21Q

Can't decide between a night at the ballet and an evening at an art gallery?

Look no further than Mergence 2009.

The performance, which opens Friday at the Northern California Dance Conservatory's Black Box Theater, combines nine new dance pieces created by internationally-recognized choreographers with artwork inspired by the performances.

The performance is hosted by the conservatory and JoinTheArts.com, a cultural arts advocate organization based in Roseville.

Tickets are $45 per person for the opening night gala, which includes a reception at 6:30 p.m. catered by Robert Mondavi Winery, SuedeBlue and CRUSH29. The performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the theater, 920 Reserve Dr., Roseville, and will be followed by a reception with the performers, artists and choreographers, according to the JoinTheArts Web site.

Additional performances will be held at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets for those shows are $18.

An art auction also will be held at the events Friday and Saturday. Online bidding also is available until 9 p.m. Sunday.

For more information or to buy tickets, go to the JoinTheArts Web site.

The poetry of Shakespeare will break out in on the streets of Davis today, courtesy of the Valentine's-themed Sonnet Walk beginning at 10 a.m., just in time for the Davis Farmers Market.

According to organizer Peter Lichtenfels, a UC Davis theater professor, the plan is for participants -- a man dressed as the Incredible Hulk, a punked-out Juliet, a bluegrass band and others -- to recite poetry to the unsuspecting along routes that have yet to be revealed even to the performers. All routes begin at the Hattie Weber Museum, 445 C St. near Central Park, home of the farmers' market.

Lichtenfels will also talk about Shakespeare's sonnets.

The innovative Sonnet Walk is sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance, the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and the Davis Arboretum.

Visit www.dateline.ucdavis.edu for information.

Franc D'Ambrosio, the Broadway performer best known for his long-running role as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, appears in Davis tonight at a fundraiser for the fledgling Sense Theatre, a nonprofit that hopes to unlock the future for local autistic children through what its organizers call "theatrical intervention."

Co-founded by UC Davis MIND Institute neuropsychologist Blythe Corbett and board member Christine Totah, the Sense Theatre aims to use performance as a way to teach the social skills, movement and communication that autistic children characteristically lack.

"We're just beginning the process," says Corbett, a former performer herself. "Our formal auditions will be in March for Disney's Jungle Book. We'll have 10 children with autism co-cast with typically developing peers. They'll work on the same role together."

Future productions will include shows of different lengths and genres, she says. As a researcher, she plans to assess the progress of the autistic children who participate.

"We'll collect neurological and biological data, because we want to be able to show that we're making a difference," she says. "We want to demonstrate tangible changes."

Tonight's event begins at 7 p.m. at the Davis Musical Theatre Company, 607 Pena Dr. in Davis. Tickets cost $50. For more information, go to www.sensetheatre.com.

When the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival begins it's 37th season on July 11 it will have undergone an artistic makeover. A new creative team replaces last year's creative team who replaced the Foothill Theatre Company who put up the plays the year before that.

Henry Woronicz a former artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (from 1991 to 1995) is the new executive producer and John Grüber is the new production manager. Woronicz followed the legendary Jerry Turner and preceded the recently retired Libby Appel at OSF. He recently has been acting and directing throughout the country and appeared on Broadway in Julius Caesar.

He has directed at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and the Utah Shakespearean Festival while also performing with the American Repertory Theatre, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville and the American Players Theatre.

Woronicz also was recently appointed as the Head of Graduate Acting for the School of Theatre at Illinois State University.

The shows announced for the season, which runs until Aug. 23, are Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing which will rotate nightly Tuesday through Sunday at stunning Sand Harbor State Park amphitheater on the shore of the lake.

Tickets are available at www.LakeTahoeShakespeare.com or by calling (800) 747-4697.

