Goldstar

I Prefer Fur, Victoria Doggett's one-woman show with accordion accompaniment, tells the beguiling story of the dangerous love triangle between a man, a woman, and their cat Buttercup. This darkly comic, surreally moving show was among the biggest hits of the 2009 SF Fringe Festival. Learn more...

This original female-driven variety show, Monday Night ForePlays, is written, directed, produced and starring an all-star cast of ladies. The show includes a titillating collection of comedic sketches touching on performance anxiety, bodily functions, relationships, robots, office politics, writer's block and sex. The show will also feature original dance numbers and a rotating line-up of musical acts, as well as special additions ranging from burlesque acts to comedians. 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...

San Francisco's Off-Market Theater and Hollywood's Theatre Asylum host Tilted Frame SF\LA, the first improv show to take place in two cities at the same time. Based on Tilted Frame's long-running improv shows in both SF and LA, this unique show employs the power of live Internet video to combine both cities' casts into one amazing whole. Learn more...

Brian Copeland presents his hit show, Not a Genuine Black Man. The longest running solo show in San Francisco history, logging over 500 performances over five years, Not a Genuine Black Man also had a successful Off-Broadway run. It's a hilarious and poignant autobiographical story about Copeland's childhood in one of the most racist suburbs in America. 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...

PianoFight's S.H.*.T. Show Deluxe will feature videos, live music, powerpoints, slide shows, as well as a few throwback favorites from the past year, seamlessly woven into one loosely connected show filled with biting satire, harsh vulgarity and serious laughs. Learn more...

Kosho presents his solo show Walking on the Moon at the Off-Market Theater. Inspired by the U.S. economy's recent struggles, the show also explores matters of life, death, and shopping. Kosho plays a wide array of characters, ranging from an Air Force officer and nursing home residents to Karl Marx and Paris Hilton. Learn more...

Katie Rubin performs her own one-woman show at Off-Market's Stage 205. Combining stand-up comedy, poetry, song, monologue and improvisation, Insides OUT! traces a young person's journey through high school, college, and her first job, using psychoanalyst Carl Jung's depiction of conflicting inner selves as a framework. Learn more...

Off-Market Theater hosts the San Francisco premiere of Raymond King Shurtz's Bohemian Cowboy. It's the story of Shurtz's father, Raymond Dean Shurtz -- a cowboy, honky-tonk singer, and traveler of mythic proportions. The elder Shurtz was known as a "disappearing specialist;" in November 2005, he walked into Nevada's Valley of Fire desert, and disappeared forever. He has never been found. In this compelling show, his son seeks to unravel the mysteries he left behind. Learn more...

Sophistry is a provocative play that explores the subjective nature of truth within sexual relationships. Set at a small New England college during the mid-1990s, the calm campus waters turn troubled when a beloved Philosophy professor is accused of seducing a male student. Conflicting memories leave everyone in doubt as to what actually transpired, but the self-absorbed students soon sort out their own romantic longings and sexual obsessions in this coming-of-age tale. Learn more...

PianoFight Productions presents the latest installment of their sketch show, Stop Hating Imagination Time V: Laugh 'n a Half. They've gained acclaim and a loyal following for their fast-paced comedy, and they've put together an all-new collection of wacky, surreal, and vulgar sketches, accompanied by videos, slideshows, and a PowerPoint presentation. Learn more...

Pentheus, the King of Thebes, finds himself pitted against the god Dionysus and the mysterious madness that threatens his city, his family and his own life. This new interpretation of Euripides' classic horror-tragedy is touring Oxford, London, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is devised, performed and produced by students of Oxford University, England. Learn more...

PianoFight, in association with Combined Artform, is proud to announce the return of its three-month playwriting competition, ShortLived 2.0, in which audiences decide what writers will win the top prize of a one-month run of a full-length production. Learn more...

Improv group Double Entendre creates two completely original stories (told across multiple scenes) right in front of you, from nothing but a title provided by the audience. Lovers, cowboys, aliens, detectives, divas and daredevils -- who knows what characters will appear on the stage. Anything is possible with no script and no limits. Learn more...

