The recent batched ‘execution’ of Clayton Lockett shines a much needed spotlight on capital punishment and mass incarceration. Far too many people are languishing in prisons for relatively minor offenses. Our archaic criminal ‘justice’ system is in urgent need of major reforms. According to the Bureau of Prisons the federal prison population has grown a staggering 800 percent since 1980. 90% of prisoners have committed non-violent, minor offenses. The April 2011 report from the Pew Center reports the recidism rate ranges between 40% to 60% for these ‘Correctional Facilities’.  

The mandatory sentencing was a reaction by a Congress who wanted to prove that they were tough on crime. The new Academy of Sciences concluded that at least 4% of death row inmates are innocent; the actual number may be substantially higher as the Innocent Project is chronically short of funds. A disproportionate number of inmates are black and people of color, which reeks of racial bias. The prison costs for states has mushroomed to over $50 billion a year compared to $9 billion in 1985.  

Driven by tighter budgets, many states have eliminated prison time for nonviolent offenders. This is a welcome decision. Solitary confinement is an excessively cruel and costly form of punishment. Depriving prisoners of sensory stimulation only intensifies their rage and sense of helplessness.  

Finally, the ‘eye for an eye’ death penalty should be abolished. It sinks us to the same level as the perpetrator of the crime and has been proved to be totally ineffective as a deterrent.

I am writing today because I am deeply disturbed at what I can only interpret as a way of suppressing my vote. I am an elder, 80 years of age, have voted in every election since I was eligible to vote.  

This year I just noticed that my polling place is more than 1 mile from my residence, 2341 Parker St. near Dana. I must vote at the ed roberts campus at the Ashby Bart station. I do not consider this an easy, accessible place for my body to get to and the fees to mail back the 3 cardboard pieces of the ballot are near $1.00. This is an outrageous change. All the years I have lived at this address I was able to easily walk to the polling place and did so to either vote in person or to drop off my ballot. 

I can only consider this an attempt to suppress votes. Many seniors will not get to the polling place who live in this neighborhood and a goodly portion will probably not return the mail ballots because of the cost. Many of us live on very low incomes.  

So right here in our very own state of California voter suppression is taking place. I am alerting you because I want you to look into this now and stop it while we can. When I called the County Registrar's office I was told that there are new regulations, the places need to be more accessible, they have trouble getting people to staff the polls and on and on. At no time did I hear a concern for the rights of all voters to have easy access to the polls. I suggested to the person I spoke with that it is the job of that office to make sure that all voters are considered and if they were having problems in meeting that goal, that they might publicize it to all of us and include us in planning for a better solution. 

I am planning to write to all the local and state papers to alert them to this problem. If it is going on in Berkeley, I can only assume it is happening throughout the state.

A group of organizers has decided to create a minimum wage initiative that will provide a livable wage for workers in Berkeley who are currently working for poverty wages. The group, called the Berkeley Citizens for a Fair Minimum Wage, delivered this morning a notice to the Berkeley City Clerk. This action will begin our petition campaign for a ballot initiative establishing a new Berkeley Minimum Wage at $15 an hour along with an annual cost of living adjustment and paid sick leave.

We are responding to the Berkeley City Council's approval of a very diluted minimum wage ordinance that essentially ignores the plight of poor workers.

It is very surprising to many that the majority on the Berkeley City Council lack empathy for poor workers and their families. But this is the reality. It is true that the City Council has often been progressive on foreign policy issues, but this generally has no impact on Berkeley residents and workers. It has also often been progressive on many social issues, which certainly does matter. However, although its foreign policy stance and its support on social issues is commendable, it has also created an illusion about the Council.

On bread and butter issues, the Council is conservative. It appreciably favors business, including big business, over the welfare of working people. To take just one example, it opposed higher minimum wages for larger and highly profitable businesses.  

That contrasts with the view of the very conservative San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Chip Johnson, who thinks that the minimum wage should be $15 an hour for larger businesses even if they provide health care. About the so called plight of small businesses, the unfavorable economic climate for low wage working people and their vulnerability certainly suggests that they are not paid anywhere near the maximum that employers could afford. 

The City Council will be discussing the minimum wage issue again this coming Tuesday, May 20, 7pm in the old city hall (on MLK between Allston and Center). We will give it another try, particularly since Linda Maio has mentioned that she wants to support a better ordinance. Please do everything you can, including encouraging others to come to the meeting. The issue is early on the agenda, and so you won't have to suffer a long wait.

