Stage Fog: The Establishment Meets the Hip
This week American Conservatory Theater takes the lead again, but never fear, you edgy theatergoers, because we've thrown in some shows at the always-hip Exit Theatres.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Geary Theater
We know, we know: we always lead with an American Conservatory Theater production, if it's opening. Well, we like their photos. OK, we like how easy it is to get their photos. But seriously, read about Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but then read on, because there's some really quirky and edgy stuff down there. So, the main reason to see Cat, beside the fact that it's the play's 50th anniversary (hey, some people are into that kind of trivia) and it's one of Tennessee Williams's best works, the main reason to see it is because core company member Rene Augesen plays Maggie. She just rocks. And we can't believe she's never played this part before--a good southern girl like her. What's cool about ACT is that the actors have some say in the season's plays, and the role of Maggie was at the top of Augesen's list. So you can be sure she's got a great performance in her.
Playing October 13 through November 13.
There Be Monsters! at Exit Café
Wow, it's been too long since San Francisco's seen a Dan Carbone piece. Well, maybe it's been a year or two--but that's still too long. You think your life is more than a little surreal? You think you're a freak? You think you've seen some rad, edgy theater? Then you haven't seen a Carbone show. He's been called the Billy Bob Thornton of San Francisco (courtesy of former SF Weekly critic Michael Scott Moore, to give credit where credit's due), and his latest offering features mechanical creatures like a monkey astronaut, a sleeping pig and a dead Elvis. Who cares about plot? He's got a mechanical dead Elvis! Dude, our heads are spinning. After a little foray into the land of multi-actor productions, Carbone returns to his solo performance roots with this little trip into the logic of dreams and the nature of childhood perceptions. The use of controlled substances may intensify this effect.
Playing October 13 through November 19
Risk Is This… at Exit Stage Left
So what if these are staged readings? The Cutting Ball Experimental Plays Festival is one of the few, if not the only festival of solely avant-garde work. A new play is featured during each of the three weekends. Up first is Janet Allard's The Girl Triptych, which follows a Gen-X heroine on her mythic journey, where she encounters a desiccated Don Quixote, a real estate queen and a fallen Southern belle, among others. Up next is Robert Alexander's Alien Motel 29: The Secret Out-Takes of The Ebony Lady Macbeth, which echoes The Cutting Ball's previous production of the Scottish play. But this one's an afrocentric adaptation told from Lady M's perspective. Up last is Kevin Oakes--ah, Kevin Oakes, that really bizarre New York playwright who gave us The Vomit Talk of Ghosts, a previous Risk Is This entry that Cutting Ball fully produced in 2003. This time he brings us the more palatable title of evolutionist's club, a tale about a research scientist and his emotionally fragile wife who receive a mysterious stranger in their field house on the edge of the wilderness. Thank god for Cutting Ball, which brings us truly experimental new plays instead of those with New York's bland stamp of approval.
Playing October 14-29.
Photo: René Augesen with Katherine McGrath in a rehearsal for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Photo by Ryan Montgomery.