Stage Fog: The Bring-a-Blanket Edition

No one wants to spend the Fourth of July weekend sitting in a dark theater, so in between your backyard grilling and fireworks on the waterfront, check out these alfresco options.

San Francisco Mime Troupe's Doing Good at Dolores Park
What better way to show your patriotism than with an afternoon with the SF Mime Troupe, which has been skewering the US government for over 40 years? (Look, if you have to ask if they're really mimes, you're not paying attention.) Independence Day with the troupe is practically a SF tradition, where hundreds pour into Dolores Park for its new show. But we got a sneak peek of this year's offering at the Ensemble Theater Festival in Blue Lake last week. Doing Good is a bit of a departure from the usual Mime Troupe fare in that it leans more toward dramedy instead of outright comic musical, though it does have a few songs. The show follows a bright naïve white couple, James and Molly, as they join the Peace Corps in the 1960s and spend the next several decades traveling from one Third World country to another trying to, well, do good and shake the image of ugly Americans. Disillusionment follows as James joins an Evil Corporation and sells loans to Third World countries to build up their infrastructures. (Disclaimer: the Mime Troupe often changes material right up to and even after opening, so don't sue us.) That's all we'll say-after the first of two Blue Lake performances, one trouper said, "Come back Saturday. We'll have a new ending," with a laugh. But expect the usual outrageous characterizations and live music from the kick-ass Mime Troupe band. Doing Good plays Saturday to Monday, with music starting at 1:30.