Just saw Ragged Wing's performance of The Winter's Tale and really enjoyed it. It's an unusual…read moreShakespeare play in switching between tragedy and comedy, and a refreshing change from the 100th performance of MacBeth or Romeo & Juliet. The cast is wonderful and the ensemble uses the space creatively so you have close to an immersion experience. It's great to see vibrant theatre in Oakland. Flora is a great restaurant nearby if you want to do dinner before the show

I went to see their performance of Inanna's Descent and was completely impressed. Great ensemble,…read moredirection, script, acting, music, everything! I especially liked the interactive sites where you could meet the characters.These were brilliantly conceived, creative, fun, and thought provoking. I can't wait to see what else they do.

Nice intimate black box theater in the Fox. The Grapes of Wrath was fantastic. Beautifully…read moredirected. An old story made new. Actors brought it with their acting, physical and music talent. Wow, am I watching theatre in New York? No, downtown Oakland!!!!!

A memorable experience, reasonably priced, with easier parking by far compared to the downtown…read morearea. This is real theater with some high quality acting, albeit some a bit rough around the edges. The seats are old fashioned - like in a mid-20 the Century cinema, but are manageable. One of Berkeley's jewels.

Stagebridge is truly a gem for seniors in the Bay Area who are passionate about the performing…read morearts! For decades, they have provided a vibrant, creative platform for adults 50 and older, offering classes in Singing, Acting, Storytelling, Musical Theatre, Improv, and so much more. I've had the privilege of witnessing their work firsthand in the church where I am employed, and I am continually inspired by the talent, dedication, and heart of everyone involved. The staff--past and present--are nothing short of incredible, nurturing both students and the art form itself. And the students! The Stagebridge community is full of amazing performers, several of whom I am honored to call friends. Their showcases are consistently inspiring, entertaining, and a testament to the skill and creativity cultivated here. Stagebridge doesn't just teach the arts; it empowers seniors to discover, develop, and shine in their gifts. Many students have gone on to remarkable achievements, headlining in the Storytelling circuit, local theater, and even roles in motion pictures! I only wish more seniors everywhere had access to such a wonderful program. If you are over 50 and drawn to the performing arts, I wholeheartedly encourage you to join Stagebridge--you will be challenged, inspired, and welcomed into a community that celebrates creativity at every age!

I found Stagebridge five years ago when my next-door neighbor invited me to go to summer camp. I…read morespent the most fun, intense, exhausting week of my adult life and have been hooked ever since. Stagebridge offers classes in the performing arts to adults over 50 (and their friends) Every day, and has recently added evening classes as well for those who still have to work ;-( Before finding Stagebridge I was an early retiree, relocated from across the Bay, and at a real loss for fulfilling activities and good friends. My life has been transformed in the most positive of ways since going to camp that first summer and then taking classes during the year. I got to fulfill a lifelong dream of performing West Side Story! I can't say enough good things about the wonderful people who teach at Stagebridge and the wonderful students who attend classes there. You could be one of them! Check out the website for upcoming classes soon to be available for the winter session.

"Boil, Boil, Toil and Trouble."…read more I had the good fortune of seeing "Macbeth" recently, on a warm summer evening. The theater is just a short (and beautiful!) walk up the hill, but they have a free shuttle if you prefer to ride. The resident dramaturge, Philippa Kelly, gives a scholarly lecture before the show. She set the historical context for the play. I appreciated getting the background on Macbeth, and especially the purpose of the 3 witches. The amphitheater is a comfortable venue, and suits either the comedies or the tragedies. (I have seen both here.) For Macbeth, the stage had clear partitions, behind which the characters (and the witches) could traverse. This was also a handy place for the witches to toss "blood" in several scenes. I sort of knew it was coming, but the red gore still had a big impact on me. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of Macbeth. The actors had clearly studied hard, and the play was professionally executed. I was especially impressed with Lady Macbeth, played by Liz Sklar. Of course, she has a meaty role, sleepwalking in one scene, and trying to get the blood off her hands in another. For cold nights, the staff has blankets for a nominal charge. I was delighted to also see many food options, as well as beer and wine. There are lots of wood tables to sit at and enjoy your meal. The only criticism I have is that for Macbeth the audio was spotty in a few places. For instance, the loud, background effects drowned out the 3 witches in one scene. I thought the ticket was pricey, but of course, buying a season pass is a better value.

