![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Continuity_2026_1099.jpg\")
The Bay Area premiere of Bess Wohl\u2019s climate change comedy \u201cContinuity\u201d is onstage in Berkeley in a Shotgun Players presentation. (Ben Krantz\/Shotgun Players via Bay City News)<\/p>\nShotgun Players\u2019\u00a0\u201cContinuity,\u201d a comedy dressed in heavy gear by Bess Wohl\u00a0onstage in Berkeley,\u00a0takes place on a bed of ice in the\u00a0New Mexico desert.\u00a0The ice is\u00a0actually Styrofoam;\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0part of a movie set for a group of\u00a0filmmakers\u00a0intent on addressing climate change.<\/p>\n
If it sounds preachy,\u00a0it isn\u2019t, even though\u00a0Pulitzer Prize-winner Wohl (for 2025\u2019s \u201cLiberation\u201d)\u00a0addresses issues\u00a0beyond the environment to the very fate of the planet and the human race in this 2019 play.\u00a0What keeps it just north of\u00a0clich\u00e9\u00a0is Wohl\u2019s\u00a0light hand and the first-rate cast directed by Emilie Whelan.<\/p>\n
As the cameras roll, starring\u00a0actress\u00a0Nicole (Regina Morones)\u00a0encounters\u00a0eco-terrorist Jake (Nicholas Ren\u00e9 Rodriguez),\u00a0who vows to set off a bomb that will create a destructive tsunami. As an aside, he shoots Lily, a young scientist (Ije Success) before she can utter a line.<\/p>\n
The players repeat the\u00a0scene\u00a0again\u00a0and again,\u00a0and during breaks the actors get personal. They talk about the\u00a0film,\u00a0and\u00a0also\u00a0about sex, drugs,\u00a0pregnancy, abortion, terminal illness.\u00a0They have been involved with each other.\u00a0
\u00a0
Maria,\u00a0the\u00a0director (Rezan Asfaw),\u00a0keeps the action going\u00a0while\u00a0communicating with hapless screenwriter David\u00a0(Beno\u00eet Monin), her ex. The crew (the hilarious Adam Mendez and Matt Standley)\u00a0is also on hand,\u00a0but the shoot\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0work. It\u2019s not what\u00a0the director is looking for; the star wants a drink; they take a break.<\/p>\n
The Bay Area premiere of Bess Wohl\u2019s climate change comedy \u201cContinuity\u201d is onstage in Berkeley in a Shotgun Players presentation. (Ben Krantz\/Shotgun Players via Bay City News)<\/p>\n
A long break\u00a0is\u00a0followed by more imperfect takes, fading light\u00a0and\u00a0discussions about failed relationships. Beyond the personal trials,\u00a0there are pointed discussions about what is honest storytelling and what might sell best in Hollywood.<\/p>\n
It is a heavy load\u00a0\u2014 most,\u00a0but not all\u00a0of which fits into the play\u2019s design gracefully.\u00a0
\u00a0
For each take,\u00a0the director\u00a0repositions\u00a0everyone,\u00a0and\u00a0they shoot again.\u00a0Larry\u00a0(Malcolm Rodgers), a\u00a0scientist\u00a0advising on\u00a0the set,\u00a0strolls in and weaves\u00a0his way into the discussion,\u00a0driving\u00a0directly to fact,\u00a0that\u00a0efforts to deal with the human situation are all for the good,\u00a0but it won\u2019t much matter in the long term, though,\u00a0when our star goes down, it\u2019s the end of the human race.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ultimately,\u00a0Shotgun Players\u00a0balance\u00a0the humorous, the serious\u00a0and\u00a0the disastrous with a\u00a0fairly level\u00a0hand\u00a0in \u201cContinuity.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shotgun\u00a0Players\u2019\u00a0\u201cContinuity\u201d continues through June 27 on the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. Tickets are $40-$80 at\u00a0shotgunplayers.org.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The post Review: Shotgun Players\u00a0balance humor, disaster nicely in \u2018Continuity,\u2019 a climate change comedy\u00a0<\/a> appeared first on Local News Matters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shotgun Players\u2019\u00a0\u201cContinuity,\u201d a comedy dressed in heavy gear by Bess Wohl\u00a0onstage in Berkeley,\u00a0takes place on a bed of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-348304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348304","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=348304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}