A Press Democrat Blog

Arts

Dan Taylor on the fine arts scene.

6th Street Playhouse wins six Critics Circle awards

Thursday, at 7:00 by

The 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa has won six awards from the San Francisco/Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle for 2012. The Playhouse won for best ensemble performing in a theater with 100-300 seats for its production of “August: Osage County.” The show also won awards in that division for Jill Zimmerman, as best principal female in a play; John Browning, best featured male in a play, and Marty Pistone “best specialty,” for his fight choreography. For its Studio Theater… Read More »

Imaginists theater adapts Greg Sarris stories for the stage

Monday, at 7:00 by

The Imaginists drama troupe will present their world premiere stage adaptation of Greg Sarris’ story cycle “How a Mountain Was Made,” May 16 through June 9 at their theater in Santa Rosa’s A Street neighborhood. The stories are adapted from Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok creation tales by Sarris, published author, Sonoma State University professor and Graton Rancheria Tribal Chairman. “In our adaptation, the audience joins the actors as we go in search of the stories,” said says Imaginists Artistic… Read More »

The Raven Players present ‘Evita’ in June

Friday, at 8:23 by

When the Raven Players in Healdsburg present “Evita” next month, the prodution will boast not one, but two Eva Peróns. So don’t cry for them, Argentina. Lauren Post of San Jose, Calif., and Laura Nicolicchia, a native Buenos Aires, will alternate in the role, and Pedro Rodelas, a part-time member of the San Francisco Opera chorus,  will play Che Guevara. The Raven Players previously staged a popular production of “Evita” in 2007. The new production, directed by John DeGaetano, opens… Read More »

‘Pirates of Penzance’ tour features Santa Rosan

Thursday, at 8:00 by

When Laura Sudduth, touring with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, plays the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts next Wednesday, May 8, it won’t be for the first time. She first performed at the center as an eighth-grader in 2000, in a Summerfield Waldorf School production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” After graduating from Santa Rosa High School in 2004, she went on to study voice at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, but returned in… Read More »

Wells Fargo Center announces family show series

Tuesday, at 2:39 by

China’s Golden Dragon Acrobats will open the 2013-14 Clover Stornetta Family Fun Series at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts with a performance Oct. 24. Other shows in the season include: Story Pirates, a performing troupe that uses stories submitted by children to create funny sketches and mini-musicals. 6:30 p.m. Nov. 13. “Angelina Ballerina: The Musical,” based on the hit Public Broadcasting System animated series and presented by Vital Theatre Company. 6:30 p.m. Dec. 4 “Stunt Dog Experience,” with dogs… Read More »

“Ramble at the Rio” concert in Monte Rio

Friday, at 7:00 by

The “Save the Rio Campaign,” raising money to convert the Rio Theater movie house in Monte Rio to digital projection, continues Sunday, April 28, with an “Afternoon Social,” followed by the “Ramble at the Rio” concert. The social and barbecue begins at 1 p.m. on the lawn at the theater, 20396 Bohemian Highway. Admission is free, with food and drinks for sale. The concert begins at 3 p.m., featuring live music by Mountaindawg, CPR, the Mighty Chiplings, David Luning and… Read More »

Santa Rosa’s Imaginists theater wins $10,000 NEA grant

Wednesday, at 9:37 by

The Imaginists, an experimental theater company based in Santa Rosa’s A Street arts district, has won a $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant will support the company’s “Art is Medicine Show (El Show el Arte es Medicina)” in a series of free, bilingual performances in public places. The Imaginists will present “Art is Medicine Show” in rotation with Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The Billy-Club Puppets” this summer. The shows will tour by bicycle caravan in July and… Read More »

SRJC holds ‘Legally Blonde’ costumed Chihuahua contest

Monday, at 8:54 by

Fans of Reese Witherspoon’s 2001 hit movie “Legally Blonde,” and the subsequent Broadway musical version, know one thing for sure. Heroine Elle Woods, the fashion major and sorority queen who enrolls in Harvard Law School to get her boyfriend back, would never go anywhere without her pet Chihuahua, Bruiser Woods. And of course, they’d both be dressed in the latest fashions. To celebrate the opening of its production of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” on Friday, April 19, the Santa Rosa… Read More »

Terence Keane of Berkeley Rep joins Cinnabar Theater

Monday, at 7:00 by

The Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma, celebrating its 40th season this year, has announced the appointment of a new executive director. Terence Keane, 42, of San Anselmo, who has worked with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre for the past eight and a half years, will join the Cinnabar staff May 1. Keane will work in tandem with Cinnabar’s longtime artistic director Elly Lichenstein, who has been doubling as artistic director and executive director. “I think this is a big moment in Cinnabar’s… Read More »

Theater company makes its home at Jack London State Park

Thursday, at 11:15 by

Transcendence Theatre Company, which premiered its “Broadway Under the Stars” outdoor concert series at Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen last year, is planning to stay. The company has signed an agreement agreement with the nonprofit Valley of the Moon Natural History Association to remain in the park through 2019. The park is managed by Jack London Park Partners as a project of the association. “We’re ecstatic,” said Stephan Stubbins, executive director of the Transcendence Theatre Company. “To… Read More »