A laugh-inducing, award-winning musical comedy about love in the suburbs, this stage sensation has been described as "Seinfeld set to music." It's an insightful look at love and relationships that is touching and humorous. With six actors playing over forty roles scaling the dizzying spectrum of male/female relationships, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change reveals the difficulties and joys of connecting with another person. Learn more...

An outrageous series of tragi-comedy vignettes exploring the mania and pathos of modern relationships as they are affected by growing up in addictive, dysfunctional, or otherwise nutso families. A moment in time of heart-felt hilarity, compassion and absurdity. Learn more...

PianoFight presents an original comedy, FORKING!, a fully scripted play in which the audience votes on how the plot will proceed. Six 20-to-30-somethings who live together are thrust into or out of the sack with other characters, depending on how the audience votes. Each potential "fork" is scripted, and the sum of each audience vote will determine the outcome of the play. Learn more...

Based on David Sedaris's sardonic best-seller, The Santaland Diaries is the story of a man who as an elf at a department store, confronting screaming children, bossy parents, flaky elves and apathetic Santas with truly hilarious results. This one-man show, now in its seventh year, features actors David Sinaiko and John Michael Beck during its run. Learn more...

An outrageous series of tragi-comedy vignettes exploring the mania and pathos of modern relationships as they are affected by growing up in addictive, dysfunctional, or otherwise nutso families. Family Baggage is a moment in time of heartfelt hilarity, compassion and absurdity. Learn more...

Two adjacent cells in New York's Rikers Island jail hold two murderers: an atheist on trial for shooting a reprehensible cult leader, and a brutal serial killer and born-again Christian. Jesus Hopped the "A" Train provokes a masterful debate about anger, innocence, lying and ultimately being "right" in God's eyes. Learn more...

Synergy Theatre and Piano Fight productions present First Draft, a hilarious new late-night improv comedy show. Aided by audience suggestions, a talented team of improvisers will generate a full-length play on the spot. Every show is completely different! Learn more...

Chicken Scratch is the rough-and-tumble mixture of a current child star, a software engineer, a Bay Area native, a corporate whore, a local teacher who reads, a local teacher who loves Duran Duran, a hot New York Jew, a frustrating actor and an aspiring lawyer. This potent combination hits the stage with fast comedy, memorable characters and never-before-seen performances. Learn more...

Piano Fight Productions presents the world premiere production of .LOVE (yes, that's dot love), a mostly sung "boomer" tale of experiences many of us have shared: love, sex, drugs, families, careers, divorce, loneliness and middle age. Middle aged and looking for love online, a couple reflects upon their lives and their love in this two-act musical for two performers by East Bay composer/playwright Richard Jennings. Learn more...

Ah, the holidays: a time of murder, adultery, deception, racism, nepotism, egotism and pot smoking. Even if your relatives employ none of the above during family dinners, you'll certainly be entertained by a family who does in this comedy of manners with rapid-fire dialogue. Learn more...

Tom is on the outs with his fiancee, his sister just ran away from home, and most annoyingly of all, he's being inexorably pursued by the Grim Reaper. That's the premise of Dead Pan, a comedy whose West Coast premiere is being put on by Piano Fight Productions at the Off-Market Theatre. Learn more...

Backer's Audition shows you "pivotal scenes" from "exciting new plays" based on audience suggestions. The scene you like best is transformed into a full play in the second half of the show, featuring that exact same "pivotal scene" from Act One...or at least as much as the performers can remember! Don't miss this fun evening of completely improvised comedy theater! Learn more...

David Mamet's largely autobiographical play contains fierce and funny scenes from a mid-life crisis as Hollywood agent Bobby Gould returns to his hometown of Chicago to reconnect with his past. In three vignettes, he encounters an old buddy, his sister, and a former lover. Hanging over each of them is the breakup of community, family and, above all, the Jewish culture that held them together. Learn more...

Eavesdropper, currently L.A.'s longest-running play, comes to San Francisco's Off Market Theater. An uninvited party guest "eavesdrops" behind the bathroom shower curtain on 12 guests' private moments and dark secrets, and ends up witnessing a crime. No two performances are the same, as actors are chosen from a pool of ensemble members to fill the roster for each show. Learn more...

Two troubled teenagers on the run take refuge in an abandoned cabin on a rainy night. With only each other and a bottle of whiskey to make the time pass, they are forced to reflect on the lives they have led up to this point. Sparks fly when they face the deal that was made to gain their freedom. Learn more...

