Review: How to Write a New Book for the Bible

There is never a false note in the emotionally rich, autobiographical play by Bill Cain, premiering at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

By Hilda Scheib, Bay City News Service "Just don't make me look foolish," urges Bill Cain's proud, stubborn and sharp-as-a-tack mother when her son announces a plan to write about the last six months of her life, which they spend together in the family home in Syracuse. She had no need to worry. Cain's autobiographical play, "How to Write a New Book for the Bible," currently having its world premiere at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, is a witty, smart and loving portrait of Mary, as well as of her husband Pete and other son Paul, who together comprise what Cain sees as a truly "functional" family. In the course of his portrayal of life with Mary until her death, Cain unearths a family history of longstanding — but finally resolved — …

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John Malkovich Explores the Fine Line

Cal Performances presents the Emmy award-winning actor in a one night multidisciplinary performance of The Infernal Comedy.

The particular talents of actor John Malkovich bear a startling resemblance to Austria’s Jack Unterweger, the serial murderer Malkovich plays in a one night tour de force opening and closing at Cal Performances on Oct 21. Writer/director Michael Sturminger’s The Infernal Comedy, combines theater, opera, and the music of Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, with the Emmy award-winning actor’s charismatic, mercurial, clever and “bad, bad guy” capabilities. “Without saying something as mundane as it being therapeutic, it’s kind of good exercise — it’s like going to an emotional gym,” he said in an interview with The Times UK.  The evil he embodies is the subject matter of Sturminger’s collaboration with organist and conductor Martin Haselböck. …

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The Return of a Giant: Mark Morris at Cal Perf

The Mark Morris Dance Group has left an immense footprint on the Bay Area's performing arts scene.

The Mark Morris Dance Group will perform Dido and Aeneas at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall on Sept. 16 and 17 at 8 p.m. and Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. Tickets start at $30.  Berkeley’s Cal Performances, the largest performing arts center of its kind in Northern California, is leaping into the fall dance season with a giant. There’s no better word to describe Mark Morris and his astounding company: a fact made plain by the 150 appearances the Mark Morris Dance Group have made at Zellerbach Hall between 1987 and 2011. This time, Morris will present Dido and Aeneas, Henry Purcell’s 1689 opera following Virgil’s tale of a Trojan hero, an affair, a Sorceress and tragic death. Originally, Morris himself danced the roles of Dido and the Sorceress, earning…

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Cheap Thrills

Cheap Thrills: Flashback Features at the UA Berkeley Theater

Enjoy classic movies as they were meant to be seen — on the big screen — every Thursday night.

Remember the anticipatory pleasure of entering a darkened theater, with a bucket of buttery popcorn cradled in the crook of your arm, a coke in one hand and a box of Red Vines in the other? Sounds nostalgic in this age of Netflix and live streaming, doesn't it? Well, if you hanker for the good old days — at good old prices — come check out the UA Theater’s Flashback Features. Every Thursday night at 8 p.m., the UA Berkeley7 Theater on Shattuck Avenue is offering audiences a rare treat: a trip back in time, which allows viewers to watch classic movies on the big screen. For a mere 5 bucks a ticket, you can revisit classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Godfather, or Monty Python & The Holy Grail, and watch them as they were …

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What's the Buzz? Jesus Christ Superstar Rocks YMTC

With a cast of teenagers and 20-somethings, the classic rock musical comes to life at Berkeley's Youth Musical Theater Company.

Teenagers know drama. Angst and confusion, friendship and betrayal — these are the rites of passage for young adults. So it's no wonder the youthful cast of Berkeley's latest rock musical empathised with the themes of Jesus Christ Superstar. Unrequited love? Check. Rebellion? Check. Feeling misunderstood? Check.  The trials and tribulations of teenagedom echo onstage until July 30 at the Youth Musical Theater Company (YMTC)'s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The cast of young adults range in age from 13 to 22 years old.   "[Jesus Christ Superstar] is a very good show to do with young people because it has a quality of adolescent, dramatic, intense energy," said Artistic Director Jennifer Boesing, who moved to Berkeley from Minneapolis…

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