California Stage opened its 20th Anniversary season with Kevin King’s Ovation Award winning play "The Idea Man.” King’s freshman play hits on a lot of great notes, some hysterically funny, some a realistic look about how large corporations use and, yes, abuse their human resources. California Sage has also done a great job in the casting of King’s characters. Right off, Loren Taylor gives a fascinating performance as Al Carson the man at the bottom of the rung in a manufacturing company. Carson is smart enough to figure out a way to reduce manufacturing costs by the millions. He is also smart enough to know that if he plays his card’s right he will get more than he is being offered, but

 Art Events: As if you could miss it, it is Second Saturday. Here  is information on the art side of Second Saturday.   Free The fourth annual Curtis Fest is being held in its’ namesake William Curtis Park Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. This year will feature 60 local artists, musicians, and cuisine, along with activities for children and adults. More information from Sacramento365.com.    Free Lectures: California Lectures kicks off its’ 2010-2011 season with a very timely interview with David Plouffe. From California Lectures press release: California Lectures presents An Evening with David Plouffe on September 13, 2010, at 7:30 PM at the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento. Dav

The Poughkeepsie Porn Co. is the latest comedy offering from Sacramento's longtime gay community theater company Lambda Players.  The Poughkeepsie Porn Co. has fallen on hard times. They haven’t had a hit video in 10 years and will be out of business if they don’t have a big seller soon. Fast-talking promoter Jack Mehoff shows up unexpectedly promoting a savior for the company. This is Tor: Scandinavian, handsome, great body, sexy accent and an interesting past. Dildo Faggins (Lance Navarro) left, and Steve, Just Steve (James W. Geisdorf) right, check out the new talent, Tor (Clint Vigen) center Having a sexy new star is not enough. They need a hook. Jack works with PPCo’s manager, dir

 The sexual scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church were already well known in the United States when Lambda Players premiered Matthew Burlingame’s Paperclip Messiah  in 2002. Eight years later they have grown into a worldwide scandal, making the current production of "Paperclip Messiah" as timely as ever. The local bishop has assigned Father Patrick to run a modern-day Catholic Parrish after the former head priest was arrested and is on trial for molestations. Father Patrick is working hard to keep the parish functioning and fending off intrusions from the press. A former parishioner applies for the job as a live-in janitor. He is a handsome young man named Joel who had been livin

Chris won't open the door. It's his blind date, Richard, knocking. Richard resorts to tricking Chris into letting him in. So begins “Opening Lines,” the current production of the Lambda Players. Chris and Richard begin what is for many of us that uncomfortable conversation of getting to know someone that we may or may have no interested in getting to know better. It doesn't help that Chris is neurotic and Richard is well, a little boring. Long-time Lambda regulars Mahlon Hall (“Sordid Lives,” “The Nun Crashers”) and West Ramsey (“Make Way For Dyklings,” “Oscar and Bosie”) play Chris and Richard, respectively. They are excellent at portraying the discomfort the characters are experiencing

Emotions ran high on stage keeping the audience at the edge of their seats during the dramatic showing of Suddenly, Last Summer, a play by Tennessee Williams, which opened Oct. 2 at the Lambda Players new theater home on 21st Street. As the audience entered the newly designed, intimate theater space, which seats approximately 40 patrons, a social experiment ensued. The seats, which have yet to be properly numbered and ordered, left patrons roaming through the four aisles trying to figure out an order or pattern to the seating chart. Eventually the groups would simply situate themselves in an open section. However, those who had already figured out the disorder were entertained by the new

The Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (SIGLFF), Sacramento's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) art event, is coming to the Crest Theatre Thursday through Saturday. "Embrace your sexuality, whatever it is," said Patti Barcena of SIGLFF. "SIGLFF is good entertainment. Where else will you get to see GLBT films with such an appreciative audience?" SIGLFF is a non-profit event that shows worldwide film and video works of both positive or critical portrayals of GLBT communities, people and aspects of their daily lives. "This international festival provides an outlet for GLBT filmmakers to express themselves and have their works shown on a big screen to

The Six Women actresses proclaim, "You have to laugh and scream and blow off steam so you don't expire," and that is exactly what the audience did at Friday's showing of the revival of Sacramento's cult classic Six Women with Brain Death (or Expiring Minds Want to Know). As the show begins, six frazzled, women parade across the stage in a grocery check-out line, reading the outrageous headlines of The Expirerer, a spoof of today's tabloid magazines. The women quickly transition from their comedic sketch into a full-energy musical number introducing the audience to the "World of Expiring Minds." The first act consists of a series of life and pop culture scenarios from the viewpoint of ove

This Friday, Sacramento will welcome back its longest running musical in Sacramento theater history, Six Women with Brain Death (or Expiring Minds Want to Know), as a special tribute to former Studio Theatre director, producer and actor Jackie Schultz. Schultz opened the Studio Theatre in 1994 with a mission to promote theater from the female perspective. She opened Six Women in 1996 and it immediately sold out three months in advance. The show continued to run until 2006, when Schultz's battle with Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) along with opportunities to explore other ventures required her to end the show. Six Women is a fast-paced, musical satire of life and

The longest-running play in Sacramento theater history is back after a three-year hiatus and is seeking talented singers to fill six roles in the comedic musical revue. Auditions for "Six Women with Brain Death, or Expiring Minds Want to Know" were held Monday and Tuesday night at the Lambda Players Studio Theatre, and hopefuls were asked to bring 32 bars of uptempo comedic song with sheet music and one comedic monologue one to two minutes long. A call went out to experienced actors in their 30s to 50s with backgrounds in the music industry and a strong sense of humor. Callback dates have yet to be determined but will be within the next few weeks, as rehearsals begin in July. The musica

As a tribute Harvey Milk, the American politician and first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, the Lambda Players Studio Theatre will hold a readers theatre tribute to his life and legacy on his birthday, May 22. In 2008, Diversionary Theatre of San Diego commissioned Patricia Loughrey to write the tribute play Dear Harvey, which the Lambda Players premiered to Sacramento audiences last Thursday, May 14. The play shows the story of Milk's life through the people around him and shows how he influenced the lives of so many people. "Milk fought not only for gays and lesbians, but for minorities, the elderly, unions, public transit, health care and even dope smokers