Stage Listings

Pub date May 17, 2011
SectionStage

Stage listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, and Nicole Gluckstern. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.

THEATER

OPENING

Nobody Move Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, Golden Gate; 626-2787, www.brownpapertickets.com. $20-35. Opens Thurs/19, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through June 12. Intersection for the Arts and Campo Santo present a play based on the novel by Denis Johnson.

Little Shop of Horrors Boxcar Theatre Playhouse. 505 Natoma; www.boxcartheatre.org. $20-50. Previews Fri/20-Sat/21, Sun/22, 7pm; Tues/24, 8pm. Opens Wed/25, 8pm. Runs Tues-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 26. Boxcar Theatre presents a new version of the musical.

The Stops New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $24-40. Previews Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm; Sun/22, 2pm; May 25-26, 8pm. Opens Fri/27, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through June 25. New Conservatory Theater Center presents a musical comedy set in San Francisco.

BAY AREA

Care of Trees Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; (510) 841-6500, www.shotgunplayers.org. $17-26. Previews Wed/18, 7pm; Thurs/19-Fri/20, 8pm. Opens Sat/21, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through June 26. Shotgun Players presents a play about love and belief by E. Hunter Spreen, directed by Susannah Martin.

Distracted 529 South Second St, San Jose; (408) 295-4200, www.cltc.org. $15-35. Opens Thurs/19, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm (also May 29, 7pm; June 5, 12, and 19, 2pm). Through June 19. City Lights Theater Company of San Jose presents a drama written by Lisa Loomer and directed by Lisa Mallette.

ONGOING

*Lucky Girl EXIT Studio, 156 Eddy; (800) 838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com. $10-25. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through May 28. Honey (Cheryl Smith) talks about “the shoes” first, the shoes repeatedly, against even her analyst’s power to retain a common interest in the footwear of her attacker. Why should she so concern herself with this detail of the man who assaulted her, wounding her in ways too subtle and deep to measure—unless through the wayward precision of the poetical imagination some measure might actually be taken. That is the force and beauty of Lucky Girl, a notable new stage adaptation by Tom Juarez of poet Frances Driscoll’s 1997 collection, The Rape Poems, which premieres as part of Exit Theatre’s DIVAfest 2011. Juarez crafts an engagingly dynamic and delicate narrative arc from Driscoll’s thematically joined but otherwise disparate poems, gorgeously formulated verses that delve into a devastating subject with an unexpected range of humor, insight, and compassion. This supple range is acutely grasped and exquisitely interpreted by Smith, whose gripping performance (keenly directed by Kathryn Wood) eschews anything remotely sentimental for a complex and moving portrait of the enduring aftermath of terror. (Avila)

Reborning SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter; 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org. Tues-Wed, 7pm; Thurs-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 3 and 8pm. Through Jun 11. Though emphatically fictional, Zayd Dohrn’s play Reborning, currently receiving its world premiere at the SF Playhouse, provides an intriguing introduction to a decidedly fringe occupation. That of reborning: the art of crafting photo-realistic doll children commissioned by collectors, and sometimes by grieving parents. The play opens with an act of creation, as Kelly (Lauren English) tidies up a closed eye with a sculptor’s blade while a joint burns in the ashtray beside her. Enter Lorri Holt as Emily, a crisp, efficient businesswoman, and a client, come to check on the progress of her “baby” Eva. Things start to go South when Emily suggests some modifications and Kelly’s own obsession with the project eventually spirals out of control. Amiable foil, Alexander Alioto as Kelly’s boyfriend Daizy, exudes eager, golden retriever-like loyalty, but as Emily coolly observes, has “nothing to offer someone who is drowning.” All three actors are top-notch and do a fine job processing thoroughly uncomfortable moments, and the crack design team set the stage and mood precisely. Unfortunately the script itself skews towards melodrama and certain themes (dildo-design, drug abuse, “the dumpster darling”) imbue Reborning with an almost seedy, Jerry Springer vibe that seems inconsistent with director Josh Costello’s strictly straightforward approach to the charged material. (Gluckstern)

Risk is This…The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival EXIT on Taylor, 227 Taylor; (800) 838-3006, www.cuttingball.com. $20-50. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through June 25. Cutting Ball Theater closes its 11th season with a festival of experimental plays, including works by Eugenie Chan, Rob Melrose, and Annie Elias.

