Goldstar

Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias, A.C.T.'s Hecuba) and beloved veteran Bay-area actor Marco Barricelli return to A.C.T. in this deliciously dark comedy. When an embittered, self-involved bachelor arrives to care for the dying aunt he hasn't seen since childhood, his brief visit stretches to interminable lengths. As her health improves against all odds--and against his hopes--their relationship evolves in unexpected ways. Learn more...

ShortLived 3.0, this year running simultaneously in Los Angeles, returns to San Francisco with experienced playwrights, unknown up-and-comers and local indie theater companies all competing for the grand prize: the opportunity to pen a full length play which PianoFight will produce for one month--and it's up to the audience to decide the winner. During the breaks in the show, the house band will perform. Learn more...

Set along San Francisco's historic waterfront, Teatro ZinZanni is a bewitching evening of European cabaret, cirque, divas and madmen, spectacle and sensuality with live music and a gourmet five-course dinner -- set in the nightclub of your dreams. Since its San Francisco debut in 2000, Teatro ZinZanni has become a Bay Area entertainment institution. Learn more...

Actors Theatre of San Francisco presents Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer. Following the mysterious death of New Orleans' Sebastian Venable on a trip to Europe, his sister and mother are forced to confront the horrific secret that led to his demise. The 1959 film version starred Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Learn more...

Baby is a seven-time Tony Award-winning musical about impending parenthood. Three couples on a university campus deal with the pain, the happiness, and the hilarity of the experience of pregnancy. Each couple has a unique perspective: the college students, the thirty-somethings, and the empty-nesters whose nest won't be empty for long. This is a touching show with a talented cast and music provided by a live band. Learn more...

The Marsh Berkeley presents Don Reed in East 14th: Tales of a Reluctant Player. This hilarious and poignant solo show is the story of Reed's boyhood in 1970s Oakland, torn between his strict, church-going mother's upbringing and his admiration of his father, a pimp. East 14th was an Off-Broadway hit, nominated for two 2008 NAACP Theatre Awards. Learn more...

Shopping! The Musical, by award-winning writer Morris Bobrow, is San Francisco's longest-running original show. A hit since its 2006 premiere, Shopping is a musical comedy revue about everyone's second favorite (in some cases, favorite) activity. Hilarious songs and sketches about the frustrations, annoyances and occasional joys of shopping. Learn more...

Oscar Wilde's masterpiece is one of the most famous English-language comedies in history. It is the tale of two friends who have created elaborate stories to allow them to escape from their humdrum lives every once in a while. As events progress, they find themselves caught in an increasingly complex web of mistaken identity, and to their great surprise, falling in love. Learn more...

A Florida family confronts madness, truth and the destructive legacy of racism as the spirits of the dead walk the dark swamp, haunting the hearts of all who reside there. Dark family secrets are revealed, and unusual passions are ignited. Learn more...

Altarena Playhouse presents Man of La Mancha, the beloved musical based on Cervantes' Don Quixote. When an old man decides to become a knight, he's initially greeted with ridicule, but his unceasing perseverance and idealism allow him to change the world around him. The show's songs include the legendary "The Impossible Dream." Learn more...

Central Works opens its 20th anniversary season with a new play adapted from the Chekhov novella, An Anonymous Story. This little known gem recounts the tale of an ailing revolutionary who poses as a footman in the service of a government official. But the "anonymous" man's political principles are put to the ultimate test when he falls in love with the mistress of his adversary. Learn more...

In Bruce Graham's dark suspenseful comedy, Desperate Affection, the man of Maddie's dreams turns out to be the man of her nightmares. The unhappy New York actress is in love with a man who hides his lethal secret profession behind great manners, good looks, sensitivity and understanding. It's an unlikely love story with a deadly twist. Learn more...

Aesop's Funky Fables is a wild and wacky adaptation of the classic Greek fables for the whole family. Meet the tortoise, the hare, the fox, the stag, and three time travelers who learn from Aesop himself what lessons can be learned from these charming centuries-old stories. Learn more...

Russ Lorenson honors an American music icon, Tony Bennett, the man whom Frank Sinatra called "the best singer in the business." The show, musically directed by renowned jazz pianist Kelly Park, has enjoyed sold-out runs across the country. Learn more...

Inspired by the myth of Demeter and Persephone and set on the banks of the Mississippi during the Civil War, ...and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi combines storytelling, gospel music and wit, following an escaped slave and a Confederate soldier who are both on journeys to find lost loves. The story is based on playwright Marcus Gardley's family history, about a man who escaped slavery and traveled the country to search for his family. Learn more...

This hit-filled R&B revue at Sinbad's Restaurant traces a narrated musical journey from the early days of Motown to the classic soul sounds of today. The songs of Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross and more are performed by Bay Area trio Top Shelf, accompanied by female vocalists and dancers. Cabaret-style entertainment follows the show. Learn more...

Stage and screen actor Mario Cantone (Sex and the City, Love! Valour! Compassion!) brings his one-man show, An Evening with Mario Cantone, to the Castro Theatre. A stage and screen actor, stand-up comedian and writer, the multi-talented Mario was nominated for a Tony Award for his show Laugh Whore. Learn more...

Based on the popular 1988 film, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels follows two very funny con men who try to out-con each other for exclusive rights to ply their trade in a small French Riviera town. The scoundrels challenge each other to be the first person to successfully "clean out" a naive American heiress in a battle filled with songs and schemes and twists and turns. Learn more...

