The Raven Players, resident theater company at Healdsburg’s Raven Performing Arts Theater, announced today their popular Shakespeare-under-the-stars performances will return in July and August with Twelfth Night (with a twist). These shows are free and open to the public.
What’s “the twist” in the Raven Players’ production? “I won’t spoil our spunky take on the traditional ending,” said director Steven David Martin, who is also the company’s artistic director. “But I will say I’ve always found it odd that the same person who penned, ‘To me she is married, not unto my clothes,’ also wrote plays where the female lead spends 90% of the play dressed as a man and inevitably a woman falls in love with the cross-dressed woman but drops her like a hot potato when the cross-dressed woman’s twin brother shows up because … wait for it … he is a he, not a she.”
There were a few other changes, as well. “Suffice it to say that we ‘borrowed’ a few lines from other Shakespeare plays and sonnets, then tied it all together with some verse by a lesser writer,” Martin explained. “Voilà, we have an ending that to me makes a little more emotional sense.”
If the surprise twist isn’t enough to rile the purists, Martin set the production in the roaring 1920s, whose jazz age spirit is the perfect environment for this high-spirited tale of love, lust, and misunderstanding.
Twelfth Night (with a twist) July 21-23; July 28-30; August 4-6, 7:30 pm West Plaza Park, Healdsburg, Chairs & Blankets Recommended Information: raventheater.org/twelfthnight
6th Street Playhouse celebrates 50 years of presenting quality plays and musicals. The nonprofit theatre company is a staple of the community having something for everyone. 6th Street Playhouse has a robust Education Department featuring Classes, Camps and Performances for young people. Aja Gianola-Norris, first joined the Playhouse as the Director of Hair and recently, she become the Director of Education & Community Engagement. This Summer the Education Department presents Annie Jr. and Legally Blonde Jr. featuring the enthusiastic young actors as they have the opportunity to take their performance skills to the stage.
6th Street Playhouse’s Managing Director, Anne Clark states, “I am so thrilled to welcome Aja Gianola-Norris to our team at 6th Street Playhouse as the new Director of Education & Community Engagement. Her quiet strength, kindness, intelligence and joy for theater make her the perfect fit for this role and what she contributes will be a gift for our students and the community. Her connections to the theater community in Sonoma County run deep and her passion for theater education is inspiring! We are very lucky to have her.”
The inaugural Concert Series features Shana Morrison & Caledonia on Saturday, July 30th. Shana Morrison is the daughter of Music Legend, Van Morrison. She is a talented singer with a great band. Also, on July 30th, Moondance, an after party with 3 DJ’s round out the evening for your dancing pleasure from 10:30pm to 1:30am. DJ Loisaida explains, “People love to dance to uplifting music and we are thrilled to offer the opportunity to showcase some great music from various genres.”
Every Brilliant Thing tackles a giant subject: What is it that Makes Life Worth Living?
This one-man show starring Craig A. Miller, the former Artistic Director of 6th Street Playhouse (2011-2018) deals with mental health issues in an uplifting way. It’s the story of a man who, at age seven, in order to cheer up his mom when she first tries to end her life begins compiling a list of the minutiae that make life worth living. Things like ‘ice cream’ and ‘water fights’ give way years later to ‘listening to Miles Davis’ and ‘falling in love.’ Eventually, the ever-growing list is as much for himas it was for his mom.
The production of Every Brilliant Thing from July 29-31, is a benefit for the Buy the Building fund for 6thStreet Playhouse.
The New Season has 10 great productions; including Pride and Prejudice, Cabaret, River Bride, Scrooge in Love, A Year with Frog and Toad, Little Shop of Horrors, Raisin in the Sun, Always…Patsy Cline, Smart People and Something Rotten! The 2022/2023 Season opens on August 11 with Pride and Prejudice; however, this is not the old-fashioned version but rather, an updated contemporary rendition written by Kate Hamill and based on the classic novel by Jane Austen. 6th Street Playhouse your go to place for top-notch entertainment.
For more information, visit: 6thstreetplayhouse.com
James Rado, co-creator of the groundbreaking hippie musical “Hair,” which celebrated protest, pot and free love and paved the way for the sound of rock on Broadway, has died. He was 90.
