Goldstar

The New Conservatory Theatre Center Teen Ensemble presents The Wizard of Oz. This talented young actors perform a delightful adaptation of the classic story of Dorothy, the Kansas girl who finds herself in a magical land with no way to get home. Learn more...

New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the 1966 Off-Broadway hit Dames at Sea. This zany look at the Hollywood musicals of the 1930s tells the tale of a sweet small-town girl who arrives in New York with plans to make it big on Broadway. 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...

Center Repertory Company presents A Christmas Carol at the Lesher Center. They've been performing their delightful adaptation of Dickens' beloved holiday story every year for over a decade. The miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by a series of ghosts who intend to change his ways in a production full of music, dance and spectacular special effects. Learn more...

A middle-aged couple awakes in a beautiful summer house on a hill, surrounded by trees and glimpses of water. There's just one problem. They can't remember their own names, much less the relationship between them. Their pursuit of memory yields both comic and terrifying results, leaving them adrift on a leaky raft of postmodern anxiety. A suspenseful and mysterious exploration of the deep relationship between memory and identity. Learn more...

Golden Thread Productions presents ReOrient 2009 - The First Ten Years. The annual festival of short plays exploring the modern Middle East celebrates its tenth anniversary with two separate programs and nine total plays. Comedies and dramas feature topics including love, international relations and the clash between the Middle East's modern culture and its ancient traditions. See below for a full schedule. Learn more...

Dan Hoyle's tings dey happen is an award-winning adventure story about the year Hoyle studied oil politics in Nigeria, the "new Middle East" of oil security. Traveling alone through the swamps of the Niger Delta, he befriended militants, warlords, prostitutes and diplomats. Dan plays them all in this solo performance, which just completed a tour of Nigeria, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Learn more...

The Great Broadway Sing-Along mixes performance with audience participation in an evening of classic show tunes. Producer Ellie Mednick and an outstanding cast perform well-known songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, the Gershwins, Porter, Sondheim and Berlin, from hit shows like West Side Story, Mary Poppins, Hair and Billy Elliot. This popular event is suitable for the whole family. Learn more...

Join Dorothy and Toto and their friends on a wild and wonderful adventure over the rainbow and through the Land of Oz. Directed by award-winning Jon Tracy with musical direction by Phil Gorman, Berkeley Playhouse's The Wizard of Oz features bungee-jumping monkeys, glowing orbs, clowning and classic shadow play. Learn more...

Traditionally handsome Tom falls for Helen, a bright, funny, sexy woman who also happens to be plus-sized. Pressured to explain his new relationship to his perplexed friends, Tom must come to terms with his own preconceived notions about the importance of conventional beauty. Neil LaBute's funny, poignant play continues a trilogy that began with The Shape of Things. Learn more...

The Marsh 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...

Martha, the daughter of the college president, much to the consternation of her husband, George, a "forty something" professor of history, invites an ambitious young academic and his naive wife for late night drinks. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a dark brilliant comedy about the private lives and painful secrets of the two couples, written by three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee. Learn more...

Shopping! The Musical is a new musical comedy revue by award-winning writer Morris Bobrow about everyone's second favorite (in some cases, favorite) activity. Hilarious songs and sketches about the frustrations, annoyances and occasional joys of shopping -- how men and women do it, dealing with customers, clerks and store environments, shopping online and on TV and other familiar situations. Learn more...

The hilarious holiday satire about a job as a department store Christmas elf returns to San Francisco for an 8th year. Based on bestselling author David Sedaris' legendary biographical account of working as the costumed Crumpet the Elf at a New York Macy's, Santaland Diaries has become a holiday staple since being adapted into a one-man stage show. Learn more...

This hit-filled R&B revue at J'LaChic Theatre 39 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. Learn more...

For the fourth straight year, Un-Scripted Theater Company presents Let It Snow!, a two-hour, completely improvised holiday musical filled with Broadway-style singing and dancing. No two shows are the same, since the audience will suggest locations and themes that will be incorporated into each performance. Learn more...

Two couples enjoy an evening of nonsensical conversation in a comedy considered to be one of the classics of absurdist theater. The first play penned by Eugène Ionesco, The Bald Soprano takes place in the home of the Smiths, a traditional London couple who have invited the Martins over for dinner. Their increasingly odd banter is anything but traditional, however. Learn more...

Beautiful Thing is the story of two working class London teenage boys who fall in love, the shy Jamie and the charming and handsome next door neighbor, Ste. The boys' attraction to one another is quickened by Ste's difficult home life and the well-meaning intentions of Jamie's mother. Her love and patience are tested as she finds out the truth about the boys' unexpected relationship. Learn more...

Set in 1838, As It is in Heaven explores issues of faith through the eyes of nine women in a Shaker village. When a newcomer to the community begins experiencing visions, the older members, who have seen none, begin to question their own devotion to the Way. Alternately dramatic and comic, the play reflects the simplicity of the lifestyle it depicts, and is punctuated by Shaker songs sung a cappella. Learn more...

After winning more awards than any other show at the 2009 SF Fringe Festival, William Bivins' Pulp Scripture brings the Good Book back to life. These stories ripped from the Old Testament include tales of incest, drunkenness, human sacrifice and crowds of horny Sodomites. Pulp Scripture are the Bible stories they didn't teach you in Sunday school. Learn more...

The SF Playhouse presents She Stoops to Comedy, a playful, gender-bending show by one of New York's most innovative writer/performers, David Greenspan. Set in a summer-stock production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, actress Alexandra Page schemes to woo back her estranged female lover by playing Orlando (who everyone knows is a man) opposite her lover's Rosalind. A bevy of unexpected romances ensue. Learn more...

