Arts & Events

Juneteenth Community Sing on Sunday Afternoon

By Ken Bullock
Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 07:05:00 PM

There's a Bright Side Some Where, a Juneteenth community sing, by Friends of Negro Spirituals, will be held this Sunday, June 19, 3-5 p. m. at the West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline, near 18th, Oakland--an unusual Juneteenth celebration announced by FNS founder Sam Edwards. -more-


Eye from the Aisle: THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS at Masquers is 5-STARS!

By John A. McMullen II
Tuesday June 14, 2011 - 10:15:00 PM
Craig Eychner, Ted V. Bigornia, Shauna Shoptaw, Sophia Rose Morris

If you know and love musicals and have not seen THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (The Musical), stop reading right now and click on the www.masquers.org website to order tickets for the little theatre in Point Richmond. This is a 5-star production, it’s an 88 seat theatre, and they will sell out to SRO in a trice. -more-


Eye from the Aisle:MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS at Alameda’s Altarena—superior talent, good cookies, LOLs.

By John A. McMullen II
Tuesday June 14, 2011 - 10:08:00 PM
John Hale as Victor Fleming, Tim Reynolds as David O. Selzick, and Keith Jefferds as Ben Hecht

Moonlight and Magnolias, now at the Altarena Playhouse in Alameda on High St., is a well-directed and well-acted three-man drama. Director Stewart Lyle, himself an Equity actor, has had his second success with this triangular formula, having done a successful “Art” at this theatre a couple of seasons ago. -more-


Around & About Theater: Just Theater at the City Club; Ragged Wing Youth Ensemble Workshop for teachers; Just Theater Lab; TheatreFirst's Iraq veteran's story onstage; CalShakes' Titus Andronicus

By Ken Bullock
Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 03:14:00 PM

Just Theater, always a company to watch, has opened, in partnership with Playground, Bay Area playwright Erin Bregman's Down a Little Dirt Road, about the daughter of a woman who's mysteriously disappeared making "a fantastical life" with her father "out of the shards" of their loss. Thursdays to Saturdays, 8 p. m., Sundays at 5, till July 3, Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant. $15-$30, sliding scale. justtheater.org; 306-1184. -more-


Press Release: Berkeley Symphony Announces 2011-2012 Season

From Jenny Lee
Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 12:00:00 PM

On June 8 Berkeley Symphony Music Director Joana Carneiro unveiled programming plans for Berkeley Symphony's 2011-12 Season, her third with the Orchestra since assuming the music directorship in 2009. The upcoming season, highlighted by one world premiere commission, one West Coast premiere, and works by today's leading composers and their forebears, in exciting collaborations with visionary artists both local and abroad, exemplifies the orchestra's adventurous spirit and steadfast commitment to presenting original, thought-provoking programs, as well as its role as a champion of artists and composers of our generation. -more-


Opus-Q Vocal Ensemble Re-Launches in Berkeley

By Steven Finacom
Wednesday June 15, 2011 - 08:14:00 AM
Four members of Opus Q including, second from right, the Willard neighborhood’s George Beier, during the June 12, 2011 inaugural performance.

A sweet and hopeful pair of concerts on Sunday, June 12, 2011 signaled the re-launch of a Bay Area men’s singing group. -more-