marsh continues to offer a wide variety of new programming at 7:30pm nightly on MarshStream, its popular broadcast platform.

GRANDMA & ME: An Ode to Single Parents is the sixth performance for Brian Copeland presents The Best of San Francisco Solo Series 2019/20 in partnership with The Marin Cultural Association at The Marin Center's Showcase Theater.

Returning from a triumphant six-week run Off-Broadway, Border People will be presented at The Marsh Berkeley for a limited run. The newest solo show by award-winning actor and playwright Dan Hoyle, this hit is based on Hoyle's conversations with immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and border crossers of all kinds.

The Marsh San Francisco presents Aren't Youa???, the newest solo show by actor Fred Pitts recounting his hilarious journey to visit all 21 California Mission churches, where he discovers being black makes him an instant celebrity a?" the question is which one? Set in the Summer of 2012, Pitts finds himself at one Mission after the next, encountering docents and fellow tourists.

The Marsh San Francisco presents GRANDMA & ME: An Ode to Single Parents, the highly anticipated new solo show by award-winning playwright and actor Brian Copeland (Not a Genuine Black Man, The Waiting Period, The Scion, The Jewelry Box). Copeland, whose critically-acclaimed Not a Genuine Black Man has earned the title of longest running solo show in San Francisco history, unveils a new work that examines the issues of single parenting, and asks what it truly means to be a father.

What They Said About Love by Steve Budd is the fifth performance for Brian Copeland presents The Best of San Francisco Solo Series 2019/20 in partnership with The Marin Cultural Association at The Marin Center's Showcase Theater. This absorbing solo play will be presented on Sunday, February 23, 2020 (7pm) at The Marin Center's Showcase Theater.

Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director) has named a new director for the Off Broadway premiere of acclaimed play 'Border People.' The award-winning production by playwright and actor Dan Hoyle will be directed by Nicole A. Watson (Round House Theatre a?" Maryland). 

The Marsh Berkeley celebrates Black History month with a special, one-night-only performance of Not a Genuine Black Man, the longest running solo show in San Francisco theater history. This funny, honest, and harrowing piece by award-winning actor, playwright, and talk show host Brian Copeland recounts the struggles Copeland faced growing up in what was declared one of the most racist suburbs in America.

The Marsh San Francisco has added three free performances of Brian Copeland's The Waiting Period, due to ongoing support from a GoFundMe campaign and generous corporate contributions from Summit Bank, Clint Reilly Associates, The Handlery Hotel Union Square in San Francisco, Fremont Bank, OSIsoft, and Galvan and Associates in San Leandro.

Working Theater (Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director) has named a new director for the Off Broadway premiere of 'Border People.' The award-winning production by playwright and actor Dan Hoyle will be directed by Nicole A. Watson (Round House Theatre - Maryland).

In preparation for its transfer to Off-Broadway for a six-week run at the end of January 2020, Border People will return for one final limited run at The Marsh San Francisco. The newest solo show by award-winning actor and playwright Dan Hoyle, this hit is based on Hoyle's conversations with immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and border crossers of all kinds.

Working Theater will transfer new play, BORDER PEOPLE, currently playing at The Marsh San Francisco to Off Broadway A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 W 53rd Street) as part of the company's 35th anniversary season, where it is scheduled to begin previews January 25, prior to its official opening on January 30.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??The second performance for Brian Copeland Presents The Best of San Francisco Solo Series 2019/20 in partnership with The Marin Cultural Association at The Marin Center's Showcase Theater is Diane Barne's solo show My Stroke of Luck. A captivating tale of a harrowing recovery. Not everyone knows that the average person loses 1.9 million brain cells every minute a stroke goes untreated, but Diane Barnes did. As a radiologist who diagnoses strokes, Barnes did not deal with having a stroke very well; it was more than 20 hours before she went to the hospital. My Stroke of Luck follows Barnes as she recounts her experience of having a stroke, her path to recovery, and more. A spellbinding and funny look at love, family, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Barnes shares the story of a single adoptive mother of special needs and gifted sons and how she forges a new identity after a debilitating stroke. My Stroke of Luck, directed by Rebecca Fisher and developed with David Ford, will be presented on Sunday, November 10, 2019 (7pm) at The Marin Center's Showcase Theater.

This December, Bay Area holiday favorite The Jewelry Box returns to The Marsh San Francisco. Performed by acclaimed writer/performer Brian Copeland (Not a Genuine Black Man, The Waiting Period), hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as a?oeamong the Bay Area's most honest, thoughtful and eloquent storytellers,a?? and directed by David Ford, this hilariously heartwarming story follows a young Brian as he heads to the a?oemean streetsa?? of Oakland to buy his mom a Christmas present. When he finds the perfect gift a?" a jewelry box in the White Front Department store a?" six-year-old Brian sets out to earn the required $11.97 by Christmas. Rife with references to 1970s Oakland, The Jewelry Box recounts Brian's adventures as he scours the a?oehelp wanteda?? ads, applies for jobs, and collects bottles, inching his way toward the perfect Christmas gift. The Jewelry Box will be presented December 5 a?" 14, 2019 (specific times below) at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia Street. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved) the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call The Marsh Box office at 415-282-3055 (open Monday through Friday, 1:00pm-4:00pm).