Sacramento’s very own serial killer, Dorothea Puente, is back to tell her story. Almost thirty-seven years after the first body was dug up on her property, the F St. boarding house killer has shown up at Big Idea Theatre with her view of the events that unfolded, and audiences can’t get enough. In Dorothea Puente Tells All!, Mark Loewenstern imagines what Dorothea might have said about the crimes that shocked Sacramento.
Sometimes you’re lucky enough to see something and know that it’s special. I had that experience last summer when I saw, Oh, Mary! on Broadway. I had it again last weekend when I attended the second week of Diamond Stage Company’s inaugural production of I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers. In this arresting piece, Janis Stevens directs Natasha Hause in John Logan’s one-woman show about Hollywood superagent, Sue Mengers.
Jane Austen and Christmas go hand-in-hand, like ornaments and trees or Santa and Rudolph. Luckily for us, Capital Stage has brought back one of my favorite Austen-inspired works, Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley. It is the third in a trilogy of plays by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon that focus on the Bennet sisters in the years following Pride and Prejudice.
Two of Sacramento’s most visible theatre professionals have come back to the local theatre community after a brief absence. Michael Laun and Natasha Hause were integral to the staging of numerous successful pieces at the former Sacramento Theatre Company. After STC’s dissolution, they both enjoyed success with Sierra Repertory Theatre in last fall’s production of The Graduate. Now, they’re putting their names back in the spotlight in a joint venture: a fresh and dazzling new project, Diamond Stage Company. Natasha and Michael spoke to BroadwayWorld about their new theatre company and their plans for the future.
The Graduate, a novel-turned-cult classic film and play, is an award-winning coming-of-age story about a young man who, feeling adrift after college, seeks connection with an older woman. It’s a story that has aged well, with themes that are collectively engaging. Finding one’s purpose, uncertainty, and lust are combined with loyalty and love to create a timeless piece of Americana. Who better to infuse the iconic work with Mrs. Robinson’s signature sex appeal than a Sacramento theatre icon? Sultry, smoky, and sophisticated are what Natasha Hause breathes into Sierra Rep’s Mrs. Robinson, bringing high society to the historic Fallon House Theatre and breathless entertainment to her audiences. The four-time BroadwayWorld Award-winning actress and director spoke to us about her coveted role, plans beyond Mrs. Robinson, and her secrets of seduction.
“Who made that?” is the question we didn’t know we needed the answer to. In Jennifer Blackmer’s new play, Predictor, we learn that it’s one of the most important questions in the struggle for female equality. Throughout history, men have taken credit for women’s accomplishments. Things such as wireless communication (created by Hedy Lamarr), a cure for leprosy (Alice Ball), disposable diapers (Marion Donovan), and even the game Monopoly (Elizabeth Magie Phillips) were all invented by women whose names were lost in the annals of history until recently. Thankfully, due to the diligence of Blackmer, we also now know the name Meg Crane, who changed the course of women’s lives forever with her invention: the home pregnancy test.
It’s the dawn of a titillating new season at Sacramento Theatre Company (STC) and this one may be the best yet! The 2022-2023 Season of Curiosity, Intrigue, and Suspense kicked off with previews of the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous whodunit, Murder on the Orient Express. Published in 1934 to rave reviews, the story has stood the test of time. Versions have been performed on stage, television, and, most recently, in a 2017 film featuring Kenneth Branagh.
This is the last chance to vote for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Tampa Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.
Time is running out to vote for for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Tampa Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.
In Rick Foster's play, Kate: The Unexamined Life of Katharine Hepburn at American Stage, actress Janis Stevens simply is Kate. She channeled the spirit of 92-year-old Katharine and wore her as easily as one puts on a sweater. From the warble in her speech to the essential tremor, wheelchair-bound in an attic of memories, on New Year's Eve 1999, Janis took us on a behind the scenes journey of an unlikely Hollywood star in the 1930s.
Featuring Billy Finn, Rose Hahn, James Keegan, Josh Odsess-Rubin, and Janis Stevens, opening May 29 and running through June 30, Long Day's Journey into Night is a story of addiction - from morphine to alcohol - and a family's struggle to love itself.
Ray Tatar, Artistic Director of California Stage Theater, is offering a few seats for people interested in following the development of a play from the reading of a first draft through to the opening night of the finished play.
Walnut Street Theatre's 2018-19 Independence Studio on 3 season continues with an intimate portrait of Katharine Hepburn inKATE THE UNEXAMINED LIFE. Written by Rick Foster and directed by Peter Sander, the production begins previews on March 5, opens March 7, and continues through April 7.
Walnut Street Theatre's 2018-19 Independence Studio on 3 season continues with an intimate portrait of Katharine Hepburn in KATE THE UNEXAMINED LIFE. Written by Rick Foster and directed by Peter Sander, the production begins previews on March 5, opens March 7, and continues through April 7.
We hear a lot about women tearing each other down-working mom vs. stay-at-home mom, breastfeeding vs. bottle-feeding, the way other women dress or style their hair. Steel Magnolias is a lesson in the opposite-the power of positive female relationships. A celebration of strong women and set in a beauty parlor in 1980's Louisiana, the story centers around six women who share laughter, conflict, and unimaginable grief.