HOPE IN THE GLOW OF DISASTER

Five years ago this month, Sept. 9, 2020, was the infamous day when the Bay Area sky literally did turn orange. Smoke from multiple wildfires blocked the sun, casting an eerie glow across the region. In the middle of the COVID pandemic with no end in sight, the visual deepened our sense of doomsday—an ominous sign on top of everything else.

The cast of SFBATCO and Z Space’s The Day the Sky Turned Orange

That image is the springboard for The Day the Sky Turned Orange, an original musical by playwright Julius Ernesto Rea with music and lyrics by Olivia Kuper Harris and David Michael Ott. Presented by San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) and Z Space, the show imagines Bay Area residents reacting to the potential threat to humanity while the world was locked down. Of course, being a musical, these fears and conflicts are voiced in song, and there are plenty of them—clever, upbeat, and often sharply emotional. Bright dance breaks pop up like bursts of hope, a reminder that even in chaos, joy can’t be extinguished.

Nina-Sophia Pacheco

Our main protagonist is Amari (Nina-Sophia Pacheco). During lockdown she’s teaching online classes while caring for her brother Q.C. (William I. Schmidt), who suffers from respiratory symptoms due to COVID. She is also navigating a new relationship with Rayan (Roeen Nooran), whose devotion is admirable as he juggles several jobs to keep afloat. When Amari discovers she is pregnant, her world becomes even more complicated, especially as she remains haunted by the ghost of her deceased boyfriend Marcus (Sidney Matthew Román). One of her students, Alè (Audrey Degon), a Filipino teenager, worries over her family’s finances and the bleakness of the future.

Audrey Degon (center) and the cast

The ensemble—Rae Yuen, Phadra Tillery-Boughton, Sleiman Alahamadieh, Markaila Dyson, Alexis-Nicole Pineda and Sam Yoshikawa—acts as a Greek chorus, bursting onto the stage with exuberant movement and well-executed songs (music direction by Matt Fukui Grandy). Under Vince Chan’s inventive choreography, they tumble, spin, and sing with an energy that keeps the show vibrant.

William I. Schmidt

There’s not a weak link here. As Alè, Degon shows us a vulnerable teenager wise beyond her years carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, Schmidt’s Q.C. toggles dexterously between resignation to his impending death and determination to put one foot in front of the other, not willing to give in to his physical limitations, and Nooran offers astounding vocals as Rayan, whose devotion to Amari is sweet and admirable and the one bright consistent light through the show. But the performance that rivets is Pacheco. This gifted actress—whose voice is full of range and emotion—provides an Amari who wears her heart on her sleeve as she’s weary and weighted down by her responsibilities to other people.

Nina-Sophia Pacheco and Roeen Nooran

This very original R&B and hip-hop musical moves at a fast and vibrant pace, capturing a specific pandemic moment when the world felt terrifyingly fragile. Living in a time of masks, social distancing, Black Lives Matter protests, and Trump in office, the fear was real. Director Rodney Earl Jackson and associate director Nikki Meñez ground that fear in character and story, building on Rea’s interviews with Bay Area residents to create something both immediate and theatrical.

Roeen Nooran and the cast

Kudos to everyone involved. This isn’t just a memory piece—it’s a show that sings, dances, and insists on hope. Don’t miss it.

(front) Alexis-Nicole Pineda,
(back) dancers Sam Yoshikawa, Sleiman Alahmadieh, Markaila Dyson

photos by Alexa “Lexmex†Treviño / SFBATCO

Roeen Nooran

The Day the Sky Turned Orange
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO)
Z Space, 450 Florida St.
ends on October 5, 2025
for tickets ($15–$65) visit SFBATCO