Silicon Valley Auto Show back in the driver's seat
Santa Clara Convention Center hosting this year's automotive showcase
If there's one word to describe this weekend's Silicon Valley Auto Show, it's “electric.”
That's not just the charge visitors will have from the show's return after a two-year hiatus, either. It's pretty descriptive of many of the vehicles that'll be on display at the Santa Clara Convention Center starting today.
While the last show in 2020 had its share of electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-ins are taking up more floorspace than ever. Polestar has a presence, and crowds will gawk at the new Kia Niro EV, along with a host of electric Volkswagens and Toyotas (including the new Prius). There's even a plug-in Jeep and the high-end McLaren Artura, a supercar that's a natural head-turner, is a hybrid.
I talked to Brian Moody, an editor at Kelley Blue Book, in advance of the show, and he said the number of electric vehicles available on the market or on the way has grown tremendously since the last Silicon Valley Auto Show. “This area of the country is especially interested in electric cars,” he said, noting that while many full EVs are out of the average car shopper's price range, there are plenty of more affordable ones that'll be on display, too. As usual, the show includes custom rides and exotic vehicles, including a vintage Chevy pickup that looks rustier than it really is and a few exceptional lowriders from Frisco's Finest Car Club. But one thing I hadn't seen at the show before was the Airstream display, with a couple of the oh-so-hip silver trailers, including one that's been outfitted by Pottery Barn.
“That's an interesting thing to see at an auto show,” Moody said. “It shows where people are heading with their car buying.”
And just so you don't waste gas or electric miles heading to the show, produced by the Silicon Valley Car Dealers Association, make note that it's in Santa Clara this year, not San Jose. Hours and tickets are available at www.svautoshow. com.
TABARD'S CURTAIN CALL >> San Jose's Tabard Theatre Com
pany announced Wednesday it will close its doors after 22 years in April, following the final performance of its next production, “Once.”
“After three years of battling increasing costs, decreasing ticket sales and the ongoing effects of a global pandemic, we are simply no longer able to make ends meet and therefore will be unable to complete the current season,” Executive Artistic Director Jonathan Rhys Williams said in an email to supporters.
The Tony Award-winning “Once” opens March 10 and closes April 2. That means productions of “Othello” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” announced for this season will be scratched. But all other shows scheduled between now and April — including this weekend's final performances of the comedy “The Super Secret Society: A playable play,” “A Girl Called Dusty” on Feb. 25 and Jamie Davis' “Swing Into Spring” on March 11 — will go on as planned, Williams said. Tickets to the remaining shows are available at www.tabardtheatre.org.
Cathy Spielberger Cassetta founded Tabard in 2001, aiming to create something new for Bay Area theater audiences. The main season shows were appropriate for all ages, and Tabard partnered with local nonprofits for each show that would receive some of the money from concessions. For its first seven seasons, it was a nomadic company — moving from venue to venue for different shows — but it finally found a home in 2008 at the 150-seat Theatre on San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose.
ARTS AND ACTIVISM >>
STAND!, the annual event to celebrate Black History Month at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, will include a panel tonight of Bay Area arts leaders talking about their experiences.
The 7 p.m. panel, titled “The Intersection of the Arts, Social Justice and Activism” features Silicon Valley African Film Festival founder Chike Nwoffiah;
Viera Whye, artistic director of Tabia African-American Theater Ensemble; Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Tshaka Campbell; and musician and event producer Joy Hackett. Tickets to the event, produced by the School of Arts and Culture at MHP and its Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute, are free and available on Eventbrite.