Rado died Tuesday night in New York City of cardio respiratory arrest, according to friend and publicist Merle Frimark.
“Hair,” which has a story and lyrics by Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot, was the first rock musical on Broadway, the first Broadway show to feature full nudity and the first to feature a same-sex kiss.
From third left, James Rado, Diane Paulus and Galt MacDermot with cast members during the opening night curtain call for “Hair” at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York on March 31, 2009.Walter McBride / MediaPunch/IPx via AP file
Tributes came in from the theater world, including André De Shields, who tweeted “Rest in power, James Rado,” to playwright Michael R. Jackson, whose “A Strange Loop” just won the Tony Award for best new musical. He tweeted “rest in peace.”
“Hair” made possible other rock musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Rent.” Like “Hamilton,” it was one of only a handful of Broadway shows in the past few decades to find its songs on the pop charts.
The so-called “American tribal love-rock musical,” had its world premiere at the Public Theater in New York City’s East Village in 1967 and transferred the following year to Broadway, where the musical ran more than 1,800 performances. Rado played Claude, a young man about to be drafted and sent to the war in Vietnam.
Clive Barnes, theater critic for The New York Times, called the show “the first Broadway musical in some time to have the authentic voice of today rather than the day before yesterday.” The New York Post said it had “unintentional charm,” contagious high spirits and a “young zestfulness” that “make it difficult to resist.” Variety, however, called it “loony.”
It lost the Tony in 1969 to the more traditional “1776” but won a Grammy Award. The show was revived on Broadway in 1977 and again in 2009, when it won the best revival Tony. It was made into a movie directed by Milos Forman in 1979 starring Treat Williams and Beverly D’Angelo.
The “Hair” Broadway cast album spawned four top four singles on the American pop charts, including the No. 1 hit “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” by the Fifth Dimension, which won the Grammy Award for record of the year and best pop vocal performance by a group in 1970. Others included “Hair” by the Cowsills, “Good Morning, Starshine” by the singer Oliver and “Easy to Be Hard” by Three Dog Night. The cast album itself stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks
“Hair” tells the story of Claude and Berger, best buddies who find freedom in the late 1960s. Between draft-card burnings, love-ins, bad LSD trips and a parade of protest marches, the two wander through a New York filled with flower children, drugged-out hippies and outraged tourists who don’t approve of the wild goings-on. In one song, Claude poignantly sings, “Why do I live, why do I die, tell me where do I go, tell me why.”
Will Swenson, who played Berger in “Hair” in the 2009 revival, on Twitter called Rado a “crazy, wonderful psychedelic visionary” and said his show ”changed my life. The tribe is forever.”
The show is playful and chaotic, but there’s also a sense of outrage in its protests against war, racism, sexism, pollution and the general hypocrisy of an era dominated by the American involvement in Vietnam.
“I’d still like ‘Hair’ to be about what it was about then,” Rado told The Associated Press in 1993. “‘Hair’ had a spiritual message, and it has a mystical message I hope is coming through — there’s more to life than the way it’s been devised for us, explained to us, taught to us.”
The songs of “Hair” have been used in everything from the films “Forrest Gump,” “Minions” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to TV shows like “Glee,” “So You Think You Can Dance” and “My Name Is Earl.” Billboard magazine lists “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” at No. 66 of all-time top 100 songs.
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Some stars who had roles in “Hair” include Diane Keaton, Joe Mantegna, Meat Loaf, Keith Carradine, Donna Summer, Tim Curry, Elaine Paige and David Patrick Kelly and Charlayne Woodard.
At one point there were 14 companies running simultaneously all over the globe, including a London production which ran for nearly 2,000 performances.
In 2019, the original 1968 Broadway cast recording was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden deemed “these aural treasures worthy of preservation because of their cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”
Rado was born in Venice, California, and raised in Rochester, New York, and Washington, D.C. After serving two years in the U.S. Navy, he moved to New York and studied acting with Paula and Lee Strasberg.
Rado was part of the ensemble of the Broadway play “Marathon ’33” in 1963 and played Richard Lionheart in “The Lion in Winter” in 1966 opposite Christopher Walken. He met Ragni when he was cast in the off-Broadway musical “Hang Down Your Head and Die.”
