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Don’t miss one of the best musical productions of the year—Guys and Dolls now through July 30 at Sonoma Arts Live. Based on the book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, Director Larry Williams brings New York City in the 1950’s to life with a fine cast of “colorful characters, bustling gangsters, sassy showgirls, and mission workers.” The live orchestra led by Sherrill Peterson (Musical Director) is fantastic performing Frank Loesser’s familiar songs including “Luck Be a Lady” and “I’ve Never Been In Love Before.”
The play begins with a lovely overture and dance movements by the cast foreshadowing events to come. The story revolves around a gambler, Nathan Detroit (Skyler King), and Miss Adelaide (Jenny Villeux), a nightclub singer who have been engaged for 14 years. Also central to the plot is another gambler and friend of Nathan’s–Sky Masterson (Andrew Smith). Ironically, Sky becomes smitten with a local God-fearing mission worker trying to save the world (Sarah Brown played by Maeve Smith). Both couples’ chemistry is electric–a joy to watch. Other performers that stand out include Jonathen Blue as Nicely Nicely (his Broadway quality voice is incredible) and Owen Hardisty as Benny Southstreet.
The entire large cast has great energy and timing. It was a great idea to block many of the scenes right in the audience space. The cast moves on and off the stage, and up and down the aisles making the audience feel part of it all. The choreography is very entertaining (Liz Andrews) and the costumes beautiful (Barbara McFadden & Sylvia Gregory). Kudos to Emily Cornelius (Stage Manager) Gary Gonser (Set Design), Frank Sarubbi (Light Design), Jaime Love (Artistic Director) and Rick Love (Executive Director) for all their contributions bringing this grand and spectacular production together.
Coming up next at Sonoma Arts Live is Dames at Sea September 8-24 directed by Larry Williams with musical direction by Jonathen Blue.
Co-written by Lori Wood
Théâtre de la Ville presented Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch + Terrain performing Café Müller at La Villette, Paris July 6-12, 2023. Choreographed by Pina Bausch in 1978 this piece was produced by Théâtre de la Ville in 1985 and 1992, with the late Pina Bausch performing in it regularly. Under the new artistic direction of Boris Charmatz since last year, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch presents Café Müller in a stand alone forty-five minute performance with three different casts each night.
A revolving door is centre stage through which customers arrive and leave. The wide stage space of Café Müller is strewn with almost fifty chairs and small round tables where sparse customers move around and into these objects – save for an agile man who moves them out of the way of a woman who apparently does not see them. This act is at once endearing and selfless – but there is more.
Café Müller has been called a psychodrama as scenes among the cast of six intermingle sporadically. Two women in ethereal pale silky dresses stay on stage the entire time and others come and go. A duet enacts repetitive dramatic moments between a woman falling on the floor out of the arms of a man, suggesting a rise and fall in a relationship.
The idea for Café Müller came out of the childhood memories of Bausch herself when her parents owned a Café and she spent time in the evenings observing the customers as they jostle between the sadness of reality and hope.
The choreography and mise en scène by Bausch includes breathtakingly fluid movement, sudden bursts of music and emotive dance, the visual of a woman slowly sliding down a wall to the floor, a person arrives and totters about not understanding the situation yet she seems to grow to accept it.
Set to music by Henry Purcell this piece is beautifully poignant and impactful.
Set and costume design by Rolf Borzik of black walls, chairs and tables with plexiglass, and the elegant evening dress work together to create a mysterious moody environment for the cast of six superlative performers as they discover themselves and form relationships.
Having seen this piece performed by this company many years ago as part of an evening performance, this stand alone forty-five minutes is extraordinary for the emotional impact. Highly recommended!
More Information:
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Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
The 43rd festival of Montpellier Danse in France and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch + Terrain Boris Charmatz presented Palermo Palermo /REPRISE/ on June 29, 30 and July 1, 2023 in Le Corum, Montpellier. Choreographed by Pina Bausch in 1989, this is the second piece of the series she created after visiting several countries and expressing her observations in dance theatre through her company of international dancers.
Palermo Palermo is immediately impactful when a huge wall of bricks wavers and falls backwards, then dancers emerge wearing high heels and dresses or fur coats walking across the broken bricks. Prescient in this image is the fact that the Berlin Wall fell a few months after her creation. Pina Bausch works are singular in their glorious construction, choreography, use of space, theatrical dance with movement and the Tanztheater Wuppertal company of outstanding dance theatre performers who also create characters with no or minimal words – sublimely.
