Saturday, March 16, 2024

Review: In Oakland Theater Project’s breathtaking ‘Cost of Living,’ caregiving is a lens for vulnerability by Lily Janiak

Martyna Majok’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play writes characters with disabilities who aren’t defined by their physical limitations.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:26PM
Friday, March 15, 2024

Review: ‘The 39 Steps’ demonstrates the peril of conservative programming by Lily Janiak

Though some moments shine, San Francisco Playhouse’s production is mostly a joyless sprawl of unmade choices.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:53PM
Thursday, March 14, 2024

Review: Berkeley Rep’s ‘The Far Country,’ set on Angel Island, probes the promise and lie of immigration by Lily Janiak

Lloyd Suh’s Pulitzer Prize finalist insists on the dignity of those who came to San Francisco during the Chinese Exclusion Act.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 03:28PM
Sunday, March 10, 2024

Review: “Queen” loses momentum in high-stakes environmental drama by Steven Winn

In San Jose playwright Madhuri Shekar’s eco-play, two women dream of breaking academia's glass ceiling and rescuing honeybees.  

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:46PM
Thursday, March 7, 2024

Edward Bond, a playwright who shocked the stage world with ‘Saved,’ dies at 89 by Jill Lawless, Associated Press

Bond shocked the British theater world with his explosive 1965 drama “Saved,” a scandal that led to the abolition of theater censorship in Britain. 

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 11:54AM

Chris Hardman, founder of Antenna Theater and pioneer in experimental works, dies at 73 by Sam Whiting

Chris Hardman, who had a 40-year run of presenting experimental and immersive theater, died Feb. 1. He was 73.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Bay Area theater: Spring brings shattering dramas, queer romps, immersive experiences by Lily Janiak

This season’s highlights include Klanghaus, African-American Shakespeare Company and Killing My Lobster, among many others. 

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Sunday, March 3, 2024

Review: In ‘Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad,’ an S.F. native tries to take her city back by Lily Janiak

Ashley Smiley’s Magic Theatre world premiere is SOS alert and valentine, high-tech heist and keenly observed family portrait.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:14PM
Saturday, March 2, 2024

Review: Buckley and Baldwin once had a public debate about race. Today, it’s stirring theater by Lily Janiak

Elevator Repair Service’s “Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge” at Cal Performances permits no self-congratulation about racial progress.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:37PM
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Magic Theatre’s ‘Dirty White Teslas’ examines the future of Black San Francisco by David John Chávez

Ashley Smiley’s world premiere play explores the current challenges of Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco’s most prominent Black neighborhood.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Saturday, February 24, 2024

Review: In ‘Bark of Millions’ Taylor Mac reveals theater as queer church by Lily Janiak

“Our goal this evening is to make you queer,” or queerer still, Taylor Mac said near the top of the sweeping, 55-song show at Cal Performances.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:19PM
Thursday, February 22, 2024

Review: ‘Big Data’ shows S.F.’s theater can be just as revolutionary as its tech by Lily Janiak

Kate Attwell’s frame-splitting, acute yet expansive script is about how complicit we are in tech’s takeover of both our interactions and consciousnesses.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 04:26PM
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Review: ‘Bees & Honey’ might’ve worked better as TV by Lily Janiak

Marin Theatre Company’s actors have a muffled quality, as if they’re hoping to believe, rather than actually believing, what they’re saying.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 01:57PM
Friday, February 16, 2024

Review: Relevant, ambitious ‘Manahatta’ sags under weight of its scaffolding by Steven Winn

Though Mary Kathryn Nagle’s play lays out carefully engineered juxtapositions, the Aurora Theatre production gets in its own way more often than not.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 03:40PM
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

If the social media algorithm were a play character, what would he be like? by Lily Janiak

ACT’s “Big Data” by Kate Attwell says that when we give up our digital privacy, our homes, family, love and sex lives feel the cost.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