When the mind decides to push selfishly for something which benefits us but harms other people our own heart's cries are ignored. Such insensitive talk and action are especially prominent now that elections are around the corner. Politicians with well-funded access to media speak in a way which raises anxiety levels to the maximum. They create a sense of panic so that people will believe them to be true helpers. 

People will believe that a change in political parties will magically create new jobs and power up the bad economy. They are not calm enough to examine specific policies and their relationship to a worldwide global recession. The media-savvy politicians make promises without substance and the agitated viewers swallow the promises.

Thousands of fast-food workers in the United States and around the world are staging a one-day strike today to demand a livable wage. A recent report found fast-food CEOs make 1,200 times as much money as the average fast-food worker, a disparity that maximizes short-term profit while harming worker security and the overall economy. 

"I make $9.40 an hour, so it’s like 35, 40 hours a week. It’s, after taxes, maybe $400 every two weeks. And that’s working double sometimes, going in in the morning and working at night, just not bringing in enough. And we know that these companies make billions in profit. They can afford to pay us better and do better by us and give us a voice on the job. That’s what we’re demanding." 

American democracy isn’t exactly a shining example to the world, as you can see. It's the land of not too much, where some people have way too much and others have way too little. Some people who are trying to wake the world up to the plight of the poor! But the money, materialism and freedom don’t necessarily make it a better way of life. It may be more pleasant and more comfortable, but that’s not always the best place.

Reading Senator Elizabeth Warren’s new book, A Fighting Chance, I thought about the parallels between her career and that of Barack Obama. Both are brilliant lawyers with inspiring personal stories. Both entered national politics running for the senate and gave well-received speeches at the Democratic National convention. But Obama represents a continuation of Clinton-era “third way” policies. Warren offers a strident new populism. 

To be fair, Obama first ran for President on a promise to end the Iraq war. He didn’t paint himself as a populist and many Democrats recognized that he was not a liberal. And when he started his initial presidential campaign, few recognized that his biggest challenge would be the Great Recession. In 2008, at a San Francisco fundraiser, I asked candidate Obama how we could distinguish his economic policies from those of Hillary Clinton. He quipped, “We talk to the same people.” 

Obama and Elizabeth Warren have both lived through hard times, but Warren made the plight of the middle class the focus of her career. In 1981, Warren began teaching bankruptcy law at the University of Texas School of Law. She studied why millions of Americans annually file for bankruptcy and wrote a landmark study, “As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America,” with Teresa Sullivan and Jay Westbrook. 

Elizabeth Warren had an epiphany. She realized the US is turning into a plutocracy where the wealthy and powerful benefit at the expense of working Americans: 

Big corporations hire armies of lobbyists to get billion-dollar loopholes into the tax system and persuade their friends in Congress to support laws that keep the playing field tilted in the their favor. Meanwhile, hardworking families are told that they’ll just have to live with smaller dreams for their children.

University of California Economics Professor Robert Reich recently identified six principles of the new populism: 

1. Cut the biggest Wall Street banks down to a size where they’re no longer too big to fail. Elizabeth Warrens’ book makes it clear that she’s no fan of big banks. She’s particularly critical of the 2008 bank bailout (TARP): “The major banks didn’t need to be so big and interconnected… And the government made a huge mistake in how they handled the bailout.” 

2. Resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act, the law separating investment from commercial banking thereby preventing companies from gambling with their depositors’ money. Senator Warren has introduced legislation to bring back critical elements of Glass-Steagall. 

3. End corporate welfare including subsidies to big oil, agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, and Wall Street. Warren seeks changes that force corporations to play by the same rules as the working class. 

4. Stop the National Security Agency from spying on Americans. Senator Warren said, “Congress must go further to protect the right to privacy, to end the NSA's dragnet surveillance of ordinary Americans, to make the intelligence community more transparent and accountable." 

5. Scale back American interventions overseas. Elizabeth Warren wants to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. In a recent speech Warren observed, “The failure to make civilian casualties a full and robust part of our national conversation over the use of force is dangerous – dangerous because of the impression that it gives the world about our country and dangerous because of how it affects the decisions that we make as a country.” 

6. Oppose trade agreements crafted by big corporations. Senator Warren has led the fight against the Trans Pacific Partnership, particularly the Administrations refusal to reveal the text of the agreement. 

It’s clear that Elizabeth Warren is much more of a populist than is Barack Obama (or Hillary Clinton). That’s because she’s retained her independence. 