Bausch created her works in collaboration with superb designers: Peter Pabst for stunning scenography and beautiful costume design by Marion Cito. Musical collaboration by Matthias Burkert is at the forefront in Palermo Palermo which includes a range from Grieg, Paganini, traditional music from Sicily, Southern Italy, Africa, Japan, Scotland – to music from the Renaissance and American blues and jazz.
This three hour piece with intermission is a feast for fans of Pina Bausch choreography and creative work and a bold introduction to new audiences. The Montpellier Danse festival has made an inspired choice to invite this company, whose ground breaking work needs to be seen in the world canon of choreography.
An international cast of twenty five dancers comprising several original Tanztheater Wuppertal company members who worked with Bausch before her death in 2009 are joined by recent cast members. They all create images and emotive sequences with verve and commitment. Character quirks and poignant expressive physical commentary unfold to reveal themselves with dramatic scenes and irony – then move on to a change of pace with ensemble dances that are fluid and abstract yet involve specific individuality, that are so visceral and moving.
Flashes of ideas and observations expressed by Bausch from her research in Palermo include gunshots, church bells and cocktails! Relationships are explored such as when a couple breathe on each other then perform a beautiful angular and flowing duet, so delicate and sensitive.
Long time (and now ex) company member Nazareth Panadero is an invited guest at this performance run. She is notable for her bold and fascinating character portrayals both physical and verbal. In one of her scenes in Palermo Palermo a male character irons her dress while she is wearing it and then she is taunted by another male character – her reactions evoke the possibilities of male and female relationships and attitudes at the time. Panadero also performs a brief and demonstrative scene about spaghetti, it’s absolutely wonderful!
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch + Terrain Boris Charmatz have produced a superb provocative and highly creative production that is memorable – and an experience that would be greatly welcomed again at Montpellier Danse, in the future!
More Information:
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Montpellier Danse Festival website: https://www.montpellierdanse.com/
- Pina Bausch: https://www.montpellierdanse.com/artistes/pina-bausch/
Jo Tomalin, Ph.D. reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
Marin Shakespeare’s annual summer festival begins with Hamlet running now through July 16 at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre at Dominican University in San Rafael. Director Jon Tracy’s brilliant adaptation moves the story from the year 1600 to the present. Lovely contemporary costumes (Miyuki Bierlein, Luisa Frasconi), interesting scenery (Nina Ball) and modern props (Joy Gonzales) all complement Shakespeare’s timeless dialogue.
As the play begins, Lady Zen (as the Clown King) shines with a powerful song that almost stopped the strong winds blowing through Forest Meadows on opening weekend. Yes, the wind blew fiercely on the audience and outdoor stage occasionally muffling the sound coming from the actors, but their fine talent made it all worthwhile.
Written around 1600, the story revolves around Denmark’s young Prince Hamlet (Nick Musleh) who is visited by his late father’s ghost. The Ghost of King Hamlet says he was murdered by his brother Claudius (Michael Torres) and wants revenge. Claudius (also Hamlet’s uncle) has become King of Denmark and is now married to Hamlet’s mother Gertrude (Bridgette Loriaux). With help from his friends Horatio and Guildenstern (both played by Stevie DeMott), Rosencrantz (Rinabeth Apostol), the beautiful Ophelia (désirée freda) and her father Polonius (Richard Pallaziol), Hamlet seeks the truth but only finds madness and tragedy.
Kudos to Producer Lesley Currier for keeping Shakespeare alive and offering Marin a fantastic summer theater experience year after year.
Co-written by Lori Wood
Reviewed by Suzanne Angeo (member, American Theatre Critics Association; Member Emeritus, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle), and Greg Angeo (Member Emeritus, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle)
Photo courtesy of Sean Carter Photography
(Top Row L to R) Cory Cunningham, Cheryl Turski, Ron Williams; (Middle Row L to R) Phil Powers, Stephanie Nichols, Dani Cochrane;
(Bottom Row L to R) Anthony Guest, Jennifer Byrne, Stephen Blackwell
A Comic Cataclysm in Three Acts
A gentleman hopping up and down stairs with his trousers around his ankles. A lady clad only in her underwear running around in high heels. Seven different doors slamming at regular intervals. You may have rightly guessed it: “Noises Off” is a farce. But in its West End and Broadway beginnings in the early 1980s, it was also a broadly-textured spectacle acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. Meadow Brook Theatre now presents this very silly, very enjoyable farce-within-a-farce to close out its 56th season.