New Conservatory Theatre Center presents Terrance McNally's Master Class Winning the Tony Award for Best Play in 1996, Master Class takes place in a voice master class taught by opera diva Maria Callas, who is both dismayed and impressed with her students. Callas retreats away from her students and into the past glories of her life and career. Learn more...

Performance artist D'Lo grew up gay in a Hindu Sri Lankan family in Los Angeles County while immersed in hip-hop youth culture. This potpourri of influences, often at odds with each other, serves as the basis for the uproarious parade of personalities D'Lo brings to the stage in this one-woman coming-of-age show. Learn more...

Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? is the story of a secular Jew's discovery of who he is and where he came from, with the help of a mysterious, elusive artist who shows him the way. Author Josh Kornbluth, host of KQED's Josh Kornbluth Show, based his work on the Contemporary Jewish Museum's exhibition Warhol's Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered. The result is a mix of autobiography, music, philosophy and improvisation. Learn more...

Wendy Kesselman's new adaptation of the 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hacket presents an Anne who is overflowing with life. Anne's father, Otto, arranged for the release of previously unpublished portions of his daughter's diary upon his death. Kesselman used these diary entries to flesh out Anne's defiance, passion, curiosity, and determination. The new script fearlessly addresses the realities of the Holocaust and a life in hiding. Learn more...

Off-Market Theaters kicks off its Solo @ Off-Market 2010 line-up with an all-new, culturally diverse collection of the finest solo artists in the Bay Area performing excerpts from their own full length shows in City Solo. See the full description for information on the performances. Learn more...

Be a guest at this hysterical satirical Italian-American wedding, and you won't just see a show -- you'll be a part of it! The fun starts with the happy couple's wedding ceremony, then it's time for the all-inclusive reception featuring a family-style pasta dinner, cash bar, wedding cake, dancing and lots of laughs! Learn more...

Death Play is a full-length, ninety minute sketch comedy that reveals the often rumored but never seen underground world of performance arts competitions to the death. Finally, Death Play fulfills the love-hate-confusion relationship for anyone who has experienced independent theater, even accidentally. Learn more...

Scalpel! cuts deep into two great American obsessions: beauty and conspiracy. Jacqueline gets a new face through plastic surgery after her husband leaves her for a younger woman. She loves her new face until the nightmares begin and people end up dead. In writer/director D'arcy Drollinger's darkly comedic rock thriller, described as The Manchurian Candidate meets The Stepford Wives, youth and perfection are the ultimate commodities -- and worth killing for. Learn more...

Immerse yourself in a world of fun and mystery while seeing the city from an entirely new perspective. Incorporating the best of interactive theatre and sketch comedy, Shanghai San Francisco is a live choose-your-own-adventure. Instead of sitting in a theatre, you embark on a mission through the city, seeking out actors on the streets, in charming bars and swanky restaurants. Learn more...

The World's Funniest Bubble Show is an enchanting brew of breathtaking bubbles and bubbly music that will appeal to everyone, no matter what their age. The audience will witness all kinds of extraordinary things such as spinning flying saucer bubbles, square bubbles filled with fog, universe bubbles with orbiting planets and bubble chains that look like centipedes. Learn more...

Golden Boy is the heart-wrenching story of a talented musician and athlete who is torn between his love of the violin and the money he can make as a boxer. Golden Boy was first staged during the Great Depression. The issues it raises of choosing between material needs and spiritual ones were profoundly relevant at the time and remain relevant to this day. Learn more...

Top Shelf's Motown Madness is an interactive Motown and classic soul musical that pays tribute to the sound of Motown. Straying from a typical musical revue, Motown Madness takes you on a narrated journey from the early days of Motown to the classic soul sounds of the 80s. Show-only or dinner (or a matinee lunch) tickets are available. Learn more...

The Marsh presents Ann Randolph's Loveland. The award-winning solo performer (Squeeze Box) has been compared to the late Gilda Radner by Mel Brooks. In this hilarious, deeply moving show, Randolph plays a women taking the greatest journey of her life: a trip from Los Angeles to Ohio. Learn more...

In Fishing, a brilliant but caustic chef and a high-strung manager attempt to hold together a popular new restaurant where the sardonic wait staff and the foodie patrons with kinky sex lives are the least of their problems. The lines between food and sex, jobs and relationships blur in this profane and irreverent satire. Learn more...

In Bewitched, Bothered and Bipolar, Carly Ozard gently and humorously explains the ups and downs of struggling with bipolar disorder, with her title song being a re-write of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" by local lyricist Tom Orr. Other musical selections include works by Leonard Bernstein, Craig Carnelia, Alanis Morisette, Laura Nyro, Andre & Dory Previn, Rodgers & Hart, Marvin Hamlisch, Queen and more. Acoustic guitar and back-up vocals are featured by Brendan Getzell and Jennifer Martinelli. Learn more...

Tell It Slant follows the story of young Emily Dickinson's love triangle with her brother Austin and their intimate friend Susan Gilbert. This new musical shows Dickinson's youthfully rebellious side through Dickinson's poetry set to an original score and brought to life with unexpected physical staging. Learn more...

Enzo Lombard plays more than 10 different characters in seven fast-paced episodes, each set in a different city in Love, Humiliation & Karaoke. The show has returned to San Francisco for its one-year anniversary after an award-nominated run at New York City's Midtown International Theatre Festival. Learn more...