South Bay theater companies stage shows dealing with identity
This spring, South Bay theater companies are staging a variety of shows that all deal with identity. Through comedy, music and drama, the characters in these shows struggle to carve out their place in American society while still maintaining ties to other cultures. Family ties are also put to the test, as are ties to outdated gender roles.
`Vietgone'
Modern hip-hop meets 1970s America in Qui Nguyen's musical comedy “Vietgone,” running through April 24 at City Lights Theater Company in downtown San Jose. Set in 1975, the show follows Vietnamese refugees Quang and Tong as they try to settle in Arkansas after each lost family members in the fall of Saigon. As a character in his own play, Nguyen insists that “Vietgone” is absolutely in no way the story of how his parents met.
Showtimes are Thursday-saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at City Lights Theater Company, 529 S. Second St., San Jose. Tickets are $25-$52 at cltc.org or call 408-295-4200.
`August: Osage County'
In Tracy Letts' Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play, three sisters reunite to console their razortongued, drug-addled mother after their alcoholic father disappears. Artistic director Randall King says San Jose Stage Company's
production of this darkly comic work is being staged after “a two-year pandemic postponement.”
“August: Osage County” runs through April 24 at The Stage, 490 S. First St., San Jose. Tickets are $32-$72 at http://www.thestage.org/tickets.
`Gem of the Ocean'
Part of Wilson's acclaimed American Century Cycle of 10 plays that explore the African American experience during the 20th century, “Gem of the Ocean” is set in 1904, when a young Black man seeks out 285-year-old Aunt Ester, the community's spiritual adviser, who takes him on a supernatural voyage aboard a slave ship to learn the truth of his ancestors' history.
Theatreworks Silicon Valley's production of the Tony-nominated play marks artistic director Tim Bond's directorial debut with the company. Bond was a close friend of the late playwright and is a leading interpreter of his work.
“Gem of the Ocean” runs through May 1 at the Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View. Ticket prices start at $30 at theatreworks.org or 877-662-8978.
`West Side Story'
Opera San Jose will close its 2021—2022 season with its firstever musical theater production, whose two film versions featured Oscar-winning performances from both actresses playing Anita.
Opera San Jose's stage version runs April 16-May 1 and will be conducted by Christopher James Ray, staged by director Crystal Manich and choreographed by Michael Pappalardo. The cast includes soprano Teresa Castillo as Maria, tenor Noah Stewart as Tony, mezzo-soprano Natalie Rose Havens as Anita, baritone Trevor Martin as Riff, tenor Jared V. Esguerra as Chino, baritone Antony Sanchez as Bernardo and Philip Skinner as Doc.
Performances are at the California Theatre, 345 S. First St., San Jose. Tickets are $55-$195 at operasj.org or 408-437-4450.
`Tootsie'
Broadway San Jose is staging the Northern California premiere of the Tony-winning musical April 19-24. The show, with book by Robert Horn and score by David Yazbek, is based on the 1982 movie starring Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor who embraces his feminine side for a role in a soap opera.
Performances are at San Jose's Center for the Performing Arts, 255 S. Almaden Blvd. Tickets are $38-$103 at broadwaysanjose. com, 408-792-4111 or in-person at the San Jose Civic Box Office, 150 W. San Carlos St., San Jose.