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.
I spent the weekend looking at Scott Wiener and former drag laureate D’Arcy Drollinger. Let me explain…
Lots of longtime Bay Area arts venues have changed hands lately: SF’s legendary Curran Theatre was sold to the SF Giants in December, right before Jared Kushner’s brother bought a stake in the team; the Contemporary Jewish Museum shut its doors in late-2024, only to announce in March they’ll be selling their SoMa building; it’s been almost two years since Cal Shakes’ final show, which we were reminded of recently when the newly-created Siesta Valley Foundation sent out e-mails saying, essentially, they’re a thing which exists and will be henceforth running the Bruns Amphitheater, Cal Shakes’ old home.
So, there I was this past Saturday at the newly-christened Barbary Stage. The “hidden” Embarcadero stage was once the Gateway Theatre, longtime home to 42nd Street Moon, regular venue for SF Sketchfest, and a go-to for companies like Theatre Rhino. I was there for a Ray of Light show (more on that in a minute), but I was there early enough to witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Before RoLT AD Shane Ray spoke, we got opening remarks from the stunning-in-pink D’Arcy Drollinger, who spoke sincerely about vanishing arts spaces (something D’Arcy knows all too well, eleventh-hour reprieve notwithstanding). Next, was Pelosi-wannabe Wiener, who also said something about the importance the space? I dunno, I tend to tune out whenever he drones on.
The contrast of these two wasn’t lost on me: The first, an unabashedly queer artist who went from living room performances to owning a proper stage, and fighting tooth-and-nail to keep it open; the other, a corporate glad-hander who—though also queer and outspoken on nightlife issues—has tried to hegemonize the Castro and gentrify San Francisco through the same greedy real estate deals that have pushed artists out of the city.
As D’Arcy and Shane both operated the big novelty scissors, Wiener merely crouched over to make sure his face was in the photo before vanishing without even seeing the show. It was exemplary of the battle between eclectic San Francisco artists and the corporate interests who want to profit off of them, but not support them.
Shades and Shadows world premiere at Magic Theatre
The day before the above, I was at Magic Theatre. I’d gotten lots of notices for a show there, but accepted the invitation not really knowing what it was about. Yes, I do that—not always, but I like being genuinely surprised. Turns out that William Brasse’s Shades and Shadows, the world premiere of which ran April 30–May 3, was the umpteenth retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice I didn’t know I needed.
The dance and spoken-word show takes an unorthodox, indirect approach to the material. After an opening dance number, Pythia (Amanda Vitiello) introduces herself to us. She’s seen it all, done it all, and now does storefront psychic readings for visitors. She can easily regale customers with the story of artist-traveller Orpheus (James Mercer II), his true love Eurydice (Jessica Bettencourt), and how she lost her to a fatal snake bite, suffered while being chased through the woods by Aristaeus (Bobby August Jr.). Orpheus ventures into the underworld to retrieve her, only to lose her again once they’d reached the end of their journey.
Rather than simply tell us what happened next, we get to see it, as the three aforementioned characters make their way into Pythia’s establishment. It’s here where Pythia, despite knowing full well the identity of each visitor, now finds herself a participant in each of their respective stories. Like a Greek Nick Carraway, she becomes the otherwise side character relaying the story of our central cast. Like Carraway, the stories she tells don’t have happy endings, but they do add an interesting perspective to the lives of those involved.
It’s a shame Brasse’s play ran only one weekend, because it succeeds in bringing an imaginative and emotional new depth to a story that’s literally been told for millennia. There’s an argument to be made that he’s letting Aristaeus off the hook, but he at least provides a plausible alternative to Virgil’s implication that the character was outright predatory. All three central characters are given believable depth that makes their ends all the more tragic. Add in graceful choreography, Vitiello’s compelling performance, and CO² levels that never rose above 956ppm on my Aranet4 (I saw only two others masked in the half-full audience), and I can say I’m glad I accepted the invite to see the show.
Ray of Light Theatre presents Mean Girls
After the aforementioned ribbon-cutting, we finally got to see the reason for D’Arcy’s pink ensemble: Ray of Light were opening their new venue with Mean Girls: The Musical (through May 30 at the Barbary Stage, SF), in which the color defines the story’s central clique. No surprise then that a great deal of the audience—even me, to a smaller degree—came out decked in their best light-reds. (Incidentally, one of the last Ray of Light shows I saw also heavily featured pink. It’s a streak. )
With SNL alumnus Tina Fey adapting her own screenplay for the Great White Way, little has changed from the story: US-born and Africa-raised white girl Cady Heron (Ari Toshiko Glenn) has moved back to the States with her parents. They drop her into a contemporary American high school, where she sticks out like a sore thumb. Such awkwardness immediately finds her befriending possibly queer artist Janis (Maia Campbell) and “too-gay-to-function” Damian (William Schmidt), but it isn’t long before Cady falls in with The Plastics, led by the callous Regina George (Maddy Wenig, who single-handedly owns the show).
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Fey, especially when she falls into white feminist hypocrisy, but she does well in updating her mid-2000s hit to the age of social media. (The traveling Broadway version of the show ran at Golden Gate Theatre a mere three years ago, proving its appeal.) It helps that Leslie Waggoner’s cast could all reasonably pass for highschoolers, lending an air of authenticity to the works. They do seem to be holding back a bit with her choreography, but not to the point that it’s a hindrance. And the fact that they all pushed through several opening-night tech SNAFUs is admirable on its own.
In the Gateway days, the HVAC left a lot to be desired. RoLT must have done some much-needed upgrades, because even with a near-full audience opening night, CO² levels never got any higher than 900ppm, dropping down to 837ppm by the final bow.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony gave conflicting ideas about the future of SF’s arts community, but everyone was having a good time at Ray of Light’s first show in their new digs. If that future is one of enjoyable shows in accessible spaces, then it’s a bright (pink) future, to be sure.
MEAN GIRLS: THE MUSICAL runs through May 30 at the Barbary Stage, SF. Tickets and further info here.