The festival will be holding local auditions for the season on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the University of Nevada, Reno's Redfield Proscenium Theatre, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno. The time is from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

A festival press release states: "Headshots will be processed and audition slots assigned beginning at 12:30 p.m. Actors may send resumes and headshots in advance to: Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Attention: Casting, 948 Incline Village Way, Incline Village, NV 89451. All auditioning actors must prepare two contrasting Shakespearean monologues no longer than one minute each in length. Due to space and time limitations, the Festival screens for all non-Equity resumes before scheduling audition times."

There will be national auditions on March 9 and 10 at the Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third St. in Burbank. The hours will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Actors may send resumes and headshots in advance to:  Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Attention: Casting, 948 Incline Village Way, Incline Village, NV 89451

For either audition, actors must prepare two contrasting Shakespearean monologues no longer than one minute each in length.

For information concerning auditions contact production Manager John Grüber at jgruber@tahoebard.com or (775) 298-0150.

While timing is key in most endeavors, having talent and a positive attitude doesn’t hurt.

Maurice Whitfield had it all going for him when he caught Scott Eckern’s eye at a California Musical Theatre audition. Eckern is the CMT artistic director, and when looking for Music Circus actors, he auditions over a thousand performers every year at calls in New York, Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Anyway, Whitfield is from Durham, N.C., but he’s been spending the past year in Sacramento as an intern at the B Street Theatre. He's the first B Street intern to move directly from its professional training program to the Music Circus.

Eckern says he was looking for a bass and liked what he heard from Whitfield. Whitfield’s audition piece was a contemporary song from composer-lyricist Michael John LaChiusa’s “The Wild Party.”

Eckern asked if the 23-year-old actor had anything with a more classic sound, so Whitfield then came back with “Ol' Man River,” which is about as classic as it gets. Though Eckern was looking primarily for a singer, he also asked Whitfield to try a couple of dance combinations.

“He was very game for every thing I threw at him,” Eckern says. “Plus, he’s a fine singer in the range I needed so I hired him.”

Eckern will have 16 ensemble members on hand this summer - eight men and eight women. Whitfield will work in “Sweeney Todd” and “Evita.”

This past year for B Street, he's also appeared in “Gold Country Tales” for B Street Theatre School Tours, and on the main stage, the world premiere of Buck Busfield’s “Make Someone Happy” (pictured).

He’ll also be seen in the upcoming intern showcase, “Seven Ten Split,” which will encompass seven 10-minute plays specifically written for the seven graduating interns. The show will run May 17–June 1.

There’s good news and bad news coming out of SHN regarding its 2008-09 Best of Broadway season in San Francisco. The company has announced a “sit-down, open-ended engagement” of “Wicked” beginning in late January 2009 at the Orpheum Theatre. Meaning the uber-hit musical will be just 90 minutes down the road for the forseeable future.

That’s the good news - but also the bad for Sacramento. Because it probably pushes any potential Sacramento dates for the phenomenally successful show back to 2010, according to Richard Lewis, executive producer of California Musical Theatre and Broadway Sacramento.

Lewis was hoping to get “Wicked” in 2009 and still could - but now, he’s not as hopeful.

“Wicked” had its world premeire in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre on May 28, 2003, before moving to Broadway and opening at the Gershwin Theatre on Oct. 30, 2003. It has been virtually sold out since, reigning as Broadway’s highest-grossing show.

The musical recently set records for the highest one-week box office take in each of its four North American markets: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and the National Tour.

And early next year, you, too, can check out how the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch got to be that way. You’ll just have to do it in San Francisco.

The reviews are in. Following up on the item I posted Monday about Faith Prince, the lapsed Broadway star moonlighting as a “Sacramento stay-at-home mom,” reviews of her latest New York outing in "A Catered Affair," were published this morning. And as they often are, the opinions are mixed.

Actually, the opinions are fairly consistent from the two writers I trust and read the most consistently, Ben Brantley of the New York Times and Linda Winer of Newsday.

The show itself is mixed, which is how it usually goes. A show is rarely just one thing (as in all good or all bad) - there are levels of what works and what doesn’t.

