Page 286 – Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

Such as It Was: Top Torn Tickets 2020

Harry Duke

Jan 13, 2021

’Tis the time for critics of all ilks to release their “end of year” lists. For almost 20 years, this publication has presented a “Top Torn Tickets” list featuring the year’s best North Bay theatrical productions.

Those years, however, had the advantage of having an entire calendar year’s worth of shows to consider. With the pandemic-necessitated shut-downs and closures initiated in mid-March, there were but a fraction of shows produced live in 2020 upon which to look back.

But look back I did, and I want to give the fine work of local theater artists their due. Adhering to the belief that that it’s “quality, not quantity”, here—in alphabetical order—is my truncated list of the best and/or most interesting stage work done in the North Bay in the past year:

Enchanted April–Sonoma Arts Live The North Bay is gifted with many fine theatrical designers, but it’s rare for a stage design to receive its own applause. Such was the case when the curtain opened on ACT II of this production to reveal Carl Jordan’s breathtaking scenic and lighting design for an Italian villa. Bravo!

Five Course Love–Lucky Penny Productions Short, sweet and incredibly silly, this is the kind of show we are all going to desperately need when we’re past this current mess.

Ghosts of Bogotá–Alter Theater Ghosts haunted a vacant San Rafael storefront in this very interesting production that was both gut-busting and gut-wrenching.

Mary’s Wedding–Main Stage West This incredibly effective, dream-like piece was part memory play, part fantasy and part Ken Burns PBS documentary-influenced World War I drama.

Ripcord–Cinnabar Theater A terrific cast brought the funny to this look at a couple of mis-matched Senior Center roommates.

Silent Sky–Ross Valley Players This well-mounted production of Lauren Gunderson’s look at America’s first female astronomers was a healthy reminder that there was a time in this country when the pursuit of truth through science was something to be respected.

The Wolves–Raven Players Whenever this company goes “outside the box” (and converts their cavernous theater into a black box), they do really interesting work. A fine, young ensemble brought the sting of accuracy to the conversations among the members of a girls’ soccer team.

With no “opening” date for theaters in sight, many local companies have turned to streaming while others just continue to hold their breath. Here’s to 2021 giving us all the chance to gather safely and breathe again.

Green Music Center Unveils Virtual Spring of Shows

Charlie Swanson

Jan 12, 2021

Green Music Center Unveils Virtual Spring of Shows

The Green Music Center–Sonoma State University’s live music venue and educational complex made up of Weill Hall, Schroeder Hall and more–is accustomed to packing the halls with concerts and various live events featuring culturally significant musicians and other top-tier performers.

The last several months have been quiet ones at the Green Music Center, as the Covid-19 pandemic closed the halls and classrooms in March of 2020. After missing the summer season due to the extended social-distancing orders, the center in Rohnert Park transformed their 2020 fall season into an online experience dubbed ‘The Green Room.’

The venue’s green rooms, where performers hang out backstage, inspired the virtual program of events. Now, ‘The Green Room’ returns for a spring 2021 season featuring more performances and conversations with artists streaming online, beginning this month.

The spring season starts with the renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet featuring trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis on Saturday, Jan. 30. The ensemble presents “The Democracy! Suite,” a new work written by Marsalis during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis as a response to the political, social and economic struggles facing the United States.

Following that, ‘The Green Room’ virtually hosts performances by groups ranging from San Francisco classical foursome Kronos Quartet to hip-hop ambassadors Alphabet Rockers.

Kronos Quarter continues its “50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire,” a project commissioning 50 new works for string quartet composed equally by women and men, with a virtual concert on Feb. 20.

Alphabet Rockers share their mission of shaping a more equitable world by giving youth a way to express themselves positively through hip-hop in a family-friendly show on Feb. 27.

Other exciting entertainers virtually visiting ‘The Green Room’ include Los Angeles-based band Quetzal, who mix musical styles such as R&B and Chicano rock when they perform online March 11; and Clear Creek Creative, who appear in a discussion of their environmentally, culturally and spiritually-conscious theatrical work, “Ezell: Ballad of a Land Man,” on April 1.

