{"id":109981,"date":"2025-07-18T18:05:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T01:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=109981"},"modified":"2025-07-18T18:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T01:41:33","slug":"masquers-playhouses-into-the-breeches-draws-big-laughs-in-point-richmond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/masquers-playhouses-into-the-breeches-draws-big-laughs-in-point-richmond\/","title":{"rendered":"Masquers Playhouse\u2019s \u2018Into the Breeches\u2019 draws big laughs in Point Richmond"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_109982\" style=\"width: 1190px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109982\" class=\"size-full wp-image-109982\" src=\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1180\" height=\"786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image.png 1180w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-1024x682.png 1024w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-900x600.png 900w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-500x333.png 500w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-800x533.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1180px) 100vw, 1180px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-109982\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt\"><em><strong>L-R, Marsha von Broek, Mary Katherine Patterson and Helen Kim are funny in \u201cInto the Breeches,\u201d onstage at Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond through Aug. 3. (Mike Padua via Bay City News)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\n<p><strong>By Woody Weingarten<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Insert amateur thespians into a modernized World War II version of a Shakespeare play with an all-female cast and what do you get?<\/p>\n<p>A possible hit for the play-within-a-play \u2014 and a barrelful of big laughs for the Masquers Playhouse audience in Point Richmond.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div id=\"id_127394\" class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup newspack-inline-popup\" role=\"button\" data-segments=\"35393,35392\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p>\u201cInto the Breeches,\u201d the full show, serves up slapstick and infectious comedic moments.<\/p>\n<p>Winifred Snow, cast in \u201cHenriad\u201d (a four-hour amalgam of the Bard\u2019s \u201cHenry IV\u201d and \u201cHenry V\u201d) as an inexperienced socialite, is thrilled to join the inner play (at first, a fiasco so bad it draws ripe tomatoes and rotten eggs from the crowd). Marsha von Broek plays the part with winning screwball comedy chops, whether her ditzy character sports a vacuous expression or a hilarious, over-the-top Groucho Marx demeanor.<\/p>\n<p>Another primo belly-laugh-getter is Gregory Lynch, who becomes flamboyant gay stage manager Stewart Lasker with appropriate straight-faced gusto.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div id=\"attachment_109977\" style=\"width: 1751px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109977\" class=\"size-full wp-image-109977\" src=\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1741\" height=\"1160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1.jpg 1741w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Caption1-1280x853.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1741px) 100vw, 1741px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-109977\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 8pt\">L-R, Katharine Otis and Dana Lewenthal appear in Masquers Playhouse\u2019s production of the comedy \u201cInto the Breeches,\u201d onstage through Aug. 3 in Point Richmond. (Mark Decker via Bay City News)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Katharine Otis does far less schtick and thereby gets fewer guffaws as Maggie Dalton, but she ably leads the cast as the wife of the absentee director (he\u2019s off to the front, as are most of the women\u2019s mates). She\u2019s sensitive but bold, brandishing a cerebral weapon for her personal, newly spawned battle to get women equal pay (and, in the process, rid herself of being labeled her husband\u2019s parrot).<\/p>\n<p>The individual jokes, not incidentally, take a back seat to a farcical scene about walking like a man that features codpieces.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a smirk hidden in the \u201cInto the Breeches\u201d title: King Henry V\u2019s battle cry was, according to Willie the Shakes, \u201cOnce more, into the breach.\u201d Here, the play on words implies women climbing into men\u2019s trousers.<\/p>\n<p>Mostly upbeat, the charming play by George Brant (with many added references to East Bay locations that trigger wild applause and shouts of \u201cyay\u201d), also delves adroitly if superficially into issues of race, sexual discrimination, misogyny and family separation.<\/p>\n<p>The full cast is skillful: Dana Lewenthal plays a narcissistic but forgiving diva Celeste Fielding, who opts to play Cinderella rather than having to inhabit a character her own age; Alana Wagner as Ida Green, a Black costume designer who aims to snap a racial barrier; Helen Kim as Grace Richards, a newcomer to town who\u2019s terrified her husband wouldn\u2019t approve of her acting; Mary Katherine Patterson as June Bennett, a bike-riding ingenue who wants to become a symbol of patriotism and war efforts; and Chris Harper as Winifred\u2019s board president husband, Ellsworth, who prefers to block progress but folds under pressure.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_109976\" style=\"width: 1697px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109976\" class=\"size-full wp-image-109976\" src=\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1687\" height=\"1124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2.jpg 1687w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Catpm2-1280x853.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1687px) 100vw, 1687px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-109976\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt\"><em><strong>L-R, Gregory Lynch and Alana Wagner appear in Masquers Playhouse\u2019s fun production of \u201cInto the Breeches.\u201d (Mark Decker via Bay City News)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Masquers production is a bit quirky. Some of the props on the spare set are covered in material (looks like sheets) that\u2019s removed only when the particular item is needed.<\/p>\n<p>Director Marilyn Langbehn manages to neatly balance its comedy and heart.<\/p>\n<p>Theatergoers appreciated the perfection of the recorded WWII music playing between scenes and the two acts. After the play, one patron said, \u201cI came with trepidation because I\u2019m not a fan of Shakespeare, but I shouldn\u2019t have worried because the short excerpts didn\u2019t get in the way of my enjoying all the comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And a woman in the first row said she enjoyed the show because the actors were \u201creal people\u201d who acted like real people.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cInto the Breeches\u201d runs through Aug. 3 at the Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15 $35 at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.masquers.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.masquers.org.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Contact Sherwood \u201cWoody\u201d Weingarten, a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle and author of four books, at <a href=\"mailto:voodee@sbcglobal.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voodee@sbcglobal.net,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com<\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/vitalitypress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/vitalitypress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><em>This article was first published on<a href=\"http:\/\/localnewsmatters.org\/\">LocalNewsMatters.org<\/a>, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baycitynews.org\/contact\/\">http:\/\/www.baycitynews.org\/contact\/<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Woody Weingarten Insert amateur thespians into a modernized World War II version of a Shakespeare play with an all-female cast and what do you get? A possible hit for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-109981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"<div class='yasr-small-block-bold'><span class='yasr-visitor-votes-must-sign-in'>You must sign in to vote<\/span><\/div>"},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}