In “A Fighting Chance,” Elizabeth Warren recounts a spring 2009 conversation with Larry Summers then President Obama’s most senior economic adviser: 

[Summers said] I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas… But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders.

Because Elizabeth Warren continues to be an outsider, continues to represent the best interests of the middle class, she’s a populist. Warren may not run for President in 2016—she’s said that she does not intend to do so — but she should become the spiritual leader of the Democratic Party. 

Two of every 100 Americans have artificial hips or knees. 4.7 million Americans have artificial knees. They may have had arthroplasty. I’m one of them.  

Wikipedia describes total knee arthroplasty (TKA) as a common and safe procedure typically performed for relief of symptoms in patients with severe knee arthritis.  

Increase in the number of Medicare participants, expansion in the types of patients considered likely to benefit from TKA, aging population, and prevalence of conditions that predispose patients to osteoarthritis, notably obesity, have contributed to the TKA volume increase. There has also been a decrease in length of TKA hospital stay, simultaneous with increases in readmission rates and infectious complications.  

Joint replacements cost more than median annual income in 18 states, reports Napala Pratini (Huffington Post, April 23, 2014). The 18 states include California and Florida, but not Hawaii. 

Fear of falling (FOF) appears to increase with age and to be higher in women. Other elderly FOF risk factors include dizziness, self-rated health status, depression, and problems with gait and balance. Nursing home falls are a preventable cause of death and serious injury.  

TV advertising touting a “free knee brace” calls to mind Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)’s declaration: I don't profess to be profound; but I do lay claim to common sense. It’s 

nothing more than a bit of elastic with shipping and handling costs stipulated. Many products intended mainly for senior citizen consumption are advertised on TV and mentioned on doctors’ shows. Fear of falling and fear of falling again often enable these cruel frauds. 

FOF has been identified as one of the key symptoms of the post-fall syndrome. It has gained recognition as a specific health problem among older adults, even found among elderly persons who have not experienced a fall. Fall once, and you are cursed with the fear of falling again. Time seems to crawl as one goes down and lands with a painful thud. Outdoors is worst. These are things you don’t want to be reminded of, but do read "Fear of Falling," by Harley A. Rotbart (New York Times, March 5, 2013, Blog) and "That Falling Feeling," by Jane Gross (New York Times, April 2, 2013).  

Arthroscopy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint. It can be performed to evaluate or treat many orthopedic conditions including torn cartilage (the meniscus.) The advantage over traditional open surgery is that the joint does not have to be fully opened up. For knee arthroscopy two small incisions are made, one for the arthroscope itself and one for surgical instruments used in the knee cavity. It reduces recovery time and may increase the rate of success due to less tissue trauma. 

New research may provide effective nonsurgical treatment for knee osteoarthritis. Dextrose and morrhuate sodium injections (prolotherapy) for knee osteoarthritis are the subject of trials. Prolotherapy involves injecting an otherwise non-pharmacological and non-active irritant solution into the body, generally in the region of tendons or ligaments for the purpose of strengthening weakened connective tissue and alleviating musculoskeletal pain. It is also known as "proliferation therapy," "regenerative injection therapy," or "proliferative injection therapy". [“Methotrexate Decreases Pain, Improves Function in Knee OA," by Janis C. Kelly (Medscape Medical News, April 1, 2014).] 

Cataract surgery decreases the risk of falls in older patients, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Vitamin D may not lower seniors’ fall risk. Blood pressure medications may raise elderly fall risk.  

Nice things do happen. While attempting to put air into one of my tires, I realized that it was beyond me…age, arthritis, fake knee blah blah… I was about to give up. A truck pulled into the space next to my car at the filling station’s watering/air hole. The driver offered to put air in the tire, and he offered to check the other three tires! The sign on his truck read Berkeley Painters. The bee’s knees phrase was first recorded in the late 18th Century, when it was used to mean something very small and insignificant. Its current meaning dates from the 1920s, when American slang expressions were coined with the meaning 'an outstanding person or thing'.  

xxxx 

NEWS 

California seniors soften languish on affordable housing wait-lists, writes Karina Cortez (New America Media, May 3, 2014). Alas, that’s not news for many seniors, but read it, nevertheless. 

"Statewide study: Marin faces 'particularly troubled' pension situation," by Nels Johnson (Marin Independent Journal [Marin County, California], May 8, 2014). 