Ever lived with a crazy nut-bag? Well, this play focuses on the humor and horror that can embody such a living situation. The story revolves around seven twentysomething roommates living in the city, one of whom struggles with a severe mental disorder. Toss a wave of suicides at the local university into the mix, and you may end up with an ad in the classifieds titled, "Roommate Wanted." Learn more...

This 2004 Tony Award-winning show takes a captivating look at the lives, loves and lunacy of nine infamous American assassins--from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald. With music ranging from folk to ragtime to big Broadway ballads, this is one of Stephen Sondheim's most inventive and exquisitely scored shows. Learn more...

This nail-biting thriller returns from New York City, where Retroviosionmedia called it "the sleeper of New York City's black box theatre season to date." Following an out- of-work actor hired by a reclusive, theater-obsessed ex-dancer to privately act out a play she has written, Dead Certain explores truth and lies, right and wrong--and cat and mouse. Learn more...

David Mamet's play is the Depression-era story of Charles Lang, a laborer who invents an engine that uses water for fuel. First, Lang struggles to prove his machine exists. But when the truth comes out, those threatened by a machine that doesn't run on oil or gas intend grave danger for both Lang and his invention. Learn more...

Lila Theatre proudly presents a new original production, Life and Adventures. Follow the hero through sudden catastrophes, wicked deceptions, shocking betrayals, strange revelations, exotic locations, new friendships, lost illusions, noble endeavors, grave dangers, narrow escapes, surprising alliances and - who knows? - maybe even true love, in this improvised epic through life and adventure. Learn more...

Magician Big Al Catraz, direct from Las Vegas, hosts this dynamite show of intimate magic, comedy and surprises, featuring performers from Hollywood's famed Magic Castle. Each week features several performers from a rotating cast. Learn more...

The Custom Made Theatre Company presents two of Woody Allen's hysterical, existential plays, God and Death. With the wit and insight of America's greatest living comedy genius, this evening of slap-stick, mistaken identity, plot twists, and a slight glance into the meaning of it all promises to warm everyone's winter. Learn more...

What do you get when you cross stand-up comedy, sketches and music in an edgy update of old-timey variety shows? Come find out with Bay Area comedy stalwart Randy Hauser and fresh-from-the-Big Apple improviser Amy Keyishian in their new Saturday-night show: Algonquin Card Table at the Off-Market Theater. Learn more...

The Custom Made Theatre Company presents an evening of short plays from Samuel Beckett. "Ohio Impromptu" and "Krapp's Last Tape" offer, in true Beckett fashion, a glimpse at the precarious nature of life's final moments, of the mind's inner dialogue when facing the shadow of the journey's end. In "Catastrophe," Beckett presents a darkly comic take on life in the theatre. Learn more...

From tales of pets to stories about Eleanor Roosevelt, The Other Side of the Mirror is the answer to enthusiastic audiences who loved the stories from Lynn Ruth Miller's unusual life, as heard in Miller's Farewell to the Tooth Fairy, which brought wry laughter to the Footloose Festival in San Francisco and the Edinburgh Frige Festival. Stoies presented here are culled from Thoughts While Walking the Dog, Miller's beloved column in the Pacifica Tribune. Learn more...

It's a nostalgic look back to vaudeville days of old when Boswick Turnstyle Jr. comes to the Off-Market Theater from Ringling Brothers. From magic to juggling to tale-spinning and hilarious acrobatics, Boswick Turnstyle Jr. is a true "clown's clown"! A clown that children will love and parents will appreciate. Learn more...

Comedian-magician-juggler Fred Anderson blends variety arts with high energy comedy in this fun show for the entire family. Fred's performances have taken him all over the world, from Montreal's "Just for Laughs" Festival to New York's Lincoln Center to Edinburgh's Fringe Festival. He's also appeared such TV outlets as Fox, A&E, PBS and Comedy Central. Learn more...

Comedy on the Square's Holiday Variety Hour is fun for the entire family, featuring comedy, magic and juggling from Robert Strong & Fred Anderson. Robert, voted this year as SF's "Best Comic" by the Bay Guardian readers poll has performed in Las Vegas, at the Smithsonian in Washington DC and beyond. Fred is a regular headliner for Carnival Cruise Line and has performed at Lincoln Center in New York and in both Brisbanes (the one in Australia and the one by the SF Airport). Learn more...

