Mission Mission

Interview edition! Here’s Brittany and Katie’s report:

A few days after Brittany attended a Jazzy-Hip-Hop dance class at City Dance, a review request came across the DT&D desk (aka email) for a new musical, Mr. Irresistible, by D’Arcy Drollinger & Christopher Winslow. Still sore from all the booty-popping, Brittany recognized D’Arcy’s name as her fabulous dance instructor. We decided this would be the perfect opportunity to do a pre-show chat and get our groove on. So we donned our spandex and leg warmers, and went to D’Arcy’s Sunday Skool Sexitude dance class. After an hour and a half of sexitudeiness, we sat down with D’Arcy to get the scoop on his new show Mr. Irresistible that opens tonight!

Brittany: How did Mr. Irresistible come to be?

D’Arcy Drollinger: When I first moved to New York, I had a dare going with my friend. She was going to write a novel in 45 days, and I was going to write a full musical in 45 days, and so that’s actually when I started writing Mr. Irresistible, early in ’98. Flash forward to about a year ago, I had been talking with the artistic director at ODC, and I told her about this show I had never completed, and she liked the idea, so I began an artist residency at ODC. At the time I was also working on a different piece with Christopher Winslow, the composer of this show, a musical parody of Flowers in the Attic. So I asked him if he wanted to take a break from that and work on Mr. Irresistible. We spent six months tearing apart the old show, rewriting the songs and putting it back together. After readings at ODC, La Mama offered us a two week workshop in New York, which sold out, then we got a letter from SFAC that we got a seed grant to produce the show here and add in a lot more of the video elements, so we started looking for a theater.

Katie: Tell us a little about the show.

D’Arcy: This show starts as a real traditional musical, and then about ⅓ the way through it, it turns into a horror musical, when Mr. Irresistible starts killing everyone because he doesn’t understand metaphor. At the end, it turns into The Terminator, an action thriller with laser fights. It gets a little dark and heavy, but it’s still a happy ending.

K: I hate to be the person who asks this, but are there “concessions”?

D’Arcy: There are drinks, people can can buy booze before the show, and during intermission. Unfortunately it can’t come into the theater.

B: You’ve worked and lived in NY and SF, but made SF your homebase, how’s it working out for you?  Is this a viable place to make a career as an actor or artist?

D’Arcy: I was born in San Francisco, and then in junior high we moved to Nevada City, so I grew up there. I came back to SF for college at SF State, then a few years after college I was transferred to New York for work. New York is such an industry. I was missing the lifestyle here. The food, the mellow pace. I love New York, especially for the theater and the dance, but it has been better for me to be a Bay Area local artist. I have a community here that rallies around what I do. I think that’s the great thing about San Francisco audiences, they really rally around things. I’ve been making a decent living here making theater, which is CRAZY. If I didn’t know anybody here, I don’t think this would be the first place I would come to do theater. As I’m sure you know, in the last couple years this place has become so expensive and so many small venues have had to close. But there’s a lot of community support that’s hard to get like somewhere in New York.

K: What do you think about the future of theater and arts in San Francisco?

D’Arcy: I wish places like Google and Twitter would invest in more nightlife experiences for people that work for them that aren’t just bars. To keep this as a first class city we can’t destroy the downtown underground arts scene, and only have the big touring shows and a bunch of bars and nothing in between. People want hip stuff to do. I did a lot to make Rebel into a cabaret space, because there wasn’t anything like that, and now someone bought the building and is turning it into condos. I’m working very hard with some partners to create a cabaret space within a bar, where we can have a little more security knowing the building won’t be sold out from under us. But we need more viable nightlife, and a place for smaller productions.

B: What is your hope for Mr. Irresistible next?

D’Arcy: I’ve done nine musicals, and in a way this feels like my most commercial venture. It’s wacky, it has the love story, the thriller aspect, you’ve got your gay characters, you’ve got your drag queens, you’ve got Joey the Exterminator who the straight guys can identify with, it’s got the Sci-Fi aspect so all the Sci-Fi nerds can geek out on that. I could see this being a fun regional show. Start with a bigger production here, and then tour it, but with San Francisco roots. I can’t wait to show it to everyone. I feel so fortunate.

Mr. Irresistible runs June 4 – 8, 2014, Wednesday – Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 7:00 pm at the Alcazar Theatre (650 Geary St. in SF). Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased on the Mr. Irresistible eventbrite page. There are also half priced tickets available on Goldstar. Even if you can’t make it out to this show, make sure to check out one of D’Arcy’s incredibly fun sex-positive dance classes, or another one of his many upcoming shows.

