Ralph Funicello News

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2011-12 season with the West Coast premiere of Maple and Vine, written by Jordan Harrison and directed by A.C.T. Associate Artistic Director Mark Rucker. Fresh from a run at Playwrights Horizons in New York City, Maple and Vine tells the story of married couple Katha and Ryu, a pair of stressed-out urban professionals who feel unfulfilled by the impersonal gadgets and fast-paced lifestyle of the modern world. After meeting a charismatic man from a community of 1950s reenactors, they decide to swap cell phones and sushi for phone trees and fish sticks by joining a community where life is slower, passion is risqué, and a cocktail is a daily accessory. In this recreated world, where retro attitudes about gender, race, and sexuality stir up powerful questions, Katha and Ryu must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice for happiness and whether the 'good old days' were really that good. Maple and Vine performs a limited run March 29-April 22, 2012, at the American Conservatory Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco). Tickets (starting at $10) are on sale now and may be purchased online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228. Check out the video preview with clips from the show and audience interviews below!

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2011-12 season with the West Coast premiere of Maple and Vine, written by Jordan Harrison and directed by A.C.T. Associate Artistic Director Mark Rucker. Fresh from a run at Playwrights Horizons in New York City, Maple and Vine tells the story of married couple Katha and Ryu, a pair of stressed-out urban professionals who feel unfulfilled by the impersonal gadgets and fast-paced lifestyle of the modern world. After meeting a charismatic man from a community of 1950s reenactors, they decide to swap cell phones and sushi for phone trees and fish sticks by joining a community where life is slower, passion is risque, and a cocktail is a daily accessory. In this recreated world, where retro attitudes about gender, race, and sexuality stir up powerful questions, Katha and Ryu must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice for happiness and whether the "good old days" were really that good. Maple and Vine performs a limited run March 29-April 22, 2012, at the American Conservatory Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco). Tickets (starting at $10) are on sale now and may be purchased online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228.

South Coast Repertory takes audiences to Martha's Vineyard in Elemeno Pea, a new comedy about 'the rich behaving badly' that will have its West Coast premiere through Feb. 26 on the Segerstrom Stage.

Molly Smith Metzler's ELEMENO PEA features a pair of sisters: down-to-earth Devon and status-seeking Simone. Simone works as a personal assistant to Michaela Kell, the trophy wife of a wealthy ad executive, and she's planned a sisters' weekend in the Kells' gorgeous beachfront mansion. But within minutes of the girls' arrival, Michaela crashes the party. She and her husband have had a fight, and she's counting on Simone to help her keep from becoming Ex-Wife Number Two. The ensuing chaos brings to light old wounds and explosive secrets that turn everyone's worlds upside-down. Get a first look at the production below!

While laughing fairly consistently throughout Molly Smith Metzler's funny new American play ELEMENO PEA--now having its West Coast premiere engagement at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa through February 26--you'll probably feel like you're sitting in a live studio taping of a fresh new sitcom about the rich and the spoiled in the posh enclave of Martha's Vineyard. Unfolding in real time, the play is refreshingly of-the-moment, making it quite entertaining and approachable to contemporary audiences no matter where someone stands in the economic spectrum.

South Coast Repertory takes audiences to Martha's Vineyard in Elemeno Pea, a new comedy about 'the rich behaving badly' that will have its West Coast premiere Jan. 27 through Feb. 26 on the Segerstrom Stage.

South Coast Repertory takes audiences to Martha's Vineyard in Elemeno Pea, a new comedy about 'the rich behaving badly' that will have its West Coast premiere Jan. 27 through Feb. 26 on the Segerstrom Stage.

The Old Globe presents the 2011 Shakespeare Festival production of The Tempest directed by Adrian Noble, through Sept 25.

The Old Globe's 2011 Shakespeare Festival will include Peter Shaffer's AMADEUS as well as Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. The festival will take place at the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre in San Diego. On their first day of rehearsal, April 19, the cast and creative team of the festival created a video to introduce themselves.

Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced the complete cast and creative team for The Old Globe's 2011 Shakespeare Festival, performed in repertory in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Adrian Noble returns as the Artistic Director of the 2011 Festival and will direct Shakespeare's The Tempest and Peter Shaffer's Amadeus. Ron Daniels also returns and will direct Much Ado About Nothing.

'Burn This' by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanford Wilson recently opened at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. Directed by Nicholas Martin, performances of 'Burn This' continue through May 1. This production is dedicated to Lanford Wilson.

'Burn This' by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanford Wilson opens this Sunday, April 3, 2011, at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. Directed by Nicholas Martin, performances of 'Burn This' continue through May 1. This production is dedicated to Lanford Wilson.

'I'd Rather Be Blue...thinking of you, I'd rather be blue over you ...than be happy with somebody else.' The lyrics of this famous old standard seem to sum up the deep yet peculiar attraction of Anna (Zabryna Guevara) for Pale (Adam Rothenberg) in Lanford Wilson's mysteriously unpredictable story of love Burn This (1987) now in a fine revival @ the Mark Taper Forum. With unquestionably high calibre writing, a marvelous cast and superb direction from Nicholas Martin, Burn This leaves an indelibly piquant impression long after the curtain falls.

'Burn This' by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanford Wilson opened last night, April 3, 2011, at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. Directed by Nicholas Martin, performances of 'Burn This' continue through May 1. This production is dedicated to Lanford Wilson.

'Burn This' by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanford Wilson opens this Sunday, April 3, 2011, at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. Directed by Nicholas Martin, performances of 'Burn This' continue through May 1. This production is dedicated to Lanford Wilson.

The passionate modern classic, 'Burn This' by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanford Wilson, has now begun rehearsals under the direction of Nicholas Martin. Previews for 'Burn This' at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum are March 23 - May 1, 2011, with opening set for April 3. The cast includes, in alphabetical order, Brooks Ashmanskas, Ken Barnett, Zabryna Guevara and Adam Rothenberg.

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle has announced the nominees for the 2010 Craig Noel Awards, which will be unveiled at a ceremony in La Jolla on Jan. 10, 2011.

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle has announced the nominees for the 2010 Craig Noel Awards, which will be unveiled at a ceremony in La Jolla on Jan. 10, 2011.

The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego is currently featuring Tony and Pulitzer Award winner Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and BROADWAY BOUND. The plays follow the life of Eugene Morris Jerome from the foibles of youth in late-1930s Brooklyn to a career as a comedy writer for radio. Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound are performed in a rotating repertory schedule. BroadwayWorld reporter Audra Stafford recently caught up with the 'Broadway Babies' of BRIGHTON BEACH, Austyn Myers and Allie Trimm.

All the wrong men chase all the wrong women in Misalliance, an exuberant comedy from George Bernard Shaw that opens South Coast Repertory's 47th season. This witty classic, helmed by SCR Artistic Director Martin Benson, runs Sept. 10 through Oct. 10 on the Segerstrom Stage.