The two were interested in birthing a new kind of show and focused on the hippie scene. They wrote the script while sharing an apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. Rado originated the “Hair” role of the draftee Claude on Broadway.
“Hair” met resistance across the country. In addition to the use of four-letter words, the flouting of authority, sexual references and gross-out humor, the end of Act 1 had the entire cast strip naked to “Where Do I Go” and there was what many believed was desecration of the American flag.
There were church pickets in Evansville, Indiana. Municipal officials in Chattanooga, Tennessee, denied a request to stage the show, determining that it would not be “in the best interest of the community.” In Denver, police threatened to arrest anyone who appeared nude onstage. A Boston visit was challenged in court on the basis of flag desecration.
The original Public Theater production had cut the nude scene, but the creators wanted it back for the Broadway debut. Under the law at that time, New York City allowed nudity onstage onstage as long as the actors weren’t moving, which is why the whole cast of “Hair” stood together in a row, nude and perfectly still.
After “Hair,” Rado wrote the music and lyrics of the off-Broadway show “Rainbow,” co-authoring the book with his brother, Ted Rado. He later teamed up with Ragni to create the book and lyrics for the show “Sun.” Ragni died in 1991. Rado wrote a new show called “American Soldier” with his brother.
In 2009, Rado, MacDermot and Ragni were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., of the group The Fifth Dimension, were joined onstage by the Broadway cast at the time for a finale that brought the ceremony’s approximately 1,000 guests to their feet. MacDermot died in 2018.
Rado told the Hudson Reporter in 2009 that none of the show’s creators anticipated that it would have such an enormous impact. “We thought we’d stumbled on a great idea, and something that potentially could be a hit on Broadway, never thinking of the distant future.”
He is survived by his brother Ted Rado, sister-in-law Kay Rado, nieces Melanie Khoury, Emily DiBona and Melissa Stuart, great-nieces and a great-nephew.
Love Jane Austen and Bridgerton? Then you have to see our season opener, Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice.
Think “life is a cabaret”? Then you will fit right in at our first musical in the GK Hardt…Cabaret!
Then, take a trip to the Amazon on an epic journey full of love, beauty, and magical realism, in the Riverbride.Next, fall into the holidays with your favorite new musical, Scrooge in Love…Yes!
Are talking plants and underdogs who win your thing? Then don’t wait to see the cult classic hit musical Little Shop of Horrors.
Next up, A Raisin in the Sun will move you as this American-classic comes to life on the Monroe Stage!
Love country music & powerful women? You will LOVE Always Patsy Cline.
Smart People… aren’t always so smart. Find out why!
Finally, Shakespeare & musical theater find the perfect match in our season closer with the hit, Something Rotten!Season Packages On Sale Now. Buy early for the best seat selection.
DJ Dank invites you to COCKETTES: ETERNAL EMISSIONS. Take a trip back to the heyday of the Cockettes in this new & colorful multi-media musical revue featuring musical numbers made famous by the Cockettes with members of the original Cockettes in person! Video testimonies and archival footage round out the revue.
Musical Direction by original Cockette – Scrumbly Koldewyn.
Directed and choregraphed by Noah Haydon. Produced by Dan Karkoska.
COCKETTES: ETRNAL EMISSIONSwill be performed Thurs., June 2, Fri., June 3, Sat., June 4, 2022 – at 7:00 pm, at OASIS – 298 Eleventh St. (SOMA at Folsom St.), in SF 94103. Tix – $40 – $60 – Cabaret Seating, Front Cabaret Seating, Premium Runway Seating.
This is a limited engagement. – 3 Performances only!
For more information call OASIS at 415-795-3180 or Production at 415-350-3295 during business hours.
Performers scheduled to appear include: (as of 4-20-22 – Alphabetically)
Lisa Shepard Appleyard, Andy Arcade, Birdie-Bob Watt, Matt Bratko, Corey Go-go Pup, John Flaw, Noah Haydon, Kitten On The Keys, Scrumbly Koldewyn, Carl Linkhart, Steven Satyricon, Maya Songbird, Sunshine, Jef Valentine, Jason Wade, Will Power, Diogo Zavadzki. Orignial Cockettes scheduled to appear TBD.