For the most part, the performers (including our Faith) are thought to have done well - it’s the dour story and lack of engaging songs that disappointed the critics. Hopefully, they can still get a nice run for the show, especially considering it has additional Sacramento roots.

The associate director of “A Catered Affair” is Adam John Hunter, a Sac native who went through the Sac High VAPAC program and attended UC Davis. Hunter has been working professionally since 2005 with the acclaimed British director John Doyle, and recently he was bumped up from stage manager on “Sweeney Todd” to the associate director position for “Company” and now “A Catered Affair.”
Adam also writes to say that Geoff Vaughn, the scenic automation programmer on the show was the technical director at Sac High when he was there.
There are photos of both Hunter and Prince on Harvey Fierstien’s blog about the production; click here.

By the way, the reason the reviews come out the day after the show opens is that critics have been seeing press previews for the last couple of weeks and they hold the story until the day after the opening.

Capital Stage has selected three plays for its Playwright’s Revolution Series, with a fourth and final play rounding out the program to be chosen soon.

For those not familiar with it, the Revolution series is supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation for new play developement and production.

Each play will receive a staged reading at the Delta King between June 8-11; the company will choose one to present as a world premiere in its 2008-09 season, says Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte.

The three plays already selected are “Potential Literature” by Anthony D’Juan, “Erratica, An Academic Farce” by Reina Hardy, and “Megan’s Baby” by Mark Jackson.

While each writer is paid for participating in the readings, most of the grant money will be used for producing the world premiere.

To learn more about Capital Stage, check out my cover story in Sunday's Ticket+.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival artistic director Bill Rauch announced the festival’s 2009 season today. The slate of 11 plays, anchored by four plays by Shakespeare, continues Rauch’s agenda of producing works from other parts of the globe.

The group of plays also demonstrates a renewed commitment to American classics and expanding the festival’s boundaries - in this case with the first non-Shakespeare classic in the New Theatre and the first play by an artist of color on the Elizabethan Stage.

The 2009 schedule is as follows:

ANGUS BOWMER THEATRE

“Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, directed by Gale Edwards, from February – November.

“Death and the King’s Horseman” by Wole Soyinka, directed by Chuck Smith, from February – July.

“The Music Man,” book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson, story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey, directed by Bill Rauch, from February – November.

“Equivocation” by Bill Cain, a world premiere, directed by Bill Rauch, from April – November.

“Paradise Lost” by Clifford Odets, directed by Libby Appel, from July – November.

NEW THEATRE

“Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl, West Coast premiere, directed by Christopher Liam Moore, from February – June.

“The Servant of Two Masters" by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Tracy Young, from March – November.

“All’s Well That Ends Well” by William Shakespeare, directed by Amanda Dehnert, from July – November.

ELIZABETHAN STAGE/ALLEN PAVILION

“Henry VIII” by William Shakespeare, directed by John Sipes, from June – October.

“Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, with a world premiere adaptation by Octavio Solis, directed Laird Williamson, from June – October.

“Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, directed by Kate Buckley, from June – October.

Director and performance creator Doniel Soto created truly special work with his collaborators at Abandon Productions.

First with sweat, hard work and much of their own money, they transformed a junked-up warehouse space into a habitable performance venue now known as The Space.

At the same time, Soto trained his actors in the demanding style of physical theater that he favors. Finally, they created exciting original productions using their movement and vocal skills.

Though for several reasons, Abandon hasn’t produced work in more than two years, Soto and the company are still name-checked (whether or not the allusion applies) as the standard-bearers for a type of nontraditional theater that is based in movement and sound.

Recently, Soto has surfaced with a production as electric as anything I’ve ever seen of his. It’s called “Maxbeth,” and it’s Soto’s take on Shakespeare’s Scottish play.

I’ve been moved at the finale of several productions that I’ve seen over the last few months. At “Maxbeth,” I was nearly overcome after the first 10 minutes. It was that powerful and that beautiful. By the way, it was at a high school, Mira Loma, with high school actors. And it was brilliant.

