WEST SACRAMENTO BLACK BOX THEATER

by Courtney Symes - May 06, 2024

September 11, 2001, is a date that is seared into the consciousness of everyone old enough to remember the events of that day. While the tragedy was overwhelming, the courage and solidarity that emerged was overflowing. Come From Away shows some of the best of humanity and leaves us with hope that h...

by Courtney Symes - May 02, 2024

When we hear The Odd Couple, most people imagine the 1970s television series starring Walter Matthau and Art Carney. What some might not know was that it originated as a Neil Simon play on Broadway in 1965. After the success of the film and television versions, Simon adapted the play in 1985 to feat...

by Courtney Symes - April 27, 2024

I had a unique opportunity last weekend to experience a completely student-run production of a show that has intrigued me since I first heard of it. Alice by Heart is a musical with music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics and book by Steven Sater (with Jessie Nelson), the duo responsible for Spring Awakeni...

by Courtney Symes - April 26, 2024

The B Street Theatre has been riding a wave of hit after hit, continuing with Aurora Real de Asua’s surfing comedy, Wipeout. Set in one of my favorite locales, Santa Cruz, Wipeout explores the friendship between three unique women. Rolling surfboards, a hunky instructor, and the bluntness that comes...

by Courtney Symes - April 17, 2024

America’s most endearing, optimistic orphan is back in Sacramento and she has a powerful posse of bunkmates backing her up. Almost fifty years after her debut, Annie is as relevant as ever and still stealing hearts with her smarts and sass. After taking home seven Tony Awards in 1977, the show went ...

by Courtney Symes - April 16, 2024

Robin Hood, that English ruffian, is back over 700 years after first appearing in Sherwood Forest. His story has undergone several transformations, including the addition of Maid Marian and Friar Tuck in the 15th century. It continues to evolve to encompass 21st century ideas in Jerry Montoya’s new ...

by Courtney Symes - April 09, 2024

I’m still not sure what I watched on Saturday night at the Valkyrie Theatre Company, and I don’t know that I’ll ever fully figure it out. Strangely enough, I feel inclined to go back to gather more pieces of the puzzle. Apparently, such is the norm for viewers of Ghost Quartet, a theatrical song cyc...

by Courtney Symes - March 27, 2024

Margaret Atwood’s play, The Penelopiad, is a fascinating glimpse into an oft overlooked character. The book of the same name was published in 2005 as part of the Canongate Myth Series, in which contemporary authors write their version of ancient myths. Atwood’s story concerns Penelope, wife of Odyss...

by Courtney Symes - March 26, 2024

Capital Stage’s season of “True Identity” continues with Tanya Saracho’s social commentary, Fade. The semi-autobiographical piece explores the inner turmoil that comes with feeling adrift in one’s culture and the struggle to reconcile that with class disparities and unrelenting ambition. Like last m...

by Courtney Symes - March 24, 2024

John Heminges and Henry Condell aren’t names that are immediately recognizable, but they should be. Without them, some of our favorite titles would be lost to history. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet wouldn’t exist today. No one would know the name William Shakespear...