Arts & Entertainment
Curtain call for Danville theater; road trip to Oregon
By CHARLIE JARRETT Martinez News-Gazette Columnist This week’s reviews are unique indeed in that you only have to drive 9.7 miles to the first show reviewed (in Danville) or 300 miles and spend one or two nights in Ashland, Oregon to see them. You might ask, why is this guy suggesting that we travel to […]
National Park Service hosts free campfire program
“My fire was in all its glory about midnight…I had nothing to do but look and listen and join the trees in their hymns and prayers.” – John Muir, Travels in Alaska Join the National Park Service for a free campfire program on Saturday, October 26, 2019 at John Muir National Historic Site (NHS) in […]
‘Insignificance’ at the Campbell Theater is an elegant, thoughtful piece of historical fiction
By SCOTT BABA Art and Entertainment Editor It’s always an interesting thought experiment to consider what it would have been like if historical figures from different spheres of influence met each other. What would they think of each other? What would they have to say? That’s the premise of “Insignificance,” the new play currently running […]
Witty and thought-provoking production shines at Campbell
By CHARLIE JARRETT Martinez News-Gazette Columnist This week’s promise of double billed theatrical events has turned out to be two excellent productions being reviewed. However, only one will be available over the next two weekends. The Eugene O’Neill foundation’s premier production of Eugene O’Neill’s Nobel prize-winning play, Long Day’s Journey into Night, opened this past […]
‘Camping With Henry and Tom’ a tightly crafted character study at the Campbell Theater
By SCOTT BABA Art and Entertainment Editor In television there is a narrative device called the “bottle episode.” Originally conceived of as a way to cut costs, a bottle episode usually involves finding a way to keep the characters in a single location and giving them little to do besides bounce off of one another. […]
Two top-notch community theater productions
By CHARLIE JARRETT Martinez News-Gazette Columnist First this week, the very intriguing murder mystery play in Orinda, “The Woman in White”, extracted from the 500-page book written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, and recently adapted into a theatrical play by local author Malcolm Cowler. Next, in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh community Theater presents the upbeat musical […]
Two productions take on classic plays
By CHARLIE JARRETT Martinez News-Gazette Columnist In his first hit play, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams wrote a heartfelt story based on his own life and that of his domineering mother, still living her colorful life as a southern belle, and created a fragile-as-glass sister, reflecting the emotions imprisoned in her painfully shy, somewhat erratic […]
Production tackles political climate
By CHARLIEJARRETT Martinez News-Gazette Columnist In The Great American Sh*T Show, Brian Copeland and Charlie Varon are now engaging audiences through meaningful monologues revealing their own deeply disturbing concerns about where America is morally and materially heading today, by combining wisdom and witticism in making Americans Think Again! Their new show, of which I saw […]
Two great productions worth the drive
By CHARLIE JARRETT Martinez News-Gazette Columnist This week’s two reviews take us first to San Francisco for some thought-provoking discourse on the pain of segregation to children and their families, as described in Brian Copeland’s award-winning solo show, “Not a Genuine Black Man”. Next, in Alameda, the terrific little theater known as Altarena Playhouse has […]
Celebrate 50 Years of Art in the Park
MARTINEZ, Calif. – Discover something delightful, entertaining, amusing, thought-provoking, delicious or just fun at Art in the Park. The 50th annual Martinez Arts Association (MAA) event will be held at Susana Park on Aug. 18, from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and over 60 local artists are expected this year. Along with live music, food […]