BroadwaySF’s 2024-25 season is full of fan favorites and new hits. Here are the titles by Lily Janiak

“Kimberly Akimbo” and “& Juliet” are among the highlights of next year’s offerings from the owner of the Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran theaters.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:30PM
Friday, February 2, 2024

Review: Familial dysfunction soars in ‘Cult of Love’ by Steven Winn

Most families dread the holiday season. The Dahls in Berkeley Repertory's latest drama, written by “Russian Doll” co-creator Leslye Headland, are no different.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 11:26AM
Thursday, February 1, 2024

Review: Tasty phở, terrifying AI in SF Playhouse’s ‘My Home on the Moon’ by Lily Janiak

Minna Lee’s play asks: In a simulation where all your existential crises are gone and everything’s hunky-dory, why even bother doing anything?

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 03:29PM
Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Luis Alfaro’s ‘The Travelers’ wins the Will Glickman Award for best play to premiere in the Bay Area by Chronicle Staff

Magic Theatre’s production garnered the Los Angeles playwright his second win of one of the most prestigious awards in Bay Area theater. 

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 08:31PM

Misbehaving audiences want to go viral. Here’s how theater could take the mic back by Lily Janiak

Any play or musical must compete with all the “para-theater” in rows of audience seats, or at least the possibility that some might happen.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Sunday, January 21, 2024

Playwright August Wilson played to the hilt in one-man theater show by Steven Winn

Steven Anthony Jones bids farewell to Bay Area theater with his heroic tribute performance in “How I Learned What I Learned.”

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 03:58PM

Review: At Shotgun’s ‘Babes in Ho-lland,’ the audience was a fourth character by Lily Janiak

At the opening night of Deneen Reynolds-Knott’s world premiere about Black college students, the crowd layered on their own soundtrack, to glorious effect.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:16PM
Friday, January 12, 2024

Acting titan Steven Anthony Jones to give final Bay Area performance before leaving by Lily Janiak

The ACT regular stars in TheatreWorks’ “How I Learned What I Learned,” his fourth airing in August Wilson’s one-man show since 2019.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Tuesday, January 9, 2024

What should a Shakespeare company be in 2024? by Lily Janiak

“His visions often seem impossible to me,” said Michael Torres of new Marin Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Jon Tracy.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Monday, January 8, 2024

New Ruth Bader Ginsburg play ‘All Things Equal’ to make S.F. stop. Here’s when by Lily Janiak

The one-woman play by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes delves into the justice’s brilliant legal strategy on sex discrimination.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 03:54PM
Friday, December 29, 2023

Alexis Soloski’s ‘Here in the Dark’ comes at dark time for theater criticism by Lily Janiak

The novel, about an ambitious mid-30s theater critic, made me reflect on the joy, terror and harsh reality of writing about theater.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Bay Area theater is ready to experiment again in 2024 by Lily Janiak

Titles at Shotgun Players, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company and Cutting Ball Theater point to a new era in the new year.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Best of 2023: Despite financial panic, gorgeous theater abounds in the Bay by Lily Janiak

From cleverly reimagined classics to entirely original performance art, these companies produced some of the best theater in the Bay Area.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 07:00AM
Monday, December 18, 2023

As ACT bids adieu to ‘A Christmas Carol,’ costumes, sets and props get a last hurrah by Lily Janiak

One Christmas ghost will haunt the rafters of American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theater no more.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 11:04AM
Saturday, December 16, 2023

Review: ‘Kaleidoscope’ is an analog circus feast amid digital HQ of SoMa by Lily Janiak

Circus Bella’s show at the Crossing at East Cut might make you wonder why S.F. doesn’t use more performing arts to enliven neighborhoods.

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 01:43PM
Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Halloween comes early with revival of Terror Vault’s ‘The Initiation’ by Zara Irshad

The creepy walk-through show is returning to the San Francisco Mint for a limited run in the new year. 

SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle at 02:46PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards