Eric George Tauber

Blindspot Collective is a small troupe taking on big issues. They are currently touring Danny’s Story a “forum theatre” play based on the real experiences of transgender youth. The issue is important not just because it’s trending, but because this is a highly vulnerable population. One third have attempted suicide. “Danny” is a transgender boy who was born female. Kids have kept diaries forever, but today’s millennials post theirs online. Danny has a Youtube channel where he works through his transition. [Eric George Tauber]

We’ve all seen variations of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol many times in stage plays, films and musicals. His iconic character, Ebenezer Scrooge with his catchphrase, “Bah Humbug” is so well known that I doubt many Israelis name their children “Ebenezer” except for some ultra-orthodox sects who avoid all things Krastmik along with the rest of the goyishe velt. So what can you do to put a new twist on this classic tale? Set it in sunny San Diego, California. [Eric George Tauber]

Hold These Truths is a story we need to hear. Director Jessica Kubzansky describes it as “a love story between a man and his Constitution.” The true shonda is that Gordon Hirabayashi resisted injustice precisely because he believed in the noble ideals enshrined in our Constitution far more than the leaders who swore to uphold and defend them. [Eric George Tauber]

The scenic design by Tom Scutt is a construction site with bare girders  –possibly for downtown condos that few of us can actually afford. And just as many churches have foregone traditional pipe organs and choirs, the traditional orchestra hidden in the pit has been traded in for a rock band incorporated into the set. [Eric George Tauber]

Jamie Wellerstein and Cathy Hiatt are young, bright, talented and ambitious. Jamie is a writer sending out manuscripts to agents and publishers. Cathy is an actress going from audition to audition. Jamie’s success and Cathy’s lack of it complicate matters. Set Designer Justin Humphries has created a tornado of loose pages tearing through their home filled with packing boxes. [Eric George Tauber]

If you were a young woman lost and alone in a strange land, how would you get by? How would you protect yourself from the dangers of a big city? Rescued from a shipwreck, Viola finds herself orphaned and alone in Illyria, a land just across the Adriatic from Italy. So she masquerades as a young man, getting a job as an errand boy for Duke Orsino. And thus, her life gets complicated. [Eric George Tauber]

Every actor needs to keep some Shakespeare in his pocket for auditions. They must speak their speeches “trippingly on the tongue” (Ham 3:2) making Elizabethan iambic pentameter sound like their natural cadence. And every year, for the past eighteen years, the San Diego Shakespeare Society has presented Celebrity Sonnets in which eminent performers present verse from the Bard. On Monday, Oct 7, 2019, devotées and newcomers came out to the Old Globe for Sonnets and Speeches: A Celebration of Shakespeare’s Women. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

Anastasia was the youngest daughter of the last Czar, Nikolai II. As a child, Anastasia’s life was a dream filled with ballet and ball gowns, caviar and champagne. But you can safely sit on a powder keg for only so long….

In 1917, the Romanov family was imprisoned and later executed by firing squad. …

Rumors spread like a wildfire that Anastasia, the youngest daughter, somehow escaped the carnage and survived. The Dowager Empress, living in Paris, offers a handsome reward to anyone who can produce her living granddaughter. This inspires two con artists, Vlad and Dmitry, to come up with a plan. (To read more, please click on the headline.)

By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — There’s plenty of drama in dance studios, especially when there are competitions coming up. It’s a lot of pressure to put on these kids and rivalries among friends complicate their relationships. The characters are “tweeners,” children in their pre-teen years filled with rambunctious energy, insecurities and curiosities navigating