Director doesn’t Doubt his cast
[10 Mar 2010 | No Comment | ]
Director doesn’t <i>Doubt</i> his cast

For Erik Gandolfi, directing his first professional play came down to one thing: finding the perfect cast for Jewel Theatre’s production of Doubt. The drama, March 11-20 at Santa Cruz’s Broadway Playhouse, examines what happens when an old-fashioned nun, Sister Aloysius, challenges a new-fangled priest, Father Flynn, whom she believes is inappropriately becoming close to a student in 1964 Brooklyn.

“It’s one of those greedy dramas that all actors love to do,” said Gandolfi of the play, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award. “I had to go through a lot of people, it was tough, but I ended up with exactly the right people…”

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Featured, On Stage »

5 Questions with Gerry Gerringer, director
of ‘Beyond Therapy’ at Actors’ Theatre
[1 Mar 2010 | No Comment | ]
5 Questions with Gerry Gerringer, director <br />of ‘Beyond Therapy’ at Actors’ Theatre

He’s a bisexual who likes Kierkegaard, Mahler, Joan Didion and writing personal ads. She’s a freelance writer who keeps answering the ads he writes, even though he drives her nutty. Together, they’re Beyond Therapy. Gerry Gerringer directs the Christopher Durang comedy, on stage at Actors’ Theatre through March 21.

The show explores relationships between lovers, friends and therapists. In the spirit of the therapist’s couch, Gerringer was kind enough to answer a few questions for Weekend Santa Cruz….

Featured, On Stage »

A Very Different Jack
[25 Feb 2010 | No Comment | ]
A Very Different <i>Jack</i>

It was a collection of empty whiskey bottles that led to the creation of the physical theater piece You Don’t Know Jack, appearing at The 418 Project. No, not because members of The Carpetbag Brigade were drinking while putting together this fractured fairy tale combining “Jack in the Beanstalk” with an alcoholic ghost, post-traumatic stress disorder and a dysfunctional family.

During an improv exercise, five Carpetbag Brigaders went out in the New Mexico sun looking for objects that inspire. The year was 2007 and the Bay Area group was doing a retreat with Wise Fool, a New Mexico arts organization with roots in puppetry. When all five members came back with empty whiskey bottles, inspiration struck Carpetbag Brigade founder and artistic director Jay Ruby….
(Photo by Jesse Olsen)