Contra Costa Civic Theatre presents a madcap musical murder mystery farce from the authors of Ragtime. In Lucky Stiff, nerdy English shoe salesman Harry Witherspoon has a chance to inherit six million dollars from his late uncle, a casino manager from Atlantic City. But to get it, he must take his uncle's corpse on a trip to Monte Carlo. Learn more...

The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation of San Francisco presents the One Night Only Holiday Cabaret benefit show. The evening will feature performances by the cast of Wicked, Broadway star Lucie Arnaz, Tony nominee Sharon McNight, actress Patty Duke, Motown group Top Shelf, cabaret artist Leanne Borghesi, American Idol contestant RJ Helton, and more. Learn more...

Stateless weaves a century of German, Jewish and African American history with contemporary hip-hop music, beat-box vocal rhythms and vaudeville. The play is inspired by the true story of co-writer Dan Wolf's family history, beginning with his great-grandfather, who was part of a singing group responsible for one of the most popular songs in German history. 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...

Marin Theatre Company presents a comedy about an unlikely couple -- and the end of the world. In Boom, written by Marin native Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Jo answers an ad placed by Jules, who fears the apocalypse is coming and seeks a partner to help him repopulate the species. That he's gay and she hates babies is the least of their problems. Learn more...

Thrillpeddlers celebrate the 40th anniversary of the gender-bending drag troupe The Cockettes with this psychedelic musical inspired by sin soaked Old Shanghai and Busby Berkeley movie musicals from Hollywood's Golden Age. Learn more...

Continuing its world premiere run at StageWerx in San Francisco, the shocking comedy The Afterlife of the Mind centers on Lydia, who is desperate to prevent her famous philosopher husband Harry from dying of a rare illness. She enlists a shady but brilliant neurosurgeon to perform a brain transplant, but a botched procedure leads her to push the limits of her love. Learn more...

High jinks abound in Cole Porter and Moss Hart's smart, cheeky and ultra-moderne 1935 hit. The Royal Family of a "fictional European country" abandon the throne to go off on an adventure. Parody versions of recognizable 1930s celebrities (Noel Coward, Elsa Maxwell, Johnny Weissmuller, Ginger Rogers) show the disguised monarch and family the time of their royal lives. Learn more...

Jennifer Jajeh brings her comedic solo show about life as a single, Catholic, Palestinian-American woman to San Francisco. In I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I'm Afraid to Tell You, Jajeh recounts a trip back to her parents' hometown in the West Bank while weaving in an honest and funny examination of topics from dating to politics to identity. Learn more...

The late Harry Chapin penned over two dozen songs for this progressive musical retelling of the Gospels of Matthew and John, transported to modern day, rural Georgia. Based on the book by civil rights activist Clarence Jordan, Cotton Patch Gospel uses a rousing bluegrass score -- performed by a one actor playing scores of roles, a live bluegrass band and three stunning singers. Learn more...

Come see where the Bay Area's theatre pros go to play on their night off. Now in its 16th season, PlayGround presents staged readings of six original short plays written by top Bay Area emerging playwrights, inspired by a single topic and performed by leading local directors and actors. Learn more...

The classic soul trio Top Shelf celebrates the joy of the season with a special cabaret-style performance of their R&B musical revue Motown Madness, together with the holiday concert Noel!. The evening will include performances of some of Motown's biggest hits, accompanied by festive holiday music, traditional carols and audience sing-alongs, preceded by a cocktail hour. Learn more...

Last year's "pro-prostitution, anti-drug Christmas musical parody" is back! After sold out houses at last year's San Francisco Fringe Festival in September and again in December at the Phoenix Theater, this mash-up parody of just about every Christmas television, movie, or play comes to Stage Werx. 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 Greatest Bubble Show on Earth 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...

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, champagne toast, wedding cake, dancing and lots of laughs! Learn more...

It's 1944 and movie star Marian Ames is about to be put out to pasture after four flop films. So she decides to take her career in hand and heads off to London with her gal pals to entertain the troops. The girls more than prove their mettle as they sing over 30 vintage songs from the war years while air raids add to the emotional fireworks and heartwarming story. Learn more...

From the bright lights of Broadway to the snazzy Cotton Club, The Golden Years is a fun musical tribute with the glamour and glitz of classic Vegas. You'll be entertained from start to finish with theatrics and music from that great era, mixed with dynamic choreography and singing. Learn more...

Cal State East Bay presents an original play by one of its faculty members. Influenced both by Shakespeare's Othello and recent events at Fort Bragg, The Iago Syndrome tells the true story of four soldiers who return home from active duty in Afghanistan and, within a matter of weeks, murder their wives. Learn more...

The Rrazz Room welcomes Eden Espinosa. A Southern California native, she starred as Elphaba in Los Angeles' mega-hit production of Wicked. She was also nominated for a 2005 Drama League Award for her starring role in Broadway's Brooklyn, The Musical. Learn more...

No Nude Men Productions proudly presents sketch comedy veteran/Killing My Lobster alumnus Wylie Herman's first full length play, Better Homes and Ammo. Set in a fallout shelter in the near future, a family of four struggles to keep their sanity while trying desperately to maintain some semblance of normalcy. 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...

The Marsh welcomes Lucky Dog Theatre. A four-person cast of veteran improvisers performed fully spontaneous plays, ranging from humor to poignant emotion and political drama. The acclaimed group is accompanied by violinist Yehudit. Learn more...