Soto doesn’t try to do stuff that is consciously edgy or arty. He makes work that has artistry in it. Soto is the kind artist who can’t walk a straight line. Anybody could do that. He takes you off the deep end.

There were human trees, surging flesh amoebas, and some of the most electrifying battle scenes you’ll ever see, with kids flying off the second level of the two-part set into the arms of comrades below - the kind of stuff that makes you gasp and laugh at the sheer audacity, ingenuity and artistry of it. Of course, it takes tremendous dedication and commitment from the actors because Soto doesn’t put them in front of audiences until they’ve trained extensively in his methods and practices. This is Shakespeare - broken down, reassembled, looped, magnified and uncovered.

The audience of the full 120-seat Black Box theater was at least half teenagers who were as enthralled as I was. Though the production was scheduled to close last weekend, there has been such a strong response that shows were added for this weekend - and there may be some seats. Call (916) 331-9663 for information.

The original African American Touring Sketch Comedy and Improvisational Theatre Company a.k.a. Oui Be Negroes is coming to town. This Friday and Saturday, SacActors.com presents the troupe at its rented home in the Geery Theatre, 2130 L St.

The company features Shaun Landry, Marcus Sams and Hans Summers (who is actually not a Negro, but it most likely funny anyway).

Landry (pictured), co-founder and artistic director of the group, trained and performed in the touring company of Second City Chicago. She is founder of the San Francisco Improv Alliance and producer of the San Francisco Improv Festival.

And she will lead a class in the basics of long-form improv from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the theater. Cost for the class is $30; for the performances, $12.50-$14.50. For more information, go here.

There’s only one week left of the current production of “Topdog/Underdog” at Sacramento Theatre Company. While I’m not enamored with the play itself, this is a worthy production with smart direction from Benny Sato Ambush and particularly strong performances from Hassan El-Amin and Adrian Roberts.

Thinking of “Topdog” always reminds me of seeing it in New York in 2002. It ran on Broadway with Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def. About 10 minutes into the show at the Ambassador Theatre, it seemed the dilapidated-apartment set had its own olfactory special effects when it started to smell of smoke. Suddenly, an announcement came over the house PA telling everyone to evacuate the theater immediately because of a fire.

The next thing I knew, I was standing on the sidewalk next to Wright, somewhat surreal in his white-face makeup. Wright shook his head, “That’s too bad. We were really getting into it tonight.”

Three nights later, I was back at the theater and found myself seated next to legendary writer-director Melvin Van Peebles. The scowling Van Peebles is a famously grumpy cat, but I told him I was from Sacramento and had once seen a rather amazing production of his play “Ain’t Supposed To Die a Natural Death.”

Van Peebles immediately brightened and said that production by the original Sons and Ancestors Players and directed by Paul Carter Harrison was the reason it went to Broadway in the very theater we were sitting in.

Van Peebles opened the program to a page that acknowledged notable productions at the theater and his play was there. At intermission, the house manager approached Van Peebles, saying that Wright and Def had heard he was in the house and wanted to invite him backstage after the show. Van Peebles just kind of shrugged and said, “No thanks. Maybe some other time.”

Some noteworthy happenings in theater and dance at California State University, Sacramento:

* The Department of Theatre and Dance has 24 students participating in the regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival on Feb. 11 in Los Angeles.

* While there, 10 student actors - two each from the department’s last five productions - will compete for Irene Ryan Acting scholarships with 200 other students from across the West. They could win a $500 scholarship and trip to the Kennedy Center in Washington to further compete for a $3,000 scholarship in April.

Among the students participating: Scarlette Bustos (“My Visits With My Grandmother Marta”), Stephanie Zito and Michael R.J. Campbell (“Seussical: The Musical”), Diana Tercero (“My Visits With My Grandmother Marta”), Candace Nicholas-Lippman and Kamra Jacobs (“North Star”), Sara Perry and Renee DeGarmo (“Loose Knit”), and Tygar Hicks and Amira Judeh (“Afghan Women”).

