On stage: `Crowns,' `Prep Play,' `Endlings'
Here are three shows theater fans should know about.
“Crowns”: Award-winning actor and playwright Regina Taylor's inspirational musical is a boisterous look at the history and deeply imbedded importance of hats in Southern African American culture. It follows a Chicago teen who moves in with her grandmother in South Carolina and befriends a group of women who change her life forever. It closes Contra Costa Civic Theatre's live-show season. Details: Friday through May 15; Contra Costa Civic Theatre, El Cerrito; $20-$40; ccct.org.
“Prep Play, or Blue Parachute”: Rising-star playwright Yilong Liu's “contemporary queer fantasia” follows a man who's pulled into a time-traveling vortex that hopscotches through the history of gay identity and expression and affords him a chance to save a life lost long ago. The
show is getting a Bay Area world premiere before heading to Chicago and New York. Details: Through May 8; New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco; $25-$65; www.nctcsf.org.
“Endlings”: Oakland Theater Project, in collaboration with San Francisco's Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company, presents the West Coast premiere of Celine Song's heralded surreal satire that ties together two stories: one about three Korean haenyeos (sea women) practicing their ancient trade of diving (without equipment) for seafood; the other about a Korean Canadian writer wrestling with the notion of cultural authenticity. The show is being presented live and via livestreaming and on demand. Details: Live performances through May 1at Flax Art & Design building, Oakland ($10-$52); livestreamed 7:30p.m. April 23 and on demand April 24-May 15 ($15-$35); oaklandtheaterproject.org.