Enjoyed Sheherezade: Year in Review!

Mark & I made it up to San Francisco last night for the Playwrights' Center's annual fund raising presentation of 8 short works, Sheherezade; Year in Review! My friend Phil was in the show again, which is a great motivator for getting me up to the city for theater :-)

You know what I love about short works? It gives the authors a chance to explore some really bizarre topic, but not for very long - so before you realize how ridiculous this is. Like, Fara Fawcette and Michael Jackson meeting in a hair salon in heaven. :-)

Each of the pieces deals with some big event from last year. In addition to the deaths of those two beloved celebrities, they covered the Muni problems, H1N1, trouble in Tehran, gay politicians, Bernie Madoff, a 14 year-old's discovery of a new type of supernova, and... a cult of transvestite Radha worshipers.

My favorite had to be Muni Aphrodite, by Bob Hayden. I loved how straight both actors (Phil Goleman and Cory Tallman) played what could've been just a silly story. Of course, they brought humour into it as well. While I don't live in SF, so couldn't fully relate to the Muni problems of 2009, it was obvious that most of the audience was right there with those actors.

They have two more performances - tonight & tomorrow. It's for a good cause and lots of fun, too, so go check them out. I'm also hoping to catch Sweet Charity with West Valley Light Opera this weekend, which I hear is great!