Graduate student Karen Nylund, director of “Afghan Women,” has been nominated for a student director fellowship, and alumnus Elizabeth Keller for a fellowship in stage management.

* The department will stage a scene from its production of “North Star” (pictured) at the festival’s opening ceremony.

To get a taste of what they'll be doing, theater and dance student groups, the Dramatist Society, and Sons and Ancestors Players will present a special showcase at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Playwright’s Theatre in Shasta Hall.

Admission is “pay what you can,” with a $5 minimum to help with travel costs to L.A.

Sacramento Theatre Company quietly revealed its 2008-09 season by slipping the titles into the program for “Topdog/Underdog” and sending out postcards to current subscribers only. Though my posting undermines the integrity of that stealth campaign, here’s what’s coming:

The Main Stage season opens with “Treasure Island” (Oct. 8-Nov. 2), an adaptation by playwright Ken Ludwig (“Lend Me a Tenor”), based on the well-known adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The English panto-based “Cinderella” returns for the holidays (Dec. 3-Jan. 4, 2009), with book and lyrics by Kate Hawley and music by Gregg Coffin (his “rightnextto me” is playing now at the B Street Theatre).

The company then follows with the opening installment of its pledge to present the complete 20th Century Cycle by August Wilson with “Gem of the Ocean.” It will be the first professional Sacramento production of a Wilson play in nearly 20 years.

Another playwright who doesn’t get as much exposure as he used to, Aristophanes, gets some play with his 411 B.C. comedy “Lysistrata” (March 11-April 5, 2009), as the women of Greece try forcing an end to war with a sex strike.

The Main Stage closes with what may be a perfect play, Michael Frayn’s devastatingly funny “Noises Off” (April 22-May 17, 2009).

Managing director Mark Standriff says subscriptions will go on sale some time in March. For more information, call (916) 443-6722 or go to www.sactheatre.org.

Meanwhile, there are also plans for a Stage 2 season and a naming announcement for that smaller theater, which the company will doubtlessly reveal in its own inscrutable way.

It seems like Lisa Lacy and Charles Cooper of Images Theater Company are making a venue tour of Sacramento. After working at Benvenuti Performing Arts Center in Natomas, Magic Circle Theater in Roseville, and Chautauqua Playhouse in Carmichael, among others, the pair will bring their new musical “Legacy” to the Guild Theatre in Oak Park on Jan. 18.

Lacy, who writes and directs, and musical director Cooper, who writes the songs, have created the new work to acknowledge and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It’s a subject the pair know well from their work on the California Musical Theatre-sponsored “Keeping the Dream Alive” in 2003 and “And the Dream Goes On” in 2004. The two also wrote the musicals “Evangalize,” “Everyday People, A Musical Revue” and “Wings of Freedom” together.

The “Legacy” production, which features Bill Miller, Sara Von Davenport, Derrick Miller and Michael Turner, is a fundraiser for ITC. It will play four times at the Guild Theater, 2828 35th St. (35th and Broadway).

The 8 p.m. Jan. 18 performance will be preceded by a 6 p.m. reception. The $50 ticket for the event includes hors d’oeuvres, music by the Charles Cooper and the Images Band, a show souvenir and VIP seating.

The other shows are 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Jan. 19, and 3 p.m. Jan. 20. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $18 for seniors (65 and older) and $15 for children (12 and younger). Tickets are available at ITC (www.imagestheater.org), at Underground Books (2814 35th St.) or at The Culture Collection (6391 Riverside Blvd.) For more information: www. imagestheater.org or (916) 428-1441 for reservations.

Sacramento Bee/Michael A. Jones

As many of you know, Ivan Sandoval, who made such a lasting, necessary mark in Sacramento theater as a producer, director and actor, passed away on Sept. 25.