Show love for your Bay Area actors, and do your part to keep SF a first-class arts city.

Fun DT&D fact: Katie, Brittany and I work together at BAYCAT, and one of the most famous shots in cinema history, the hallway shot from The Right Stuff, was shot in the hallway right outside our door. Legend goes that Walter Murch (personal hero of mine) was editing right here in the Dogpatch’s Northern AIC building, and they needed a pick up shot of the astronauts walking in slo-mo to really capture the gravitas. I did a little comparison as “proof” back in 2006, with myself as a piss poor stand in for the mightiest of hero shots.

Anyway, Sam Shepard was nominated for an Oscar® for his role in that film, as Chuck Yeager, the first human to break the sound barrier. Last week Katie & Brittany saw the Magic’s newest take on Shepard’s works. Here’s their report:

Sam Shepard, playwright, actor, director and Patti-Smith-ex, is turning 70. As part of Magic Theatre’s “Sheparding America” festival (Shepard was a playwright in residence at the Magic Theatre in the 70’s), Bay Area theaters are producing a series of shows that celebrate this great American playwright. While other productions are honoring Shepard by performing his plays, Word for Word member Amy Kossow decided to do something a little different. Taking a year to sift through five of Mr. Shepard’s collections of short stories, Kossow created 36 Stories by Sam Shepard, which weaves together Sam Shepard’s shorts about America’s desert highways into a single piece about a writer’s struggle as he searches for inspiration.

Word for Word’s production of 36 Stories by Sam Shepard, at Z Below 5/21/14 through 6/22/14. L to R: Carl Lumbly, Rod Gnapp. Photo by Mark Leialoha

The Writer (Rod Gnapp) has a philosophical discussion with the spirit of the severed head (Carl Lumbly).

Brittany: It was artsy, so I liked it. But, I thought the way the piece was constructed was a bit problematic. It was essentially a play about about a writers’ struggle, but I didn’t care as much about the writer’s struggle, as I cared about the stories he was telling. All the actors were great, and I thought the piece as a whole was really well done. Rod Gnapp did an amazing job with a character I didn’t think was compelling. But it was a little hard to stay fully engaged when the stories kept switching. That being said, I thought it was a really good production, and some of the actors’ individual performances were really remarkable, especially getting to see their range as they played different roles.

Katie: The actors were great but that didn’t help me to care about what was happening. It just didn’t work for me. I don’t know Brittany….I guess I just don’t get it because I just don’t understand how this is entertaining…maybe I just don’t know Sam Shepard enough. The set and the staging were good though. The actor who played guitar was really good and really cute. They should have just turned Sam Shepard’s short stories into songs and he could of just been on stage the whole time singing. I’d be into that shit.

B: I would say if you are interested in seeing a very well acted series of stories, you should go.

K: I would say skip this one.

The Verdict: If you enjoy poetic language and are interested in seeing it very well acted out in a series of stories, this is the show for you. If you know, and like, Sam Shepard’s writing, this is the show for you. If neither of those things apply, this is not the show for you.

The Drama Talk: This is a Bay Area all-star cast. It was well staged, and well performed. Word for Word does plays word-for-word, this means reading stage directions as well, so be prepared for that. Although Shepard’s stories themselves are intriguing, the piece which is used to tie them together is not as strong as its parts.

The Drinks: Everything Sam Shepard writes is a little dark, so after an evening of All-American ennui, we decided to go in for some All-American fun and check out Urban Putt. Brittany got the Seasonal Shandy and Katie got a Calimocho (red wine and Coke, classy), and we watched the many revelers (who waited in line for over an hour on a Wednesday to play putt-putt) take in a Bay Area fantasyland.

36 Stories by Sam Shepard runs through 6/22 at the Z Below, and tickets can be purchased through their website. Ticket prices vary from $30-$55 depending on how close you are to the stage, but it’s a small theater so any seat is good. There are also ½ price tickets available on Goldstar.

"Get rich or get out," anti-gentrification sidewalk graffiti at Dolores Park in #sf. pic.twitter.com/8atsRltB4D

— Jeff Elder (@JeffElder) May 10, 2014

That’s pretty much the clearest statement I’ve seen so far.