“Noises Off”, which in stage lingo means sounds coming from offstage, was created by English playwright Michael Frayn in 1982. It uses the popular play-within-a-play theme, with the added twist that it’s also observed from backstage in the second act, which is the most fun (and revealing). It tells the story of a hopelessly inept acting troupe struggling to rehearse and perform the touring production of a British sex farce called “Nothing On” set in an aristocratic country home. We see opening night descending upon them in less than 24 hours, and it’s not going well. Lines are flubbed repeatedly. Plates of sardines mysteriously disappear and reappear. Tempers flare between director and cast. The show moves on to secret romances, pratfalls and wardrobe malfunctions galore. And there’s a surprise wedding in there someplace.
Stephen Blackwell, Stephanie Nichols, Anthony Guest, Phil Powers
This excellent ensemble cast includes nine energetic MBT veterans, some with impressive Off-Broadway and TV credentials. Now this is where things can get complicated: six play dual roles – as the actors in “Noises Off”, they are also playing the actors in “Nothing On”. Phil Powers creates more than his share of funny business as the boozy old trouper Selsdon Mowbray, who in turn is playing the Burglar. Anthony Guest is superbly goofy as dimwitted actor Freddy. He keeps dropping his trousers and getting nosebleeds while trying to play the character Phillip, the owner of the country home. Jennifer Byrne has a smoothly jovial stage presence as the actress Belinda playing the role of Flavia, Freddy’s wife. Stephanie Nichols is charming as Dotty, an older actress playing the Cockney maid Mrs Clackett. She keeps forgetting what she’s supposed to do with those all-important plates of sardines. Notable is the lovely Cheryl Turski as aspiring actress Brooke (playing Vicki, a visitor). Brooke loses her contact lenses as often as Freddy drops his trousers. She spends the rest of her time posing and gesturing lavishly, galloping across the stage in the aforementioned underwear/high heels outfit. Stephen Blackwell shows his flair for physical comedy as mediocre actor Garry (playing Roger, a rental agent determined to seduce Vicki).
The other three cast members play the director Lloyd Dallas (Ron Williams), stage manager Tim Allgood (Corey Cunningham) and assistant stage manager Poppy (Dani Chochrane). Williams delivers a strong performance as the befuddled director. He’s got quite the active love life that includes Brooke and Poppy and who knows who. Cunningham and Cochrane are especially good as they desperately try to hold everything together, sometimes in tears.
The sturdy, well-designed set by Kristen Gribben is a revolving country home on casters, transforming from the audience-facing set of “Nothing On” to the backstage view, so we can observe the shenanigans from behind the scenes. In all, we see three different versions of “Nothing On”. Act I: the dress rehearsal, where nothing goes right; Act II: the backstage view of a matinee where only some things go wrong (the most entertaining of the three); Act III: the final performance, were everything descends into hilarious chaos. At this point, everyone is moving so fast and in so many directions, it’s a marvel they can even stand at the end of the show to take their bows.
Cheryl Turski, Jennifer Byrne, Anthony Guest, plate of Sardines
There are incredible physical demands on the cast, a wonder to behold. It can also be a rollercoaster ride watching the actors switch back and forth between their farce-style acting to a more ‘realistic’ comedy style. As they move in and out of different characters, this contrast of styles seems to be muted much of the time, although the cast carries it off well.
Kudos to director Travis Walter, who has made this incredibly challenging, crazy show a marathon comedy of errors and nonsensical silly bits. It can be hard to follow at times, but the pacing is frenetic, the timing is spot-on and the energy is high. It does run a bit long at nearly three hours (with two ten-minute intermissions), but the laughs and the non-stop frenzy will leave you breathless.
