Lance Gardner

From the start of this newsletter in the pandemic, we’ve been covering the evolution of the performing arts industry, and the articles we’ve compiled this week underscore that evolution in a big way. The first of those articles being the very question on if the nonprofit model is still working for arts organizations anymore.

Following an extensive nationwide search, Marin Theatre Company (MTC) Board of Directors and Managing Director Meredith Suttles today announced Lance Gardner the new Artistic Director of the North Bay's premier non-profit theatre organization.

BroadwayWorld chats with Jeffrey Lo about TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's new production of 'Little Shop of Horrors' that he is directing. Lo has reset the action to San Francisco's Chinatown to explore the musical's underlying themes of cross-cultural community.

Aurora Theatre Company and its Board of Directors announced Tuesday that Francesca Gabourel will become the company's next managing director.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that all 10 episodes of the audio series titled Place/Settings: Berkeley are now available. Place/Settings: Berkeley premiered on January 12 with each episode released once a week. Now listeners can enjoy the entire series all in one sitting. Each episode runs approximately 10-20 minutes.

Theatre Bay Area, one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in North America, has announced the finalists of the 2019 TBA Awards. The sixth-annual TBA Awards Celebration will take place on Monday, Nov. 4 at the Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco).

The 39 Steps is proving to be a hit at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley having been extended! Check out clips from the production below!

Due to popular demand, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will extend the riotous comedy The 39 Steps, adding three additional performancesa?"2pm and 8pm Saturday, September 21, and 2pm Sunday, September 22.

BWW Review: THE 39 STEPS at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is a brilliantly directed and acted rollicking spoof of Hitchcock's noir spy thriller The 39 Steps.

Director Leslie Martinson of THE 39 STEPS at TheatreWorks talks about finding the comedic rhythms in a 'nutball farce' and shares her experiences as a casting director. Martinson has been a TheatreWorks mainstay for decades, starting as an usher while she was still in school, then working as an actor before becoming a director and casting director. She left her staff position 18 months ago to go freelance, but has since directed two shows at TheatreWorks so still maintains a close working relationship with the Tony-winning company.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 50th Anniversary Season with the Olivier Award-winning comedy The 39 Steps. This hilarious, high-speed spoof of Alfred Hitchcock's silver-screen classic hurtles a notorious fugitive and a breathtaking blonde from a London music hall to Scotland's most remote highlands crawling with devious spies.

Due to critical and box office success, California Shakespeare Theater extends The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, adapted by Tony Kushner from a translation by Wendy Arons, through July 28, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. Tickets will continue to be available through TodayTix, online at calshakes.org, or through the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 50th Anniversary Season with the Olivier Award-winning comedy The 39 Steps. This hilarious, high-speed spoof of Alfred Hitchcock's silver-screen classic hurtles a notorious fugitive and a breathtaking blonde from a London music hall to Scotland's most remote highlands crawling with devious spies. With a mysteriously murdered agent, a wicked plot to destroy England, and a race against the clock to stop it, this brilliantly funny show is a tribute to the master's greatest films. Directed by Leslie Martinson, The 39 Steps features four fearless actors playing 139 roles, stretching the boundaries of theatrical invention.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2019 summer season with The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Wendy Arons and adapted by Tony Kushner, playing July 3 through July 21, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. A Pay What You Can performance will be held on Wednesday, July 3. Tickets will be available starting at 10am on the day of the show through TodayTix and the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666.

THE GOOD BOOK opened at Berkeley Rep on April 25 and is running through June 9, 2019.

BWW Review: THE GOOD BOOK at Berkeley Rep is Denis O'Hare and Lisa PLeterson's must-see examination of faith, meaning, science and rationalism.

California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) announced further details today for the Shakespearean centerpiece to the 2018 Epic Season, The War of the Roses. The War of the Roses is a monumental evening of theater spanning four history plays-the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III. Presented as an action-packed evening, The War of the Roses will deliver a fast-paced, far-ranging, vividly theatrical depiction of two powerful families-the Lancasters and the Yorks-and their decades-long fight for the English throne. Political unrest and power grabs collide with weak leadership and civil strife as the country fights against the threat of tyranny.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 44th Season with the West Coast Premiere of Everybody, a sparkling new riff on the 15th-century morality play The Summoning of Everyman by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whom the New York Times calls 'one of this country's most original and illuminating writers.' A finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, Everybody is Cal Shakes' second official offering under the New Classics Initiative (NCI), exploring what it means to be a classical theater in the 21st century, and to allow living writers to expand our classical canon. Directed by Nataki Garrett making her Cal Shakes debut,

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 44th Season with the West Coast Premiere of Everybody, a sparkling new riff on the 15th-century morality play The Summoning of Everyman by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whom the New York Times calls "one of this country's most original and illuminating writers.' A finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, Everybody is Cal Shakes' second official offering under the New Classics Initiative (NCI), exploring what it means to be a classical theater in the 21st century, and to allow living writers to expand our classical canon. Directed by Nataki Garrett making her Cal Shakes debut, Everybody plays July 18 - August 5 at the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda. Low-priced previews take place July 18-20; Opening Night is July 21. Tickets (ranging from $20?$92) are available through the Cal Shakes Box Office at 510.548.9666 or by visiting www.calshakes.org. Ticket prices are subject to change without notice.

Magic Theatre (Loretta Greco, Artistic Director and Jaimie Mayer, Managing Director) announced today the complete cast of Jessica Hagedorn's World Premiere THE GANGSTER OF LOVE, the final production of the 2017-2018 season. Previews begin on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at Magic Theatre's Fort Mason location, with a press opening on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are on-sale now.