Arts & Events

New: AROUND & ABOUT THEATER & OPERA: Inferno Theatre's 'Dracula' Opens; Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons' at Douglas Morrison Theatre; Mozart/Da Ponte 'Cosi fan tutte' Friday December 1 only at Berkeley Piano Club; Festival Opera's Unusual Pastiche 'About Face,' I

By Ken Bullock
Wednesday November 28, 2012 - 02:47:00 PM

—Giulio Cesare Perrone—formerly of the Grotowski Institute in Italy and the Dell'Arte School in Humboldt County—has produced some of the more interesting work locally on stage in the past few years with his Inferno Theatre Company: 'Galileo's Daughters' and 'The Iliad,' two completely different kinds of play, at the Berkeley City Club, as well as set designs for many companies up and down the West Coast. 

Now Inferno will be opening 'Dracula' on Thursday for two weeks, an original adaptation into physical theater, choreography with live music and pervasive design, where "the power of suggestion and possession, hypnotism and somnambulism" are everyday things—written, directed and designed by Perrone, with Simone Bloch, Paul Davis, Julia Ellis, Valentina Emeri, AeJay Mitchell, Ilya Parizhsky, Christine Shonkwiler and Sheena van Spronsen, with music by Norman Kern, lighting by Michael Palumbo. 

Staged at the historic Arts-&-Crafts design South Berkeley Community Church, 1802 Fairview (a block west of Adeline, near Ashby BART), where Inferno is in residence. Thursdays (November 29, December 6) at 8, Fridays (November 30, December 7) at 9, Saturdays (December 1 and 8) at 8, and Sunday December 9 at 8. $12-$25 sliding scale. 788-6415; infernotheatrecompany@gmail.com; inferotheatre.org 

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—Also opening Friday is Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons,' directed by Susan evans, at the Douglas Morrison Theatre, by the Japanese Gardens in De Anza Park, Hayward. Friday through Saturday at 8 (Saturday matinee December 1 at 2) and Sundays at 2 through December 9. $10-$28 (discounts for seniors, students, Theatre Bay Area & KQED members & groups). 22311 N. Third, Hayward. 881-6777; dmtonline.org 

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—In opera, Mozart and Da Ponte's great and wise comedy, 'Cosi fan tutte,' will be staged one night only, Friday the First, 7:30 at the Berkeley Piano Club, directed by Eliza O'Malley, conducted by Jonathan Khuner (of Berkeley West Edge Opera), with music by David Cheng's String Quartet, Richard Stevens on piano and Peter Josheff, clainet. Cast: Sarita Cannon, Eric Coyne, Paul Murray, Eliza O.Malley, Nikola Prinz, Jonathan Smucker. Chorus: Emma Boss, Barbara Hauser, David Oorbeck. 3724 Haste (between College and Piedmont). $20/$25 at door, $15/$25 advance (it's a cozy venue!). 517-1820; brownpapertickets.com/event/27184 

(The Dazzling Divas—O'Malley, Pamela Connelly and Kathleen Moss—who are producing 'Cosi,' will perform next Wednesday at Le Bateau Ivre, with Jonathan Khuner on piano. 7-9 p. m. 2629 Telegraph. 849-1100) 

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—And an unusual operatic pastiche coming up, three performances only: Festival Opera, the bay Area's third largest company, will perform both at their Walnut Creek home and for the first time in Oakland, staging 'About Face,' concerning opera and affliction, inspired by soprano Heidi Moss' experience with Bell's Palsy in 2007—the first act featuring such opera icons as Rigoletto and Violetta of 'La Traviata,' plus Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man (with original music from a forthcoming chamber opera about Merrick by Kurt Erickson, the second act a performance of Henry Mollicone's 'The Face on the Barroom Floor,' honkytonk piano and conducting by the composer, with Heidi Moss, Eugene Brancoveanu (baritone) and Jorge Garza (tenor). December 5, 4 & 8 p. m at the Lesher Center, 1601 Civic Center Drive, Walnut Creek, $25-$45 (925) 943-SHOW, Brown Paper Tickets or the Lesher Center Box Office. December 7 at 7, Oakland Technical High School Performing Arts Center, 4341 Broadway (at 42nd), Oakland, $25, Brown Paper Tickets, (800) 838-3006 or at performance. All shows will be followed by Q & A and a chance to meet the artists. 

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