The idea was to pay tribute to the 20th anniversary of Angels in America with a new production in the Castro, just a few blocks from the theater where Tony Kushner's transformative play was first staged in 1991. The production is still happening, and it will still be just a few blocks from the old Eureka Theatre where Angels debuted, but it will not be in the Castro. Instead, the Rainbow Room at the LGBT Community Center will host the Theatre Shark production opening in April.
"Our original dream was to use one of the many empty businesses in the Castro, but the process became very cumbersome even with [Supervisor] Bevan Dufty working with us," said John Steen, a Theatre Shark founder and a featured actor in the upcoming Angels. In addition to finding reluctance from landlords who feared losing a longer lease should a space be temporarily committed to the theater production, Steen said the permits and hearing processes to get an intended-use waiver was beyond the small theater company's grasp.
What the Theatre Shark troupe knew going in was that it didn't want to restage the play in a traditional theater space, and the center's Rainbow Room will still allow for a non-traditional approach to the material. "There's basically three stories going on in the play, and we'll use the whole room to stage the different parts of the story," Steen said.
There are plans for ancillary events, including a photo project planned with Magnet to encourage people to get tested for HIV, and a behind-the-scenes documentary directed by Marc Smolowitz. In recent days, however, some uncertainty has arisen on whether the play-licensing firm that controls Angels will permit backstage scenes from the new production to be filmed.
Here matters become a bit vague, though according to Steen, Theatre Shark secured amateur rights to Angels in America last summer, and royalties have been paid. In the meantime, a major professional venue in the East Bay decided to present Angels in 2012, and the licensing agent apparently forgot it had given Theatre Shark permission for a 2011 SF run. If this is indeed the scenario, the lower the profile the better for the earlier amateur production, as the licensing firm protects the professionals paying higher royalties, and documentary film could complicated that. It is also why Theatre Shark can present only the first part of Angels in America.
Whatever the fate of the documentary, Millennium Approaches, the first part of the epic play, will run April 20-May 14 in the Rainbow Room. Laura Lundy-Paine, the artistic director of Alameda's Virago Theatre, will be staging the Theatre Shark production. Cast members include Adam Simpson, Dara Yazdani, Liz Ryan, Anthony Rollins-Mullens, T.J. Lee, Donald Currie, Cary Cronholm, and John Steen.
The Theatre Shark company was founded following the death of Jeffrey Hartgraves in 2008 as a way to memorialize the playwright-director's work. The 12 founding members helped put on Shades of Gray, a previously unproduced Hartgraves play inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray. Five of the original team have regrouped for the Angels project: the aforementioned actors Ryan, Lee, Steen, and Currie, and artistic director Lara Rempel.
Tickets for the Theatre Shark production will go on sale in March, and will be available at www.angelsinamericasf.com.
Getting a head start
For reasons of unknown strategy, ACT is announcing three of the productions that will make up its 2011-12 season – but not when these titles will appear within the season. The trio includes a comedy classic, a contemporary social drama, and a circus memoir.
Humor Abuse is Lorenzo Pisoni's solo show about growing up in a circus world as the son of Pickle Family Circus cofounder Larry Pisoni. David Mamet's Race is the social drama, recently seen on Broadway, as a black and a white lawyer team to defend a white man accused of assaulting a black woman. The classic comedy is Once in a Lifetime, a 1930 satire of the talkies that began George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's fruitful collaboration.
The remainder of the 2011-12 season will be announced in March, when season tickets to new subscribers will go on sale. Current subscribers can re-up at this time by calling 749-2250 or by going to www.act-sf.org.
They keep on ticking
Two long-run champs will carry on some more. Dirty Little Showtunes, which played multiple venues in its initial late-1990s run, is proving popular again in its updated version at New Conservatory Theatre Center. The new closing date is Jan. 29. Go to www.nctcsf.org.
After a holiday hiatus, Pearls Over Shanghai has resumed performances at the Hypnodrome. The Thrillpeddlers' production of the Cockettes' musical has been extended to April 9, and meanwhile the troupe is working toward a spring production of Vice Palace: The Last Cockettes Musical. Info at www.thrillpeddlers.com.
Richard Dodds can be reached at [email protected].