The spring offerings also include two new performances from “Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Front Row: National.” The mouthful of a series is curated by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center co-artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han, to celebrate chamber music with the public. First, the Calidore String Quartet performs virtually on Feb. 6. Next, musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center perform Bach’s iconic “Brandenburg Concertos” on April 3.

In addition to these online concerts, ‘The Green Room’ online spring programming also features the return of Michael Mwenso’s Black Music Series, featuring culturally significant discussions with a diverse group of artists.

Last fall, Mwenso and special guests delved into a wide range of topics surrounding the Black experience though discussion, historical recordings, and performance.

Now, the acclaimed musician and self-described cultural guide is back for two more installments of the series. On Feb. 4, Mwenso connects how making music in his group Mwenso & The Shakes helped shed light on his own experiences. On April, 8, Mwenso leads a roundtable talk with prominent artists Vuyo Sotashe and Jules Latimer on the artist perspective of the LGBTQ+ experience in America.

Tickets for The Green Room’s spring 2021 season of shows opens to the public on Jan. 19. $10 for individual performances; $70 for the full season. Sonoma State students are Free. Green Music Center donors and subscribers to the Spring 2021 Season will receive access to one additional performance on March 6. Visit gmc.sonoma.edu for more details.

Healdsburg Lights Up with Public Art Project

Charlie Swanson

Jan 11, 2021

Healdsburg Lights Up with Public Art Project

Healdsburg locals and visitors alike will see the Healdsburg plaza and business district in a new light as a public art project illuminates the town at night.

Running through the month of January, “Illuminations” is an innovative, socially distant walking art tour featuring large-scale light installations by several of the top North Bay and Bay Area contemporary artists. The public art project also includes interactive light-art sculptures and custom-built light tunnels and other immersive environments.

The walking tour is the latest in an ongoing series of temporary art projects taking place in Healdsburg. The series, “Voices,” aims to bring joy to the community in dark times as well as reflect the diverse array of artists in the North Bay.

Project organizer and curator Jessica Martin is a Bay Area native now living and working in Healdsburg for 20 years.

“It’s my mission to promote the creative innovators in Sonoma County,” Martin says. “Over the course of the years I’ve lived here, I’ve been seeking out some of the artists who are really pushing the boundaries of their own practice and the role of art in the community.”

Earlier this decade, Martin co-founded the 428 Collective with several other Sonoma County women artists, and quickly began putting on collaborative contemporary art exhibitions and events.

“The events were all based on the land here in Sonoma County,” Martin says. “We were creating temporary performances and installations in different spaces around the county.”

Moving out of the traditional gallery space, Martin found herself curating exhibits in fields and along the shores of the Russian River. In 2019, Martin formed the Roving Venue project with artist Patrick Rhodes to continue putting on one-day events in unconventional art spaces. That project debuted at the old lumber mill in South Healdsburg, located in what is now called the Mill District, right before the mill was demolished.

“During that day, everyone kept saying over and over that art had given us a gathering place,” Martin says. “Everyone was craving a meaningful experience that created community and uplifted community.”

Encouraged by that response, Martin worked with the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce to secure a grant from the county’s Creative Sonoma program to develop “Voices” as a way to keep creating community during the pandemic in 2020.

“I saw that this was an opportunity to create something meaningful for our town through innovative art projects,” Martin says.

“Voices” opened its series of projects at the end of October 2020 with a Dia de los Muertos event featuring street paintings. In November, the series debuted a collection of 20-foot murals in Healdsburg Plaza. Now, with “Illuminations,” the series makes its biggest–and brightest–mark on Healdsburg yet with a walking art tour that takes approximately an hour to experience.

Martin says that many people begin the tour with the “New Year’s Light Archway” created by Jordy Morgan and located in Healdsburg Plaza. The archway holds hundreds of LED candles representing New Year’s wishes that visitors can add to when they visit.

Alice Sutro’s 30-foot-tall projected animations of local business owners and workers is another popular stop on the walking tour. Sutro’s “Downtowners” installation is located in the parking lot of John & Zeke’s Bar & Grill on Healdsburg Avenue. The animations are hand drawn on a tablet that records Sutro’s work in progress, leading some visitors to look around for the artist who they believe is working in real time.

