Chuck Louden

WHAT’S ALL THE HOO-HA? Last Saturday, Berkeley’s Shotgun Players opened a play by Jen Silverman which is so provocative that some publications won’t publish its full title: Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties; In Essence, A Queer and Occasionally Hazardous Exploration; Do You Remember When You Were In Middle School And You Read About…

ROUTE 66 WAS ONE MOTHER OF A ROAD Now playing at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, Mother Road is an epic journey of self-discovery and family — a sequel to the famous 1939 John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath in which we follow the sad travels of Tom Joad and his family, who flee the…

MY HEAD SAID “STAY” BUT MY HEELS SAID “RUN” Since 2007 the Berkeley Playhouse is one of the few theaters in the Bay Area that offers classes and camps for youths. Consequently their shows feature large ensemble casts of young actors who sing and dance with passion. Past shows include Matilda The Musical, Cinderella Enchanted…

COME TO THIS CABARET Cabaret is a masterpiece of American musical theater that has been presented in a vast variety of musical and physical shapes and sizes since its premiere on Broadway in 1966. John Kander and Fred Ebb’s score has been cut, added to, and shifted around, and the mood and look have been…

A SONG WHICH HAS BECOME A STANDARD Harvey Fierstein wrote his semi-autobiographical Torch Song Trilogy in the late 1970s. In it,  Arnold Beckoff, a gay, Jewish man and professional drag queen and torch singer looks for love and family in the pre-AIDS world of New York City. The three one-act plays, the first of which, International…

Bay Area theater and music lovers are in for a treat, albeit one that needs adjustment before heading to Broadway. The Berkeley Repertory Theatre is now presenting Michael Mayer’s world premiere production of Galileo: A Rock Musical. It’s the story of the famous 17th-century scientist, astronomer and polymath Galileo Galilei, whose celestial observations advanced science…

New Conservatory Theatre Center is offering The Tutor, a gripping and thought-provoking three-person drama that tells a timely story of love, lies, survival, and culture. With insightful minimal staging by Sahar Assaf, the performers pile-drive Torange Yeghiazarian‘s whip-smart dialogue into a powerful intimate ride that never lets up. Debórah Eliezer, Lawrence Radecker, Maya Nazzal Debórah…

A MAJESTY OF DRAG QUEENS BECOMES A PRIDE OF LIONS Founded in 1977 The Castro District’s Theatre Rhinoceros is the longest-running queer theater in the nation. This month is the world premiere of non-binary playwright Roger Q. Mason’s boundary breaking play The Pride of Lions. 1928, New York City. Mae West’s play, The Pleasure Man,…

FREEDOM WRITER San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) is presenting a terrific production that tells the amazing true story of Bay Area icon Betty Reid Soskin, known to residents in the Bay Area as being the oldest ranger in National Park Service who retired two years ago at the age of 100 (she became…

THE STEPS TO SUCCESS They say that timing is everything. Timing certainly is everything in  The 39 Steps, the English spy spoof that occupies a delightful, often amazing, and even suspenseful two hours at the San Francisco Playhouse. A fun-filled comedy slapstick farce based on the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The 39 Steps takes place in pre-WWII…

A PIPELINE TO GREAT THEATER Theater can do more than entertain. A good drama can not only pull at your heartstrings, it has the ability to educate, influence and inform. Pipeline, now playing in San Francisco at the Taube Atrium Theater, is the story of Nya, (Leontyne Mbele-Mbong) an inner-city public school teacher, dedicated to…

Some consider A Midsummer Night’s Dream to be one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tributes to love: both romantic and platonic. “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” Veronica Renner and Jamin Jollo At Shotgun Players, there is a lot of love for humanity in all…

THE DEMONS ON ANGEL ISLAND We’ve all heard stories about coming to America through Ellis Island. We’ve read the books and seen the movies set in the early 1900s about the immigrants sailing over the Atlantic Ocean, traveling in steerage on a packed ocean liner. We’ve seen the smiling faces of hope as the ships…

UNPACKING PACKS IN TOO MUCH INFO WITHOUT PACKING ENOUGH PUNCH Set in the East Coast Summer gay mecca Provincetown in 1959, four old vaudeville friends reunite anxiously awaiting the promising 60s decade to come. “Handsome young Massachusetts Senator John Kennedy with his gorgeous wife Jackie will hopefully throw his hat in the ring to run…

SURVIVING THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO Theatres took a big hit after COVID. Many lost a third of their audience. Now, regional theatres — those that haven’t shuttered — are turning to a new audience. One that represents the burgeoning diversity across racial and sexual lines. Whether you think that the “woke” conversation has gone…

WHAT MORE CAN I SAY? BRING YOUR KLEENEX The musical masterpiece Falsettos follows Marvin (William Giammona), an appealing, brainy, anxious, obsessive, wealthy Jewish gay man who struggles to create a tight-knit family out of his eclectic array of core relationships, including his ex-wife Trina (Ariela Morgenstern); his new, handsome, muscled and somewhat snarky young boyfriend…

In the 21st century with the advancement of social media, anyone has the ability to be the star of their own reality show. Communicating with friends, expressing personal politics or even showing pictures of your dinner can be fodder for news or conversation. Several years into the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) reality can be…

SEASONS OF LOVE A PRODUCTION OF LOVE Founded in 2007, Berkeley Playhouse is known for its youth programs and summer theater camps for Bay Area youth. Classic family friendly shows such as Peter Pan, Cinderella & Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory are amongst their productions. Occasionally though they take on more “adult themed” classics….

WHAT THE PHO IS GOING ON? Pho (pronounced in 2 sounds, sliding up at the end: fo/É™, like your saying “fur” with a strong New York accent) is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, protein (usually beef, sometimes chicken) and herbs (depending on the chef, it can include spices such as ginger,…