Mission Mission

Time for another theater review by Katie and Brittany. Look, we do these because the three of us love theater and want to get more people under 50 interested in getting out and seeing something. This review may not do that, but don’t be turned away! Theater can be “dope” and “fresh”! Anyway, here’s their review:

Stage Werx often has fun shows. We can often be bitter. So when we heard about How to Make Your Bitterness Work for You, a solo comedy written and performed by Fred Raker, we figured we should check it out. The small theatre was packed with eager audience members ready to be brought along on this self help guru’s seminar journey. Over drinks after the show we discussed if How to Make Your Bitterness Work for You worked for us…

Katie: That show, and it’s bitterness, wasn’t really working for me. Was it working for you?

Brittany: It was working for me in so far as, I totally believed we were at some sort of a self-help guru talk. But I didn’t know how I had found myself there, because I thought I had gone to see a piece of theatre. Which I understand was the point of the spoof, but I found it equally compelling to a self help guru talk (which is to say not compelling).

K: I wish he had more interaction with the audience. Like when that audience member left, I wish he had called it out, but instead he got really awkward.

B: Right, at least in the portrayals I’ve seen of these sorts of seminars, the self help guru people do shit like making the audience repeat after them. And some of the audience was naturally doing that, and he didn’t react to that audience feedback.

K: I think it was humor and a piece for older folks. The older people in the audience were laughing and having a good time, and then I looked at people closer to our age in their 20s and 30s and they were as lost as we were. Some words that indicated it was humor not meant for us; “Buxom Blonde”. WHO SAYS buxom blonde? “Smarmy,” isn’t that from the 40s or 50s? There were others too.

B: I felt like I was watching something that was written 20 years ago, but then bizarrely he would drop a reference to Facebook or text messaging which seemed totally out of place. Most of the references I did not get, or at least they didn’t resonate with me.

K: The way he said “I wanted to plant a big wet one on her,” it sounded like my grandpa! I mean, not really because my grandpa didn’t speak English, but he’d have said something like that.

B: It felt like he was talking about a mid-life crisis, and was approaching these issues the way a 50+ year old would, which I couldn’t relate to.

K: The older audience, which was 90% of the audience, seemed to really like his impersonations and were laughing a lot. It’s hard to judge this play, because I don’t think it was written for us. He was a very believable self help guru though. He did that well.

The Verdict: How old are you? Over 50? Great, you’ll probably love it. Under 40? Do you have parents in town for a summer visit? Great, take them! It’s totally parent friendly, and they’ll probably think this show’s a “hoot”. Otherwise save the $15.

The Drama Talk: Fred Raker makes an incredibly believable struggling self help guru. If you’re not into self help gurus, you probably won’t like this show. We wish he had gone farther and turned it into a fully interactive seminar, but as it was it fell short for us, especially since much of the humor seemed geared towards an audience born before 1960. If you were born before 1960, or are into self help gurus, and decide to see this show, get there early if you want a good seat. Also, there’s no intermission, so just be prepared to hold it if you decide to get drinks at their adorable concessions nook.

The Drinks: We went to Thieves Tavern and wanted drinks with bitters, to match the bitterness theme of the evening. Katie got a Sazerac. She learned she doesn’t like Sazeracs. Brittany got a Manhattan (for the cherry of course) and remembered that Manhattans are a great way to banish bitterness.

How to Make Your Bitterness Work for You runs every Monday and Tuesday night at Stage Werx Theatre through August. Tickets are available on Brown Paper Tickets.

Hello folks, here’s the newest installment of our feature where two local theater lovers go see some live performance and discuss it over drinks. Here they review Dirty Dancing Live at The Dark Room:

Last Saturday night we donned our leg warmers and beige iridescent lipstick, and headed to one of our favorite Mission live performance venues, The Dark Room, for their newest show, Dirty Dancing Live! Neither of us had been to one of The Dark Room’s live performances of “classic” films, but we were intrigued by the concept, and had the perfect bar to match the 80s chick flick set in the 60s vibe, Beauty Bar. One of us was pumped, the other skeptical, but both of us were ready for Drama Talk and Drinks . . .

Brittany: When we decided to go see Dirty Dancing Live, I was soo excited. To the point I nearly texted my college roommate to brag. We were the kind of dorks that watched the movie literally over 50 times, in the two years we lived together, so I was expecting to love the show because I LOOOOVE the movie.

