San Francisco
(Bay Area)

A FAMILY EPIC THAT EARNS ITS MILEAGE, SPRAWL AND ALL Family dynamics are always great fodder for drama. And when there are several children coming of age together in a household, it’s hard not to grow up with unspoken competitions for approval, success and love. More often than not at least one family member has…

FAITH, FLIGHT, AND THE FIGHT TO ENDURE In our current state of political unrest — with government shutdowns and widespread uncertainty about how to make ends meet — stories about the power of the human spirit feel especially vital. Z Space and Word for Word Theatre Company present Hard Times: Appalachian Stories by Ron Rash,…

THE HILARIOUS NOISES OFF IS ON AT SF PLAYOUSE — OFF YOU GO The huge interior of an imposing English country estate by Heather Kenyon greets visitors to the San Francisco Playhouse, scene of an outlandish new production of Michael Frayn’s enduringly popular farce-within-a-farce Noises Off. The cast Seamlessly directed by Bill English, everything that…

JUST HOW I LIKE MY THEATER — HOT, SWEET, AND SAUCY Now playing at New Conservatory Theatre Center, The Hot Wing King is a spicy tale of love, friendship, and a cooking contest gone gloriously overboard. Katori Hall’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, directed here by ShawnJ, brings its Memphis heat to San Francisco in a production…

A SONDHEIM SPECTACLE Sonoma County’s Spreckels Performing Arts Center has launched a tremendous production of Into the Woods, the perpetually popular and nearly forty-year-old musical spoof of classic fairy tales by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and author James Lapine. The show debuted on Broadway in 1987, won multiple Tony awards, and has been a recurring item…

AN AUTHENTIC, FUNNY ACCOUNT OF SOBRIETY, STUMBLES, AND SURVIVAL Recovery from substance abuse isn’t just about putting down the drug of choice and living happily ever after. The “recovery” part then starts. It involves dealing with who you are in the world without being drunk, stoned or high. It becomes a lifelong process of self-examination….

A STUNNING INDECENT REMINDS US THAT FREE SPEECH IS ALWAYS ON TRIAL The triumphs and travails of an itinerant Yiddish theater troupe get a full examination in Paula Vogel’s acclaimed hit play Indecent. A stunning and nearly all-Equity production of the award-winner is now playing at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek….

A DROP-DEAD DELIGHT Fall is officially here. Kids are back in school and Halloween is just around the corner. Thus it feels like the perfect time for Berkeley Playhouse to open their new season with the hilarious hit musical The Addams Family, appropriate for all the ghouls in your family. Post-pandemic, Berkeley Playhouse has become…

MORE LIKE 9 TO 9, THIS MUSICAL IS AN OVERSTUFFED BUT FUN DOLLYFEST Ray of Light Theater is known for putting a spin on musicals that are big in popular culture. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Rocky Horror Show and Legally Blonde are some of their memorable hits. Now they’ve taken on 9 to…