Band: Scrumbly Koldewyn (piano / Music Director)
TECH CREDITS: Scrumbly Koldewyn (Writer); Dan Karkoska (Producer); Noah Haydon (Director and Choreographer); David Hawkins (Graphic Designer); Birdie-Bob Watt (Ass’t. Director); Sharon Boggs (Sound Designer); Tina Sogliuzzo (Wardrobe); Lawrence Helman (Publicity), Gareth Gooch (Photography), Jim Jeske (Artist).
SYNOPSIS – COCKETTES: ETERNAL EMISSIONS:
In 1969, The Cockettes debuted at the Palace Theater in San Francisco with their midnight sensation the Nocturnal Dream Show starring a genderbending, glitter-encrusted, drug-induced theater troupe who took drag and old Hollywood musicals and turned them inside out and upside down, attracting the attention of the American underground culture.
Fifty years later in 2020, they celebrated their golden anniversary with an epic, sold-out event featuring many of their classic numbers and a special appearance by cult film icon John Waters at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. Additional shows were booked to continue the celebration, but COVID changed those plans.
Now, DJ Dank is bringing a colorful, multimedia, musical revue: Cockettes: Eternal Emissions,to OASIS, June 2, 3, 4, 2022, to continue that mission. Musical director and original Cockette, Scrumbly Koldewyn has reconceived the 2020 show to create a naughty, scintillating, debaucherously, dreamlike revue especially for OASIS.
The Cockette’s sprawling, kaleidoscopic pantheon of colorful personalities included icons including: Hibiscus and Sylvester, and was often augmented by special guests, most notably drag superstars Divine & Mink Stole. The Cockettes were ahead of their time, especially in the acceptance of gender fluidity and glittered beards, and they changed the face of drag forever.
Although the Cockettes disbanded in 1972, its many members kept the group’s spirit alive; in 2009, a theater troupe called the Thrillpeddlers helmed by Russell Blackwood revived a legendary Cockettes show called Pearls Over Shanghai to much acclaim and a long 22 month run. Playing on the interest already garnered by David Weissman & Bill Weber’s The Cockettes documentary released in 2002, interest in this troupe was reawakened and entertained an entirely new & appreciative audience. Over the next decade, The Thrillpeddlers continued recreating Cockette shows under the watchful eye of the original songwriter and Cockette Scrumbly Koldewyn.
OUR LIVES MATTER THEATER COMPANY – Theater to Take Home presents “UNEARTHING THE SILENT RUMBLINGS,” a new play about fighting racism will be staged at Congregation Ner Shalom (The Old Cotati Cabaret) 85 La Plaza, Cotati
Saturday evening, April 2nd – 7pm Sunday matinee, April 3rd – 3pm Saturday evening, April 9th – 7pm Sunday matinee, April 10th – 3pm
(Depending on demand, a matinee may be added on Saturday April 9th)
This Black production consists of 4 short plays sure to stir the hearts and minds of the audience. It is an invitation to talk about race in a safe place. Included will be a facilitated conversation and discussion after the show.
The playwright is Dianna L. Grayer, PhD.
For tickets and contact information: https://ourlivesmatterthea.wixsite.com/our-lives-matter
Saturday March 5 @ 7:30 pm.Dgiin at Occidental Center for the Arts. Sonoma County’s premier gypsy flamenco band is back on our stage! led by multi-talented siblings Mimi and Gabe Pirard, along with a fantastic ensemble of musicians. Get ready to de-stress and dance to the spellbinding sounds of Dgiin! $25 General/$20 for OCA Members. Tickets/Info @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. OCA is following Sonoma County Health guidelines for masking and capacity. Fine refreshments including wine and beer available. Art Gallery exhibit ‘Celebration of Black History” will be open for viewing. OCA is a nonprofit performance and fine arts organization accessible to persons with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts/free admission. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465, 707-874-9392.
