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.
This season, TheatreFIRST gets intimate. While our home at the Live Oak Theater is being renovated, this season will be held at our new black box space, The Waterfront Playhouse at 2020 Fourth St. in Berkeley.
BWW Review: THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE at Lucie Stern Theatre is a stunning production of Julia Cho's award-winning, quirky tale of love and miscommunications.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announces a stellar cast of acclaimed Broadway and TV stars for The Language Archive, launching the Tony Award-winning theatre company's celebratory 50th Anniversary season. Written by Julia Cho, whose Aubergine captured rapturous praise and multiple awards, The Language Archive is balanced delightfully between affection and adversity.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announces a stellar cast of acclaimed Broadway and TV stars for The Language Archive, launching the Tony Award-winning theatre company's celebratory 50th Anniversary season.
Last night, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley received the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, hosted by James Corden and featuring a galaxy of stage and screen stars, including Tina Fey, Laura Linney, Bryan Cranston, Adam Driver, Audra McDonald and hundreds of other famed performers, directors, playwrights and designers. Broadway star Danny Burstein (also a TheatreWorks alumnus) welcomed to the stage TheatreWorks Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, Executive Director Phil Santora, and TheatreWorks's Trustee Chair Judy Heyboer, where they accepted the nation's highest recognition for a regional theatre.
Last night, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley received the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, hosted by James Corden and featuring a galaxy of stage and screen stars, including Tina Fey, Laura Linney, Bryan Cranston, Adam Driver, Audra McDonald and hundreds of other famed performers, directors, playwrights and designers. Broadway star Danny Burstein (also a TheatreWorks alumnus) welcomed to the stage TheatreWorks Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, Executive Director Phil Santora, and TheatreWorks's Trustee Chair Judy Heyboer, where they accepted the nation's highest recognition for a regional theatre.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announces a stellar cast of acclaimed Broadway and TV stars for The Language Archive, launching the Tony Award-winning theatre company's celebratory 50th Anniversary season. Written by Julia Cho, whose Aubergine captured rapturous praise and multiple awards, The Language Archive is balanced delightfully between affection and adversity. The quirky comedy tells the whimsical, life-affirming chronicle of a linguist fighting to preserve the dying languages of far-flung cultures, only to neglect the promise and passion of his own.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley kicks off its 50th Anniversary Season with The Language Archive, a quirky comedy written by Julia Cho, whose Aubergine captured rapturous praise and multiple awards. Balanced delightfully between affection and adversity, The Language Archive is the whimsical, life-affirming chronicle of a linguist fighting to preserve the dying languages of far-flung cultures, only to neglect the promise and passion of his own. Winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for Women Playwrights, this romantic parable for our times will be directed by Jeffrey Lo, who helmed TheatreWorks's hit holiday comedy, The Santaland Diaries.
Capital Stage presents the Sacramento Premiere of Vietgone by Qui Nguyen . This award winning, critically acclaimed comedy makes huge strides in moving beyond political correctness through a love story for generations to come.
Los Altos Stage Company proudly presents Frank Galati's stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic piece of Americana, The Grapes of Wrath. The production runs April 11-May 5.
PlayGround concludes the 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with a special evening of environmental-inspired plays as part of the 5th annual PLANET EARTH ARTS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL on Monday, April 1, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The topic for the April 1 program (rescheduled from the previously announced March 18 date) is "BORDERS, ISLANDS & WALLS". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just five days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on April 1.
Theatre enthusiasts packed the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts last night to hear Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Executive Director Phil Santora of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley reveal the lineup for the company's 50th season, which launches this summer. Kelley's 50th and final season as Artistic Director of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley includes triumphant returns of TheatreWorks favorites, bold premieres developed at the company's annual New Works Festival, and celebrated works from the nation's leading playwrights.
PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with the first 2019 Monday readings on Monday, January 21, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for January's round, announced last Friday, is "ADAPT A FAIRY TALE". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on January 21. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on January 14. Tickets are $15-$30 and 3-admission flex subscriptions are just $60 ($45 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.
The humor in many Sedaris pieces comes from the obvious anguish of social misfits forced to contort themselves into a publicly presentable form, or, conversely, the observer's schadenfreude in having the misfit revealed for their true, damaged self. Neither of those elements is really present in Santaland, where the stage David-Crumpet presents as a fairly well-adjusted fellow forced to take on a seemingly demeaning survival job.
Pear Theatre embraces the season of sweethearts with the world premiere of 'Spending the End of the World on OkCupid' by Bay Area playwright Jeffrey Lo, directed by Michael Champlin. With an extinction event occurring in twelve hours, some people spend time with their friends, most spend time with their family ... others spend the end of the world on OkCupid. 'Spending the End of the World on OkCupid' previews on January 24, with press and Opening Night on Friday, January 25 (followed by a champagne gala). The show runs Thursdays through Sundays through February 17. All performances are held at the Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida St., Mountain View. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.thepear.org or calling (650) 254-1148.
San Jose Stage continues its "Explosively Charged" Season 36 with Stephen Adly Guirgis' Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Between Riverside and Crazy'. Directed by Jeffrey Lo 'Riverside' will feature renowned actor L. Peter Callender, Artistic Director of San Francisco's African-American Shakespeare Company. This explosive comedy seemingly pulled directly from today's headlines boldly examines, with witty street-smarts and warmth, the slippery nature of justice.
PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on Monday, November 26, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for November's round, announced this morning, is "FALL DOWN, GET UP". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on November 26. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on November 12. Tickets are $15-$30 and 5-admission series subscriptions are just $75 ($50 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.
Back by popular demand, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley presents the holiday hit The Santaland Diaries, returning to the intimate 180-seat Lohman Theatre. Written by David Sedaris, this rollicking one-man cure for an overdose of holiday hype will have a limited three-week run in Los Altos Hills.
"A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears see how yond justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark, in thine ear change places and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief." - William Shakespeare
