“Water Falling Down,” currently in its American premier as part of the current B3 Series at B Street Theatre, is the story of Dad and Son. Dad is an elderly man loosing his mobility, at least under his own power, and is slipping into aphasia — “poor man’s Alzheimer’s,” as his son calls it. His wife of 30-some years died not long ago without, it seems, telling anyone that she was sick. Son is a dutiful sandwich generation child with a son who won’t talk to him and a surviving parent that often does not make sense when he does talk. The only other “family” is ex-wive(s) who only seem to make his life miserable, leaving him to deal with Father on his own. A common story for many boomers: t

The B Street Family Series opened, “The Giver,” an eyes wide open look at how “Utopia” can become “Dystopia.” For an excellent introduction to the show see Barry Wisdom’s Sacramento Press preview of “The Giver.” Long time B Street Company members Elizabeth Nunziato and Jason Kuykendall are Father and Mother, the adult component of the mandatory two adult two children family unit. They are so good at creating this feeling that under the veneer of happiness is a pervasive fear of the consequences of differing at all from the norm which flares up anytime the children question something. Nunziato also plays the elder that announces the role that has been selected for each child as they cease

photographs by Barry Wisdom Everyone wants to be appreciated for who they; for their personalities, for their accomplishments, for their talents – for their “extraordinary skills.” On the surface, “Aliens With Extraordinary Skills” – Saviana Stanescu’s seriocomic play now on stage at the B Street Theatre – is a story of the new generation of immigrants who are coming to America. Some, like Nadia (Stephanie Altholz) and Borat (John Lamb) have landed with less-than-legal credentials and are on the run from the INS. Lupita (Rinabeth Apostol), a wannabe actress from the Dominican Republic who pays the rent by working as an exotic dancer and renting out her living room, is more pragmatic. S

photographs by Barry Wisdom People around the world may burn the Stars and Stripes, hang our leaders in effigy and protest the U.S. government’s involvement in everything from the assassination of foreign leaders to the selection of Miss Universe finalists, but the United States remains a top destination for those seeking a better life. And whether one is an illegal immigrant from Moldava or Russia, a Green Card holder from the Dominican Republic, or even a divorced good ol’ boy from the Deep South, nothing embodies the American Dream like New York City. It’s a story old as time, a song as old as rhyme, but given a fresh chorus by playwright Saviana Stanescu, herself a Romanian immigran

“Imagine there's no countries ... It isn't hard to do ... Nothing to kill or die for ... And no religion, too ... Imagine all the people living life in peace.” In “The Giver,” playwright Eric Coble’s adaptation of Lois Lowry’s 1993 Newberry Medal award-winning novel, John Lennon’s concept of a Utopia free of conflict where all the people share all the world has come to pass. There have been a few compromises on the way to this “same” new world, however. Yes, war and want are things of the past. But there is also no passion, no feverish love — and no choices. Genetic engineers have even rendered all people colorblind as a means to further homogenize a once-disparate (and desperate) soci

Photos by Barry Wisdom The magic of the theatre, the theater of magic. While great children’s theatre is a wonderful experience for children and adults any time of the year, it is especially magical during the holiday season. The most recent opening is the B Street Theatre Family Series, “The Snow Queen.” The B Street premier is an adaptation of an 1845 Hans Christian Anderson story, “Sneedronningen,” which originally appeared in Danish. The production is a story of a sister, Gerda, and her brother, Kay, who live with their grandfather. The adaptation was written by longtime B Street Acting Company member David Pierini. This is his fourth adaptation for B Street and follows “Pinocchio,”

Photos by Barry Wisdom “Watching Wynter” is the title of this season’s B Street Theater mainstage production for the holidays. As always, the play is written and directed by B Street producing artistic director Buck Busfield. While Busfield’s shows have some sort of connection to the holidays, however tenuous, with this show the connection is even more minimal than past shows. This year’s production is about how family members relate to each other and to those around them, and how the holiday season can impact those relationships, making them more than a little crazy. As a playwright, Busfield is a master at making family craziness very funny. At the center of the play are Lonny, an onl

New Helvetia Theatre ends its three-weekend run of Michael John Lachiusa’s off-Broadway show “Little Fish” this weekend. While Lachiusa is known for two Broadway shows, "Marie Christine" and "The Wild Party," he has written several smaller-scale off-Broadway shows. Most of these have a reputation of being very serious. “Little Fish” is one of his lighter works and was suggested from the short stories of Deborah Eisenburg.   “Little Fish” is New York City-centric. It is the setting of the play, and some of the interactions of the characters can be described as very “New York.” The play itself is part of a genre of musicals, many by Lachiusa, that are specifically written for off-Broadway w

n “The Walworth Farce,” a play by prolific Irish playwright Enda Walsh that opened at the B Street Theatre this week, a father and his two sons are forced to live in s sort of exile from their home in Cork, Ireland, and survive in government housing in London. Dinny the father forces the sons to do a daily reenactment of the family history, lore and sometimes fiction according to Dinny.   Unable to control his temper after hours of drink, mourning and self pity, he kills two close relatives. Or did he? Was it an accident? Or totally justified? This and several other large issues haunt Dinny. He reacts by being a stereotypical Irish bully. Sadly for Dinny, his bulling extends only to the t

Some Bingo players are notorious for not letting anything get in the way of their Bingo night. That is definitely the case of Vern, Patsy and Honey, the trio of women at the center of “Bingo the Winning Musical,” which opened this last weekend at the Cosmopolitan Cabaret. The show begins with our trio of bingo addicted ladies listening to emergency weather reports describing a major storm raging outside. No one should leave their home except in the most dire emergency, but does this faze our intrepid gang? Not in the least. Besides, this is not just any Bingo night. This is the anniversary of the local bingo parlor featuring a double prize! No little storm is going to keep our girls away

