Wen-Ling Liao News

Due to popular ticket demand, Marin Theatre Company and Round House Theatre announced the extension of Lauren M. Gunderson's The Catastrophist, the hit world premiere digital co-production based on the life and work of award-winning “virus hunter” Nathan Wolfe. Filmed on stage at Marin's Boyer Theatre,

Northlight Theatre continues to engage audiences with its commitment to developing new work with two new plays.

The Catastrophist, co-produced by Round House Theatre and Marin Theatre Company, and directed by Jasson Minadakis, is a surreal and emotional glimpse into Dr. Wolfe’s passion of preventing catastrophe before it happens.

Marin Theatre Company and Round House Theatre have announced full casting and production details for The Catastrophist by Lauren Gunderson, a world premiere digital co-production based on the life and work of award-winning “virus hunter” Nathan Wolfe.

Tony Award winner and American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon announced today the full cast and creative team for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Gloria. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2016, this scalpel-sharp dark comedy explores how we cope with trauma and the tales we tell each other to escape. In the dog-eat-dog office of a New York magazine, twentysomethings Ani, Dean, and Kendra compete for a book deal to kick-start their careers. But after tragedy strikes, which one of them will write the story?

Magic Theatre kicks off its 2019-20 season with Lloyd Suh's intriguing a?oeThe Chinese Lady.a?? Suh's point of departure is one of those fascinating a?oetruth is stranger than fictiona?? tales that are so compelling it's hard to believe they aren't more widely known. His play tells the story of Afong Moy, the first Chinese female to set foot on American soil in 1834. Moy was brought to New York at the tender age of 14 by a pair of businessmen in their effort to sell affordable Chinese furniture to America's growing middle class. They created an exhibition wherein patrons could pay to view a real Chinese lady in her supposedly authentic surrounds. This exhibition proved so popular to the public it went on tour throughout the Eastern U.S., and Moy was taken to the White House to meet President Andrew Jackson. Unfortunately, we have no historical record in Moy's own words, and virtually all of the story of her latter life is lost to history. Thus, playwright Suh describes this work as a conjuring of who he imagines Moy might have been.

Magic Theatre presents the Bay Area Premiere of Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, directed by Mina Morita. Previews begin on Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at Magic Theatre's Fort Mason location (Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123), with a press opening on Wednesday, October 16 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $15 - $75 and are on-sale now at MagicTheatre.org.

I was super excited to learn that SF Playhouse was kicking off its 19-20 season with Clare Barron's a?oeDance Nationa?? based on what I'd read and heard about its 2018 world premiere at New York's Playwrights Horizons. I was certain it was going to be right up my alley: an edgy, satirical, unsettling play that looks at gender, body image, burgeoning sexuality and our unhealthy obsession with competition and winning a?' and from a feminist perspective to boot. As added enticement, the play won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was a 2019 Pulitzer finalist. It thus makes me very sad to report that, having now actually seen the play, I am left mystified by the rapturous response it received in prior productions.

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).

Magic Theatre announces the complete cast and creative team for the Company's first production of the 2019-2020 season, the Bay Area Premiere of Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, directed by Mina Morita.

Due to box office success, California Shakespeare Theater extends the world premiere of House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar through September 8, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater adding two more performances on September 7 at 8 pm and September 8 at 4 pm.

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2019 summer season with the world premiere of House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar as part of their New Classics Initiative; playing now through September 8, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. A Pay What You Can performance will be held on Wednesday, August 14. 

California Shakespeare Theater continues its 2019 summer season with the world premiere of House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar as part of their New Classics Initiative; playing August 14 through September 1, 2019 at the Bruns Amphitheater. A Pay What You Can performance will be held on Wednesday, August 14. 

Magic Theatre presents the 10th Anniversary Legacy Revival of Luis Alfaro's Oedipus el Rey, the Company's final production of the 2018-2019 season. Oedipus el Rey will be directed by Loretta Greco, who also directed Magic Theatre's World Premiere of Oedipus el Rey in 2010.

Magic Theatre (Loretta Greco, Artistic Director and Kevin Nelson, General Manager) announced today the complete cast and creative team for the 10th Anniversary Legacy Revival of Luis Alfaro's Oedipus el Rey, the Company's final production of the 2018-2019 season. Oedipus el Rey will be directed by Loretta Greco, who also directed Magic Theatre's World Premiere of Oedipus el Rey in 2010. Previews begin on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at Magic Theatre's Fort Mason location (Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123), with a press opening on Friday, June 7, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $15 - $75 and are on-sale now at MagicTheatre.org.

The stunning production of Luis Alfaro's "Oedipus El Rey" currently running at the Magic Theatre is visually arresting, genuinely moving, and slyly humorous - oh, and also seriously sexy, all in a taut 95-minute running time. The Magic presented the world premiere of this play back in 2010 and is bringing it back in this new production as a legacy revival. Given the current, unsettling political discourse on immigrants, this revival could not feel more timely.

Magic Theatre (Loretta Greco, Artistic Director and Kevin Nelson, General Manager) announced today the complete cast and creative team for the 10th Anniversary Legacy Revival of Luis Alfaro's Oedipus el Rey, the Company's final production of the 2018-2019 season. Oedipus el Rey will be directed by Loretta Greco, who also directed Magic Theatre's World Premiere of Oedipus el Rey in 2010. Previews begin on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 at Magic Theatre's Fort Mason location (Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123), with a press opening on Friday, June 7, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $15 - $75 and are on-sale now at MagicTheatre.org.

Aurora Theatre Company will add seven performances to its run of Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, directed by Josh Costello (Eureka Day, The Heir Apparent, Detroit).

Aurora Theatre Company continues its dynamic 27th season with an Aurora classic, Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Newly announced incoming artistic director Josh Costello (Eureka Day, The Heir Apparent, Detroit) directs this uproarious farce about two young couples in the pursuit of love that upends social conventions with wildly subversive humor.

BWW Review: THE WHO & THE WHAT at Marin Theatre Company: Pulitzer-prize winning author Ayad Akhtar's thought provoking examination of Islamic faith