Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group members cautiously welcomed the new leader of the Midtown Business Association Monday evening at their monthly meeting and took the opportunity to express their frustrations with the organization. About 40 residents, business leaders and presenters attended the meeting – a high turnout, according to Bill Burgua, attendee. Elizabeth Studebaker, the new executive director of the Midtown Business Association, said her first focus is on trash removal, and that aggressive changes will be made. She also addressed concerns about the growing number of bars and restaurants in Midtown. “There’s a very strong perception that the neighborhood has been taken over

Among all the different holiday icons, one that stands out is the 1947 black and white film, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” It is a must-see event for many during the holidays. Playwright Joe Landry, also known for his stage adaptation of the cult film, “Reefer Madness,” has taken the story of “It’s A Wonderful Life” and integrates it into his play, “It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” as if the it had been performed as a nationally broadcast radio play prior to being turned into the beloved film that it is today.  Capital Stage is in the middle of a very short run of the show.   Many Sacramento Press readers may ask, “What is a radio play?” Long before today’s audio and video media st

The 2012 City Management Academy (CMA) starts on Wednesday January 25th, 2012. Applications are being accepted through Friday, December 9th at 5:00pm, postmarks are not accepted.  Completed applications can be hand delivered, faxed or mailed. If you have a interest in how the City of Sacramento government works this is with out a doubt the best place to learn. This is especially true if you are a neighborhood activist or want to help make the city work better for everyone.   "Anyone considering running for election for mayor/ city council or serving on any board or commission would be well served by participating in these valuable orientation "academies:" fifthgenerationsacramentan SacPr

Photos by Barry Wisdom For many people there are certain holiday traditions that if they don’t get to experience them during the holiday season, it just doesn’t feel like the holidays. Capital Stage has started its own little holiday tradition of more than five years of presenting “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and then some!)” which skewers all those wonderful holiday traditions. Eric steps up to the podium, opens a large book and begins to read, “Marley is dead!” Before he even starts to read there are titters that are growing into laughter in the audience. It is those who have made “Every Christmas Story...” at Capital Stage their holiday tradition. This Capital Stage production i

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,”

Performer photos by Barry Wisdom "How Long Has This Been Going On?-A Tribute to George and Ira Gershwin" opened the fifth season of cabaret at Sacramento Theatre Company Thursday evening to an enthusiastic audience. Although the Gershwin's music goes back to the 1930s and George died tragically in 1937 at the age of 38 the music they created endures as some of the best examples of the Great American Songbook. Ira Gershwin went on to compose with several other lyricists living to the age of 87. STC producing director, Michael Laun who created the cabaret series, enlisted Jerry Lee ("Musical of Musicals the Musical!!," "Frankenstein"-recently closed at STC) one of Sacramento's best youn

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

“Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” by Richard Alfieri opened Saturday in Sacramento Theatre Company’s smaller Pollock Theatre. Lily Harrison, a senior retiree living in a high rise view condo in St. Petersburg, Florida books a series of dance lessons from the Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks company. Very quickly, Lily demonstrates how uptight and rigid she has become. Enter Michael Minetti, the young man that the dance lesson company has sent to give Lily lessons at her condo. Michael’s problem is that he is extremely poor at self-censoring and blurts out whatever he is thinking. Naturally, Lily and Michael start off on the wrong foot (pun intended) at the first dance lesson and succeeding

The Sacramento Area Regional Technology Association (SARTA), as part of its Clean Start initiative, held the 2011 Sacramento Clean Tech Showcase last Monday, October 24, 2011. The showcase, entitled, “Green Innovation: Engine of Growth,” was the fifth annual showcase and was held in the California State University Sacramento Union. SARTA CEO Meg Arnold welcomed everyone to the Union Ballroom and acknowledged the governmental leaders present. Mayor Kevin Johnson, a strong supporter of bringing clean tech companies to Sacramento; Dr. Joseph F. Sheley, Sacramento State Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Congresswoman Doris Matsui, a strong supporter of clean tech in Congr

Capital Stage’s move from the Delta King to the heart of Midtown, while a great deal of work, seems to have gone smoothly. The new theater certainly fulfills the part of Capital Stage’s mission about performing “in an intimate, close up setting.” Capital Stage chose “Superior Donuts” by Tracy Letts to open its seventh season. It is the first in a theater designed by them to produce the type of shows they like to do. Letts is now best known for “August: Osage County” a major Broadway hit bigger than life in every way. “Superior Donuts” tells the story of Arthur Przybyszewski a classic hippy from the 60s. Arthur now runs the rundown North Chicago donut shop inherited from his Polish emigra

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

Just before hitting the big time on Broadway, winning a Tony Award for best actress in a musical for her role as Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” opposite Nathan Lane, Faith Prince made a major connection in Sacramento. Prince was appearing in “On a Clear Day” with Jack Jones at Music Circus. Little did she know that the man playing trumpet in the pit, Larry Lunetta, would become her husband and father of their son, Henry. Eventually, Prince and Lunetta decided that Sacramento would be the best place to raise their child and relocated here. Prince has continued to expand her performance world with more Broadway shows, notable roles include “The Bells are Ringing” and Ursula in “The Little M

Sacramento Theatre Company opened its 2011-2012 season this weekend with one of the most classic horror stories ever told, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. While Shelley’s work is well known and countless screen and stage adaptations have been made of the story the one being told here is from little different angle. The play is by a prolific playwright Tim Kelly who wrote dramatizations to several Mary Shelley stories as well as stories of other writers. All the basic elements are here. The brilliant young scientist who literally stitches together a creature out of graveyard spare parts. The creature who then escapes and wreaks havoc all over the countryside. There is the doctor’s best friend

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

“Shrek the Musical” kicked off the Broadway Sacramento 2011-2012 season with a Technicolor extravaganza. Based on the characters and story of the book “Shrek!” by William Steig, DreamWorks adapted the book into its blockbuster hit animated movie ”Shrek” in 2001. With a cast of major film actors voicing the characters the movie became the first of a major film and product franchise. DreamWorks expanded that franchise into their first foray into live productions with the opening of “Shrek the Musical” on Broadway in December 2008. After a very successful run on Broadway “Shrek the Musical” went on a US national tour and a London West End production with continuing changes to the production

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

With “I Do! I Do!” Music Circus takes a different tack from what audiences usually expect from them. Gone are the ensembles and large production numbers. Also, gone are multiple flashy costumes and intricate sets. “I Do! I Do!” is a two character musical with just one set which is the couple’s bedroom dominated by a large fourposter bed. The play is a musical adaptation of an 1951 play “The Fourposter” by Dutch playwright and novelist Jan de Hartog who won a Tony Award for the play. Given the tight budgets and difficulty of finding financial resources that all theater companies face in these economic times, Music Circus is smart to work with a smaller scale production this year. Yet they

On sporadic Sundays an audience gathers in the cosy Geary Theater in Midtown for an evening of songs performed by some of Sacramento’s best actor/singers at a cabaret event known as Graham-A-Rama, named after its’ founder and musical director Graham Sobelman. In June Graham-A-Rama did something different. They devoted a weekend to three performances of William Finn’s one act musical play “In Trousers” in concert. “In Trousers” which Finn wrote the book, lyrics and music is the first of what became trilogy of three one act plays. Finn joined with James Lapine to create two more one act plays “March of the Falsettos” and “Falsettoland.” The second two shows were combined to create a two act