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Continue reading →: Gomez’ ‘Spanking Machine’ is ready to become unexpected number 13*Note: This piece was the final feature I wrote before COVID-19 shut down mass gatherings only two days later. The original run of this show was scheduled for March 13th – 29th. After six months to the day, Gomez will now begin a five week run of the show on…
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Continue reading →: Pérez González warns of forbidden fruit in the Magic’s ‘Don’t Eat the Mangos’Ricardo Pérez González considers his newest play “Don’t Eat the Mangos,” currently in a rolling world premiere at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco a “wickedly funny tragedy.” Which begs the question – Why can’t we eat the mangos? “For me, it’s evocative of the idea of forbidden fruit,” said…
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Continue reading →: Review: Culture Clash explores the messy and magical in brilliant ‘(Still) in America’The debate over what is and what isn’t American is full of nuance. While certain politicians and nativists tout that the greatness of this country is viewed through a tiny, narrow lens where everyone speaks English first, there is another, more complicated conversation that marginalized people are engaged with daily.…
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Continue reading →: Review: Broadway SF’s ‘The Last Ship’ sails smoothly and then begins to sinkThe skinny on the Bay Area national tour stop of “The Last Ship” is a tale of two halves. That first half is smooth sailing all the way, a warm and engaging story that floats on down the high seas with joy and intrigue. But that second act, well, let’s…
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‘Memphis’ at Berkeley Playhouse is the music of your soul
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Continue reading →: ‘Memphis’ at Berkeley Playhouse is the music of your soulHuey Calhoun is a white guy who wastes no time flexing his black music bona fides. It kicks off as he walks through the doors of Delray’s underground bar, a place where white people do not dare enter. Based on the exuberance of Delray’s denizens, they ain’t tryin’ to let…
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Continue reading →: Solis’ personal stories of life on the border are featured in Word for Word’s ‘Retablos’ in San FranciscoPlaywright Octavio Solis is obviously used to writing pieces that are shared with theatre audiences. But his latest piece, running at Z Below in San Francisco, is quite different. Word for Word, a company who presents literature in theatre form while not changing a word, is presenting Solis’ autobiographical novel…
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Continue reading →: Collins finds fresh fascination with ‘Gatsby’ in Elevator Repair Service’s ‘Gatz’ at Berkeley Rep Scott Shepherd, who reads the entire book “The Great Gatsby” for every performance of “Gatz,” knows the entire book by heart. The show from Elevator Repair Service is running through March 1st at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. (Steven Gunther photo) If you were to ask most folks about F. Scott…
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Continue reading →: Review: Beautiful things come in tiny packages at San Francisco PlayhouseEarly into the stellar San Francisco Playhouse production of “Tiny Beautiful Things,” Letter Writer #2 shares a devastating story of her miscarriage when she was six months pregnant. All her details are full of palpable pain – on this day the baby would have been six months old, that was…
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Continue reading →: Awesome Theatre’s ‘Clickbait’ is ready to scare the ‘Tube’ out of ‘You’Claire Rice has embraced the challenge of trying to scare folks who walk through the doors of PianoFight in San Francisco . And Tonya Narvaez is helping her do exactly that. That’s because both of these women are handling duties for Awesome Theatre’s world premiere production of “Clickbait.” Written by…
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Continue reading →: Family secrets fill Burbano’s dark comedy ‘Ghosts of Bogotá’ at Alter Theater in San RafaelWhen playwright Diana Burbano sat down to write “Ghosts of Bogotá,” something scared the hell out of her. It wasn’t having to create a character based on herself, which she did with self-deprecating sharpness, full transparency and lots of good humor. It was looking her siblings in their eyes and…
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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