The best states to retire in are a little surprising, writes Melanie Hicken (CNNMoney, May 5, 2014). Colorado, Utah, North Dakota and Wyoming are the top five. Bankrate's rankings equally weighted weather, cost of living, crime, quality of health care, state and local taxes and general well-being. South Dakota topped Bankrate's list for its low taxes, lack of crime and easy access to quality healthcare making it the best state for retirees. 

UK NEWS: "Courts braced for surge in cases of elderly locked up against their will," by John Bingham. "Pope Francis's envoy warns of 'horrible consequences' of Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill," by John Bingham and Nick Squires. (Daily Telegraph [London], May 8, 2014).  

In terms of the amount of insight a human being has, there may be peaks and valleys. When someone lacks insight, they will probably be ignorant of that fact. When insight returns or to begin with appears, its owner could marvel at past foolishness and may be frustrated about it. 

The level of insight is a general characteristic which isn’t always specific to one's psychiatric condition, or even to having a psychiatric condition. If someone lacks insight about their condition, it is likely that they will also lack insight in other areas. 

(People, with or without a psychiatric illness who drink a lot of alcohol will tend to lack insight: and this is due to alcohol being a depressant.) 

Whether or not medication has been added to the equation, a mentally ill person's insight is an issue. Insight varies according to who and when. Ideally, insight about the illness (or about anything in life) becomes developed through learning from someone else's mistakes. More likely, a person learns from their own mistakes because pain is involved. 

Mental illness as well as the medications used to treat it may affect mental capacity. While medication does change the mind, it does not necessarily produce an unaware person. Untreated mental illness is far worse. 

It helps if someone can accurately evaluate their own consciousness. This awareness might only come after a long period of being stabilized. Learning from mistakes is another category of insight which involves reflecting on memories of the recent or distant past. 

In my past, I had an unfortunate ability to ignore facts that were directly in front of me. 

Mental illness can interfere with learning. The more stabilized someone is, the more intact their learning mechanisms will be. When I reached the ten year point that followed my most recent and hopefully last episode of psychosis, my mind really began to wake up. 

I am fortunate in the fact that I am usually playing with a full deck. However, if I am off medication for any significant period, my brain will give me a severe relapse of psychosis. Maybe one of the reasons why I am treatment compliant is due to the monumental amount of suffering I have experienced in my psychotic episodes. 

Going off medication suddenly after being heavily medicated for years will have an effect that resembles being wiped away by a tsunami. 

In successive episodes, the recovery time after each one increases. Like with many diseases, if not treated aggressively enough, schizophrenia can create a great deal of organ damage. However, in the case of mental illness, the organ we are dealing with is the brain. From a few weeks of going without medication, the ensuing recovery time can be measured in years. 

Taking medication doesn't flip a switch and make you normal. It helps treat the worst of one's symptoms but it doesn't by any means fix the whole problem. I have not always been aware of this. 

It is not always possible to distinguish between behavior from the illness or from the person who has the illness. A psychiatric condition sometimes comprises a component of character that is not easily separable from the rest of the person.

Sometimes a mediocre play jumps to life when you assemble an extraordinary cast with a primo director. 

Christopher Chen’s “MUTT” at Impact Theatre means to be sardonic and poignant. Some of the scenes are funny and quirky and insightful, but it is overwritten without much change of mood. 

The idea is that the Repubs need a multi-racial candidate to win back the votes. They introduce a new term to this Caucasian audience member: “hapa,” i.e., a person of mixed race, seemingly with a necessary Asian component. They vett a half-Chinese, half Caucasian Congressman played by Matt Lai—an actor who has the extraordinary ability of naturalness, whose every move and line seems as if it just occurred to him, which is my functional definition of extraordinary acting, the kind you see in the cinema. Lai’s Congressman character doesn’t pass the Conservatives’ test because he wants to be himself and not-so-moldable, so they find a former soldier-hero in the stolid-acting Michael Uv Kelley, whose character is an even more mixed race and whatever-they-want him-to-be malleable.  

Lai also does a turn as a Chris Matthews character in a blond wig which shows his range, and comic bent. 

The cast is rounded with some dauntingly good character actors playing multiple parts: Patricia Austin is a chameleon who goes from matronly to absolute hottie with the change of a wig; Marilet Martinez has comic timing which is worth the price of admission; Lawrence Radecker can go from dignified politico to ridiculous lecher on a dime, the result of which is comically explosive; and Michelle Tagarow’s character as a maker-of-presidents who dominates the proceedings as architect-in-charge. 

Director Evren Odcikin brought out the comedy and the poignancy with a difficult episodic play in this band-box space. His design was emblematically impressive, with a banner of stars and stripes painted across the walls and transparent ultra-modern spare table and chairs. 

