San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
THEATER NOTEBOOK
Coronado Playhouse maps out 75th season
Next year will mark the 75th anniversary of Coronado Playhouse, but announcing the planned season has been a challenge for production manager Anthony Zelig.
State and county health orders are likely to keep indoor theaters shuttered through next spring. So while Zelig said he can’t yet say “how” he’ll be able to stage the theater’s diamond anniversary season, he can at least announce what his on the season bill.
The season-opener will be A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” about the 50-year pen pal relationship between a man and woman, scheduled for Jan. 22 through Feb. 21. Zelig said the theater wasn’t able to obtain streaming rights for the play, so it’s looking for a way to do the performances outside in a safe, socially distanced way.
Next up is Djanet Sears’ “Harlem Duet,” a 1997 “Othello”-inspired play about a Black couple in Harlem whose lives are upended when the husband, Othello, leaves his wife for a White woman. Planned for a March 19-April 18 run, the goal now is to do a full indoor production, but if that is impossible the company will film the actors onstage and stream it for a home audience sometime in the Marchapril period.
Nick Payne’s “Constellations,” about a relationship that unfolds in multiple parallel universes, will run May 21-June 20. Again Zelig hopes theaters will be open by then for a full run. Also planned for one weekend only, April 23-25, is Nora and Delia Ephron’s “Love, Loss and What I Wore,” a collection of funny and poignant stories on women told through the lens of their clothing.
For updates, go to coronadoplayhouse.com.
Vantage hosts video series ‘Sundays With Nana’
To keep fans entertained and raise some donations, Vantage Theatre’s married leaders Dori Salois and Robert Salerno have launched a series of comic short videos called “Sundays With Nana” starring Salerno’s mom, Dr. Margaret “Peg” Giannini of La Jolla.
Giannini, 99, was the first director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research in Washington, D.C. The 45-second home movies show in humorous ways that Giannini can still practice what she preaches about independent living. In the comedic films, the wisecracking Giannini can be seen vacuuming, gardening, cleaning the toilet, picking up dog poop and other domestic tasks while Salois suggests other chores for the walkerusing grandma. The videos can be seen on Vantage Theatre’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/ vantagetheatresandiego.
pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com