This week on Open Air, KALW radio magazine for the Bay Area Performing Arts in Times of Corona, host David Latulippe welcomes back to the virtual stage of our Corona Radio Theater, members of the South Bay Musical Theatre and their presentation of Pride and Prejudice. Also, conversations about the play Brilliant Mind, a live and interactive digital experience at the Marin Theater Company; about REAL Berkeley, a virtual film series by the Berkeley Symphony; and Peter Robinson about Bay Area bookstores.
Last February, South Bay Musical Theatre and Silicon Valley Shakespeare joined forces in a live-streamed production of a play based on Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s classic novel involving manners, courtship, and relationships.
Scheduled before, but unfortunately pre-empted twice, Open Air will now finally be able to broadcast an excerpt of this performance as part of our Corona Radio Theater initiative. And we talk with SBMT executive director Sara Dean about all things going on at the company, including upcoming streaming performances of The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson, which is set in 1700's France, and features four revolutionary females who inspire change through action and art.
From the Marin Theater Company production of Brilliant Mind, we talk with Egyptian-American playwright Denmo Ibrahim and digital & interactive designer Marti Wigder Grimminck. This groundbreaking live and interactive digital experience was created and written by Denmo Ibrahim, who also plays the lead character.
Inspired by the true stories of first-generation Americans, Brilliant Mind examines generational trauma, the struggle between self and family, and the weight of carrying a legacy. It is an excavation of the politics of gender in immigrant communities and the challenges that are ever-present between tradition and culture. Brilliant Mind performs May 11–June 6.
We talk with Berkeley Symphony artistic director René Mandel about the second episode of REAL Berkeley, a four-episode virtual film series that shines a light on the Berkeley community through special guest curators, local videography, and chamber music performed by musicians of the orchestra, filmed on location.
REAL Berkeley, started last March, will continue on May 23 with its second episode, Edgy Art, which showcases exhibits and artwork from the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) along with chamber works by Jessie Montgomery, Florence Price, Michael Daugherty, and Olivier Messiaen. BAMPFA director Julie Rodrigues Widholm guest curates the episode.
Plus, with over 40 Bay Area bookstores in the process of re-opening, Open Air’s regular contributor and critic at large, Peter Robinson, takes listeners on a browser’s tour to see what’s on the shelves, and he has news about author events and engaging suggestions for summer reading.