“Illuminations” also has a not-to-missed audio component to accompany the visuals. Hugh Livingston has designed an app that plays in conjunction with the art installations that visitors are seeing.

“We asked each artist to pick a sound or piece of music or to speak directly about their work,” Martin says. “What’s great is the app is GPS-based, so it automatically plays as you walk around.”

The audio tours will continue in the spring, as “Voices” opens its final project, “You Are Here;” a collection of self-guided tours inspired by Healdsburg’s history and artist community.

For now, “Illuminations” is giving locals a way to get out of the house while feeling safe and staying socially distant. The installations will be up through January, and Martin is hoping to extend the project through February as well.

“This is a beginning for our town,” Martin says. “I look forward to making this an annual event in Healdsburg and to continue to support art and community.”

Get details on where to see “Illuminations,” including maps and the audio tour, at artinhealdsburg.com.

Newsom’s Budget Proposal Includes Billions for Education, Covid-19

By Eli Walsh, Bay City News Service

Jan 11, 2021

Newsom’s Budget Proposal Includes Billions for Education, Covid-19

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his proposed budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year Friday, touting record investments in education and a $15 billion budget surplus in spite of the economic uncertainty wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

The $227 billion proposed budget, with a $164.5 billion general fund, represents a stark difference in the state’s financial outlook from last year, when plummeting sales, personal income and corporate tax revenue during the pandemic’s early days resulted in a $54 billion budget deficit.

According to Keely Bosler, the state’s Director of Finance, the state received more revenue than expected over the last year after misjudging the depth of the pandemic-induced recession and that the stock market would maintain its strength.

“Not an easy journey,” Newsom said Friday about the process of developing the proposal. “A challenge the likes of which we’ve never experienced in such a contracted period of time. Numbers changed but our values did not.”

Newsom said his focus when drafting the budget centered on getting state residents vaccinated against the virus as quickly as possible while spurring the state’s economic recovery and reopening schools across the state.

The budget includes $85.8 billion for the state’s schools, the largest investment in education in the state’s history, according to Newsom.

The proposed funding would allow the state to avoid making permanent education cuts or layoffs while recruiting and training new teachers, keeping college and university tuition and fees at current levels and ensuring all school staff and students have access to coronavirus testing and vaccination in the coming months.

At the end of December, Newsom announced that the state would invest some $2 billion in reopening schools in February for students in transitional kindergarten through second grade and progressing into higher grades later into the spring.

While schools in 41 counties across the state were holding in-person classes to some extent, as of November, Newsom said state officials aim to use the $2 billion and incentives for additional resource allocation to resume in-person classes statewide.

Newsom added that officials wouldn’t shy away from taking a more heavy-handed approach with school districts that have been more hesitant to reopen in the coming months.

Superintendents from seven of the state’s largest school districts, including those in San Francisco and Oakland, expressed such hesitation earlier this week in a letter to Newsom, suggesting that the $2 billion plan would be implemented inequitably and included vague markers for reopening such as what constitutes a “safe school environment.”

“I think this budget reflects the vast majority of their concerns,” Newsom said Friday about the letter, adding “we share the same goal for safe reopening of in-person education.”

The proposed education budget also includes funding for mental health services for students, extending when schools are in session to make up for the learning lost as result of the pandemic and the development of open-sourced textbooks as a way of disrupting “the racket that is textbooks in this country,” Newsom said.

The budget would utilize $6.7 billion in federal education funding as part of its allocation to the state’s schools.

California State University Chancellor Joseph Castro said the budget “provides a welcome reinvestment in the California State University and demonstrates his continued belief in the power of public higher education in developing future leaders of our state and improving the lives of the residents of California.”

The California Faculty Association, which represents staff at all 23 CSU campuses, described its reaction to the proposal as “encouraged.”

“This proposal is the opening move in the budget process that includes a May revise and final approval in June,” the CFA said in a statement. “CFA looks forward to working with the California state legislature and Gov. Newsom over the next several months to secure necessary funding to enable us to best serve CSU students.”

Outside of education, the proposed budget includes $4.4 billion to continue the state’s expansion of coronavirus testing, contact tracing and vaccination efforts.

