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Continue reading →: Review: Music is the star of the show in disjointed ‘Motown’
The notes cascade from the heavens, a soulful comfort food that feeds the famished, that distinguished sound in all its regal glory. The bass line that leads into the Temptations rendition of “My Girl.” The delicious piano that spells “You Really Got a Hold on Me” by Smokey Robinson and…
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Continue reading →: Jackson, Jr. set to return home in SHN’s ‘Motown: The Musical’
When native San Franciscan Rodney Earl Jackson, Jr. attended shows at the Orpheum Theatre, there was something about members of those casts that he discovered later. Jackson, Jr. remembers fondly attending “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” and “The Color Purple” at the venerable theatre on Market Street. What he did not realize was…
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Continue reading →: Review: ‘Sweet Maladies’ at Brava is searing, powerful
“For we colored people did not know how to be free and white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them.” – freedman Houston Hartsfield Holloway * * * A little girl. And some sugar. It is…
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Continue reading →: ‘The Habit of Art’ returns to San Francisco’s Theatre Rhinoceros
It’s not often where a production is re-mounted with the original cast at the same theatre company with the same director in the same calendar year. But that is exactly what is happening at San Francisco’s Theatre Rhinoceros. “The Habit of Art,” a critically acclaimed hit this past Spring for…
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Continue reading →: Review: Confusing ‘Patterns’ does not lack boldness
The images are bold and bright, yet subtle and dark. One wall features an image of wind that whips through the heartland, while an old man stands in the forefront, staring. The image is understated, yet powerful. Love, loss and indelible moments burst from the bare stage, save a chair,…
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Continue reading →: Munz hopes her new show really tickles you
It is the age-old question that is best answered in the most simplistic of ways: “How do you know you’re in love?” “Well, you just know.” But really, what does that mean? And how do you just “know?” Well, you can start with the never-ending smiles. The goose bumps. The…
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Continue reading →: Review: City Lights’ ‘The Language Archive’ strong in its unity
George is a somewhat awkward gent. He bumbles around his cluttered office, a room filled with boxes and boxes, and most importantly, an old reel-to-reel tape machine. This machine holds some of the greatest linguistic histories of civilization and the way people have verbally communicated over the years. So naturally…
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Continue reading →: Sad day in the South Bay – curtain closes on venerable San Jose Rep
San Jose Repertory Theatre, one of the largest regional theatre companies in the Bay Area, has ceased operations amid growing financial woes. The 34-year-old downtown San Jose company released a statement at 10:30 am today stating they will immediately file for bankruptcy. The Rep’s board of trustees president Holly Walter…
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Continue reading →: The conflict of communication the focus of City Lights’ ‘The Language Archive’
George is a scholar at a language archive, and is an expert in languages that are becoming extinct, such as the late 19th century language Esperanto. He is a master communicator, a scholar whose expertise in linguistics and cultures has unlocked many enigmatic secrets about these disappearing languages and what…
David John Chávez
Bay Area theater critic/reporter, Executive Chair – American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association, Two-time Pulitzer Prize for Drama jurist (’22-’23). Follow me on socials and say hi! #hellatheatre
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