The first bar I ever went to (besides with my dad as a kid) was the Uptown. It was a great experience, just what I always thought a bar would be like: Dark, damp and a little scary. I felt totally at home. Last week the owner, Scott Ellsworth, passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. I didn’t know Scott that well, but the couple times we talked he was always really friendly, and very supportive of the weird artsy place my buddies and I were building across the street. He ran a bar that didn’t have a cocktail program or a dress code. He ran a bar where you could sit down, have a shot and a beer and chat with familiar regulars. Inside the Uptown I’ve stored paintings during a scavenger hunt art show, made business deals, broken up fights, maybe gotten in a fight, tried in vain to get up the nerve to talk to a girl, watched my team dominate the World Series, and seen Sean Penn close it down.

[via Facebook]

The Bold Italic has a great tribute to him today, which would have been his 60th birthday.

In 2011, when I posted a picture of “KiTOS”, the letters on the back of the bar, Scott wrote in to tell us that it stood for the previous owner’s names, Kim and Tony. Let’s just say now it stands for “Keep in Touch, Ol’ Scott.”

Brittany & Katie went to a show at Z-Below, and they seemed to have appreciated it, though not quite to the point of actual enjoyment . . .

Pictured left to right: Tamar Cohn as Kay, Craig Souza as Carpenter, Donald Currie as Auden, Justin Lucas as Stuart, Kathryn Wood as George, and John Fisher as Britten in The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett, directed by John Fisher, a Theatre Rhinoceros production at Z Below
Photo by Kent Taylor.

Theater Rhinoceros, the (self-proclaimed) oldest queer theater in America, has a mission to “produce works of theatre that enlighten, enrich, and explore both the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of our queer community.” Although the description of Allen Bennett’s play The Habit of Art about British poet, W. H. Auden, and British composer Benjamin Britten, didn’t have us rushing to the box office, we were intrigued to see if the playwright who brought us The History Boys had an equally witty and enlightening take on what could be a very dry topic. So we returned to one of our favorite mission theater venues, Z-Below, to see what Theater Rhino had in store.

Brittany: It was very arty. The whole play within a play thing was interesting, but despite some strong actors, I don’t think they made the play within a play thing work. Some of my favorite moments were when they pulled back to the focus on the rehearsal, so I enjoyed it as a device, but they didn’t real nail it for me.

Katie: I really struggled through the first act, especially when they were acting like actors that didn’t know their lines and standing up there with scripts. I think the actors did the best with what they were given, but sometimes they would go in and out of their English accents and that was a little distracting to me. Jumping in and out of the play to the “rehearsal” gave me whiplash.

B: I think the other thing that’s hard is that the play they were rehearsing wasn’t a very good play, at least in my opinion. I really liked the woman who played the stage manager though (Tamar Cohn), she was great and her monologue at the end was really touching.

K: I wouldn’t say it was a bad production, I just feel that this show is for a theater person. If I sent my non-theater-going friends to this show they would never trust me again.

B: Yeah, some of the most charming jokes or scenes were the ones that were so specific that non-theater people wouldn’t get them. Definitely not a show for everyone.

The Verdict: If you’re a theater person, you’ll probably find the play within a play element of this show intriguing, and you’ll get all the rehearsal related jokes. If you’re familiar with W.H. Auden or Benjamin Britten, you’ll probably find this insight into their relationship, and their personal lives, interesting. Otherwise, skip it, this probably is not the show for you.

The Drama Talk: The play within the play is full of poetry, music and theatricality. An interesting story about two aging artists, no longer in their prime, and the young men who helped feed their artistic temperament (AKA male prostitutes and pre-pubescent choir boys). Jumping between the story found in the play, and the rehearsal of that play, made the emotional through line fall short (as Katie said, whiplash inducing). The rehearsal elements of the show, however, are some of the most endearing and are definitely where the humor is found. Despite some strong actors, and a well designed set that makes the sometimes cramped theater feel much bigger, this piece falls into the category of only-for-the-artsy-types.

The Drinks: We went to nearby Benders for their free afternoon Sunday BBQ. Brittany got a dirty martini (since they were drinking martinis during the show) and Katie got her usual rum and coke. What better way to unpack an highbrow play than with some lowbrow BBQ.

Tickets can be purchased here.

Fayes Video (where I worked for a bunch of years around the turn of the millennium) has thrown down the Google Glass gauntlet with a new pint glass that they’ll be selling in the shop. The glasses will be $9.20+tax, so you can buy two of them, hold them up to your eyes and order $1,480 worth of Fayes coffee, knowing you’ve saved a buck or two not buying Google Glass! What a swell way to support a local business!