Newsom lamented that California has lagged behind many other states in its coronavirus vaccination efforts, arguing that it is somewhat out of his control and that the state itself has not received any vaccine doses, which are being distributed directly to local health jurisdictions and health care systems.

State officials have set a goal of administering 100 million vaccines by the end of next week, according to Newsom, who noted roughly 2 million vaccine doses have been received in the state as of Thursday.

“The predicate in terms of our focus on a budget is the reality of getting out of the freezers, and administering into peoples’ arms, these vaccines,” Newsom said. “We must do that in order to safely reopen, for in-person instruction, our schools; to reopen our small businesses as well as businesses large and small all across the state of California.”

Newsom said he has asked the state legislature to pass an immediate funding package by the end of the month to allocate funding for reopening schools, issuing grants and fee waivers to small businesses and extending the state’s moratorium on evictions, which expires Jan. 31.

Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, who authored the eviction moratorium bill last year, lauded Newsom for his proposal, including the $1.75 billion allocated to sheltering the state’s unhoused residents long-term.

“Despite an ongoing pandemic and difficult economic circumstances, Governor Newsom has used this budget to make wise investments and safeguard our social safety net,” Chiu said, adding “while no budget is perfect, this proposal is good news for California.”

The immediate funding package would also include $600 stimulus payments to 2019 taxpayers who received an earned income tax credit from the state and 2020 taxpayers who have Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers.

Residents with an annual income of $30,000 or less are eligible for the tax credit, while ITIN taxpayers include people like undocumented residents who were not eligible for federal stimulus payments.

California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson suggested Newsom should have also used the state’s one-time surplus to support residents who have been hit hard in their wallet by the pandemic.

“His shutdowns and lack of leadership in handling Covid-19 has put many Californians in dire situations – foreclosures, evictions, isolation from family and friends and a lost academic year for millions of school children,” Millan Patterson said in a statement.

Bay Area leaders praised Newsom’s budget for investing in the state rather than making dramatic cuts amid the pandemic.

“In addition to all the challenges we have been facing for years, right now in this moment, our workers, families, and young people are in desperate need of immediate relief,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said. “By proposing direct investments to working people, small businesses, and our schools, the governor is doing just that.”

“Even amid this pandemic, homelessness will persist as the lasting crisis of our generation,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said. “Mayors throughout the state urged Governor Newsom to remain steadfast in his commitment to housing solutions, and he stepped up.”

“This budget wisely commits to assistance for small businesses, greater support for public health programs, a good working plan to reopen schools, as well as addressing non-Covid related threats like climate change impacts,” state Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, said.

The full budget proposal – which also includes billions in funding for wildfire preparedness, tax credits and loans for businesses and early childhood care – can be found here.

New Play About a Noted Virus Hunter Debuts Digitally From a North Bay Stage

Charlie Swanson

Jan 8, 2021

New Play About a Noted Virus Hunter Debuts Digitally From a North Bay Stage

Years before the Covid-19 pandemic, award-winning virologist Dr. Nathan Wolfe proposed a plan to protect the economy from pandemics.

Even though Wolfe earned the title of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ in TIME for his work tracking Ebola and swine flu, no one took his proposal seriously. Now, a new one-man show written by Wolfe’s wife–acclaimed playwright Lauren Gunderson–tells Wolfe’s story.

This month, The Catastrophist debuts in a world premiere digital production helmed by Mill Valley-based Marin Theatre Company in collaboration with Washington, DC–based company Round House Theatre. The online production is available to stream January 26 to February 28.

“You think you know your partner of a decade. And then you attempt to write a play about them,” Gunderson says in a statement. “When (Marin Theatre Company Artistic Director) Jasson Minadakis posed the idea of writing a new play about my husband, I initially rejected it. But the idea started to make more and more sense.”

Gunderson is currently one of America’s most prolific and most produced playwrights. She has worked with Marin Theatre Company since the world premiere of her award-winning play I And You in 2013 and a tenure as MTC’s playwright-in-residence that began in 2016.