Now through June 25, 2023
Tickets $37 to $46
Meadow Brook Theatre at Wilson Hall
Oakland University
378 Meadow Brook Rd
Rochester Hills, MI 48309
(248) 377-3300
www.mbtheatre.com
A special note: As Covid-19 is a constantly changing situation, MBT will be monitoring and adhering to the guidance given by the CDC, the State of Michigan, the Actor’s Equity Association, and Oakland University. Check the Meadow Brook Theatre website at www.mbtheatre.com for the latest information on efforts to keep everyone safe.
This theater operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers of the United States. The theater operates under the agreement with the International Alliance of Theatre Stage employees, Local 38.
Meadow Brook Theatre’s season is supported in part by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kresge Foundation, the Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation, the Shubert Foundation and the Meadow Brook Theatre Guild.
Reviewed by Suzanne Angeo (member, American Theatre Critics Association; Member Emeritus, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle), and Greg Angeo (Member Emeritus, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle)
Photos by Bryan Clifford
Hosanna Phillips, Christiaan Lafata, Adam Silorey, Lori Smith, Jonathan Farrell, Emily Brown, Adam Wager
Bright and Breezy “First Date”
The musical romantic comedy “First Date” may (or may not) be the best place to take a first date. For one thing, there’s controversial subjects, and frank discussions about sex and religion. And for another thing, it’s about everything that can go wrong on a date that’s set up by well-meaning folks who think you’re missing out on life. So for a first date, who knows? But for everybody else…
Starting life in 2012 as a world premiere in Seattle, Washington, “First Date” made its way to Broadway the following year, where it enjoyed a mostly successful five-month run. It was inspired by the personal experiences of writer/producer Austin Winsberg, with music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. It has been produced around the world and is very popular with local theatre groups.
Geeky money manager Aaron and the fashionably artistic “serial dater” Casey are meeting for the first time in a trendy New York restaurant, just for a drink, on a blind date. Aaron is almost paralyzed by nerves and a lack of self-confidence. Casey, bitter and jaded, is sure this is all a major mistake. They order, sit down and soon they regret they even came. Visions from the past haunt each of them by turn – family, friends and past relationships make appearances, of course providing an excuse for a series of musical numbers – some raunchy, some funny, some introspective. Aaron and Casey ask themselves: should they stay or leave?
Emily Brown, Christiaan Lafata, Adam Silorey, Hosanna Phillips, Lori Smith, Adam Wager, Jonathan Farrell
Avon veteran Lori Smith (“Hunchback of Notre Dame”) shows off her top-notch voice and strong stage presence in the role of Casey. Her date, Aaron, is played by Adam Silorey with gawky charm in his Avon Players debut.
The other five cast members are identified simply as Woman #1 and #2, and Man #1, #2 and #3, so they are free to assume multiple roles. But some of those roles emerge as standouts: one is Casey’s watchful sister Lauren played, and sung, with polished flair by Emily Brown (“Bright Star”). Another is the versatile Hosanna Phillips (“Night of January 16th”) as the slinky Allison, Aaron’s former fiancée. Jonathan Farrell is dryly funny as the waiter, and Adam Wager (“Clue the Musical”) shows his comic chops in roles like Aaron’s friend Gabe and “The Stoner Guy”.
But the absolute show-stopper has to be the hysterically funny Christiaan Lafata (“The Producers”) as Casey’s “BFF” Reggie, a person of uncertain gender with some of the best lines in the show. His three “Bailout Songs” (especially #3) lift things to a whole new level.
Christiaan Lafata
Together, the five “numbered” performers also serve as a sort of Greek chorus, suddenly springing up from the shadows to burst into song at just the right moment. Some memorable ensemble numbers include “The Girl For You” (oy vey!) and “The World Wide Web is Forever” (you Google me, I Google you). Kudos for clever choreography by Maritone Harte and for Bryan Clifford’s amazing video graphics and projection design. The 7-piece orchestra under the capable direction of David Mety handled the score well, from pop to soft rock to jazz.
A bold and sleekly colorful set, by JD Deierlein and Clifford, represents the New York City restaurant. Four monitors are mounted on the wall upstage that change images and colors to fit the scene, pulsing to the music…a striking effect.
During a recent matinee, the spotlight wandered off-target in the first act and seemed to have a mind of its own. If possible, some performers could more clearly articulate the lyrics, and maybe projecting a bit more for the folks in the back rows.