Many of the scenes are laugh-worthy, and do make a point about race and politics, but, for this critic, the subplot of a serial killer and the denouement undid the work that went before by sending it into Absurd Land which undercuts the message. It’s about 90 minutes worth of play extended to two hours. 

It’s worth the small price of admission, it’s the most fun theatre around, and not all audience members have gray hair—which is refreshing for us that do. 

MUTT by Christopher Chen 

Directed by Evren Odcikin 

Co-production of Impact Theatre and Ferocious Lotus 

Plays through June 8 

http://www.impacttheatre.com 

On May 5, at the California Ballroom in Oakland CA, the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle held its 38th annual Awards Gala. 

Over 60 theatre artists--actors, directors, designers, choregraphers, specialists--received awards for outstanding work in 2013. Awards are given by size of house: under 100, 100 to 300, and over 300 seats. 

Three hundred artists packed the Ballroom to dine and Extreme pizza and wings, drink Trumer Pils and Pat Paulsen Wine, and have a helluva good time, unlike most stuffy and boring award ceremonies.  

Marty Nemko of KGO Radio's "Work Marty Nemko" displayed his piano talent show tunes during dinner then acCo.ing chanteuse Leanne Borghesi. 

There was a half hour intermission to greet old friends and dance to the Tal Ariel Rockin' Band. 

A link to the photos from the Critics Circle Awards Gala taken by David Allen Studios (www.studiodap.com) can be viewed at http://davidallen.zenfolio.com/p31246072 

LIST OF WINNERS AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE 

Elly Lichenstein, artistic director of Cinnabar Theatre, received the Jerry Friedman Lifetime Achievement award which was presented by Linda Ayres-Frederick, vice president of the SFBATCC. 

Actors and former Critics Circle Award winners Johnny Moreno and Margo Hall awarded the Gene Price Award for passion and professionalism to Artistic Director Bill English and Managing Director Susi Damilano of SF Playhouse. 

Moreno and Hall entertained the 300 attendees their dead-pan introduction of "Batman and Robin, Bonnie and Clyde," and a list of other legendary duos like the husband and wife team of English and Damilano. 

The award by presented by Gala Coordinator John McMullen to Artistic Director L. Peter Carpenter and Executive Director Sherri Young; this was the presentation text: 

"The Paine Knickerbocker Award is presented to an organization that has made a continuing contribution to Bay Area theatre, and was bestowed on African-American Shakespeare Co..  

The Rhythm of the meter that pounds to the beat of our pulse. 

Colorful imagery that makes us see visions and dream dreams. 

A captivating turn of phrase that will stand generations of repetition out ever boring. 

Language that beguiles us so, that we adopt in it our everyday speech. 

I am speaking, of course, of the words and works of William Shakespeare, 

That description also fits the African-American Gift to the culture of this nation. 

It is a natural combination. 

Under the artistic direction of one of the Bay Area’s leading actors and directors, and under the management of a savvy and inventive Executive Director who also directs plays, the African-American Shakespeare Co. has beguiled and captivated audiences for twenty years. 

It is we in the Critics Circle and the Bay Area Audiences who have attended their productions who are honored to have the African-American Shakes as a part of our unique theatre culture. 

It is long overdue that we honor them for their singular and remarkable gift to us. 

So, to the Artistic Director. L. Peter Callender, to Executive Director Sherri Young, and to all the members of the Co. that brings those 400 year old words to life…We gratefully bestow the The Paine Knickerbocker Award for their continuing contribution to Bay Area theatre."  

Presenting the awards were Leanne Borghesi, Johnny Moreno, Margo Hall, Elly Lichenstein, L. Peter Callender, Sherri Young, Bill English, Susi Damilano, San Jose Rep's Rick Lombardo and Kirsten Brandt, actor Danny Scheie and John Fisher of Theatre Rhinoceros, Custom Made Theatre Co.'s Brian Katz, and Circle VP and Phoenix Theatre producer Linda Ayres. 

LIST OF AWARDEES: East Bay Theatres in BOLD 

Choreography in a house under 100 seats Anjee Norgaard Closer Than Ever Masquers Playhouse 

Choreography in a house 100 to 300 seats Lauren Rosi Into the Woods Ray of Light 

Choreography in a house over 300 seats Michella Snider Young Frankenstein Spreckels Theatre Co. 

