Stage Fog: Take a Break from the Holidays
Tired of Christmas Carols, Nutcrackers and even alternative holiday shows? Get back to some good ol' new plays by the city's best new-play companies.
The Hopper Collection at Magic Theatre
Extended to New Year's Eve due to great reviews, The Hopper Collection is a world premiere by one of those young up-and-coming writers that makes the rest of us who are over 30 bury our sorrows in Sartre. Playwright Mat Smart not only lands a world premiere at the same theater that launched the likes of Sam Shepard, but also has another theater lined up to snatch The Hopper Collection in the spring. San Francisco Chronicle critic Rob Hurwitt has compared this play to Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Indeed, the story features an embattled older couple and a visiting younger couple who have some secrets of their own. But at the heart of the play hangs the older couple's painting (offstage, of course), a gift from a devoted husband to his wife, who likes nothing more than to tear him to pieces with her forked tongue. With The Hopper Collection, the Magic may be back on track, delivering raw and compelling new plays.
Playing through December 31.
Porcelain at Exit Stage Left
Crowded Fire, which recently landed a Goldie Award from the Bay Guardian, leads the next generation of San Francisco companies presenting new work. Porcelain, by Singaporean playwright Chay Yew, is by no means new--it was first produced in London in 1992--but hey, it's probably new to most of us. Centering on a 19-year-old Chinese man who admits to killing his male lover in a London public restroom, the play was certainly controversial at the time of its premiere. But, oddly enough, San Francisco theater doesn't see many plays examining the gay Asian-American experience, and it certainly doesn't see enough plays by Chay Yew, who's well-known in Seattle and Los Angeles for his critically acclaimed work.
Playing through December 17
Zac Jaffee and Julia Brothers in The Hopper Collection. Photo by Bill Faulkner.
For more stage options, check out the listings at the Guardian, the Express, the SF Weekly, and the calendar on Theatre Bay Area's website.