*Vice Palace: The Last Cockettes Musical Thrillpeddlers’ Hypnodrome, 575 10th St; (800) 838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com. $30-35. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through July 31. Hot on the high heels of a 22-month run of Pearls Over Shanghai, the Thrillpeddlers are continuing their Theatre of the Ridiculous revival with a tits-up, balls-out production of The Cockettes’ last musical, Vice Palace. Loosely based on the terrifyingly grim “Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, part of the thrill of Palace is the way that it weds the campy drag-glamour of Pearls Over Shanghai with the Thrillpeddlers’ signature Grand Guignol aesthetic. From an opening number set on a plague-stricken street (“There’s Blood on Your Face”) to a charming little cabaret about Caligula, staged with live assassinations, an undercurrent of darkness runs like blood beneath the shameless slapstick of the thinly-plotted revue. As plague-obsessed hostess Divina (Leigh Crow) and her right-hand “gal” Bella (Eric Tyson Wertz) try to distract a group of stir-crazy socialites from the dangers outside the villa walls, the entertainments range from silly to salacious: a suggestively-sung song about camel’s humps, the wistful ballad “Just a Lonely Little Turd,” a truly unexpected Rite of Spring-style dance number entitled “Flesh Ballet.” Sumptuously costumed by Kara Emry, cleverly lit by Nicholas Torre, accompanied by songwriter/lyricist (and original Cockette) Scrumbly Koldewyn, and anchored by a core of Thrillpeddler regulars, Palace is one nice vice. (Gluckstern)

 

DANCE

Dancing Earth Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter; (800) 838-3006, www.sfiaf.org. Fri/20, 8pm. $16-25. The Native American dance ensemble presents Of Bodies of Elements, in conjunction with the SF International Arts Festival.

Here Now Dance Collective The Garage, 975 Howard; 518-1517, www.975howard.com. Wed/18-Thurs/19, 8pm. $10. The company produces The Apology Project, an installation with live performance that will move from room to room.

Hope Mohr Dance and FACT/SF Southside Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, third floor; (800) 838-3006, www.sfiaf.org. Fri/20-Sat/21, 7pm; Sun/22, 2pm. $16-25. Hope Mohr Dance presents Plainsong and FACT/SF presents The Consumption Series.

Jo Kreiter/Flyaway Productions Sunnyside Elementary School Yard Wall, 250 Foerster; 333-8302, www.flyawayproductions.com. Sat/21, 11am and 2pm; Sun/22, 2 and 4pm; Mon/23, 6pm; Tues/24, 11am and 6pm (through May 26). Free. The dance company presents Wall Ball / throw yourself in, a free, site-specific work.

Push Dance Company Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission; www.moadsf.org. Sat/21, 2 and 4pm; Sun/22, 1 and 3pm (through May 29). $5-12. The company and the Museum of the African Diaspora present the world premiere of choreographer/director Raissa Simpson’s Mixed Messages.

Doug Varone and Dancers Novellus Theater, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 700 Howard; 392-2545, www.sfperformances.org. $30-50. San Francisco Performances presents Chapters From a Broken Novel, by the resident company at New York’s 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center.

Scott Wells and Dancers counterPULSE, 1310 Mission; (800) 838-3006, www.sfiaf.org. Fri-Sun, 8pm; also May 29, 2pm (through May 29). $16-25. The world premiere of A Walk in the Parkour.

BAY AREA

Berkeley Ballet Theater Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College, Berk; (510) 830-9524. Fri/20, 7pm; Sat/21, 2pm and 7pm; Sun/22, 2 and 6pm. $6-25. The company presents a spring showcase with new work by KT Nelson and Damara Ganley.

Cuba Caribe Festival of Dance and Music Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Performing Arts, 1428 Alice, Oakl; 273-4633, www.cubacaribeorg. Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm; Sun/22, 3pm. $10-24. “El Agua: Transatlantic Tongues,” with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Aguas Da Bahia, Grupo Experimental Nagó, Muriel Johnson, and Liberation Dance Theater. Oakland Ballet Company Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon, Oakl; www.OaklandBallet.org. Thurs/19-Fri/20, 8pm; Sat/21, 3 and 8pm. $15-60. The company presents a world premiere by Graham Lustig and work by Amy Seiwert and Sonya Delwaide.