Critics pick theaters’ top tix
It’s that time of year when critics look back and attempt to encapsulate an entire year’s worth of productions into one easy-to-read list of the “best of” the year. Why? Because ...
Uncertainty is reality in The 222’s one-act play
'Heisenberg' is the 80-minute, two-person play being staged this weekend at The 222. Just like the high school chemistry teacher in 'Breaking Bad,' the play takes its reference from the theoretical physicist who postulated that a thing cannot ever truly be measured—the so-called uncertainty principle.
Toxic masculinity defines ‘Macbeth’
"Macbeth stomped about the stage more concerned with his manly swagger than any of the events taking place in the play. If his desire was to make Macbeth a raging, petulant symbol of toxic masculinity, then Witthaus was quite effective. I hope this was the intention," says critic Caitlin Strom-Martin
From tragedy to farce on local stages
This coming weekend sees three shows hit the floorboards, with another in the wings. From Cloverdale to Windsor, and back to Healdsburg.
Timely play on vaccinations
Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day is a play with deep Bay Area roots. Originally commissioned by Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre and first performed in 2018, it won the 2019 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Original Script and Theatre Bay Area’s Will Glickman Award for best new play to premiere in the Bay Area. It's now at Healdsburg's Raven Theater, until Sept. 21.
Laundry, liquor and loose lips
There are some great production elements here. Director Emilie Talbot’s staging is clean and very effective for The 222’s unorthodox space. The costumes by Naomi Arnst are excellent. The choice of the yellow dress is especially perfect for clueing the audience into the setting of the show and the time period...
Interview with the Producer at 222
For the past four years there’s been a new stage in town: The 222. Located inside the Paul Mahder Gallery on Healdsburg Avenue, the risers and lights are used for many other kinds of performance art at The 222.. We spoke with Aldo Billingslea, the producer of the Theater series at The 222, to learn about the challenges and advantages of theater in Healdsburg.
Shakespeare in the Piazza, with pizza
'Two Gentlemen of Verona' is one of Shakespeare’s earlier works. I’ve always thought it was one of the Bard’s easier plays to follow, written before he got all “Shakespeare-y.” It’s the tale of besties Valentine and Proteus whose friendship is tested by, of course, a woman.
Raven Theater stages seasonal plays, concerts
The Raven Players’ offerings begin as soon as Thursday, July 31, with the performance of one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, "Two Gentlemen of Verona," at the newest Raven venue, Bacchus Landing. While it’s technically not part of the Raven Players’ season, it fits the playbill nonetheless.
Swamp sisters in Southern Gothic play
Reviewer Harry Duke last spent time with The Sugar Bean Sisters eight years ago at a production by the Spreckels Theatre Company in Rohnert Park. His general reaction at the time was that it was a very strange show. If anything, now it's stranger.
Arts & Entertainment
Blues from the Hill Country
“Modern Mississippi music.” If you ask singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Luther Dickinson to define what the North Mississippi Allstars (NMA) create, that’s the answer he’ll give. It’s the path he and his brother Cody have been traveling down ever since NMA dropped their 2000 debut, Shake Hands with Shorty, and one the band members will share when they hit stages on their latest tour.
