Brian Kameoka's blog

Shows to See in Sacramento, Jerry Montoya Edition

January is like theatre's "in like a lamb, out like a lion" month, as everyone recovers from they heyday of December holiday shows and many theatres go dark.  By then end of the month, all the stages are full again with new productions. 

I'm calling this the "Jerry Montoya Edition" because Jerry, B Street Theatre's Associate Producer, has a new show opening this weekend for B Street's Family Series, The Conductor: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. He also wrote Nostros, La Gente which is one of eight plays by Sacramento playwrights in City Theatre's Old City Cemetary Plays, a festival of new works all set in Sacramento's Old City Cemetary.  I saw one evening of this show last week (each performance is a four-play set "A" or "B" of the eight plays in the project).  It's a really cool project, well produced by City Theatre who should be applauded for the efforts to produce new, local work in town.

Jerry must be one of the most prolific playwrights in the region, having written many scripts for B Street's Family Series (his Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorites).  He has scripts published by Playscripts including an adaptation of Secret Garden that is pretty widely produced and was the first children's show playing at B Street when I started there.  With Nostros, La Gente he now has two shorter works that he may develop into full length plays, the other being A Murder of Crowe (pictured left) which was a ten-minute play detailing some of the stories behind the Charles Manson murders.  Catch one of Jerry's shows (details below) while they're running, and you can catch Jerry online at JerryRMontoya.com and on twitter @jermontoya.

Shows to see:

• OPENING: The Conductor: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad by Jerry R. Montoya at B Street Theatre, part of the Family Series.  Opens January 29, with shows every Saturday and Sunday at 1pm and 4pm.
• CONTINUING THROUGH 2/7: Old City Cemetary Plays at City Theatre.  Marcus Crowder's write up in the Bee has play descriptions and show times.
• THROUGH 2/13: The excellent Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at B Street, I blogged about it here.
• COMING SOON: New Helvetia Theatre's tick, tick... Boom! opens February 3, coinciding with the Broadway tour of Rent coming to Sacramento.
• ONGOING: Graham Sobelman's Graham-A-Rama Cabaret is every Sunday night, and this weekend is a special one year anniversary show.  And don't miss the February 21 show featuring Peter Story.

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow

Last night I saw 'The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow' by Rolin Jones at B Street Theatre.  It's a great play - you should go see it.  This blog post is not a review, more just a plug for the show, then a collection of random musings on theatre that I was reminded of by the show.

 

BUT FIRST: Go see this show. I heartily recommend it.  A warning, it has F-bombs and discussion of sex, so it's not for kids or those with sensitive ears.  It's gotten great reviews so far - the News & Review gave it's highest rating, noting the "clever dialogue, tight direction, an imaginative set and a talented cast with an impressive breakout performance by Sylvia Kwan," and the Sacramento Bee bestowed the coveted four stars, saying the show "has an intensity as refreshing as it is bracing."  I can tell you as the former marketing director of B Street Theatre that with reviews like these, and buzz building for the show, you should get to it soon because it's likely to be a solid hit.  In fact, I went to opening night on the wait list but it was so full I didn't get in, and it was a packed house last night when I went. Plus, DEAL ALERT: If you have a student ID, you can get a $5 student rush ticket on the night of the show at B Street, if space is available.

 

Congrats to the whole cast - my friends David Pierini, Greg Alexander, and Sylvia Kwan; Carolyn Howarth who I've seen in tons of stuff but have never met, and Mayette Villanueva who's new to me.  And of course, Joe Styron, who got great reviews ("excellently understated" and "endearing") and is my good friend, housemate and collaborator on Sacramentjoe.  Joe's been at B Street for two and a half years, first as an intern then as an Artistic Associate.  He's done roles in 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' & 'Rumpelstiltskin' and performed as an understudy for half a dozen roles, more than anyone else at B Street in the last few years.  It's great to see him get a role like this and really shine in it.  Congrats, Joe... maybe I'll read that sketch you sent me a year ago...

[More ramblings about theatre after the cut]

Shows to See in Sacramento

This edition is as much "here's what's on my Sacramento theatre to-do list" as it is out-and-out recommendations:

• OPENING: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones at B Street Theatre.  Excited to see Joe Styron (of Sacramentjoe fame) tread the boards again.  Marcus Crowder, the Bee's theatre critic, has a nice preview feature article that ran in Friday's paper.

• UPCOMING: The New Helvetia Theatre is bringing back Jonathan Larson's pre-Rent musical tick, tick... Boom! and it coincides with the touring Broadway production of Rent.  I blogged about it here.
• ONGOING: Every Sunday, Graham Sobelman puts on a show, called Graham-A-Rama Caberet. He fronts a cool three piece combo and features great musical theatre performers. Often there's a theme to the evening. This weekend's edition features T. Patrick Van and Brad Bong and the title is "Do You Know Who We Are?" Me, I do know Brad and enjoyed his Bud Frump in Sac State's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying last year. If you haven't seen Graham-A-Rama before, check it out. It's a blast. I'm particularly looking forward to upcoming appearances by Maggie Hollinbeck (January 24 in "Who Would Maggie Go Gay For?") and Peter Story (February 21 in "A Story Before Bedtime"). Oh! And you can check out past performances on the Graham-A-Rama YouTube page.

Anthropologie Project

That's Anthropologie (-ie) project, not Anthropology.  For a class I just finished as part of my MBA program at Sac State, my team conducted a brand audit on Anthropologie stores.  I thought I'd post a blog entry about it, especially since quite a few of my friends on Facebook took the quick survey we created.  We ended up with 123 responses.  The survey was just a quick one set up on Google Docs to assess brand awareness, and is not statistically significant (just interesting). 

[UPDATE: if you're looking for the official Anthropologie Blog or blogs about Anthropologie, see here]

Results and my commentary after the cut...

Theatre in Sacramento: Tick Tick Boom returns

Sacramento's New Helvetia Theatre turns one this month, having launched this time last year with a fundraising, concert-style performance of Celebration by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.  Since then, Connor Mickiewicz's new company has taken up residence at the Artisan Theatre on Del Paso and produced two critically acclaimed, well attended shows.  The second of these shows, Jonathan Larson's tick, tick... BOOM returns for two weekends beginning February 3rd.  The timing of the return engagement coincides with the current Broadway tour of Rent starring Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp (two of the original cast members), which plays Sacramento February 3 through 7 as part of the Broadway Sacramento series.  This means you can see a double feature of Jonathan Larson, seeing his only two musicals on back to back nights, or even together on the same day.

New Helvetia's tick, tick... BOOM earned rave reviews in the fall, with Patti Roberts in the News & Review calling it "a fantastic production, all the more bittersweet because we know that Jonathan Larson didn’t get much older" and the Bee's Jim Carnes called it "a solid, almost traditional book musical that profits from its intimate, autobiographical nature. It's a sweet show, simple and hopeful."

Tickets to the show's limited return engagement will likely go fast, so get them quickly.  It's really a marvelous show with a fantastic three person cast.

LINKS:
Tickets to New Helvetia's tick, tick... BOOM via Brownpapertickets.com
Tickets to Rent, presented by Broadway sacramento via Tickets.com
Patti Roberts review of tick, tick... BOOM in the News & Review
Jim Carnes review of tick, tick... BOOM in the Sacramento Bee

[Disclosure: I helped with publicity by taking press photos for last fall's production but do not work for New Helvetia]