While there has already been a memorial Mass at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, where Ivan directed the choir, a theater-based tribute is being planned for later this month at CSUS. (Along with complete details of that event, being organized by Adrienne Sher, I also will have a more in-depth appreciation of Ivan later this month.)

Just after Ivan’s death, I was able to spend some time with John Beaudry, Ivan’s long-time professional partner at the legendary Show Below, where the two oversaw so much memorable theater. (That's John in the photo above with Ivan, at left, working on "The Gospel At Colonus.") Beaudry now lives in Korea, but he e-mailed me recently and here is a bit of what he wrote:

“I think about Ivan daily and thankful doesn’t begin to capture what my heart feels. For me, theater is now finished. Collaborations of that intensity rarely even happen once, much less again. And after experiencing that level of 'the thing,' I’m not about to start 'settling' now. Ivan, of all people, would understand.”

If you have thoughts or memories about Ivan, feel free to share them here.

Ashland, Ore. - Oregon Shakespeare Festival artistic associate Tim Bond did some of his growing up in Sacramento. Bond’s father, James, was president of CSUS in the '70s, though the former university president now lives in Ashland near his son.

Bond’s production of August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” is a highlight of the current season, and Wilson’s plays have become a Bond speciality.
Bond says he has had many opportunities to speak with the playwright about his work.

“I had the good fortune of having August tell me the story of three or four of his plays while he was writing them. I’d see him and he’d say, ‘Hey Tim, have you got a minute?’

"No matter how busy I was, I’d say 'of course.’ We’d just go sit somewhere and he’d just tell me the story of the play. He was a storyteller, a real griot. The monologues and conversations would just flow out of him, and 45 minutes later, he would have told me the story of the play he was writing or thinking about.

"I’m proud of the productions we did here at the festival because I felt like August was our modern-day Bard and it was appropriate to put him next to Shakepeare.”

However, Bond (and his father) will be relocating soon, as Tim, who has been with OSF for the last 12 seasons, will be moving to a new position, likely on the East Coast; his father will come with him and his family.

Tim Bond’s leaving is part of the administrative changes by incoming artistic director Bill Rauch that has eliminated some positions. Bond now hopes to lead his own mid- to- large-size theater company and hopes to have something definite by the end of the summer.

Ashland, Ore. - The Oregon Shakespeare Festival was established in 1935, so a fair amount of history and tradition exist here. The full-scale Elizabethan theater where the outdoor season opens this weekend is the oldest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

When the trumpets (recorded) sound, signaling the raising (live) of the flag, it's a nod to the Elizabethan tradition letting the public know a play will be performed. Friday night was the opening of "The Tempest," Shakespeare's last full-length play. (Look for my full reviews of the outdoor season in The Bee's Scene section on Monday, June 25.)

The production is artistic director Libby Appel's last in her tenure leading the festival. Appel steps down after this season, with young Bill Rauch taking over, though she'll be back directing Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" next year.

Like any outdoor arts festival, the first determiner of the overall experience is the weather. Leaving this week's first blasts of 100-degree Sacramento summer for the mid-80s of Ashland was certainly a pleasing development that bodes well for the weekend's two other outdoor shows - "The Taming of the Shrew" Saturday and "Romeo and Juliet" Sunday night.

Beginning next Monday, the B Street Theatre will present “An Evening of the Supernatural and the Surreal,” a 2006-07 Intern Company showcase. The showcase will feature two one-act plays: John Patrick Shanley’s “Where’s My Money” and Richard Dresser’s “At Home.” Curtain will be at 8 p.m. next Monday (May 21), Sunday, May 27, and Monday, May 28, with artistic associate John Lamb directing the productions.

Nine college graduates, who were recruited from around the country, make up the Intern Company. While in residence in Sacramento, they received professional training through seminars led by B Street Theatre Acting Company member Kurt Johnson. And they performed monologues after each Wednesday night performance.

Interns were also conscripted for numerous duties at the theater, including house management, stage management and facility maintenance.

