Troy Rockett as Lev (left) and Jordan Maria Don as Marísa in “The Displaced” at the Crowded Fire Theater. Photo: Cheshire Isaacs / Crowded Fire Theater
The Chronicle’s Guide to Notable Art and Entertainment Events in the Bay Area.
Courageous, intimate theater returns with “The Displaced” by Crowded Fire
“The Displaced” by Crowded Fire heralds another step forward for Bay Area theater in the COVID era: It is one of the first shows by a small, brave theater group specializing in new plays that have been around since the outbreak of the pandemic will be performed indoors for a personal audience.
The piece by Isaac Gómez takes up gentrification, but from the genres of horror and comedy. The West Coast premiere follows Marísa (Jordan Maria Don) and Lev (Troy Rockett), who are moving into a new apartment in Chicago but keep hearing from recent tenants in eerie and unsettling ways.
Director Mina Morita and Deputy Director Karina Gutiérrez relate the show to the Bay Area’s own gentrification. “Any media enthusiastic ‘Exodus from San Francisco !!’ that we’ve seen in our lives ends up feeling like a gold rush with outsiders getting the best house and apartment deals they can find, “they said in a joint statement.
“The Displaced”: 8 pm Wednesday-Saturday, 15.-18. September; 2.00 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19 to Oct. 2, Pay-what-you-can. Potrero Stage, 1695 18th Str., SF 415-523-0034. www.crowdedfire.org
– Lily Janiak
Pianist Sarah Cahill Photo: Christine Alicino
A diverse program of piano music emerges from the lockdown
When the pandemic first halted live performances, a group of California pianists met weekly via Zoom to share ideas, musical tips, and plans to explore a new repertoire. Now that these artists can perform freely again, they are ready to share the fruits of these discussions.
Curated by Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers, this hybrid presentation – a simultaneous in-person event and livestream combination entitled “Cross Rhythms” – showcases some of the region’s most imaginative pianists including Gloria Cheng, Monica Chew, Jerry Kuderna and Allegra Chapman. The line-up is just as varied with music by Adolphus Hailstork, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Grazyna Bacewicz and the married couple Wang Lu and Anthony Cheung.
“Cross Rhythms”: Friday, September 17th, 8pm. $ 25. Vaccination certificate required. Old First Presbyterian Church, 1751 Sacramento St., San Francisco. 415-474-1608. www.oldfirstconcerts.org
– Joshua Kosman
Marga Gomez will appear at a comedy night at the Brava Theater in 2019. Photo: Paul Kuroda / Special on The Chronicle
Metaphor works undercover in Marga Gomez’s ‘Spanking Machine’
The comedian and solo performer Marga Gomez has a profound, lyrical approach to metaphor, but her style is so the opposite of artistic-farting or pretentious that her literary insights creep in practically obscured.
With “Beating machine” – the first show Marsh San Francisco has personally presented since the beginning of the pandemic – Gomez derives her title from a threat she remembers from elementary school where a so-called “whipping machine” was an unimaginably horrific punishment aimed at nasty Children who were always invisible waited in the next room.
Gomez interweaves this image with a number of scenes from her life that somehow all make sense – her first “boyfriend” before they both came out, as well as their reconnection much later in life; dirty sex; and a pervasive threat of violence.
It turns out that the spanking machine is still threatened long after you can’t be sent to the director’s office.
“Spanking Machine”: 8 pm Friday-Saturday, 17.-18. September. Until October 23. $ 20- $ 100. The Marsh, 1062 Valencia St., SF 415-282-3055. www.themarsh.org
– Lily Janiak
Pianist Adam Golka Photo: courtesy
Pianist Adam Golka helps start the California Symphony season
Like many local arts organizations, the California Symphony returns to performing live this month with an almost audible sigh of relief. The 2021-22 season under Music Director Donato Cabrera includes a full list of well-known and new music, including the postponed world premiere of Katherine Balch’s oratorio “Illuminate,” the former composer-in-residence, slated for March.
At the opening of the season, however, Cabrera and the orchestra welcome the pianist Adam Golka as a soloist in Beethoven’s “Imperial Concert”. Also on the program are Marianna Martines’ Symphony in C from 1770 and the Fifth Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
California Symphony: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 18, 4:00 p.m. Sunday, September 19. $ 20- $ 74. Vaccination certificate required. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. 925-943-7469. www.californiasymphony.org
– Joshua Kosman
‘Pour’ 2021 by artist Paul Kremer Photo: Galerie Berggruen
New Paul Kremer exhibition shows abstract works in the Berggruen gallery
“Paul Kremer / UV”, an exhibition of recent paintings and works on paper in the Berggruen Gallery, marks a change for the American artist.
Kremer, a well-known minimalist and color field painter, is known for precision and hard edges in his conception of abstraction. In his latest work, the artist takes on more flexible, organic shapes that can be interpreted as anything from blooming flowers and open-mouthed animals to strands of DNA. The works’ bold basic color palette gives them a feeling of exultation; a perhaps unexpected result of the art of the past two years. In an artist statement on the exhibition, Kremer explains: “I want to take pictures that make me feel better. When I stand in front of it, I want to feel for a moment that life is less stressful, less chaotic. “
With the more flowing, rounded shapes of the forms in the works, there is also a quality of movement that gives them a playful quality, such as the purple over orange V-shape of “Lift”, the blue on the head U of “Flop” and the wavy ones Hourglass shapes from “Pour”.
“Paul Kremer / UV”: Monday-Friday 10 am-3pm. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. first Saturdays. For free. To see until October 9th. Berggruen Gallery, 10 Hawthorne St., SF 415-781-4629. berggruen.com
– Tony Bravo
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