David E. MorenoDanceBerkeley,
The shock of the unexpected. This is what viewers have come to expect from Sankai Juku - formidable tensions and dynamics juxtaposed to minimal and primordial movement. Untamed and uncontrollable contrasts, like a peacock roaming freely across the stage ...
Emily S. MendelTheaterBerkeley,
Happily, Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (“Topdog/Underdog,” “Father Comes Home from the Wars”) has a sense of humor that ameliorates a bit of the stark, sobering cultural and racial themes of “White Noise.” For example, the four old friends from college, two white and two black, who ...
Emily S. MendelTheaterBerkeley,
“The Great Wave” should have been a great play. It seemingly has all the right ingredients: a spine-tingling story based on real geopolitical events involving a captured young Japanese woman imprisoned by the totalitarian dictatorship of North Korea, while ...
David E. MorenoDanceBerkeley,
Mark Morris’ understated barefoot “Mozart Dances” (2006) launched the 2019-20 season for Cal Performances this weekend with three separate piano concertos that are superbly woven together. The first movement, choreographed for eight women titled “Eleven,” was danced to Mozart’s ...
Emily S. MendelTheaterBerkeley,
The good news and not-so-good news is that Shotgun Players’ production of “The Flick” is three hours long (including a ten-minute intermission). Good news, because this brilliant 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner takes the time it needs to reveal naturally ...
Emily S. MendelArt & ArchitectureBerkeley,
On display in one large gallery at UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is “No Horizon,” comprising the recent works of two contemporary Bay Area artists, Helen Mirra, and Sean Thackrey. Their ethos has been influenced ...
Departing Berkeley Repertory Theatre Artistic Director
Emily S. MendelEtcBerkeley,
Tony Taccone, Berkeley Rep’s acclaimed Artistic Director for the last 21 years, is about to launch the last production of his last season, before turning over the reins to incoming artistic director Johanna Pfaelzer. During ...
Emily S. MendelTheaterBerkeley,
There’s nothing better than a bright and boisterous musical show to enhance one's mood — and boy, do we need a mood-changer these days. “Kiss My Aztec!,” with its book co-written by John Leguizamo (“Latin History for Morons”) and ...
Emily S. MendelTheaterBerkeley,
“The Good Book’s” authors, Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson, creators of Berkeley Rep’s 2012 “An Iliad,” take on a colossal subject, one that may not be capable of mastery in one evening of theater. The lengthy, chock-filled production creatively ...
Emily S. MendelTheaterBerkeley,
“We should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality.’’ — Oscar Wilde A lot of what passes for entertainment ...