Interns making their professional debuts this year were Charles Keenan and Lindsay Carter, in the world premiere “Throwing Parties,” and Nicole Disson in “What the Butler Saw.” Laurie Geigel, Vickie Hall, Jennifer Baumgardner, Josiah Correl and Mark Richardson all worked in the B Street Theatre Family Series (formerly Children’s Theatre of California).

This year, B Street also had its first scenic design intern, Toi Whitaker, who designed the sets for “What the Butler Saw,” “The Princess and the Pauper” and the currently running “The Clean House.”

No admission will be charged to the intern showcase, but donations will be accepted, with proceeds benefiting the interns. Reservations are encouraged.

The B Street Theatre is at 2711 B St., behind Stanford Park Baseball Field. For information: (916) 443-5300.

Sacramento Bee/Michael A. Jones

Mark Standriff (shown above as the Ghost of Christmas Present), who’s made such an impact on stage with the Sacramento Theatre Company this season, will assume an even larger role, off stage, quite soon.

On Monday, STC will officially announce Standriff’s appointment as managing director, succeeding Kendra Lewis, who steps down after two and half years on the job. Standriff will leave his position as a morning DJ on The Fish (KKFS, 105.5 FM) at the end of the month to concentrate on his new duties.

Standriff has more than 25 years of experience in theater and radio, including a stint as the artistic director of the Toledo Repertoire Theatre in Ohio. He became an artistic associate at STC this fall and appeared in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “A Christmas Carol” and “Private Lives.”

He’ll still be seen on stage, even though his off-stage visibility will increase.

“This is going to be a labor of love for me,” says Standriff earlier today. “I’m excited about the opportunity."

The art and craft of the repertory actor has long been seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. There, the excellent actors may have a leading role one night and a one-scene walk-on at the next day’s matinee. In either case, they are on top of their game.

There’s a similar strength at this year’s Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, where the level of performance continues to grow and one sees it in especially strong supporting work.

Two of the actors making outstanding character contributions are Carolyn Howarth, pictured above, and Barzin Akhavan, pictured at right, below. Both play supporting roles in the two shows playing in rep, “Othello” and “Twelth Night,” but the roles are vital.

Howarth has been a stalwart artist with the Foothill Theatre Company for 12 years and her versatility comes as no surprise. In “Othello,” she plays the essential role of Desdemona’s lady-in-waiting, Emilia, who also happens to be Iago’s wife. Then in “Twelfth Night,” she plays Maria, Olivia’s gentlewoman and the ... ehh ... romantic interest of Sir Toby Belch. In each play, Howarth’s character is integral to the plot and her supple characterizations elevates the production.

Similarly Akhavan, a Seattle-based actor making his third appearance at the LTSF, is entirely invested in both his weak-willed Roderigo in “Othello” and his more-vigorous Antonio in “Twelfth Night.” Akhavan gives the productions more overall depth as well - another plus.

Read my review of the show.

To see more images, check out The Bee's photo gallery.

There's nothing quite as dramatic as a real surprise. Theater people know that better than most so it's probably not a shock that two local actors pulled off some real live drama.

Friends and family of Katherine Pappa and Matt Miller knew the two planned to be married in Jamaica. They had planned a pre-wedding send-off party in the lobby of the Sacramento Theatre Company. The giddy fun of the Polynesian- themed party spun into a whole other level, however, when the two casually dressed hosts briefly disappeared.

Suddenly a rumor rippled throughout the room that Katherine and Matt would be getting married then and there. People quickly arranged themselves to watch the spectacle, all asking, "Is it really happening?"

There was now a feeling of emotional electricity in the room and when they re-appeared, dressed for the occasion (their wedding, that is), the reactions ranged from laughter to tears to applause.

Kim McCann officiated, Michael Stevenson and Cheantell Munn read sonnets, and the bride and groom both said "I do" to whoops and hollers. It was dramatic. It was real. It was a wonderful surprise.

-- Marcus Crowder