Katie: I don’t have any real connection to the film, but was really hoping to be pleasantly entertained, but I don’t even know what to say about what we just saw . . . There were some people laughing, the kids in front of us were having a ball . . . (struggles to find words)

B: Just say it . . . it was awful.

K: It’s just that they didn’t make a clear choice of what it was. Was it a movie reenactment . . . was it an interpretation?

B: Was it a spoof?

K: One moment it would be straight up word for word, moment by moment reenactment. Then they would skip over tons of shit and suddenly be a spoof. It just seemed they didn’t know exactly what they wanted it to be. It had potential to be good if they just made a clearer choice.

B: I love Dirty Dancing the movie – it’s cheesy and corny. If they had taken it far enough, and made it really spoofy, it could have been funny. But you’re right, they didn’t take anything far enough. It felt to me like, if I was trying to study for a test on Dirty Dancing, this was the not as good cliff notes version.

Also, Dirty Dancing is a summer coming of age movie. The actress who played Baby was super adult the whole time, and played the whole being naive thing as just an act, which totally killed the plot.

K: One thing we gotta give her, is that she’s a dead ringer for the actress in the movie (Jennifer Grey). I mean body shape, hair, face I was shocked – looks wise she was amazing. You could tell she’s capable, but maybe just needed better direction? Also, doing a show like this in that space seemed kinda awkward.

B: The Dark room is a hard space – I get that – it is super small. Doing any big dance number is really hard – but that’s what people love about Dirty Dancing! The first time that Baby goes to the staff living area, and sees them dancing, that’s supposed to be a big game changing scene.

K: They didn’t make a moment out of that at all.

B: However, I did think they did the scene where Baby and Johnny lip sync and dance really well. That was spot on and cute. Besides that moment, I just wasn’t with them.

K: I really do love the Dark Room though – it’s such a cool performance venue.

B: Me too, I’ve seen such great stuff there. I’ve enjoyed The Business, other comedy shows, sketch comedy. It’s just this staged movie piece didn’t really know what it wanted to be, so unfortunately it wasn’t much of anything.

 
The Verdict: Unless you’re friends with one of the actors don’t waste your money. Even if you are friends with the actors, get them to give you comps. Tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the door, even $5 would be a stretch for this mediocre performance.

The Drama Talk: We didn’t know when to laugh and the awkwardness of some of the acting made us want to cry. Although the two leads seemed like they may have had talent, nothing about this performance let them show it. But don’t give up on going to shows at the Dark Room, they always have cool stuff going on!

The Drinks: Unnamed Summer-y deliciousness from the creative mind of the awesome Beauty Bar bartender. Brittany had an Absolute Hibiscus cocktail, and Katie had an Absolute Citrus cocktail. Both were a high point of the evening.

Dirty Dancing Live runs through the end of May, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm.

The space used to be the Traveling Jewish Theater (where the very awesome Duck Lake was staged). Now it’s Z Below. Here’s the deal:

Z Space is officially opening our second theater space, and you’re invited to the party! Z Below is an 88 seat venue just downstairs from our main stage at 470 Florida Street. It’s ideal for the development of new work, and will allow the organization to provide more rehearsal and performance options for its companies in residence.

Please join us for our opening party, we’ll have snacks and drinks, of course, but also a performance by the Bengsons at 7 pm (who if you don’t know are developing a rock opera at Z Space).

Free and open to all of our friends in the neighborhood and theater community.

Can’t wait!

Welcome to “Drama Talk and Drinks”, a new feature here on Mission Mission. Our friends Katie Cruz and Brittany Janis go see a local show, then they go to a bar, get drinks, and talk about it. For the first installment they saw The Happy Ones at the Magic Theatre and then had drinks at Royal Cuckoo. Here’s their report:

We braved the wild coastal lands of Fort Mason to see opening night of The Happy Ones at Magic Theatre, directed by Jonathan Moscone. We made it back to the Mission and went to Royal Cuckoo to debrief. This is a transcript of our drama talk.

B: What should we get to drink? I feel like we should drink something that they drank during the show…They drink so many bloody mary’s and martinis and gin…

K: And sangria.
(orders gin and tonic)

B: What do you think the name of this review should be?
(orders a martini)

K: Oh sweet Jesus…How about “Slow start but ends with a bang”? At first I was like “Whaaat is this?” But their acting actually got better as it went on. Those first few scenes they were trying so hard to be happy 70’s Americans.

