KPFA - Bay Area Theater

Robert Kelley, Artistic Director of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky.

Retiring after fifty years , Robert Kelley talks about TheatreWorks and its two venues, looks at how TheatreWorks and other companies vie for plays, discusses upcoming shows in the current season, as well as other issues in this in-depth discussion.

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Kate Attwell is a playwright whose latest work is “Test Match” having its World Premiere at ACT’s Strand Theatre through December 8, 2019. She is interviewed by host Richard Wolinsky.

Born in South Africa and raised in London, Texas and elsewhere, she is a member of Ars Nova’s PlayGroup 2017/18, a member of Page 73’s writers’ group and a finalist for the 2016 Page 73 playwriting fellowship, a 2018 NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theatre nominee, a Mabou Mines Resident Artist and a member of the Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group. Kate co-founded and creates theater with I AM A BOYS CHOIR.

“Test Match” seems to be about a women’s cricket team, but its underlying themes include gender roles and colonialism, and the nature of power.

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KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “The Chinese Lady” by Lloyd Suh at the Magic Theatre in Fort Mason Center through November 3, 2019.

Magic Theatre website

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Yurié Collins and Sharon Omi, in conversation with KPFA associate theater critic C.S. Soong.

Sharon Omi and Yurié Collins play a mother and daughter residing in a Japanese coastal town in “The Great Wave,” a play by Francis Turnly now at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. In “The Great Wave,” the family tragedy of a young woman’s disappearance takes on the added dimension of a political thriller, one rooted in the fraught relationship between Japan and North Korea. Turnly’s play, directed by Mark Wing-Davey, runs through October 27.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre is located at 2025 Addison Street in Berkeley.

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Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, creators of the play “Mark Twain’s River of Song” at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, through October 27, 2019, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.

“Mark Twain’s River of Song” tells the story of the Mississippi River from its starting point in the north down to the delta, through songs and stories, and through the eyes of Mark Twain, played by Dan Hiatt.

Randal Myler, who also directed the show, has created several shows including “Love Janis,” and with Dan Wheetman, the Tony nominated “Ain’t Nothing But The Blues.”

Dan Wheetman is a multi-instrument musician who, when not creating shows with Randal Myler, performs in a band called Marley’s Ghost, and has released several albums under his own name. For several years he performed in John Denver’s band.

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