. A relatively recent newcomer to the West Coast, Rachel spent a decade in New York City working as a dance artist. Originally from Ireland, she has taught and performed in the UK, US, India, Costa Rica, and Austria. Recent work in Sonoma County includes Dancing Lessons at Cinnabar, Barely A Person (a film exploring postpartum depression) for Heroines, Harlots and Harpies at Cloverdale Performing Arts Center, Fairy Worlds for Shakespeare in the Cannery, Equus, and A Little Night Music at 6th Street. She is the founder of the expandance technique, a somatic movement practice. Learn more about Rachel’s company at expandance.com
Q. It’s been more than 50 years since HAIR was first produced, and the US and the world have seen major cultural changes. How do you think this play stands up to the test of time? What aspects of it are still relevant and how?
Much of it is still relevant, unfortunately. We’re still living in a white supremacist, capitalist culture, and there are still wars globally, so this show is important because it talks about these things and yet there’s also hope and humor there. This show reflects a time when many of these issues were coming to a greater level of consciousness in American society, and there is a resurgence of the same in the last few years. It’s interesting to see some of the ways we’ve evolved in our thinking since that time, and some of the ways we’re still struggling to.
Q. How has the Omicron surge affected your rehearsal process? What challenges have been presented and how did you manage them?
Even with stringent Covid protocols in place, (including masks, twice or thrice weekly testing, sanitizing, distancing etc) during the first couple of weeks of rehearsal back in January, I don’t think I had more than half the cast at a time in rehearsals, and I really felt for the cast. It was also definitely a challenge choreographically, as so many of the dance numbers in this show require the whole cast. But the last few weeks things have been better *knock on wood!* It’s been helpful having a strong dance captain in Peri Zoe who I can trust to get people up to speed as needed. And I think we’re all just so happy to be back working again, and that gratitude carries us through the challenges.
Q. What are the strong suits of your actors in terms of choreography?
Their willingness and work ethic. They’ve been so open at everything I’ve thrown at them, which has been great. Between them they bring some pretty diverse skills to the show, so that’s been fun to work with.
Q. What do you think are the aspects of the play that will most appeal to our audience?
The music, the dancing, the passion, the risqué bits!
Q. How has your background in choreography prepared you for your work on this play?
I’ve been choreographing for over two decades now, and for a lot of that, improvisation has been an important part of how I work; not only in the choreographic process as a tool for creation but also as an art form in itself, and as a tool within performance. One of the original tenets of my dance company, expandance, was to include moments of improv among set choreography in all our shows. And with a lot of musicals, there often isn’t the space for that – every beat has a set movement. Hair is special because it presents so many opportunities for the actors to improvise movement between the set stuff. And these parts get rehearsed as much as the set movement, to the point where it feels as organic as anything else. It gives the actors a bit more freedom to embody their characters within the structure of the dancing, and I think that reflects Hair’scall for freedom and connection.
Q. What has been the most enjoyable part of your experience rehearsing the play so far?
It’s been an honor getting to know new, awesome people. This cast has a diverse spectrum of lived experience – from BIPOC to LGBTQI communities, from theater newbies to Equity actors, from classically trained singers to yoga practitioners to circus professionals – and it’s been incredible to meet all these folks, witness their magic, and learn from each other. Cast members have brought conversations regarding race, history, consent, communication, etc. to the table. As a queer immigrant mom, I feel grateful to connect and learn from everyone in different ways throughout this process. Also, getting to meet and work with Aja has been awesome, and I hope we get to collaborate again.
Q. What project have you either just done or going to do (or both) that you’d like our audience to know about?
I’m working on codifying the expandance technique, which involves synthesizing 15 years of movement practice and somatic exercises into readable, shareable documentation. So that’s my main project at the moment, outside of teaching and parenting duties. I’m excited to get to know the theater community in the area better and potentially explore work with directors and theaters around the County.
Aja Gianola-Norris is a Sonoma County-based director, whose passion is “empowering and connecting our community through music and theater.” She’s directed or music directed over 85 musicals, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Misérables, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, and The Wiz, to name a few.
In this interview she answers a few questions about her process, her work on this production and how HAIR, the musical, is still relevant and powerful more than 50 years after its original production.
Q. It’s been more than 50 years since HAIR was first produced, and the US and the world have seen major cultural changes. How did you adjust your direction (if any) to address those changes?