Thanks, Mike!

SFist took a look today at @TechHateCrimes, which documents aggression towards “techies” in various forms, though nobody seems to be able to tell if it’s earnest or a parody. Meanwhile, we were alerted to this bit of analog social media conversation responding to the rich people of the city and the “Gentrifuckation”.

Beau tweets “Found on my way to the Women’s Building last night. Class tension on the rise in SF.” This, like some MM comment threads, could just be one person with a couple of different pens, or a legitimate call and response. No way to tell. Either way it’s graffiti and it’s a crime. I don’t condone crime. I also have problems with the way that this city caters to the rich and has not done enough to reach out to support the residents with less financial means, and is not reacting quickly enough to address the problems that arise when the income gap inflates as quickly as it is right now. People with a lot of money are able to commit crimes that have large scale repercussions and get away with them. The city is reacting swiftly to graffiti vandals, however, by moving to make sure they pay for the damages if caught. Which makes sense, sure. But is graffiti one of the big issues that we, all of us, are dealing with right now? It’s a big issue for property owners, that I understand completely.

I find it understandable that some people can feel like San Francisco doesn’t care about them, that they are not spoken for, not represented, and not cared for by their city. These feelings can leave some people with little hope and little trust that they will be able to truly advocate for themselves by playing by the rules. Unfortunately this drives some people to feel as though they need to write on a utility box to be heard. I wish that wasn’t the case.

In sf Not sure about this one.. pic.twitter.com/fbxl1hzkAn

— james daniel bowien (@dannybowien) March 19, 2014

Even Danny Bowien isn’t sure that this hybrid can work. Remember when mashups were just songs that played together?

In related news, is anyone else psyched about the possibility of a long distance drone airlifting this Mission Cantina burrito back to the Mission??

Ladies & Gentlemen. The Mission Cantina Burrito pic.twitter.com/squ2OSP0SM

— devour | nyc (@devourNYC) March 15, 2014

Here’s the newest dispatch from our vigilant theatre goers, Brittany & Katie. I really love musicals, but I just wasn’t able to join them for this one. That sounds sarcastic when you read it in your head. It’s not supposed to be sarcastic, I really do love musicals. Seriously. Anyway, here’s their report:

We love seeing and supporting new theatre. Especially new works premiering in the Bay Area. One performance space that’s full of innovation is Z Space, a beautiful hub for artists and audiences on Florida Street in the Mission. We were pumped to see their latest world premiere, Hundred Days, “A Folk Rock Odyssey about Love, Life, and Loss”. We were excited for a rockin’ evening of Drama Talk & Drinks.

Katie: The music was amazing, but but the story was lacking! But dammit they were talented musicians and amazing singers.

Brittany: I would totally buy the CD to that musical.

K: Definitely.

B: Really cool music, it reminded me of Mumford and Sons or The Decemberists.

K: Yeah, or the Lumineers.

B: And it’s very different from almost any play I’ve seen. I guess it’s most similar to Tommy by the Who. Or maybe Tom Waits’ musical adaptation of Woyzeck. It’s got songs that you could hear on the radio, and not know that they’re part of a musical, and still enjoy them. The music definitely doesn’t have that “musical” sound to it, which is great. It’s very accessible, it breaks the mold of what you think a musical can be.

K: That’s why I was so excited about it. I love the idea of a musical that I can bring my non-musical theatre friends to.

B: Maybe I’m just a traditionalist though, but I liked that the second act was more like a traditional musical and not like a concert. I didn’t like the first act. They tried to make it like a concert, and that didn’t work for me. I think I get what they were going for, maybe you can bring in a new audience if it doesn’t feel like a play, but the story got lost for me in the first act. I loved the second act. Really cool staging, you got to see the couple living out their life together in 100 days, and you really got to see their beautiful story unfold.

K: Yeah, the first act was rocky. They were acting like they were in a band, and just performing a concert, and very artificially tying in their own story to the play. But It didn’t have the spontaneity of a concert, and all of the banter came off as very scripted and forced. The lead singer was even looking at her script! I loved some of the songs in the first act, but I didn’t care about the in-between commentary or even the acting. I didn’t think they were very believable.

