Karen Zacarías Explores How Books Expand Our Lives by Mary Lou Herlihy Fill your glass, take a seat, open to Chapter 13, and enjoy a juicy discussion about this week’s book selection. Ross Valley Players’ lively “Book Club Play” captures the joy of reading and sharing books, while leading us brilliantly into questioning our…
Amy Freed Adapts Shakespeare for Modern Times by Robert M. Gardner At the opening of African American Shakespeare Company’s “Taming of the Shrew,” I expected a retelling of Shakespeare’s famous battle of the sexes comedy. But I got a blast from the past, based in San Francisco’s 1967 Summer of Love. Shakespeare’s words still…
Tennessee Williams Reflects American Memories & Dreams by Lynne Stevens Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” came to the stage in 1944. He called it “a memory play” because it recalls life in a Saint Louis apartment with his demanding mother and painfully shy sister during the 30s. Director Jeffrey Lo’s wide-open staging blends inside…
Tanya Barfield’s Professor Faces His Demons, Brings Us to Tears by Lynne Stevens After a bout of terrible insomnia, math professor Lewis (the stellar Michael J. Asberry) is visited by the ghosts of his African American ancestors. They want to explain his life and they won’t take no for an answer. In tee shirt…