Does the road leading us into 2014 look a lot like the one we just exited? Well then, take a few detours before merging back onto the main theatrical highways. The first week of January has a quartet of shows that can give a GPS a spin - and you may need just such a device to find your way to the right door.
What's the Password, Bub?
The Speakeasy, in homage to its prohibition setting, has a policy against providing an exact address until it appears, anachronistically, as a text message on the day of each ticketholder's performance. For those whose risk-taking extends only so far, a hint of the location comes in the suggestion that one might want to transit to or park near the Civic Center.
The Boxcar Theatre had the long-running "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" in its intimate theater on Natoma Street through much of 2013. At the current venue, a theatergoer will enter a clock shop, pass through a trap-door grandfather's clock, and be confronted with a myriad of rooms and the situations they hold. No two theatergoers are likely to see the same show.
Directors Nick A. Olivero and Peter Ruocco along with head writer Barry Eitel have created an immersive theatrical experience, with a bar and lounge which customers can use as home base between explorations. There will be a live band, dancing girls, and period vaudeville acts. Down the halls are rooms to be used for smaller scripted performances, in addition to an overarching three-act play, as 35 players divide into different dramas populated by gangsters, gents, floozies, society dames, and a pair of closeted homosexuals.
The Speakeasy has an unusual "curtain time," with admittances staggered at three 10-minute intervals beginning at 7:40 p.m. during its run through March 15. Ticket choices include general admission for $60 and cabaret seating for $70, not to mention $5 for a stack of casino chips and $10 for dance lessons. Tickets are available through thespeakeasysf.com. Tickets will not be available at the door (if you could even find it).
AWOL with Tea Parties
A soldier going AWOL might mean a trip to Canada or, in the case of Pvt. Malcolm Jack, an Exorcist-style residency in the body of a 13-year-old girl. Joy Culter's "Pardon My Invasion" takes a whacked-out comedic approach to the predicament as Pvt. Jack tries with often clumsy results to behave like the 13-year-old Penny who is his corporeal host - with both characters played by Marissa Keltie on stage at the Phoenix Theatre.
Culter is a former San Francisco playwright beginning to carve a name for herself in Philadelphia, where "Pardon My Invasion" had its premiere in 2011. In addition to the soldier and the teenaged girl, characters include Penny's mother, who happens be a pulp-fiction writer whose characters also find their way into the action. Brisk Weather's production, directed by Joe Weatherby, runs through Feb. 8. Tickets at phoenixtheatresf.org.
Turkey and Trouble
Before Bruce Norris won the Pulitzer Prize for "Clybourne Park" in 2011, he began attracting attention for his eviscerations of privileged liberals with such plays as "The Pain and Itch" that are finding new popularity in the wake of the later play's success. Custom Made Theatre is the first Bay Area theater to enter the comically unsettled home of a comfortable family dealing with a very uncomfortable situation in "The Pain and the Itch."
Dale Albright is directing the 2006 play, set at a Thanksgiving dinner and at a later time that have been spliced together. While typical holiday family clashes erupt, there is an undercurrent of worry about the cause of a genital rash afflicting the hosts' young daughter. A Muslim cab driver is pulled into the story, as the family tiptoes around past accusations and new apologies designed to disarm the shaken cab driver.
"The Pain and the Itch" opens Jan. 14 at the Gough Street Playhouse, where it will run through Feb. 9. Tickets are available at custommade.org.
Karate Chops and One-Liners
D'Arcy Drollinger, who has explored high-crime plastic surgery in Scalpel! and one starlet's steady decline in Project: Lohan, enters the world of "whitesploitation" action movies in "Shit and Champagne." The tale of revenge against the Mal-Wart discount prostitution ring runs Jan. 17-Feb. 8 at Rebel bar.
In the story written by Drollinger and co-directed with Laurie Bushman, Drollinger plays the grieving Champagne, whose mission is to track down her fiance's murderer. Her arsenal includes disguises, kung fu, one-liners, and fast-and-furious dance moves. The production also stars Matthew Martin, Rotimi Agbabiaka, Steven LeMay, Seton Brown, and Nancy French.
Following each performance, there will be a 60s soul dance party and performances by some of San Francisco's premier drag stars. Tickets available at shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com