"WAR OF THE ROSES" - FOUR SHAKESPEARES' PLAYS INTO ONE…read more My last class I ever took as an undergrad at UC Berkeley was Shakespeare. In fact my final semester Shakespeare was the only class I took as I had completed all my courses for my Art History major the previous semester. So I wanted to really enjoy learning for my final semester at UC Berkeley. From that Shakespeare course I read and studied plays such as Twelfth Night, Othello, Merchant of Venice,Taming of the Screw, Hamlet, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Richard III. I came here to watch the "War of the Roses" last month. One of my co-worker she saw the play "War of the Roses", which comprises of 4 Shakespeare's plays - "Henry VI (Parts I, II, and III) and Richard III - into one. I've read Richard III but never read Henry VI - Parts I, II, and III. That was a unique concept as each play can be at least 3 hours when performed. The snipets from each play resulted the play of "War of the Roses" 3 3/4 hours performance. A little history note "War of the Roses" is about the English Civil War between two branches of the Plantagnet family - The House of York and House of Lancaster. Also the "War of the Roses" influenced the HBO show "Games of Thrones." The magazine at the theater provided an insight for the summary of the play. This was helpful to understand the flow of the play. One thing I was fascinated was the stage as it was a two-story stage. Most of the acting was the first level stage, but the upper stage was also used as The Tower of London for "Richard III". During the play I was fascinated how the actors were playing two roles where in "Henry VI" they would play one role and "Richard III" in another role. That shows skills from the actors learning lines of two characters. Since the theater is small you can a great view of the play - there are no nosebleed seats. As an outdoor theater I recommend bringing a jacket as the weather tends to get cold at night. Another recommendation is instead of paying tickets online where the prices can be over $40 depending on the seats call the ticket office to get $20 tickets on the day of the show. As stated before since this is a small theater the seating is close to the stage so it's better to call the ticket office on the than order online. If you like Shakespeare and want to watch one of his plays I recommend coming here to this theater.

Walking the dark, frigid(ish) street of Valencia at 8pm on a Monday sounds like a lonely night for…read morea hipster. Thankfully, I'm no hipster. I knew where I was headed, and that was to my first experience of Viracocha, beautifully hosted by Lit Slam. Now, what on Earth could Lit Slam be?! Well, I wasn't quite sure myself, I must be honest. I thought it might have to do with poetry, but the "lit" part made me wonder if there wasn't a bit of story quality to the event. In the end, what I found to be true was that the performances I saw blew my mind. Lit Slam, as it turns out, is a poetry slam competition in three rounds - the grand prize being a publication in a literary journal. The competition was incredible, fierce, heart-wrenching, and entertaining as all get out. Some poets and some poems were better than others, but the audience and the community had a high energy that kicked time into high gear, and before I knew it, the night had ended. The feature poet for the night, a man named Jamaal May (from Detroit), melted my face, just a bit. So if you see me disfigured and walking down the street a bit funny, it's because this man damn near blew me away. You know what's inspirational? A bunch of younger mind-blowing adults putting together an unforgettable night that inspired me to go home and start writing. And it was only their premiere show! Now that's worth every wink of sleep I missed on a school night! I'll definitely be back.

okay so i'm writing this semi thorough review cuz i didn't know what to expect my first time there…read moreso i hope those of you reading this would find it helpful: my friend and i went this past monday; arrived at 8:15 (the event starts at 8 it says on their website)..but the first poet didn't go up until about 8:45. the person at the door says sliding scale between $5-10 per person so my i gave $15 between both of us. the venue space downstairs is quite intimate..about room for maybe 50-75 people. i really liked how the stage was set up, candles and dim lighting throughout the room, but not too dark where you can't see the person next to you. stage was big and there was a bar in the back that sold soda, beer, wine. two bottled beers for $8. no snacks but we brought our own and they didn't seem to mind it. the night we went probably had about 30 people, with so much room left. crowd was diverse..and by diverse..i mean whatever you think diverse means. the poets ranged from mediocre to great..but nothing awesome. i must have heard about 15 poems..first round of 8 poets (1 minute each), second round of 5 poets? (2 minutes each) and third round of 3 poets (3 minutes each). they choose random people to be judges (editors) who wrote down scores of the poems on papers and the winner of the night would have their poem published in their book. i've been to a few slam poetry events, i wasn't too impressed with the poems but kudos to those who can get up on stage and read the most intimate writings. the event ended at about 11 pm. overall feeling of it was i'd probably go back, but not anytime soon. everyone seem to know each other and lots of inside jokes and yelling across the room. vibe was chill and laid back..the special guest poet came up stage pretty buzzed but no one cared since his readings were pretty good. anyways, i'd recommend it to people who were looking for something different to do on a monday and to try it out at least once.