Witty dialogue by Winsberg and brisk staging by director Ryan Moore make this a very lively and entertaining show with lots of laughs, but it can be provocative, and it’s not necessarily original; some of the scenes feel like Saturday Night Live skits. It has a somewhat predictable story (with a happy ending), but the audience seemed to be having a great time, if laughter and applause are any indication.
Now through June 10, 2023
Tickets $26.50 at box office, $3.50 fee online, $2.00 fee for phone order
Avon Playhouse
1185 Washington Rd
Rochester Hills, MI 48306
(248) 608-9077
www.avonplayers.org
One woman started an organization that books free professional entertainment in hospitals, senior centers, special-needs schools, and prisons. Another founded an educational facility that aids ex-felons, prostitutes, alcoholics and addicts.
One guy has given away suits and ties to homeless men, as well as to poor ones with homes, to help them get jobs. Another challenged Major League Baseball’s restrictive “reserve clause,” action that led to players becoming free agents in all pro sports.
Those four are among seven who’ll be honored May 31 by a new Bay Area project, the Mensch Hall of Fame.
You may have heard the Yiddish word “mensch” but have some trouble pinning down its meaning. According to one online dictionary, it’s a label for a person of honor or integrity. Rabbi Yosef Langer, who has led the fervently orthodox Jewish San Francisco Chabad-Lubavitch community for decades, is happy to expand on that definition.
“A mensch,” he says, “is somebody who has the quality of caring for himself and his fellows, for the community and humanity, a person who’s honest, respects others, is compassionate and kind, and is genuine in who they are and what they do.”
Awardees of The Mensch Hall of Fame’s inaugural event will be three women and three men — plus another woman who’ll get lifetime achievement honors.
The awards dip into the worlds of philanthropy, social activism, charity, sports and politics.
Recipients are Mimi Silbert, Tiffany Shlain, the late Mimi Fariña, George Zimmer, Josh Becker and the late Curt Flood — with Dolores Huerta getting the lifetime award.
Though the 79-year-old Langer and his 38-year-old son, Rabbi Moshe Langer, run the project, it was the brainchild of Brian Webster, who volunteered for Chabad for a decade before he became a paid employee a few years ago. To stay with the theme, the elder Langer says of Webster, who once worked for the late rock promoter Bill Graham at the Fillmore, “He’s a mensch.”
Proceeds from the event will benefit The Giving Kitchen, which, according to Moshe Langer, “provides food for financially challenged people,” and the Bill Graham Menorah Project, which is responsible for lighting the huge menorah in Union Square each year and includes a new program “where we gave out 1,000 menorahs last year to spread even more light.”
Graham had financed the first lighting of the Union Square menorah, a one-day Chanukah event in 1975. The annual affair there now lasts the entire eight-day length of the holiday.
Chabad, adds Yosef Langer, is now also heavily invested in Noah’s Ark on the Bay, a project that fosters mensch-hood all over the globe, “outreaching beyond the Jewish community — to enlighten, not to proselytize.”
To determine who should receive Hall of Fame honors, the younger Langer says organizers “looked for people in the community that have shown a good deal of mensch-behavior (philanthropy, charity, volunteering).”
Zimmer — the suit-and-tie guy who started the Men’s Warehouse “from the ground up and created an environment where people were happy to come to work, and who started a fund to send the children of workers to college” — was the first selected.
The posthumous awards are going to Fariña, who started Bread and Roses, the organization that sends 1,000 musicians and performers each year to close to 100,000 isolated audience members, and Flood, who sacrificed his baseball career in pursuit of better negotiating positions for players.
The lifetime achievement award to Huerta, 93, recognizes her civil rights and labor activism, including co-founding the National Farmworkers Association, a predecessor of United Farm Workers, with Cesar Chavez.
The other mensch awards go to state Sen. Becker, D-San Mateo, who co-founded New Cycle Capital, a pioneer in building socially responsible businesses; Silbert, who founded the educational Delancey Street Foundation, which supports substance abusers and ex-convicts via academic, vocational and social programs; and Tiffany Shlain, an independent filmmaker and internet pioneer.
Chabad-Lubavitch of San Francisco, which has long been known for its creativity, is part of an international movement with roots in the Hasidic movement of the 18th century that runs an extensive network of educational and social services. Some 3,000 Chabad centers exist in more than 65 countries.