B: RIGHT! So, I would have called it “The Incredibly WAY too Happy Ones”. When they actually let themselves get serious the play had some really lovely moments.

(more…)

it was a lot quieter than usual outside the 24th St. BART station on Sunday thanks to a whimsical puppeteer whose presence seemed to dissuade the ubiquitous megaphone-toting preacher from his customary pulpit.

If the preacher’s faith was not already completely shattered by the fact that his lord failed to protect his congregation from this territorial incursion, surely this morning’s news that the pope has decided to resign has totally broken him.

Tim League, of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, posted this update today:

Last night the City Planning Commission voted to approve the project, so we are off to the races. That said, we still have a long road in front of us. Seismic upgrades and the historic nature of the renovation we make this a challenging project. Nonetheless, I am ecstatic about finally being able to march forward on the New Mission. Expect many more updates here as we make progress.

The $10 million renovation will convert the dilapidated furniture storage room / roach crash pad into a 5-screen, 348-seat theater that will serve you beers. In addition, approval was granted for a 114-unit condo development which will replace the beloved neighboring GIANT VALUE building.

Opposition was light but, as expected, you can’t get through a community meeting in the Mission without some folks speaking up against gentrification and high rents. More over at SFGate.

Z Space is the place! Here’s the deal:

Climb aboard the luxury cruise ship Crown of the Seas, and join an eclectic group of seekers as they strive for enlightenment. Amidst the sensual decadence of bars, discos, and gluttonous buffets, they un-tether themselves from the baggage of their everyday lives and become entangled in a strange, disturbing ritual. Sit right back and take a surreal journey the folks at Princess Cruises never imagined in their wildest dreams.

Tickets and further details here.

To win a pair of seats to this Friday’s show (which writer Sheila Callaghan, writer/producer of Showtime series Shameless, will also be attending), tell us about your freakiest cruise ship (or vacation) experience in the comments section below. Winner will be chosen based on merit. Contest ends Thursday at noon.

Duck Lake delivered on all fronts: the ballet part, the horror part, the comedy part, and the summer blockbuster part. And it stayed with me — I went swimming at Lake Anza the next day, and was actually spooked when I saw a raft of ducks headed my way. Must see!

And they’ve only got four more performances scheduled, so get tickets quick!

I mean, they had me at naming a thing Duck Lake — but Mission CTRL went the extra mile and created some killer poster art (above) and a really killer trailer (below).

Here’s more:

DUCK LAKE is the world’s FIRST Ballet-Horror-Comedy! Written and produced by PianoFight’s sketch comedy troupe, Mission CTRL, it features choreography by the acclaimed Brian Gibbs of TAGsf, 3D shadow puppets, butchered Broadway numbers, and lots and lots and lots of ducks—who may or may not be murderous…

We saw their previous show a few months back and it was so good I was moved to write an actual multi-paragraph review of it. So I’m pretty sure Duck Lake will be an epic tour de force. And it opens tonight! At the Traveling Jewish Theater (on Florida between 17th and Mariposa, in the same complex as Z Space). Tickets here.

Live theater! When was the last time you saw some live theater? Z Space seems to be the place to see some, and I’ll be damned if the above image isn’t seriously sparking my curiosity. Here’s the deal:

Z Space presents Joe Goode Performance Group <http://www.joegoode.org>  in the world premiere of When We Fall Apart, a dance theater work that examines the intricate and fragile relationship between house and body, and the determination and resilience of the human spirit. Life (and the body that contains it) is impermanent and – like everything – eventually falls apart. Goode explores the motivations that keep us building, even as life might collapse around us, by weaving the real life stories of audience & community members into the work itself. Architect and collaborator Cass Calder Smith <http://ccs-architecture.com/v3/>  provides a visual “house of art,” constructed to collapse, re-shape, and illuminate the songs, stories, and movement that take place within. Featuring original music composed and performed live by Ben Juodvalkis of the band Battlehooch <http://battlehooch.com/> . Presented and commissioned by Z Space.

I like the sound of a collapsing house, and I love the sound of Battlehooch. Sucks to be reminded that everything falls apart though

To win tickets to Friday’s 9pm show, tell us your best things-falling-apart story in the comments section below. Winners will be selected based on merit and awarded a pair of tickets. Contest ends at noon tomorrow (Thursday).

Buy tickets here. Now here’s another pic: