Now that it's officially summer, maybe we're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave. But probably not. And yet do balmy breezes blow? Well, we can usually count on the breezy part of the equation, and to push the metaphor, they often blow in theatrical attractions that may not fit into the schedules of the traditional theater season. Here are some of them.
Professor Leguizamo
Berkeley Rep isn't letting any dust gather now that its 2015-16 season is barely over. A summer special returns John Leguizamo to the Bay Area, where the edgily comedic storyteller has previously performed Freak, Ghetto Clown, and Sexaholic �" A Love Story, each of which traveled to or from New York. One future destination for John Leguizamo: Latin History for Morons is New York's Public Theatre, but the solo show will get its start right here on July 1.
The title tells the story, though for marketing purposes, it is likely hoped that audiences will take "morons" with a pinch of irony. A pair of intersecting realizations led Leguizamo to develop the piece that, with frequent ruptures of comedy, explains how Latino history within both North and South American borders is often ignored in school curriculums. From the Aztecs to the Incas, and to the Latinos who fought in the Revolutionary, Civil, and World Wars, Leguizamo condenses 3,000 years of history into 90 minutes.
It didn't seem to him that his teenage son was seeing the likes of himself in his textbooks. "But more of it was this article I read that said 45% of Latin kids drop out of high school," he told a newspaper in San Diego, where the show was workshopped with Berkeley Rep's Tony Taccone as director. "I said, 'Wow, I understand that.' I never felt connected to what I was studying. You couldn't project yourself into those areas like all the other kids could. You're like, 'I guess I'm not made of that stuff. I must not be of that quality.'"
Leguizamo didn't want the show to come across like a textbook, and for the first time in his career, he played comedy clubs to calibrate his jokes per minute, or JPMs as he calls them. "It was an education for both of us," he said of himself and club audiences. "I had to re-educate them and go, 'I'm going to give you a dense narrative that you're not used to. But you're also making me joke-smith a lot more.' I want this history thing to be really palatable."
Latin History for Morons runs through Aug. 14. Call (510) 647-2949 for ticket information, or go to berkeleyrep.org.
Don't touch the candy
Grandma tells young Sutter that playing with your privates, what she calls his bootycandy, is off-limits �" but whenever has that been known to work? Bootycandy is Robert O'Hara's semi-autobiographical play about growing up gay, black, and confused, a work that has been widely praised as it has made its way through regional theaters since its debut at New York's Playwrights Horizons in 2014. No Bay Area theater has yet to pick it up for a full production, but Brava Theatre Center is giving it a staged reading with a follow-up discussion with the playwright.
The June 28 event is free, and it marks O'Hara's return to San Francisco, where his Insurrection: Holding History had its West Coast premiere at ACT. The play is made up of short pieces �" plays, sermons, sketches �" that follow the story of Sutter as he embarks on an odyssey through his boyhood home, his church, dive bars, motel rooms, and nursing homes in a mash-up that isn't hesitant to break the fourth wall. The show is seriously tagged with a "for mature audiences" warning. More info at brava.org.
School daze
The San Francisco Mime Troupe is back for its 57th season with Schooled, a cautionary satire about the confluence of public education and private enterprise. A series of free outdoor performances in area public parks starts off on July 2 & 3 in Berkeley's Cedar Rose Park before the traditional debut in Dolores Park on July 4. From there, it will travel throughout the area before finishing up its season with a return to Dolores Park in September.
Michael Gene Sullivan and Eugenie Chan have written the new show, with Sullivan directing, which tells of profiteers who want to turn public education into virtual experiences that no longer need brick-and-mortar schoolhouses. The cast includes veteran Mime Troupe collective members Velina Brown, Rotimi Agbabiakao, Keiko Shimosato-Carreiro, and Lisa Hori-Garcia. A full schedule of performances is available at sfmt.org.
Musicals in mufti
Feinstein's at the Nikko will switch gears for two weeks this summer, replacing its cabaret acts with stripped-down versions of musical comedies. Both are Jerry Herman shows, and they will feature casts well-known from area boite spots. Hello, Dolly! will launch the Musicals in Concert series on July 6-10 with Wesla Whitfield as Dolly Levi and real-life husband Mike Greensill as Horace Vandergelder, the half-a-millionaire Dolly hopes to make her husband. Narrator Darlene Popovic will offer trivia and tidbits from the show's history during its condensed staging.
Popovic will be back as narrator when Mame arrives for an Aug. 10-14 run. Meg Mackay stars as Mame Dennis, with Sharon McNight as bosom buddy Vera Charles. Allen Sawyer is directing both productions, with musical director Joe Wicht. Tickets for both productions are now on sale at (866) 663-1063, or feinsteinsatthenikko.com.