With A Very Brechty X-Mas, the Custom Made Theatre Co. presents two darkly witty, thoughtful short plays that examine the relation between the master and the servant, between the oppressor and the oppressed, the occupier and the occupied: Bertold Brecht's The Exception and the Rule, and Daniel Gerould's Candaules, Commissioner. Learn more...

Improv is funny, yes--but everything's funnier with squirtguns! So, CAFE/Off-Market is presenting a show combining the two. Nothing says "Happy Holidays," quite like high-speed comedy improv plus sudden and unexpected squirtgun attacks! But don't worry, the audience won't be targeted...well, probably. Learn more...

Off-Market Theater hosts a one hour monthly variety show featuring Lynn Ruth Miller and surprise guests from the San Francisco comedy/music and entertainment scene. Learn more...

Three Wise Monkeys Theatre Company presents two audience favorite comedy one-acts from recent Bay One Acts (BOA) Festivals: Peaches en Regalia and The Sentimental Boxer. The first is the clever and witty story of a modern foursome coming to grips with -- what else -- dating and relationships. The second features popular Bay Area actor Ben Ortega reprising his hilarious performance as an "Everyman" boxer who muses on the nature of things while in the middle of a pensive boxing match. Learn more...

David Razowsky, Artistic Director of The Second City (Los Angeles), and Lila Theatre collaborate together in a new original work, The Razowsky Project. Pushing the boundaries of improvisational theatre, the Lila Theatre Resident Company takes you through truthful moments of hilarity and sincerity. Experience community, connection and slice of life circumstance as they fuse together in this genuinely delivered improvisational theatre production. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see some of the Bay Area's best improvisors directed by one of Los Angeles' greatest improv directors. Learn more...

Custom Made Theatre Company presents Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play Equus,a visionary and passionate work from the creator of Amadeus. Equus is the story of an adolescent boy who committed an unspeakable crime, as well as the psychiatrist whose investigation into this seemingly senseless act will cause him to question his own beliefs. Learn more...

The San Francisco Solo Festival at Off-Market Theater will showcase a wide variety of performers, from cartoonists to stand-up comedians, delivering old favorites and new works. Featuring Lynn Ruth Miller (Picked as a Critic's Choice at this years Edinburgh Fringe), Harmon Leon (writer), Mike Capozzola (comedian and cartoonist), Betsy Salkind (Last show at the Marsh), Katie Rubin, Heather Gold, Kurt Weitzmann ("Comic Genius," SF Weekly), Julia Jackson, Rebecca Fisher and Jennifer Proctor (joined by others from The Marsh's Festival of New Voices), as well as local favorites Ron Jones and Nina Wise and more. Learn more...

Enzo Lombard performs his one-man show Love, Humiliation & Karaoke, an engaging mix of hilarious comic monologues and spectacular vocal performances. Enzo finally had everything: dream job, great Manhattan apartment and 11% body fat. It would all be gone in just a few weeks -- and the world just watched. Learn more...

Yesterday Once More is a heartwarming and almost true story of one woman's lifelong love affair with music. It features a groovy mix of songs from the 60's through today. This new musical was written by Kelly Callahan and Eric Black. Learn more...

In the vein of Drew Carey's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" comedy improv aims to create surprises and true comedy gems. The Revolution All-Stars Comedy Improv specializies in "revoutionizing" long-form improv. Learn more...

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize as well as the Tony Award for Best Play, The Heidi Chronicles is beloved playwright Wendy Wasserstein's masterpiece. This timely play follows humanist art historian Heidi Holland through four decades of social and political change. Never quite fitting in with the times that are a-changing around her, Heidi struggles to keep her identity and moral compass while her friends chase a more compromised dream. Painfully funny and wonderfully insightful, The Heidi Chronicles is a modern classic. Learn more...

Sue & Friends, a one-woman (sorta) improv show by Sue Walden, the founder of Flash Family and the director of ImprovWorks. Theater, song, games, stories...you can participate as much or as little as you like. Lots of fun! Learn more...