Folks can be so civil and polite when they first meet to discuss what could be a thorny issue. “God of Carnage,” the current mainstage production at B Street Theatre through Nov. 6, follows the interactions between two couples and between the husbands and wives, escalating and disintegrating. The result is shocking and hysterically funny. Michael and Veronica Novak invite Alan and Annette Raleigh to their ever-so-tasteful home to discuss an incident in a neighborhood park. Veronica claims the Raleighs’ 11-year-old son “armed” himself with a stick and struck the Novak’s son, breaking two teeth. “Armed” is just the first contention. As with so many issues like this, there is much more goin

Sigmund Freud, the creator of psychoanalysis, held many controversial views and theories. His staunch atheism is one of the strongest and most controversial. The great English writer C. S. Lewis, best known for “The Chronicles of Narnia,” also a staunch atheist as a young man, embraced Christianity as a professor at Oxford. Much credit for his conversion is given to long conversations with “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” author J. R. R. Tolkien. Award-winning playwright Mark St. Germain’s current off-Broadway hit “Freud’s Last Session” imagines a conversation between the two brilliant men very near the end of Freud’s life, while Lewis is a young Oxford professor and little-known

Last Thursday B Street Theatre previewed  a new concept to a sold out house at the Cosmopolitan Cabaret  after Cosmo Cabaret regular show of the evening, "Defending the Cave Man."  The new concept is sketch comedy and some improv performed by some of B Street's funniest actors.   The actors in the show along with B Street producing artistic director Buck Busfeild wrote the material. Think the funnier sketches from "Saturday Night Live"   B Street veteran Dave Peirini emcees along with appearing in several of the sketches.  Peirini has appeared in many of the funniest shows at B Street over the years including last seasons opener "Love Child"  The SacPress review of "Love Child" started wi

Bob lived a strange life right from the beginning. Abandoned by his birth mother in the restroom of a White Castle in Louisville Kentucky, and adopted by the employee who found him, they wander across the U.S. living out of her beige Chevy Malibu for the next 12 years and then she dies. On his own, Bob lives for the next 12 years behind the restrooms at an interstate rest area, and that is only the beginning. Bob is the central character in Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s same-titled play that opened Sunday on the B Street Theater Mainstage. To say that Nachtrieb has written a very imaginative play is an understatement. As the story follows Bob from birth to his senior years, characters connected

If you are thinking about seeing B Street Theatre’s “Collapse” this summer, have high expectations. Within the first 10 minutes on opening night Sunday, the audience was already in an uproar of laughter. The play takes place around February 2009 and opens with an extremely comical scene between Hannah and David, a married couple trying to have their first child. Though Hannah is the one who is lying over her husband’s lap about to have a hormone shot injected into her left butt cheek, she is the one pep-talking an uneasy and uptight David. Their relationship becomes more and more strained and hilarious as Hannah's off-the-wall sister, Susan, unexpectedly stops in for a long-term stay wit

Torture, questioning the effectiveness of torture, secret renditions, religious factions, assassinations, government falsehoods for the greater good, heavy loss of civilian lives for the greater good… Sound familiar in the beginning of this century? This is not just the Middle East and North Africa, but also our own country. “Equivocation,” the title of the current offering at B Street Theatre’s B3 stage, has several definitions. All are about some form of evasion of the truth. In this case, it is about a lie not being a mortal sin if the lie results in a greater good. “Equivocation” is not set in the beginning of the 21st century, but in the London of 1606. James I is now King of Englan

Looking through the eyes of Anne Frank was truly an extraordinary experience at B Street Theatre. “Extraordinary Things: Through the Eyes of Anne Frank” captivates its audience with diverse characters and realistic props. Playwright Dana Friedman brings to life on stage the extreme conditions that millions of Jews had to face in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. Directed by Buck Busfield, the play is set in Amsterdam-present-day-Netherlands-where Anne Frank, her family and four others lived in her father’s office building for two years to ensure the safety of Anne’s older sister Margot from the German authorities, who would have taken her to the a Nazi concentration camp. The

Adam is enjoying the Garden of Eden. He loves being in the garden. He is left to his own devices with nothing to do and no one to question his decisions. He finds himself to be quite clever. Another creature rises out of the reflecting pool in the garden. It is unaware of Adam’s presence as it begins to explore the Garden of Eden, its own existence and words. It is another human - a female human. It is Eve. As Adam and Eve continue to explore and discover, they speak to the audience, each making statements just the opposite of one another. Eventually, they do become aware of each other and the first courtship ever begins. Act I ends with the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Yes, Eve

Theater Openings “The Bell of Amherst” Sacramento Theatre Company Opened Saturday Great performance by Jackie Vanderbeck SacPress review       Schedule and Tickets "FROM GODSPELL TO WICKED: The Musicals of Stephen Schwartz"  STC Cabaret                                                                                      Thursday through Saturday only    Last of STC Cabaret shows this season                                                                                                                     SacPress preview      Tickets and Info   “Young Frankenstein” Broadway Sacramento Opens Wednesday April 13   Mel Brooks’ insanity brought to the stage Schedule and Tickets Last Chanc

Scholars have trace the original stories of Cinderella back centuries and to nearly every culture. Many children probably think that Walt Disney created Cinderella. What we today recognize as as the basic story traces to 17th century France. There are countless adaptations. Yet B Street Theatre artistic director Buck Busfield has written another wonderful version for the youngest theatre goers. No pumpkin turned into a carriage or mice turned into white horses. The two acts are a good length for shorter attention spans. It is still an entertaining, charming play with lots to entertain the older siblings and even the adults. As in many things written for children there is a lot of double m