Arts & Events

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 -more-

The Emperor’s New Clothes, a family show by that great musicals team Ahrens & Flaherty (Seussical, Ragtime), will be staged by Active Arts for Young Audiences, opening this weekend at the Julia Morgan Center on College Avenue. -more-

The crowd was streaming through the flaming metal portals of The Crucible’s big industrial complex on Oakland’s 7th Street well before curtain time for the “fire ballet” production of Stravinsky’s Firebird. -more-

The Berkeley Art Center’s current show, “Loom & Lathe: The Art of Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stocksdale,” is full of revelations. -more-

I’ve been the Mulch Queen, or at least her Majesty’s faithful herald, for years. The sight of our locally predominant clay soil lying naked to the elements upsets me. I know what happens when it gets walked on and rained on—yes, rain does compress soil over time if that soil doesn’t have nearly perfect drainage or spongelike absorption—and dried to dust by the sun. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 -more-

“Don’t let school interrupt your education,” said Mark Twain. He spent most of his youth on steamboats going up and down the Mississippi River, earning a living. He lost his father when he was young and could not complete his school education. Later he went on to write many books, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. -more-

TUESDAY, APRIL 8 -more-

Empathy—it’s a muscle. If you don’t use it, it wastes away.” What “society’s monsters”—that is, child molesters—experience, in Stephen Brown’s play Future Me at the Berkeley City Club, seems to have little to do with empathy—with their victims, from society, with themselves. -more-

Future Me is about how society deals with its monsters,” said British playwright Stephen Brown, “what we do with people who’ve done terrible things.” -more-

You may ask, Why another Rolling Stones concert film? Aren’t they a tad past their prime? And haven’t these guys had enough camera time over the past 45 years? -more-

Joe and I spent the other afternoon moving dirt and reshaping the malva rosa by the garage, to allow some sun on the pile we were making. This isn’t the first time we’ve radically reshaped the thing, and it won’t be the last. Except for the fact that it’s so inherently bewildering, I’d call this plant the ideal first thing to learn pruning with: it’s woody but soft; it puts out lots and lots of branches to choose from, and it can take a severe pruning and recover. -more-

TUESDAY, APRIL 8 -more-