Arts & Events

Summer's Shakespeare time, hereabouts, and excellent productions of two of his best-known plays have just opened--his fantastic comedy 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' staged for free at the old Civil Works administration (CWA) amphitheater in John Hinkel Park, and the most iconic Shakespearean tragedy of all, 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,' at the intimate Phoenix Theatre in the Native Sons Building near Union Square in San Francisco. -more-

On Saturday, July 22, West Edge Opera presented an evening of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. This concert was held at Dashe Cellars, an Oakland winery. The performers in this concert will be heard again in West Edge Opera’s forthcoming season, which will include L’Arbole di Diana/The Chastity Tree by Vicente Martin y Soler, Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas, and Frankenstein by Libby Larsen. -more-

I don’t know if it was this year’s rainy winter, but something gave us a bumper crop of Merola singers for 2017, as seen – and heard – in a program of three one-act operas presented July 20 & 22 at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. On tap were La serva padrona by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736), Savitri by Gustav Holst (1874-1934), and The Bear by William Walton (1902-1983). All three operas were conducted by Christopher Ocasek and directed by Peter Kazaras, with set designs by Donald Eastman. -more-

Robert Estes, born in Oakland, was for years someone you'd meet at theater productions and events all around the Bay, as a spectator or helping out behind the scenes. I first ran into him at Novato Theatre Company over a decade ago, when he offered me a ride back to Berkeley, saving me an early exit before curtain to catch the last bus to the cross-Bay transfer.

But it wasn't till the approach of his sixth decade, in 2010, that Estes directed his first full-length play, after years of assisting for a wide range of productions & directing staged readings, with 'The Curse of the Starving Class' for Actors Ensemble of Berkeley at Live Oak Theater. (Robert reminded me that I wrote about that show for the Planet; I remember Holly Bradford's impressive performance well ... ) A few years and about a half dozen plays as director later, Estes founded Anton's Well Theater Company, named after one of the great Chekhov's many social projects, water wells and libraries among them.

"Chekhov believed every person should leave something behind. Younger people, with their own concerns and sense of time, usually are the ones to set up new theater companies. I'm 57 years old. I want to bring some fresh water to theater. Like in baseball, which goes from the rookie leagues up to the majors, there's a lot of room between, say, in the East Bay, community theater and Berkeley Rep. By starting a company that's in between layers, I can develop as a director, help others develop, keep people from having to go somewhere else to make theater, help fill the gap. we've premiered several plays new to the Bay Area. [including Sam Shepard's two-hander, 'Ages of the Moon'--it was a Sam Shepard play that was the first professional stage production Estes ever saw, which his father took him to.] And a small company can sometimes put on a better show than the major companies do."

Right now, Estes has a show running through August 6 at the Temescal Arts Center, the Bay Area premiere of another two-hander--though one with a difference--Philip Ridley's 'Tender Napalm.' And by year's end, with another show, title to be announced, at the Berkeley City Club, Anton's Well will celebrate its third anniversary with its seventh production. -more-

Lear. What! art mad? A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen a farmer’s dog bark at a beggar?

Glouscester: Ay, sir.

Lear. And the creature run from the cur? There thou mightst behold the great image of authority; a dog’s obey’d in office.

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I saw a replay of women in soul
Sing at the Obama Whitehouse

Front row Barack and Michele

What love I feel
How much beauty they brought us
What beauty they brought to lead us
Such dignity
Such warmth
As Aretha belts it out, so much
Respect

Michele in her seat gets down and dirty with
Rhythm
Half time clapping
Shining lipstick on such a kind face

I am grateful they brought the strut to the
Whitehouse
Brought the rhythm and the culture in
Radiating dignity and love

I loved my country then
A leader radiating dignity
Calm
peace
love
Dignity again and again
Always

Now, one vote later,
Dogs in Office

Face of pouty rage
Contempt
Resentment
Destruction
Dignity melted like chocolate in the sun
Replaced by infantalism
Schoolboy rage
Meanness

Was Dignity and love so painful that
Contempt and hate were needed?

Dogs in Office
Is all lost?







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