California Stage: Upcoming Productions Page

CALIFORNIA STAGE presents 6 plays

Mixtitlan by Philip Boehm

Manuel jumps the giant US-Mexico fence to garden for Mr. Dednam, a vacuum cleaner manufacturer. The ghost of Manuel's grandmother, a curandera, uses ancient Meso-American magic in her struggle to save his soul and his very life from the hungry gods of commerce and capitalism. This intense dream play slides between the worlds of technology, self destruction and the power of indigenous spirituality. September 6 to October 5, 2008. Opens with a ($50 ea.) dinner party with Tex-Mex treats, a live Salsa band, prizes, and dancing…. And the PLAY, Mixtitlan… And a special ceremony to rename the theaters!

Women of Lockerbie by Deborah Breevort

This play is inspired by a true story: An American mother roams the hills of Lockerbie, Scotland, looking for her son's remains from the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103. Set against the green hills of Scotland, the poetic undertone of this play echoes Greek tragedy. Mrs. Livingson’s frantic odyssey plunges her toward the Lockerbie women who seek their own catharsis. This plays October 24 to November 23, 2008 Women of Lockerbie won a Silver Medal at the Onassis International Playwriting Competition and a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award.

L'Ecole des Femmes/The School for Wives by Moliére

Consider that Arnolphe, 42, has groomed the beautiful AgnPs to be his bride. Obsessed with cuckoldry, he has raised her, from the age of 4, in a convent, insuring that she remains too innocent ever to be unfaithful. Now she is 17, and ripe to marry and enjoy. But when she moves to Arnolphe’s house, Moliere has surprises in store, that will delight the audience if not Arnolphe himself. This play runs January 16—February 15, 2009, stars James Anderson. You see this short play in French and English in one evening.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by Herb Robins

Drifter Fred C. Dobbs, down and out in Mexico, spends his last peso on the lottery and Lady Luck smiles on him. Together with a fellow indigent, Curtin, and an old coot named Howard, he sets off into the Mexican badlands to turn the windfall literally into a gold mine. As the mine prospers, the men spiral into suspicion and paranoia. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a classic morality tale of corrosive greed based on the famous novel by B Traven. February 21 to March 22, 2009

Frida Kahlo by Rubén Amavizca Murúa

Kahlo’s complex personality heats every scene of this play as Frida turns victimhood into intense art. She struggles with her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, as well as with an internal Judas figure illuminating "the two Fridas." "The only thing I know," Kahlo once said, "is that I paint because I need to." April 2 to May 1, 2009

Children of Light by Rick Foster

Her mother murdered her beloved father the night he came home from the war. Now the mother rules. Elektra longs for bloody revenge and the return of her exiled brother. But unanswered prayers have turned her bitter. Then one morning the brother appears, led by a fanatical priest. The joyful siblings envision a golden age when they seize power. In this drama, Ancient Greek myth explores the issues of exile, tribalism, fundamentalism, and the politics of terrorism. The final play of the season May 8 to May 31

California Stage