A. It is so interesting how the bulk of the HAIR’s script is still relevant and holds meaning in 2022. There are some lines that we chose to drop, as they had outdated humor or used words that have shifted in our culture, so that the majority of our audience will receive the original message or intent.
Q. How has the Omicron surge affected your rehearsal process? What challenges have been presented and how did you manage them?
A. Oh my! I thought it was hard to learn a big musical before – add pandemic-related twice-weekly testing, masking in rehearsals, and actors Zooming in when they are under the weather – and man, it seems extra chaotic and challenging.
But on the flip side, absence makes the heart grow fonder! We performers have been asked to forgo our hearts and theater these past two years, and it has made us all extremely thankful and humbled at this chance to be allowed to sing and dance together. Also, when we do take off our masks it is amazing to simply see each others’ faces!!
Oh and there are plenty of good jokes we make about working a show with nudity–being naked while wearing a mask!! Ha!
Q. What are the strong suits of your actors?
A. Kindness! Thoughtfulness and respect in how they learn/come together with the racially difficult/triggering material. They have an insatiable appetite to thoughtfully grow their characters and present a beautiful story of a tribe of hippies living, loving and playing–a snapshot of life in the summer of 1969.
Q. What has been the most enjoyable part of your experience rehearsing the play so far?
A. This is my first production with 6th Street and I adore the collaborative spirit and professionalism of the production team uniting to present a powerful piece of art to SoCo. I love how the theater strongly embraces diversity and equality. The playhouse has supported me as a director and as a woman of color, and in new practices that have been asked for through my work. The staff and crew at 6th Street are brave and work very hard to keep theater alive and progressive, despite the many hardships of a pandemic and the new AB5 law.
I encourage and ask audiences who come and are affected by this show to make their voices heard and share with 6th Street what you gained from the experience.
But my heart MOST enjoys the process of working with those passionate actors!
They are life-affirmingly rooted in this unique and perfect art of musical theater.
Q. What projects do you have coming up that you’d like our audience to know about?
A. I am super excited to be in the cast of 9 to 5, The Musical at 6th Street in late spring!
I have an extensive list of shows I still want to direct or perform in and I eagerly await local theaters announcing their upcoming seasons.
Q. What do you think are the aspects of the play that will most appeal to our audience?
A. I don’t know….the love? … the dancing? The singing is so good! The story is powerful.
Q. How has your background in theater prepared you for directing this play?
A. Having been a performer I have a deep understanding of the pragmatic details, which allows me to help cultivate healthy singing, dancing and exploring. We’ve all had experiences that were wonderful, so I adopt those experiences into my tool kit as a director.
There are also non-theater experiences that contribute to my skill set as a director. My work as a business owner has taught me the incredible value of communication, scheduling and preparation. Parenting gives me empathy and the ability to work with the whole person. Also being bi-racial has allowed me an unique authentic tie to two American cultures and perspectives.
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6th Street Playhouse’s production of HAIR is directed by Aja Gianola-Norris, with music direction by Lucas Sherman, and choreography by Rachel Wynne.
HAIR features book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado with music by Galt MacDermot.
6th Street’s production of HAIR features a diverse cast of actor/singers, many of whom will be familiar to local audiences, including Gillian Eichenberger, Serena Elize Flores, David Lee Hall, Ezra Hernandez, Keene Hudson, Jamin Jollo, Lindsay John, Tyehimba Kokayi, Nicole MacDonald, Theo Olson, Jourdan Olivier-Verde, Noah Sternhill, and Peri-Zoe Yaldrim-Stanley. There will also be a featured performer – Lynnea Mackey – who won a walk-on role in the production in the 6th Street Applause Gala auction.
HAIR has a special sneak peek performance Friday, Feb 11 at 7:30 pm, and formally opens on Sat, Feb 12 at 2 pm, with a run that extends through March 6. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, and Saturday and Sunday 2 pm matinees.