B: It’s strange, because that was actually true. They really are married, and they really are in a band, but for some reason that felt so much more false than when they were just performing the play. I don’t understand why they felt it was necessary to shoehorn in the conceit of an artificial concert. It was so much stronger when they were just telling us the story and letting the play evolve. They were great performers, but maybe not the strongest actors.

K: I don’t know why they had to try to tie their real-life story into the story of the play either. I don’t think it added anything, and it made it feel fake. If this play goes on to be performed elsewhere, by other groups, that’s not going to translate.

B: If the second act had continued to be staged as a concert, I would not tell people to go, but the second act was strong enough, to make it totally worth going. The lighting was amazing, the sands of time design element was really neat, and there was something very sad and sweet about the story they developed in the second act.

K: Agreed. It’s worth it just to see the band. That lead woman’s voice (Abigail Bengson) was RIDICULOUS. I would go to their concert in a second. In the first act the story was lost, and that made it not as strong a play, but still very well done and entertaining.

B: It’s a new play too, and an interesting concept, so I’m sure it will evolve. I had a great time, but there are just some kinks. Their voices were insane, the songs were cool, the staging was cool, but it could still be better. Maybe they’ll take the concert thing further and stage it properly like a concert, or they’ll make the first act fit more stylistically with the second act which was beautiful.

K: I enjoyed myself, it just needs some more development. I liked that it moved, and it left me wanting more. This could be such an amazing piece with just a few changes.

The Verdict: Go see it! The Bengson’s, the band and couple behind this play, are incredibly talented musicians. It’s a fun night of very good music, with some really beautiful lighting and staging to go along with it. Tickets range from $100 for a seat front and center on the couch, to $15 for a seat further back. It’s a loud and visually vibrant performance, so no matter where you sit you’ll have a good time.

The Drama Talk: Hundred Days is unlike most musicals. It feels like a cross between the most epic story time ever and a concert. Although some of the more concert-like elements felt forced, the engaging performances, and a strong second act made this show worth it. The songs could stand alone, and the voices of all the performers made the soulful music come alive. The story is sad, and simple, and sweet, and beautifully told by this talented cast.

The Drinks: They have a great bar at Z Space, and it’s fun to look around their gallery, so since it was a school night we got lazy and just had drinks at the venue. Brittany got a Gin and Tonic, and Katie got Champagne in a can, because that’s the kind of girl she is.

Hundred Days runs through April 6, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7pm, and Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm. Right now there are tickets available on Goldstar for $10 but if those sell out, you can always get tickets through the Z Space website.

Esta Noche’s last night has come. I lived across the street from the queer Latino bar for a number of years, in the same building of my good friend Marco. We had some fun times there together, but he had many more without me. I asked him to share some thoughts and stories of the bar. We’ve seen a lot of closures recently, but this one hits hard. It’s a rare safe space for a community that doesn’t have many. Sad to see it go. Anyway, I’ll get out of the way and share Marco’s piece:

Rie, llora
que a cada cual, le llega su hora
rie, llora
vive tu vida y gozala toda

laugh, cry
that to each of us our time comes
laugh, cry
live your life and enjoy it completely

[Photo by Nehemiah Lazo]

Soon after I arrived in San Francisco in 1993, directo from Sinaloa, a gang of immigrant locas, known to me as Las Latinillas, became mi familia in all senses. Meaning, they were supportive, caring and fun to be with but also complete bitches and a beautiful hot mess. Always in your face. They will snatch your new boyfriend, get you a green card and a job, trash your soul con canciones de Juanga and uplift your spirits ala Gloria Trevi, as they revere Selena y Los Dinos and eat pupusas revueltas at Balompie. All this, a la luz del sol.

And at night, we had Esta Noche. It was my friend Mario, well, I called him La Marieta, who took me there the first time. La Marieta was dying of AIDS at the time but as he put it, “Despues de la novela, vamos a esta noche mana, hoy canta La Ronnie Salazar.” You always knew you were at Esta Noche because of a huge self-portrait of a naked Joe Dallesandro with an eternal spotlight on his even larger penis and how can you miss the Esta Noche smell . . . a mix of tequila, piss, and Chanel N°5. Running into friends, making new friends and losing friends all happened at Esta Nasty. It was the place for new immigrants like myself to listen to our music, speak our language and just for a few hours not to feel inadequate. It was also the place for young Latinos, to come out at night and join the festivities of music, drag, stripers, and drinks. But las reynas de la noche were the drag queens!

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