A perfect play should provoke, inspire, educate, entertain, and delight its audience, and Red is certainly a near-perfect play. Berkeley Rep's latest import from Broadway won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2010, as well as the Drama Desk Award, and we can see why — it's a tightly written two-person drama centering an American artist about whom no major movies have yet been made: Mark Rothko. And it achieves all the above goals as any good play should — though it might be a little short on the delight factor. Given that it's about Rothko, though, we'd probably be asking too much for it to be delightful. more ›

Berkeley Rep: We love you. Seriously, between The Wild Bride and their current mainstage production, A Doctor In Spite of Himself, the theater has truly reaffirmed its role in selecting and producing some of the country's most imaginative and entertaining new work. The newest play, a pitch-perfect and hilarious adaptation of one of Molière's "lesser" comedies from the mid-seventeenth century, is a master class in physical comedy that brings fresh life to a zany French story with an astoundingly talented cast. It is everything you want in 90 minutes of theater, that is if you enjoy things like laughing, and boob jokes. more ›

We like Jonathan Moscone, and have admired his directing talents often at CalShakes and A.C.T., and this week a play that is very close to his heart and life premiered at Berkeley Rep. Ghost Light, which was written by longtime Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone and co-conceived by Moscone, who serves both as director and as the central character — Taccone insists this is a "character" based on Jonathan who happens to be named Jonathan, but you get the point — is a play about a son struggling with the death of his famous father many years after that father was assassinated and made national headlines. And that father was slain San Francisco mayor George Moscone. more ›

Tomorrow marks the first preview of Ghost Light, a new play co-conceived and directed by Jonathan Moscone about the life and death of his father, slain San Francisco mayor George Moscone. Moscone is a regular on the theater scene in the Bay Area, serving currently as artistic director of the California Shakespeare Theater and occasional director at both A.C.T. and Berkeley rep, and he says he was inspired to create this piece after watching the film Milk, and realizing his father's role as a gay rights advocate has been overshadowed by Harvey Milk, alongside whom he was killed, and thus has not made it into the history books. more ›

Those of you who read these reviews know that our complaints about the lack of imagination and freshness in Bay Area theater, at least among the established companies, go back quite a while. There are exceptions, however, which are always welcome, and The Wild Bride at Berkeley Rep is certainly one of those. It's a production conceived and performed by Britain's Kneehigh Theater Group — the same wily troupe who brought us Brief Encounter at A.C.T two years ago — and directed, as Brief Encounter was, by Emma Rice. Rice and her gang of nimble, musical, energetic performers take on a particularly dark (and arguably feminist) fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm called "The Girl Without Hands," and view it through a Southern Gothic lens, complete with banjo-and-bass bluegrass songs, and a lot of dancing. more ›

Some plays are more beguiling and moving than you expect them to be, at least upon hearing the basic outline, and that's definitely the case with Bill Cain's How to Write a New Book for the Bible, which just had its world premiere last night at Berkeley Rep. It's a taut and at moments incredibly sad play, which takes as its subject a son caring for his dying mother in her final months. The play is pure autobiography -- the main character's name is Bill, and Cain has named the other characters after his family as well, mother Mary, brother Paul, and his father Pete -- but Cain has suffused the action with enough subtle, simple theatrical magic to keep it from feeling self-indulgent. more ›

It's not often in this life that you get to see someone who has EGOT'd (that's someone who's won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, for those who don't watch 30 Rock) performing live on stage. Hell, there's only a few of them alive, and Rita Moreno, at the age of 80 and still dancing, is one of them. Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone spent several years trying to persuade Moreno — a Berkeley resident who's appeared twice before at the Rep, in 2004's Master Class and in 2006's The Glass Menagerie — to collaborate with him on an autobiographical show. Moreno finally relented... more ›

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Someone's angry with the Bouncer. Local progressive Adam Werbach is a Walmart sellout. Why won't anyone endorse the mayor? Cover article: the back story about the Haight neighborhood activist killed in an S/M session gone wrong. These drawings illustrating the piece are pretty rad, though (see left) -- did Matt Smith do 'em? A Hank Williams Birthday Karaoke Sing-Off???? There's a tear in our beer too! The anti-war Berkeley Rep Play is uneven. Meredith hits her second good review for SFist Ced. And Let's Get Killed screens some rare rock movies. more ›

What happens when nearly 30 local artists create works of art made entirely from reclaimed and recycled materials? Head over tonight (or sometime this month) to find out at the Market Street Gallery for ReArt: The Art of Reuse. till 5pm, 1554 Market Street,SF. more ›

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Well, this is interesting! Bottom Feeder Will Harper is leaving the EBX to become the executive editor of the SF Weekly. We're sorry to see Harper leave, but we're excited to see what he does at the sister SF publication! Plus, this collection of Bottom Feeder's greatest hits is pretty exciting. We may not be making as much money off stem cells as everyone says we will -- and there's an online-only article about the clash at Dellums inauguration. Cover article: Emeryville hotel fires illegal immigrant workers to avoid a minimum wage law. People are walking out of the Berkeley Rep's production of a play about a child murderer. Indian pizza in Fremont, and the Wineau calls out some errors made. The Bluegrass Festival. And Ron Dellums's horoscope: Define your short-term goals. (Horoscope online is different from the one in the paper. Dellums's horoscope in the hard copy is "be your usual loquacious self.") more ›

This week's picks should hold you over until December. more ›

Saturday: The first time we went to the Asian Heritage Street Celebration, we'd just been so horrifyingly dumped that we were considering giving into (well-intentioned) familial pressure and moving back home. But then we walked down the street to the fest, and were reminded of so many of the things we love about the City. And here we remain! This year's Celebration (which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Irving between 20th and 29th Avenues) has the added bonus of hosting performances by 2004 American Idol finalist Jasmine Trias and this year's American Idol contestant Jose "Sway" Penala between noon-2:30, as well as the usual entertainment, demonstrations, arts and crafts, and yummy food. more ›

Wednesday. Tonight: You're staying home tonight and playing SFist Eve's drinking game for her appearance on SF/Unscripted at 7:30 on Comcast Channel 11, right? Right? Of course you are! more ›

What do Holocaust dramas, hip hop and weddings have to do with each other? Nothing, but we've got all of them crammed into a mere weekend. more ›

Saturday: We're headed down to the San Francisco Concourse (8th and Brannan) for the Green Festival ’05, for "two energetic days of socially responsible shopping, options for thriving green living, foremost speakers and industry leaders, creating the largest party with a purpose." The festival runs 10a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and fro 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are 15 bucks, 7 if you're a student, senior, or if you ride your bike there. more ›

"The Bright River" is an exceptionally entertaining adaptation of "The Inferno," told with a flavor of Jewish storytelling, klezmer, and hip-hop traditions. more ›