With The Dungeon, the Dragon and the Wizard of Doom: A D&D Holiday Show Adventure Arcata Playhouse is bringing the British tradition of a Christmas pantomime to Humboldt once again. Pantomimes are often thought of as silent endeavors but this incarnation is the opposite. Christmas pantomimes, or “pantos,” are community centered, derived theater that combines […]
Front Row
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The Wizard of Oz Leads with Its Heart
The excitement for this beloved show coupled with the inspiration that wide-eyed children get when they see their peers on stage is already well worth the ticket price to Ferndale Repertory Theatre’s newest production of The Wizard of Oz. As more families swoop up the already scarce tickets, this is one of those shows that sparks the imagination of a new generation of superstars that we will be awed by in future productions. Where the […]
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A Christmas Carol Sings in the Season
Devised theater is (or should be) an exciting and fun process. It is the process of collaboratively creating new work through improvisation and exploration. The final product can be inspiring, whimsical and impactful when executed perfectly, or messy, unfinished and forced as productions balance creating a cohesive ensemble and an innovative piece simultaneously. Further, predicting the impact on the audience can be challenging as some elements that the collaboration loves in rehearsal could be lost in its transference to the stage. Luckily, North Coast Repertory Theatre’s newest offering of the devised A […]
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Exit Theatre’s Getting Dark Stays Sharp
While Cal Poly Humboldt stages Greek tragedy, above the Arcata Plaza, the Exit Theatre presents Getting Dark: Three One-Act Comedies by local playwright Daniel Lehman. The theme of getting dark is presented differently in each vignette where Lehman asks heavy questions in light ways without ever getting saccharine. The first, Is He Sick? is an […]
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The Surreal Tragedy of Antigone
Greek tragedy is considered the root of western theater, though its original format can feel strange and stiff to our modern sensibilities. The themes are still relevant, touching as they do on the human condition and broad philosophical questions. Cal Poly Humboldt students, under the guidance of director Cynthia Martells, found creative ways to bridge […]
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Rocky Horror’s New Thrust
The Rocky Horror Show is an iconic cult classic that manages to bend theater norms and create a pearl-clutching experience for staunch and pedigreed theaterists with the level of debauchery its script unabashedly offers. In its 50th year, productions of this scrappy “don’t like it? don’t care” musical often try to mimic the movie in visuals, concepts and characterizations with varying degrees of success. Not being a fan of cookie-cutter theater, nor lazy recycled […]
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She the People
What the Constitution Means to Me, now playing at the 5th and D Street Theatre, connects the Constitution of the United States, a cryptic, venerated document, to our everyday lives. Playwright Heidi Schreck (portrayed by Natasha Samuelsen in this autobiographical show) recounts her experience to the audience as a teenager traveling the country to earn […]
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To Err is Hilarious
The Play That Goes Wrong went very well at Ferndale Repertory Theatre on Saturday night. In this slapstick play-within-a-play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the Cornely Drama Society presents The Murder at Haversham Manor. The society has just exactly enough members to put on the classic murder mystery set in the English […]
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What the Constitution Means to Redwood Curtain Theatre
In the 5th and D Street Theatre, Natasha Samuelsen stands in the spotlight explaining the tenets of the 14th Amendment to the five people sitting in the dark during dress rehearsal. As the main character in Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me, she enthuses over the enshrining of naturalized citizenship with the hard […]
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A Maximalist Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most produced and adapted plays in the history of western culture. Its themes and quotations are intricately woven into our cultural zeitgeist. A myriad of options are a click away on streaming devices. Sure, you can watch Romeo and Juliet with guns and […]
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Love’s the Best Doctor on the Mend at Dell’Arte
If Dell’Arte’s newest offering feels dated, it’s because it is. Love’s the Best Doctor is adapted from French playwright Moliere’s l’Amour Medicin from the 1600s. Michael Fields’ rework adds an onslaught of tech and social media observations, cute musical numbers and unapologetic explication of our healthcare system in the brash ruckus and masked chaos that Dell’Arte excels […]
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9 to 5: The Musical Clocks in at FRT
You don’t have to be a fan of Dolly Parton to appreciate 9 to 5: The Musical, now at Ferndale Repertory Theatre, but if you are, you’ll probably love it even more. . The music and lyrics are written by Parton, the book by Patricia Resnick. It’s of course based on the 1980 movie by […]