This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, host David Latulippe talks with Bay Area actress, musical theater artist and comedienne Maureen McVerry (above), to discuss her new solo cabaret show, #VERRY McVERRY 2019.
Winner of six Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Awards (BATCC), McVerry has been a constant musical comedy fixture in Bay Area for over 30 years. Recent credits include Bridges of Madison County at Theatreworks, and Sunday in the Park With George at SF Playhouse. #VERRY McVERRY 2019 plays one night only, this Saturday (May 18 at 7 pm), at the Oasis Night Club (298 11th St.) in San Francisco.
We talk to actor/playwright Wayne Harris about his award-winning, music-infused, spiritual, and uplifting show Mother’s Milk, returning to The Marsh Berkeley. Together with (pictured) pianist Randy Craig, and bassist John McArdle, Harris presents original songs, traditional blues, and gospel classics. Mother’s Milk is an uplifting narrative on life, death, and the Baptist Church; the story of a young black man finding his way back home, set against the background of the civil rights movement, a losing battle with breast cancer, and a slightly inebriated preacher. Directed by David Ford, Mother’s Milk runs through May 31 at The Marsh Berkeley (2120 Allston Way).
We welcome back Bay Area playwright Lynne Kaufman to discuss the world premiere of her new play Who Killed Sylvia Plath at The Marsh San Francisco. Celebrated actress Lorri Holt (pictured), who plays Sylvia Plath, will join the conversation via phone. In the play, we see American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath returning to her burial place in West Yorkshire, England, to view the fourth replacement of her tombstone. The previous ones have been defaced by feminists who chiseled off her married name, claiming it was her husband, British poet Ted Hughes who caused her death. Who Killed Sylvia Plath, directed by Warren David Keith, runs through June 16 at The Marsh (1062 Valencia St.) in San Francisco.
Plus, we talk about the United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF) at the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (934 Brannan Street, San Francisco), with the Center’s artistic director Melanie Elvena, and with stand-up comedian, actor, and writer Irene Tu (pictured). Named one of the Bay Area’s best stand up comedians and an ‘artist on the brink of fame,’ Irene Tu has performed at numerous festivals and opened for Patton Oswalt and W. Kamau Bell. She performs her stand-up show Rest in Peace Irene as part of the USAAF, which brings together over 25 local Asian Pacific Islander artists in nineteen community art events. Rest in Peace Irene runs on May 17 and 18 at Bindlestiff Studio (185 Sixth St.) in San Francisco.
Open Air with host David Latulippe; heard live on Thursday, May 16, at 1pm. Listen now or anytime…