Would you buy a white painting with three white lines for $200,000? Hard to imagine yet that is exactly what happens in Yasmina Reza’s internationally praised play “Art.”
What begins as a discussion on aesthetics between three friends soon spirals into a comedic examination of personal relationships demonstrating just how fragile human connections can be as Marc ridicules Serge’s purchase while Yvan attempts to unsuccessfully mediate. The discussion then turns to debates about art, personal values and the trio’s long-standing friendship.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Olivier Award for Best Comedy, “Art” runs through April 6 at Shotgun Players on 1901 Ashby Ave. in Berkeley.
“This play makes me think about the trade-offs we make in the intimate relationships we engage in — platonic, romantic, etc. — and how we are sometimes asked to compromise our integrity and our values in order to maintain those relationships,” said Shotgun’s Artistic Director Patrick Dooley. “Would you be willing to compromise your integrity, your values in the name of art?”
The three-person play features David Sinaiko (Marc), Benoît Monin (Serge) and Woody Harper (Yvan). Emilie Whelan directs.
Go to shotgunplayers.org for tickets.
Oakland: Running March 21 through April 6, Doug Wright’s “I Am My Own Wife” kicks off the season for Oakland Theater Project.
Based on a true story, the play tells the tale of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a trans woman who survived World War II, a Nazi father and the Gestapo in mid-20th-century Berlin. The play looks at the sacrifices she made and the moral conflicts that emerge from her survival. Directed by Michael Socrates Moran, the show features Renee Mannequin.
OTP previously presented the play in 2016 during its inaugural mainstage season with Co-Artistic Director William Hodgson in the title role.
“What was a prescient story in 2016 is an urgent one in 2025 spurring a new production that captures the starkness and brutality of an America vilifying trans people, teetering into authoritarianism and risking a world on the edge of mass conflict,” wrote Moran.
Performances take place at OTP’s intimate space at the FLAX art & design building on 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland. For tickets, call 510-646-1126 or go to oaklandtheaterproject.org.
Alameda: If you’re feeling the need to be on stage, try auditioning for Altarena Playhouse’s next show “The Wisdom of Eve.” Set in 1946, the play inspired the 1950s film “All About Eve” and the musical “Applause.”
The Alameda theater will hold auditions April 5-6 with the production taking place Oct. 24 through Nov. 23. Kimberly Ridgeway directs.
Go to altarena.org for more information and to sign up.
S.F.: The amazing Margo Hall has entertained audiences throughout the Bay Area with her myriad roles over the years as well as her astute directorial endeavors. Once again, she has taken on a fascinating work with her latest directorial challenge “Fat Ham” at SF Playhouse.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by James Ijames moves Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” from a castle in Denmark to a backyard barbeque in the American South. Rather than royalty, the family are proud owners of a barbeque business. The seven characters resemble the major characters in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” with the Hamlet-type character named Juicy, a queer, young black man.
The backyard party celebrates the marriage of Juicy’s widowed mom to his dad’s brother — which certainly follows Hamlet’s storyline. The ghost of Juicy’s father also pops in and out of the festivities.
When Hall first heard about “Fat Ham,” she was excited to have another reimagining of Shakespeare set in the black community.
“I had done ‘Hamlet: Blood in the Brain’ at Campo Santos and thought it was incredible. It set the drama in Oakland with a drug kingpin rather than a king,” said Hall. “When Bill asked me to direct the show for SF Playhouse, I said ‘hell yes.’ I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the script. It’s such a vibrant, re-imaging of Shakespeare’s play, full of rich cultural humor.”
One of the things that drew Hall to Ijames’ play is the blend of comedy and pathos in the script.
“I have to make sure the cast knows it’s a comedy because you can get lost in the pathos, such as being a young queer man in the south and figuring out how he fits into his family,” Hall said. “But there is also so much wit and humor. Afterall, it’s a backyard in the south, anything can happen.”
“Fat Ham” runs at SF Playhouse on 450 Post St. from March 20 through April 19. For tickets, call 415-677-9596 or go to sfplayhouse.org.
Also in S.F.: “Let Freedom Ring! Part 2” runs March 28-30 at the Potrero Stage on 1695 18th St.
Part of the AfroSolo Arts Festival, the show features a wide variety of African American solo performers. For more information, potrerostage.org.
Reach Sally Hogarty at sallyhogarty@gmail.com, and read more of her reviews online at eastbaytimes.com/author/sally-hogarty.