DISCLAIMER: Audience discretion is strongly advised. HAIR contains adult language and situations that may be deemed offensive, objectionable, profane, upsetting, even vulgar by some members of our audience. The musical HAIR, from its inception in the late 1960’s, has always intended to shatter boundaries in the theatrical art form and those aspects of this work of art have not abated over time. There is one brief scene involving nudity wherein all performers onstage are adults aged 18 or older.
NO PHOTOGRAPHY OR RECORDING ALLOWED WHATSOEVER: There is no recording, photography or image-capturing allowed whatsoever during the performance of HAIR. This is strictly prohibited, and anyone found to be doing so will have their device confiscated. Confiscated devices will be returned to their owners and the end of the performance after any photos or video related to the performance have been deleted.
We’re offering you a SNEAK PEEK at HAIR
Get half-price tickets to the Feb 11 special preview!
50% OFF WITH THE DISCOUNT CODE SNEAKPEEK The cast of HAIR (book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado with music by Galt MacDermot) is already thrilling themselves and the rest of the crew with their passionate and beautiful portrayal of a movement that changed the world. Don’t miss this glorious rock musical, a joyous celebration of youth and a poignant journey through a tumultuous 1960s America. This exuberant story about a group of teenagers searching for truth, peace and love in a Vietnam War era retains its power and relevance, 50 years after its original production. HAIR features an eclectic score filled with classics, including “Aquarius,” “Let the Sun Shine In,” “Hair,” and “Easy To Be Hard.” 6th Street’s production of HAIR features a diverse cast of actor/singers, many of whom will be familiar to local audiences, including Anne Clark, Gillian Eichenberger, Serena Elize Flores, David Lee Hall, Ezra Hernandez, Keene Hudson, Jamin Jollo, Lindsay John, Tyehimba Kokayi, Nicole MacDonald, Lynnea Mackey, Theo Olson, Jourdan Olivier-Verde, Noah Sternhill, and Peri-Zoe Yaldrim-Stanley. HAIR’s formal preview is Feb 12 at 2 pm, but you get a chance to see it before everybody else doesAT HALF PRICE ON FEB 11 ONLY! Tickets are regularly $22 – $38 which means your special prices WITH DISCOUNT CODE SNEAKPEEKare $11 to $19 (plus ticketing charge)
DISCLAIMER: Audience discretion is strongly advised. HAIR contains adult language and situations that may be deemed offensive, objectionable, profane, upsetting, or even vulgar by some members of our audience. The musical HAIR, from its inception in the late 1960’s, has always intended to shatter boundaries in the theatrical art form and those aspects of this work of art have not abated over time. There is one brief scene involving nudity wherein all performers onstage are adults aged 18 or older. NO PHOTOGRAPHY OR RECORDING ALLOWED WHATSOEVER: There is no recording, photography or image-capturing allowed whatsoever during the performance of HAIR. This is strictly prohibited, and anyone found to be doing so will have their device confiscated. Confiscated devices will be returned to their owners and the end of the performance after any photos or video related to the performance have been deleted.
This cast of five features Alexander Howard as Casey, the Elvis impersonator whose career goes awry, whose life falls apart, and who ends up needing to learn how to work in drag.
Joey Abrego is the fabulous Miss Tracy Mills, who teaches Casey how to do it.
The following is a slightly edited interview I conducted with Joey, who arrives next week from LA to begin rehearsals on the show.
CK – In The Legend of Georgia McBride, you teach Casey how to perform as a drag queen. Did you have mentors when you entered the world of drag performance?
I truly am a believer in the idea that it takes a village. I have been fortunate enough to have a variety of mentors in and out of the drag community that have influenced, inspired, and shaped me. I started out in theater here in Santa Rosa and then continued to study theater in college down in Southern California. After graduation, I was working in regional theater in the area, and during that time, I would go out with some friends every now and then and I met a couple of drag queens. One of them convinced me to participate in a fundraiser as a drag queen and they put me in drag and let me prance around to some music. It was an absolute BLAST! From that moment on, I dove headfirst into drag and tried to soak up as much knowledge as I could.
I’ve had mentors who helped me figure out makeup, hair styling, performance for drag, outfits, business relationships, etc. In addition to these queens who have helped me in those areas, I also have to acknowledge all my theater teachers and mentors who gave me the foundation upon which I develop my drag. I try to bring theatricality and all the training that goes with that into my drag in order to make it feel more unique and like myself.
