This is Drama Masks, a Bay Area performing arts column from a born San Franciscan and longtime theatre artist in an N95 mask. I talk venue safety and dramatic substance, or the lack thereof.
When I thought about a specific show to recommend this week, I found myself repeatedly circling back to Opera Parallèle’s upcoming West Coast premiere of Doubt (Fri/29-Sun/31 at Presidio Theatre, SF). Part of me is amused that playwright John Patrick Shanley, who wrote the libretto, can’t seem to quit the story: he got the Pulitzer for his original 2004 play; he personally directed the 2008 film adaptation (starring Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman); and now he’s turned it into an opera. My guess is that next time he’ll turn a point-and-click PC game that includes a bonus level where you have to collect all the feathers from the pillow you cut open. Just a thought.
It also stood out since, as I’m wont to do, I couldn’t help but notice the timing. Doubt takes place during the earliest days of “Vatican II,” with traditionalists like Sister Aloysius—unabashed hater of the song “Frosty the Snowman”—at risk of becoming obsolete as The Church seeks to maintain relevance in an ever-changing world. Her resolve is solid as the mortar of the cathedrals. Yet, the one “tradition” she won’t tolerate is the one that’s haunted the Church since its earliest days: priests abusing children.
Here we are in 2026, and the world has become a post-satirical farce, where “traditional” religious types voted an unabashed hedonist into power (again), yet they’re surprised that he would liken himself to Christ, created a literal golden idol of his likeness, and frequently reignite his public rivalry with the first American pope. Oh, it gets weirder: said pope is openly, ethically opposed to AI, the very tech innovation embraced by the aforementioned golden-idol man and his “traditionalist” sycophants. Galileo’s brain would melt if he’d lived to see this development!
A few years back, I interviewed the creator of a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol and asked them what sort of ghost it would take for Trump—notoriously lacking in shame—to recant and see the error of his ways. I now find myself wondering what Sister Aloysius could possibly say to crack a man so embracing of his sins that he makes lewd comments about his own daughter and is notorious for where he likes to grab women; ie. a man for whom there is no doubt about his crimes. Honestly, I don’t think there’s any way of making him repent. He is, for all intents and purposes, a cult leader. Whenever he finally keels over, his finally words will be him blaming someone else for his own faults. Proverbs 16:18 has a particular phrase for that kind of hubris.
But I digress. You should try to see Doubt during its short run. Opera Parallèle is one of SF’s great mid-sized companies, and it’s reassuring to watch a story where a(n alleged) sinner is confronted for it.
Speaking of operas, SF Opera’s been revving up the promotion for their final two shows of the season: The Barber of Seville (Thu/28-June 21) and Elektra (June 7-27). As usual, I plan to stream both shows.
Streaming theatre remains a topic in which I take great interest, having both followed and written about its developments since about 2015. I frequently bring it up in interviews with film and theatre pros, particularly the latter. At this point, I’m no longer surprised by the answers I get: it’s something they experimented with “during COVID” (which is not over), but now that live audiences are back, they no longer see the need. Some even go a step further and curse the very existence of streaming as a slight against the sanctity of theatre itself; as if broadcasting a live performance like some sporting event will rob the performance of its “purity,” or some such. On top of it all, they tell me they honestly believe that if people are streaming shows at home then they won’t ever want to go to the theatre.
That’s why I was delighted to read a recent Guardian article reporting the contrary: a new long-term study concluded that people who stream live theatre are no less willing to attend live theatre. Quite the contrary, they’re more likely to attend.
I’m not the least bit surprised by that result? Y’know why? The very same “sporting event” metaphor that scares most theatre veterans from embracing streaming. A sports stadium, no matter how large, has only a finite number of seats, and those seats are getting more and more expensive. The people who cheer on their favorite teams from home do so because they’d love to be there in person, but can’t. They’d happily attend each and every event in their team colors, had they the time, money, and physical ability.
That physical ability element will always stand out to me as the most glaring hypocrisy of theatres’ streaming reluctance. Troupes and companies of every size are worried about how their subscriber bases have dwindled the past decade, even before COVID hit. That’s because the majority of subscribers are elderly patrons who have been theatre aficionados longer than most of us have been alive. It’s harder and harder for those folks to make it on a regular basis. Eventually, they’ll pass on. Hell, Jon Spector satirized this very thing two years ago in his play Best Available. It seems that every new week brings an apocalyptic news article about fewer people having babies and a growing senior population that young adults are unequipped (and financially incapable) of caring for. Theatre is no different.
Established companies could start by meeting younger generations halfway, which would include streaming. It’s a now mildly inexpensive investment that could potentially open the floodgates to a vast untapped resource of audience members.
Or they can continue catering to seniors whose hearing aides don’t work with the assisted listening devices at your theatre. Choices…
For once, I saw a headline about the SF Symphony that wasn’t depressing: they’ve appointed Elim Chan as their new Music Director, making her the first woman in company history to hold that position. No doubt the late Michael Tilson Thomas casts a very long shadow, but just as Eun Sun Kim is filling big shows over at the SF Opera, I’m optimistic to see the direction Chan takes the company right across the street. (All three of our “big” institutions now have women at the helm, with Tamara Rojo as AD at SF Ballet.)
I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve seen an SF Symphony performance, despite intriguing programming. In recent years, I’ve gotten used to the sight of picket lines outside building as their employees demand the salaries and benefits that are rightfully theirs. Talk about the progress of those salaries has quieted of late, which concerns me as much as it does with SF Ballet, CounterPulse, and countless others where artists deserve to make a living as they follow their passions.
I wish Chan the best of luck. I hope to someday see her conducting during a Symphony film screening or other performance. But not if I have to cross the picket line to do so.
