{"id":1494,"date":"2025-10-13T13:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/1494\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:30:07","slug":"west-coast-premiere-of-the-hills-of-california-coming-to-berkeley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/1494\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast premiere of ‘The Hills of California’ coming to Berkeley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Berkeley Repertory presents the West Coast premiere of Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth\u2019s \u201cThe Hills of California,\u201d playing Oct. 31 through Dec. 7.<\/p>\n

A co-production with The Huntington, \u201cThe Hills of California\u201d weaves the compelling yet funny tale of the Webb sisters return to their childhood home in an English seaside town. Their mother had trained them for a singing career a la The Andrews Sisters. As they visit the guesthouse, memories resurface as the girls explore the sibling bonds that both sustain and suffocate them.<\/p>\n

Loretta Greco, former artistic director of San Francisco\u2019s Magic Theatre, returns to the Bay Area to direct the West Coast debut of Butterworth\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the eldest of five sisters, this intense, mysterious and often hilarious homecoming story resonates deeply for me as the slippery layers of a complicated past collide with the equally messy present,\u201d said Greco. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to create the first American production of this big-minded West End hit in partnership with Berkeley Rep \u2014 and especially over-the-moon to return home to the actual hills of California to share this beauty with all my friends in the Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets, call 510-647-2949 or go to berkeleyrep.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pinole: Two entertaining shows in one are on the menu at Pinole Community Playhouse on 601 Tennent Ave. with its hilarious production of Rupert Holmes \u201cThe Mystery of Edwin Drood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ShivShiv Harris, left, and Natalie Buck-Bauer in Pinole Community Playhouse’s “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” running through Sunday. (Photo by Daniel Parrish \/ Pinole Playhouse)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Running through Sunday, the vaudevillian-like comedy features performers at The Music Hall Royale, all of whom take a bow when introduced by The Chairwoman (the wonderful Shiv Harris who brought the house down with her hilarious Mayor Sapsea). The actors are attempting to put an ending on Charles Dickens\u2019 unfinished work while their characters endeavor to find the missing Edwin Drood. They call upon the audience to help finish the tale by voting on who made Drood disappear and who should be the young lovers.<\/p>\n

While the show is a bit long, it has a most enthusiastic and talented ensemble performing this \u201cplayfully naughty\u201d musical with one comedic gag after another. Although the songs are not memorable, the many impressive singers make them a treat to the ears. Wonderful harmonies and soaring solos abound in Director Andrew Acevedo\u2019s well-chosen ensemble especially Stefanie Suzuki (Rosa Bud), Shauna Shoptaw (Princess Puffer), James Paul Gregory (Bazzard), Isa S. Chu (Helena), Natalie Buck-Bauer (Edwin) and Damien Thomas (John Jasper).<\/p>\n

For tickets, call 510-724-9844.<\/p>\n

Martinez: The Campbell Theater is the setting for a unique staged reading Nov. 1 at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Natalie Archangel\u2019s \u201cEnter Bar Breathless\u201d transports audience members to Ancient Greece and Rome and into the darkest fantasies of the Marquis de Sade before jumping ahead in time to the lesser known after-hours lives of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman.<\/p>\n

The seven actors (Archangel, Bill Dietz, Mark Hinds, Philip Leyva, Sara Nowicki, Bart Tangredi and Alisa Tangredi) take on a variety of roles.<\/p>\n

Special themed libations come with the purchase of a ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be a talk back directly following the performance which allows us the perfect opportunity to gather feedback as we move this work forward into production in 2026,\u201d said Archangel.<\/p>\n

For tickets, call 925-350-9770 or go to campbelltheater.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Walnut Creek: Synergy Theater celebrates Thanksgiving early this year with a completely improvised two-act comedy showing all the things that can go wrong at a holiday gathering.<\/p>\n

The improv company debuts its holiday treats with \u201cThanksgiving Unscripted: An Improvised Dinner Party Gone Wrong!\u201d on Nov. 6-16 at Walnut Creek\u2019s Lesher Center on 1601 Civic Drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Thanksgiving Day, circa 1993, and the whole gang is coming over to celebrate,\u201d said Valerie Regalia, the show\u2019s creator and director. \u201cNow, it\u2019s all completely made up on the spot, but just like any good farce, everything goes wrong \u2014 accidents, misunderstandings, mistaken identities. Plus, it has all the broad humor you expect from a farce \u2014 stock characters, pratfalls, ridiculous disguises that are, of course, shockingly effective, outrageous lies and coverups, and then, when the situation is as dire as possible, it somehow all works out with a happy ending.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets to this holiday cheer, call 925-943-7469 or go to lesherartscenter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alameda: The witty, not to mention fierce drama, \u201cThe Wisdom of Eve\u201d comes to Altarena Playhouse on 1409 High St. from Oct. 24 through Nov. 23.<\/p>\n

The inspiration for the 1950s film \u201cAll About Eve\u201d and the musical \u201cApplause,\u201d this drama follows aspiring actress Eve, a quiet, mousy girl who worms her way into Broadway star Margo Crane\u2019s confidence. It seems this innocuous-looking girl is really quite tough and prepared to run over anyone who stands in her way to fame.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Ridgeway directs with Anna Kosiarek as Eve and Sindu Singh as Margo.<\/p>\n

To purchase tickets, call 510-1553 or go to altarena.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reach Sally Hogarty at sallyhogarty@gmail.com<\/a>, and read more of her reviews online at eastbaytimes.com\/author\/sally-hogarty<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berkeley Repertory presents the West Coast premiere of Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth\u2019s \u201cThe Hills of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2245,2237,2226,2232,2248,2241,1472,2246,2242,2234,967,2229,2236,2227,2240,2233,2244,2239,2230,101,103,102,2247,104,106,105,2243,2235,2228,2231,2238,1058],"class_list":["post-1494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-acting","tag-altarena-playhouse","tag-berkeley-rep","tag-campbell-theater","tag-choreography","tag-comedy","tag-dance","tag-directing","tag-drama","tag-enter-bar-breathless","tag-entertainment","tag-jez-butterworth","tag-lesher-center","tag-loretta-greco","tag-musicals","tag-natalie-archangel","tag-on-stage","tag-performing-arts","tag-pinole-community-playhouse","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-screenwriting","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-singing","tag-synergy-theater","tag-the-hills-of-california","tag-the-mystery-of-edwin-drood","tag-the-wisdom-of-eve","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}