The Inaugural Mensch Hall of Fame Awards, VIP Reception, Auction & Dinner are at 6 p.m. May 31 at The Mint, 85 Fifth St., San Francisco. Tickets are $200. For details, call (415) 668-6178 or visit https://menschhalloffame.org.
This story was first published on LocalNewsMatters.org, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation http://www.baycitynews.org/contact/.
Woody Weingarten, a longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at voodee@sbcglobal.net or on his websites, https://woodyweingarten.com and https://vitality press.com.
Michael Girts (Will Shakespeare) and Rachel Kaiulani Kennealy (Viola) star in Shakespeare in Love at Novato Theater Company.
Novato Theater Company presents Shakespeare in Love now through June 11. Don’t miss this amusing and enjoyable production of the Academy Award winning screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard (adapted by Lee Hall). The Elizabethan world of William Shakespeare is brought to life thanks to Nic Moore’s and Gillian Eichenberger’s fine direction, an extraordinary cast and a talented production team.
The plot revolves around William Shakespeare (Michael Girts) and Viola De Lesseps (Rachel Kaiulani Kennealy), an aristocratic young woman who yearns to act in Shakespeare’s plays. Viola becomes Will’s inspiration and his muse as he struggles to write Romeo and Juliet. With additional support from his good friend Kit Marlowe (Michel Benton Harris) and many other characters, Will conquers his writer’s block, falls in love and produces a masterpiece.
Girts, Kennealy and Harris are exceptional in the main roles. The supporting cast is equally brilliant. Michele Sanner is commanding as Queen Elizabeth I, one of Will’s greatest benefactors. Glenn Havlan cleverly plays Hugh Fennyman, the “money man” behind Will’s plays at the Rose Theater owned by Philip Henslowe (David Noll). Arup Chakrabarti is spirited and funny as Ned Alleyn, the arrogant actor/manager of the Rose and Tomás Fiero gives an intense performance as Richard Burgage, the actor/owner of the rival Curtain Theater. Supporting performances that stand out include Paul Gusciora as Edmund Tilney, Thomas Peterson as Lord Wessex and Kim Bromley as the Nurse.
Jody Branham’s amazing Elizabethan costumes add much to the show. Branham goes all out in her design using colorful, rich fabrics like velvet, fur and satin along with ruffled neck collars, jewels, feathers and leather to dress the characters from head to toe.
Special thanks to Marilyn Izdebski (Producer) for co-sponsoring this play with Merri Martori.
Co-written by Lori Wood
Ross Valley Players’ final offering of their 93rd season is a comedy, Native Gardens, on stage now through June 11 at the Barn Theater in Ross. The story is written by Karen Zacarias (founder of Latinx Theatre Commons and Young Playwrights Theater) and directed by Mary Ann Rodgers who has won multiple awards from the SF Bay Area Theater Critics Circle for her acting and directing. The actors extraordinary talent (especially Steve Price) and the fine work from the production team make this show a real winner!
Audiences are immediately impressed by the magnificent set—thanks to the creativity of Malcolm Rodgers (Set & Property Design), Dhyanis Carniglia (Scenic Painter) and Michael Walraven (Set Construction). Running down the middle of the stage is a single fence separating two back yards. On one side is an award-winning, colorful garden brimming with beautiful non-native plants and flowers. It is tended by Frank Butley (Steve Price), and his wife Virginia (Ellen Brooks) an older couple who have lived there for many years. The Butley’s are excited that a young couple has just moved in next door. Hoping to make friends, they welcome the new neighbors, the Del Valle’s, with chocolate and wine.
The Del Valle’s are expecting a baby any day. Even so, Tania Del Valle (Jannely Calmell) and her husband Pablo (Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez), an attorney, are eager to impress his colleagues at the firm who are coming for a backyard barbecue in less than a week’s time. Tania and Pablo decide a more attractive new fence is in order and Tania’s plan to create an earth-friendly, native garden is fast-tracked, creating a conflict as the property line comes into question.
As the story develops, familiar stereotypes, prejudices and historical controversies all come into play, but Zacarias’ humor is added into the mix. A brilliant, laugh out loud ending brings all the characters together despite their differences.
This fall Ross Valley Players presents The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by David Abrams, September 15-October 15.
Co-written by Lori Wood