There’s a strong history of outrageous drag performance art in San Francisco. Born of necessity as a weapon against homophobia, discrimination and vile hatred, the gay community developed an all-inclusive, often comic, in-your-face style of theatre that includes nudity, sexual innuendo, and social satire.
The Custom Made Theatre Co. (Ciera Eis, Interim Artistic Director) closes its 23rd season with the new musical “Shoshana in December” with book by Rose Oser, lyrics by Weston Scott, and music by Matt Fukui Grandy (writers of the smash hit Tinderella in 2018) directed by Vanessa Flores with music direction by Kiki Lipsett.
BWW Review: CAVEMAN PLAY at Z Below explores the moment when we decided to switch from huntergatherers to agrarians with all its future complications for society.
In January, New Conservatory Theatre Center is proud to offer audiences the world premiere of Tim Pinckney's Still at Risk directed by Dennis Lickteig. This takes a new look at the personal and political effects of HIV/AIDS on the LGBT community decades after the crisis through the play's main character Kevin, a surviving activist from the front lines of the AIDS crisis who is struggling to find purpose in a modern age of greater gay rights. When an unexpected event threatens to erase the history he was part of creating, his anger and passion are renewed. Deeply moving and possessing sharp humor, Still at Risk is a powerful look at the hazards of rewriting the past, and one man's attempt to move forward.
This February, New Conservatory Theatre Center Family Matinee Series gets caught in the web of one tricky and adventurous spider with the premiere of Anansi, an African Folktale written and directed by NCTC Conservatory Director Stephanie Temple.
San Francisco's acclaimed 42nd Street Moon has announced the full cast and creative team for the 2017-2018 season's opening production, Ain't Misbehavin'. A beloved celebration of the music of Fats Waller, Ain't Misbehavin' was originally conceived by Murry Horwitz and Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby, Jr. The original Broadway production made a star out of Nell Carter, who won a Tony Award for her performance. Ain't Misbehavin' runs from October 11-29, 2017 and will perform at the Gateway Theatre (formerly the Eureka Theatre). The press opening will take place on Saturday, October 14 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets range from $25 - $76 and can be purchased through the Box Office at (415) 255-8207 or online at www.42ndstmoon.org.
San Francisco's acclaimed 42nd Street Moon has announced the full cast and creative team for the 2017-2018 season's opening production, Ain't Misbehavin'. A beloved celebration of the music of Fats Waller, Ain't Misbehavin' was originally conceived by Murry Horwitz and Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby, Jr. The original Broadway production made a star out of Nell Carter, who won a Tony Award for her performance. Ain't Misbehavin' runs from October 11-29, 2017 and will perform at the Gateway Theatre (formerly the Eureka Theatre). The press opening will take place on Saturday, October 14 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets range from $25 - $76 and can be purchased through the Box Office at (415) 255-8207 or online at www.42ndstmoon.org.
Custom Made Theatre Company opens its 2017-2018 season with Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-Winning How I Learned to Drive, a wildly funny, surprising and devastating tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man.
Custom Made brings back David and Amy Sedaris for another soon-to-be sold-out run. Audiences from all over the Bay Area come back time and time again for this hilarious and heart-warming tale of finding one's worth when the world around us keeps changing. Executive Director Leah S. Abrams helms the runaway hit for the first time.
New Conservatory Theatre Center has extended the San Francisco premiere of Sordid Lives by Del Shores and directed by Dennis Lickteig, due to the tremendous audience response to the cult comedy phenomenon finally making its San Francisco premiere.
In May, Sordid Lives by Del Shores makes its San Francisco debut as New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the play that spawned the huge cult comedy phenomenon. Three generations of a dysfunctional small-town Texas family gather after their elderly matriarch dies during a tryst in a seedy motel room with her much younger, much married neighbor. Fireworks are set off and bizarre truths exposed as the town prepares for what could be an embarrassing funeral.
59E59 Theaters will host the East Coast premiere of SAM & DEDE, OR MY DINNER WITH ANDRE THE GIANT, written by Gino DiIorio and directed by Leah S. Abrams.
Produced by The Custom Made Theatre Co., Inc., of San Francisco with Executive Producers William and Ruth Isenberg, SAM & DEDE, OR MY DINNER WITH ANDRE THE GIANT begins performances on Thursday, March 9 for a limited engagement through Saturday, April 1 at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues) in Manhattan. Press opening is Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30 PM.
59E59 Theaters will host the East Coast premiere of SAM & DEDE, OR MY DINNER WITH ANDRE THE GIANT, written by Gino DiIorio and directed by Leah S. Abrams.
Custom Made Theatre Company opens 2017 with the Bay Area Premiere of Belleville, by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog. The thriller is directed by M. Graham Smith. It runs January 4-28 at Custom Made Theatre, 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco.
In January, NCTC presents the West Coast premiere of Daniel's Husband, the acclaimed drama by Michael McKeever, directed by Allen Sawyer. Daniel and Mitchell enjoy life as the perfect couple. Perfect house, perfect friends. What isn't perfect is Daniel longs to be married. Mitchell does not. As their love story unfolds in this 'work of profoundly moving art' (The Sun-Sentinel), these two men learn the consequences of their points of view. Proclaimed by the Miami Herald as 'beautifully crafted, powerfully realized and emotionally devastating,' Daniel's Husband takes an unflinching look at how we choose to tie the knot. Or not.
Custom Made Theatre Company opens 2017 with the Bay Area Premiere of Belleville, by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog. The thriller is directed by M. Graham Smith. It runs January 4-28 at Custom Made Theatre, 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco.
Not since Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize winning The Heidi Chronicles has a play taken on the complexities of the women's liberation movement with such intimacy and acerbic wit. Custom Made Theatre Company presents Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn, November 17 - December 17 at Custom Made's theater at 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco. Leah Abrams (Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with Andre the Giant) directs.
Not since Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize winning The Heidi Chronicles has a play taken on the complexities of the women's liberation movement with such intimacy and acerbic wit. Custom Made Theatre Company presents Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn, November 17 - December 17 at Custom Made's theater at 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco. Leah Abrams (Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with Andre the Giant) directs.