Be honest. You read the advice columns. Even if it’s just to be snarky about other people’s problems. Or perhaps you’re secretly hoping the solution to a problem you’ve been sitting on will magically appear under someone else’s name? On that admittedly broad assumption, I’d be surprised if Tiny Beautiful Things, now playing at North […]
Pat Bitton
Posted inArts + Scene
The Children and The Unstrung Harp
THE CHILDREN. It was a dark and stormy night … when Rose (Rae Robison) let herself into the cottage occupied by her old friends Hazel (Pam Long) and Robin (Gary Sommers). The reunion gets off to a rocky start when Hazel hits Rose over the head, thinking she is a burglar. Thus begins The Children […]
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Zandezi Asks, ‘Where is the Justice?’
That’s the fundamental question in Zimbabwe Theatre Academy’s Zandezi, now playing at Dell’Arte’s Carlo Theatre in Blue Lake. What matters more to a man: that he prove he’s been wrongly convicted, or benefit from an amnesty program? That he care for a sick cellmate or accept that sufficient food comes at a price? That he […]
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Reflections on Joan Schirle’s World
Every morning when I sit at my dining table, I see the card Joan Schirle sent me this last holiday season. “Hope to see you in the New Year in person!” she wrote in effortlessly fluid green script, signing off with a heart and a big curly J. And every morning when I sit down […]
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Growing Old, Humboldt Style
Let’s face it, care homes for seniors do not have the greatest reputation. But perhaps that’s because they’re not run by a belatedly woke and gender-fluid CEO and an events director with chronic stage fright, staffed by a uniquely mismatched minimum-wage couple, and where healthcare needs are met by a doctor who trained with Timothy […]
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Quick and Wordy
The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspre (Abridged) (Revised) — hereinafter referred to as CWWS for the sake of my fingers — was assembled by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield in the early 1980s. While it did make a nine-year detour to legitimate theater in London, CWWS has lived largely on the edge of […]
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Longshadr Emerges from the Shadows
Michael Fields is at pains to point out that Longshadr, his newly unveiled theatrical venture, is not a production company. Rather, it is project-based, existing solely for the purpose of putting on theater. The intention is not to compete with existing theatrical ventures but to expand the universe — a version of Blue Ocean Strategy […]
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Dare You Enter The Cauldron of Destiny?
I strongly recommend you do because you’ll find live theatre within. After more than a year of online performances, the Dell’Arte graduating MFA class of 2021 is going out in a style truly their own, with four original works under the umbrella title of The Cauldron of Destiny. That is the great joy of the […]
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The (Holiday) Show Must Go On
The holidays in Humboldt wouldn’t be the same without the fun and frolicking of Dell’Arte’s annual holiday show, an hour of nonstop high-energy, story-driven entertainment that has something for everyone. Back in September, Dell’Arte’s challenged its third-year MFA students to come up with a concept that could be produced with the number of actors available […]
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Making Theater in the Time of COVID
About a millennium ago (OK, in March of this year), Dell’Arte MFA students in their final year were preparing their thesis productions. Then came the Great Shutdown. No more live performances for audiences that provide the ultimate feedback for actors. The school proposed students continue working on their productions remotely and perform via Zoom. Most […]
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Welcome to the Fun House
Or rather Fun Home – the Bechdel kids’ name for the inherited funeral home they grew up in and the latest production at Ferndale Repertory Theatre. Alison Bechdel, oldest of the three children, published a groundbreaking graphic autobiography of the same name in 2006, charting her coming-of-age and coming-out as she watches her parents’ marriage […]
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Together, We Are Strong
Scout’s Honor: The Whichever Scouts vs. The Energy Monster This year’s holiday show at the Arcata Playhouse, Scout’s Honor: The Whichever Scouts vs. the Energy Monster, combines traditional English pantomime with topical humor and a wealth of local talent for an unbeatably fun time. The Whichever Scouts are the most mismatched troop you are ever […]