“Black Watch” has been taking audiences by storm ever since its 2006 debut at Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival.
Based on interviews with Scottish soldiers returning from the war in Iraq, the National Theatre of Scotland’s high-octane multimedia production combines movement, music, video and dialogue to create an urgent, often harrowing theater piece told from the soldiers’ point of view. Read More
Like its undocumented protagonist struggling to find a place in the city of strangers, “Stuck Elevator,” a world premiere at American Conservatory Theater, resists easy categorization.
It is musical, but not really “a musical.” It is occasionally operatic, more than just a song cycle, and yet not wholly any of the above.
On the surface, it is 81 hours in the life of Guang, an undocumented Chinese immigrant who is trapped in the titular device. Read More
The term “boxed in” takes on new meaning in the world premiere of American Conservatory Theater’s “Stuck Elevator,” based on the true story of a Chinese deliveryman trapped in a Bronx, N.Y., elevator for 81 hours.
“The story really intrigued me,” says Julius Ahn, who plays the lead character, Guang. “Here is somebody that seems to be integrated into mainstream America. You see the surface, but what’s beneath is much more complex. Read More
“So – what do you see yourself doing in five years?”
It’s a standard job interview question. But for Army veteran Dean Trusk, the central character in George F. Walker’s “Dead Metaphor,” the answer is anything but typical.
Trained as a sniper, Dean was valuable in America’s most recent war. Now, after two tours of duty, he’s been home for five months, and his particular skill set only makes prospective employers nervous. Read More
Sometimes it’s possible to be captivated by a play about ordinary people in ordinary circumstances — a play in which nothing particularly dynamic or transformative happens, and in which the dialogue is not particularly profound or lyrical or clever. Read More
The tragedy of “Elektra” echoes through the American Conservatory Theater this month, as Sophocles’ bloody tale of vengeance in the aftermath of the Trojan War once again casts its mesmerizing spell. Read More
Who’s in townComedian and actor Dov Davidoff, seen on E! Network’s “Chelsea Lately” and NBC’s “Raines,” kicks off a string of comedy shows at the Punch Line. [8 p.m., Punch Line Comedy Club, 444 Battery St., S.F.]LecturesRichard Schmierer: The U.S. Department of State deputy assistant secretary for public diplomacy discusses the situation in Syria and U.S. policy on Syria. [7 p.m., World Affairs Council, 312 Sutter St., S.F.] Read More
Three almost-proscenium-sized picture frames, stacked asymmetrically upstage — plus a pile of chairs initially heaped in the center — comprise the design for “The Scottsboro Boys.” Read More
It’s tempting to think that traveling back to the 1950s could solve the problems of 21st-century life. Who wouldn’t want to trade harried schedules and information overload for the serene life of manicured lawns, cocktails and crab puffs? Read More
“How can you honor the dead if you have no faith?” demands Isaac, the gay, born-again-Jewish son of an architect, Michael.Insists Michael, “I know how to encapsulate grief!”Workaholic Dad, famous for building memorials, has left his heritage so far behind that he never circumcised his son, much to Isaac’s everlasting chagrin. Read More
