Arts & Events

Theater Review: 'My Recollect Time'--Inferno Theatre at South Berkeley Community Church

By Ken Bullock
Wednesday March 06, 2013 - 04:48:00 PM

" ... the life we couldn't see, but always wanted—wanted so terribly."

'My Recollect Time,' Berkeley playwright Jamie Greenblatt's humane little play about emancipated slave Mary Fields—who posed as a riverman on Mississippi steamers, later working for an Ursuline convent in Montana, where she made a deep bond with the Superior, Mother Amadeus, then (at 60), driving a team of horses to deliver the mail in the wilderness —is in its final week of a premiere by Inferno Theatre, in residence at the historic Arts & Crafts South Berkeley Community Church. -more-


Opera Review: Virago’s “Don Giovanni” at Hillside Club well-sung and charming

By John A. McMullen II
Wednesday March 06, 2013 - 04:46:00 PM
Angela Eden Moser, Anders Froehlich, Elizabeth Baker, Eileen Meredith

Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” produced by Virago Theatre Company at the Hillside Club, is a well-sung, charming few hours. -more-


EYE FROM THE AISLE: Impact Theatre’s “AS YOU LIKE IT”---I like it, we like it, you’ll like it!

By John A. McMullen II
Friday March 01, 2013 - 01:26:00 PM
Phebe (Luisa Frasconi, center) attempts to woo Rosalind (Maria Giere Marquis, right) as Celia (Alexander Lenarsky) and Silvius (Brandon
                  Mears) look on.

“AS YOU LIKE IT,” as envisioned and reinvented by Melissa Hillman and the cast and company of Impact Theatre is invigorated and invigorating, a refreshing approach that is out and out funny. When’s the last time you had an honest to god guffaw at Shakespeare? They take the best kinds of liberties with the Bard, and liberty is what it’s all about. -more-


Yes to "No"! The True Story of How a PR Campaign Ousted a Dictatorship Opens March 8 at the Shattuck Landmark Threaters

By Gar Smith
Thursday February 28, 2013 - 04:13:00 PM
Gael Garcia Bernal

The first thought an audience is likely to have as Pablo Larrain's exceptional Chilean docudrama begins to screen is: "What kind of cheap, low-budget production is this?" -more-


AROUND AND ABOUT OPERA: World Premiere of 'The Secret Garden' in Berkeley

By Ken Bullock
Thursday February 28, 2013 - 04:11:00 PM

'The Secret Garden,' a new opera by Nolan Gasser and Carey Harrison, adapted from the Frances Hodgson Burnett cildren's book, will have its world premiere, produced by San Francisco Opera and Cal Performances, March 1-10, various times, at Zellerbach Hall on the UC campus. Conducted by Sara Jobim (presiding over a chamber ensemble drawn from the SF Opera Orchestra) and directed by Jose Maria Condemi, with designs by Naomie Kremer, and a cast including soprano Sarah Shafer, tenor Scott Joiner, 14 year old tenor Michael Kepler Meo as Colin, bass-baritone Philippe Sly and mezzo Laura Krumm. There will be family workshops and other special events around the premiere. $30-$80 ($5 workshops), 642-9988; calperformances.org or sfopera.org Discount tickets at: calperformances.org/buy/discount.php -more-


AROUND AND ABOUT MUSIC: Ustad Farida Mahwash, Homayoun Sakhi & the Sakhi Ensemble--Afghan Song & Music; Berkeley Chamber Performances Presents The Lee Trio On Tuesday

By Ken Bullock
Thursday February 28, 2013 - 04:08:00 PM

Famed Afghan singer Ustad Farida Mahwash, the first woman to be given the title Ustad ("Maestra") in 1977, and composer-rubab virtuoso Homayoun Sakhi & the Sakhi Ensemble will present an evening of Afghan music and song Saturday, March 2 at 8 pm, at Wheeler Auditorium on the UC campus, under the auspices of Cal Performances. -more-