San Francisco Spotlight: February 2007
Death Becomes Them
and Jody Flader
in American $uicide
(© Mark Leialoha)
Custom Made Theatre Company presents its simultaneous productions of Woody Allen's absurd, yet wildly funny plays God and Death (February 2-March 10). In the first, two Greeks named Hepatitis and Diabetes get wrapped up in pondering the meaning of life while racing to find just the right ending for the play they plan on entering into the Athenian drama festival. The companion piece is a sardonic comedy, which follows Kleinman, a man rudely awakened by a vigilante mob to help catch a killer. Problem is, the mobsters forgot to tell him what role he is to play in all of this. As Kleinman tries to figure it all out, he realizes he could be an intended victim, or possibly even the killer.
Just when you thought there couldn't be any more adaptations of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, American Conservatory Theatre touts a new translation from Paul Walsh, directed by Richard E. T. White (February 9-March 11). Playing the title role is René Augesen, who wowed audiences in the role of Nora in Ibsen's equally famous A Doll's House in 2004. The cast also includes Anthony Fusco as George Tesman, Sharon Lockwood as Miss Juliane Tesman, and Jack Willis as Judge Brack.
The Bay Area's venerable Obie Award-winning director Les Waters takes on To the Lighthouse, a world-premiere adaptation by playwright Adel Edling Shank of Virginia Woolf's landmark novel (February 23-March 25) at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
Hot House 2007, the annual event at the revered Magic Theatre, features two world premiere plays this month. Chantal Bilodeau's Pleasure and Pain (February 3-March 31) goes inside the mind of unassuming Midwesterner Peggy to reveal an internal world that is far from innocent. Kirsten Greenidge's Rust (February 17-April 1) is a fantastical comedy that casts pop icons Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben as the caring mentors of a black football superstar who must learn to play the all-American game on his own terms.
San Rafael resident and playwright Robert Ernst presents the world-premiere of his new play Catherine's Care, and takes his audiences through the fractured mind of Catherine, whose line between memory and reality has nearly been erased. Composer Andy Dinsmoor and Barney Jones lend their talents to this offbeat musical that is staged by the Alternative Theater Ensemble and brimming with imagination and creativity (February 2 through 18).
Bring the family out for Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson's much-loved musical Pippin, the warming tale of a boy meant to do the most wonderful things, if only he could figure out what those things are. Directed by Jay Manley and produced by the Foothill College Drama Department, the tuner plays February 16-March 11.