When I was a child, I loved it when someone would read aloud to me, taking on the voices of the…read morecharacters, and narrating the story with the appropriate emotion and meaningful pauses. Word For Word takes this concept one step further. They choose a story and act out the entire thing, without omitting any bit of writing or changing it to suit their interpretation. So every "he said, with a look of disdain" is spoken, usually by the character. I have such a love and respect for writers and great writing, and I find this genre of theater a very nice tribute to an author. It's fun to see how this theater company finds ways to interpret the prose, having to entertain an audience while staying true to the written word Last week I went to see "Strangers We Know" at the Magic Theater in Fort Mason. This was a performance of 2 short stories: "Mlle. Dias de Corta by Mavis Gallant, and "Which is More Than I Can Say About Some People" by Lorrie Moore. While I didn't care for the Gallant piece, it was due to my not liking the writing rather than the performance. The Lorrie Moore piece was very good - the acting and choreography were well-done, and I enjoyed it very much. Last year, Kirsten F and I went to see the Daniel Handler stories "4 Adverbs" which was very lively and entertaining. I would think it would be such a treat for a living author to see his or her work performed in this way. Word For Word has been in around since 1993, and selects works that range from classic to contemporary. Some of the featured writers have been Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allen Poe, Eudora Welty, Dorothy Parker, John Stinebeck, and Michael Chabon. They have been around since 1993 and seem to have a small but dedicated following. If you want to see an original concept that marries literature and theater, performed in an intimate setting by a very dedicated company, check out Word For Word. They are part of Z-Space Studio, which you can read about on the website http://www.zspace.org/

I saw "The Necklace" and "A Jury of Her Peers." I'd seen The Necklace before, and also read it in…read more9th grade. It wasn't that thrilling (more heartbreaking, than anything else), but Word For Word made it come alive! Word for Word is the most entertaining kind of play; you hear all the lines, as well as the stage directions and the descriptions of the actors' emotions, (such as, "He moved to the left; he wore an expression of wistfulness with a touch of frustration" -- and then the actor expresses the described action). The actors are incredibly skilled and talented, and, having someone narrate, makes it feel as if you're reading the play, as well as viewing it at the same time, and adds a bit of humor to otherwise serious plays. Word for Word Performing Arts Company is in a class of its own. Truly an incredible experience. They're often shown in Z Space in SF, which is an intimate theatre (read: great!), or in Europe. You don't have to enjoy plays to enjoy Word for Word!

Fantastic venue with ample parking and easy walking access to the main street, food, and whimsy…read more Tickets for the show were reasonably priced. Bathrooms were clean which was great as I had to make frequent use of them! The tap though is rather cold and the water truly runs for an eternity! My only other gripe was that the concessions were incredibly stale. Truly my pretzel almost broke a bicuspid. But thankfully the fantastic show distracted me! Definitely worth a revisit!

This is a lovely little theatre in Hayward. I'm not sure how long it's been here in Hayward but I…read morewish I had discovered it sooner. I attend a concert performed by East Bay Blues Society. They were great. The theatre also has its own parking lot and snacks are available.

The first show I saw here was their current production, The Grand Inquisitor…read more Great use of small space. Great actors (By the way, Michael Gene Sullivan and Julian Lopez-Morillas are amazing!). Great production team. What's not to love? Do yourself a favor and watch a show here. or 5.

Central Works is a unique Bay Area treasure. Their stock-in-trade is developing new scripts--…read moreevery play they do is developed internally by the company. Because of that method, sometimes the work is hit or miss (developing new plays is harder than it sounds-- trust), so if you go see a play and think it's crappy, don't count them out-- the next one is likely to be utterly kickass. One of their playwrights, Gary Graves, tends to write plays about amazing women in history-- Adah Isaacs Menken, Lola Montez, Anne Bonny and Mary Read-- and the company supports his writing with deep research. Graves often incorporates orginal texts into his writing-- letters and such-- making the plays all the more authentic and cool. All right-thinking people love plays about badass historical women. Their prices are very low-- sliding scale starts at a mere nine bucks-- and they work out of the gorgeous Berkeley City Club. Check them out!