CK – What were your greatest strengths or challenges?
I felt like my strengths always resided in my performance and connection to the audience. Of course, I have learned and continue to learn to refine and improve, but I’ve been lucky enough to have the instincts to work a crowd and perform.
Challenges have been PLENTIFUL! Drag is FAR from easy and takes a while to get used to and to feel grounded and comfortable in. Of course, learning to style hair or do your make-up is challenging, and being in tights and heels for hours upon hours is difficult. But the most challenging part of drag for me has been discovering what I bring that makes my drag special and allowing myself to sit in that instead of comparing myself to others. Which is a WASTE of time. Haha!
CK – You participated in our Applause Gala virtual performance earlier this year, and wowed the audience with your performance. What have been the high points of your experience performing in Sonoma County?
Well, thank you so much for saying that! It was very fun to get to actually sing for a change! It really was such a well-executed fundraiser and I was so lucky to be part of it!
I started out doing the youth theater summer programs at 6th Street under the brilliant Holly Vinson. I did Music Man and Oliver! with her and she really opened me up to the wildly fun world of theater. I also did RENT, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Producers with the Playhouse before I left for college. In addition to those productions, I also assisted with the Playhouse’s School of Drama and helped direct and teach in a couple of youth productions. I love love LOVED being at 6th Street. It always felt like a safe, warm home for me through my teen years and I am forever grateful for the love I felt and the freedom I had to explore and learn there.
I also have to say that being a student under board member Sue Byrne in the Montgomery High School Drama Department was also a HUGE and vital part of my upbringing. Sue really was and still is one of the most wonderful, encouraging, supporting, and loving humans I know. I was very lucky to be a pupil of hers.
CK – I can’t help noticing, in your drag photos, that you have some amazing and beautiful cleavage. I can’t find a clue as to how you do that. Is it a trade secret?
AH YES! My boobies! Haha! I get this question all the time!
It’s honestly just a heavy silicone bib that wraps around my neck. I usually cover the line around my neck with a necklace so it looks seamless. I’ll let you try them on when I see you! I just made my aunt try them on about 20 minutes ago! It’s a great laugh!
CK – How long have you been doing drag performance? Where do you usually perform?
I have been doing drag since the fall of 2017—so a little over 4 years now! That feels so long, yet so short. I have friends who have been doing it for 30 plus years… which is to be applauded because I don’t think my body will last that long! Haha.
I perform all around Southern California! I can be found from Long Beach to West Hollywood to Palm Springs! It is my full-time job and I couldn’t be more fortunate for that.
CK – You mentioned that you’re not yet in rehearsals, so your portrayal of Miss Tracy Mills will be evolving, under Carl Jordan’s direction, but what are your thoughts about her so far?
At this current time I would say that Tracy is motivated by her love for drag and performance. And on the other side of that she is also motivated by fear of failure. She spends a great deal of time saving the show, and helping it grow and blossom. I think the great deal of love and joy she has for drag really pushes her to not only improve the show but also allows her the opportunity to impart knowledge and teach Casey/Georgia all about it.
I also think that a fear of what she considers to be failure motivates her to keep the show going and make sure that employment is steady for herself. I truly think she’s afraid of not being able to work as a drag queen. I see that drive and that same quality in a lot of not only drag queens but performers in general. I completely relate to all of that. It’s an incredibly human quality that is so universal, yet laid into a very specific being. That’s part of the brilliance of Matthew Lopez’s characters.
I think what I love MOST about Tracy is that while she is sassy, fun, and can be frank or serious, she leads with kindness and compassion. I don’t get to see that quality reflected in drag queens very often on TV or in movies.
CK – Is there anything else about your preparation for this role that you’d like to share?
This is the first theatrical production I’ve done in a few years! So I am equal parts excited and terrified! I’m excited to dive into the play with everyone, collaborate, discover, and play! Terrified that I forgot how to do all of that! But I suppose the only difference between fear and excitement is if I’m breathing or not. Haha!
Gillian Eichenberger (Sheila) & Nicole MacDonald (Linda)
Jamin Jollo – Claude