“When the reality sunk in that we would not be in theaters in 2020, Lauren and I began discussing projects that could live between the worlds of theatre and film in a virtual space, and ‘The Catastrophist’ went straight into development as a new commission,” Minadakis says in a statement. “‘The Catastrophist’ is like nothing Lauren has attempted before. I’m delighted to be partnering with Ryan and Round House on this unique experience and look forward to the conversations it sparks across our country.”

Akin to Marin Theatre Company, Round House Theatre is one of the leading professional theater companies in the Washington, DC area; producing new plays, modern classics, and musicals each year.

“There really couldn’t be a more timely production in content or presentation,” Round House Artistic Director Ryan Rilette says in a statement. “In the midst of a global pandemic, Lauren Gunderson has created a deeply personal story about the man who has been sounding the alarm on them for years. I had read Dr. Wolfe’s book, ‘The Viral Storm,’ years ago when I was still Producing Director at Marin, and I immediately wanted to see a stage adaptation. I was thrilled when Jasson reached out to say that he and Lauren were finally going to make that happen, and I’m thrilled to work with them to share that story with audiences in the DC metropolitan area, the Bay Area, and everywhere in between.”

Filmed on stage in MTC’s Boyer Theatre, The Catastrophist is directed by Minadakis and stars William DeMeritt (Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole World, HBO’s The Normal Heart) as Wolfe. The digital production’s creative team also includes producer Nakissa Etemad, dramaturg Martine Kei Green-Rogers, costume designer Sarah Smith, lighting designer Wen-Ling Liao, composer and sound designer Chris Houston, director of photography Peter Ruocco, assistant director Christina Hogan and Covid compliance officer Liz Mastos.

“Of course, I told Nathan what I was writing and asked his permission, but I didn’t let him read it or see it until the very first rehearsal,” Gunderson says. “I wanted him to not only be the subject of the play, but its first audience. He laughed, he cried, he gave me several notes on the science. This play has both the hardest play I’ve ever written and the most meaningful. What a joy to share it so widely so soon.”

‘The Catastrophist’ premieres online January 26 and is available for streaming through February 28. $30. Marintheatre.org.

Gov. Newsom to Call for $4.5 Billion in Covid Aid in Proposed Budget

Eli Walsh, Bay City News Service

Jan 8, 2021

Gov. Newsom to Call for $4.5 Billion in Covid Aid in Proposed Budget

Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to unveil his proposed budget Friday at 11:00 am for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, with an estimated $4.5 billion earmarked to help the state’s economy recover once the Covid-19 pandemic fades.

11 AM TODAY: Governor @GavinNewsom will introduce his proposed state budget for fiscal year 2021-22. #CaliforniaForAll

? Watch live.
YouTube: https://t.co/VxyGLZ7g8f
Facebook: https://t.co/leLBq9HTWv
Twitter: @CAGovernor pic.twitter.com/dxdVAP8hWU
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) January 8, 2021

Newsom said this week that he will propose allocating $575 million for grants of up to $25,000 for the state’s small businesses that have been negatively affected by the pandemic.

The grant funding would be allocated in addition to the $500 million the state previously allocated for small businesses.

About $25 million in grants would also be reserved for small cultural institutions like museums and art galleries.

“These budget proposals reflect our commitment to an equitable, broad-based recovery that ensures California remains the best place to start and grow a business – and where all Californians have an opportunity to reach their dreams,” Newsom said in a statement.

The proposal includes $500 million to develop upwards of 7,500 units of long-term housing by issuing to developers grants intended to cover the costs of aspects like sewers and site preparation.

It also includes $600 stimulus payments to 2019 taxpayers who received an earned income tax credit from the state and 2020 taxpayers who have Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers.

What is ultimately trimmed and removed entirely from Newsom’s proposal will hinge on several factors, including the potential of another federal relief bill after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

While the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which was passed last March, included funding for state and local governments, the more recent stimulus package passed at the end of December did not.

The proposal includes more than $500 million in tax credits for businesses that stay in the state, create new jobs and hire former employees as well as a $1.5 billion investment in bulking up the state’s renewable energy infrastructure.

That infrastructure would support Newsom’s September 2020 executive order banning the sale of all new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles by 2035.

“I look forward to continuing to partner with the legislature to advance these priorities so our economy can emerge stronger, fairer and more prosperous than before,” Newsom said.