Costume Design in a house in a house over 300 seats seats Mara Blumenfeld 1776 ACT 

Costume Design in a house 100 to 300 seats Sheri lee Miller La Cage Aux Folles Cinnabar Theater 

Costume Design in a house under 100 seats Laura Hazlett In Friendship Word for Word 

Ensemble in a house under 100 seats Red Red 6th Street Playhouse 

Ensemble in a house 100 to 300 seats The Whipping Man The Whipping Man Marin Theatre Co. 

Ensemble in a house over 300 seats Young Frankenstein Young Frankenstein Spreckels Theatre Co. 

Entire Production in a house under 100 seats In Friendship In Friendship Word for Word 

Entire Production in a house 100 to 300 seats The Whipping Man The Whipping Man Marin Theatre Co. 

Entire Production in a house over 300 seats Young Frankenstein Young Frankenstein Spreckels Theatre Co. 

Featured Actor in a Musical in a house over 300 seats Brian Herndon Being Earnest TheatreWorks 

Featured Actor in a Musical in a house under 100 seats Jordon Bridges Next to Normal Custom Made Theatre Co. 

Featured Actor in a Musical in a house 100 to 300 seats Wilson Jermaine Heredia Camelot SF Playhouse 

Featured Actor in a Drama or Comedy in a house under 100 seats Alexander Lenarsky As You Like It Impact Theatre 

Featured Actor in a Drama or Comedy in a house 100 to 300 seats Ron Gnapp The Beauty Queen of Leenane Marin Theatre Co. 

Featured Actor in a Drama or Comedy in a house over 300 seats Tom Bloom Dead Metaphor ACT 

Featured Actress in a Drama or Comedy in a house over 300 seats Caroline Kaplan Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Berkeley Rep 

Featured Actress in a Drama or Comedy in a house under 100 seats Luisa Frasconi As You Like It Impact Theatre 

Featured Actress in a Drama or Comedy in a house 100 to 300 seats Mary Ann Rodgers Pack of Lies Ross Valley Players 

Featured Actress in a Musical in a house under 100 seats Jennifer Stark Closer Than Ever Masquers Playhouse 

Featured Actress in a Musical in a house over 300 seats Mary Gannon Graham Young Frankenstein Spreckels Theatre Co. 

Featured Actress in a Musical in a house 100 to 300 seats Valentina Osinski La Cage Aux Folles Cinnabar Theater 

Lighting Design in a house under 100 seats Heather Basarab The Chairs Cutting Ball Theater 

Lighting Design in a house over 300 seats Lap Chi Chu Romeo and Juliet California Shakespeare Co. 

Lighting Design in a house under 100 seats Maxx Kurzunski Next to Normal Custom Made Theatre Co. 

Lighting Design in a house 100 to 300 seats Stephanie Buchner The Arsonists Aurora Theatre 

Music Direction in a house 100 to 300 seats David Moschler Into the Woods Ray of Light 

Music Direction in a house under 100 seats Pat King Closer Than Ever Masquers Playhouse 

Music Direction in a house over 300 seats Sandy and Richard Riccardi Young Frankenstein Spreckels Theatre Co. 

Original Musical in a house over 300 seats music by Byron Au Yong, libretto by Aaron Jafferis Stuck Elevator ACT 

Original Musical in a house 100 to 300 seats Tom Orr Dirty Little Showtunes New Conservatory Theatre Center 

Original Script in a house 100 to 300 seats John Fisher To Sleep and Dream Theatre Rhinoceros 

Original Script in a house under 100 seats Morgan Ludlow Gorgeous Hussy: An Interview Joan Crawford Wily West Productions 

Principal Actor in a Musical in a house over 300 seats Julius Ahn Stuck Elevator ACT 

Principal Actor in a Musical in a house under 100 seats Rob Broadhurst The Rocky Horror Show 6th Street Playhouse 

Principal Actor in a Musical in a house 100 to 300 seats Tom Orr Dirty Little Showtunes New Conservatory Theatre Center 

Principal Actress in a Musical in a house over 300 seats Denise Elia-Yen Young Frankenstein Spreckels Theatre Co. 

Principal Actress in a Musical in a house under 100 seats Julianne Lorenzen The Rocky Horror Show 6th Street Playhouse 

Principal Actress in a Musical in a house 100 to 300 seats Monique Hafen Camelot SF Playhouse 

Principal Actor in a Drama or Comedy in a house over 300 seats Danny Scheie Next Fall San Jose Rep 

Principal Actor in a Drama or Comedy in a house 100 to 300 seats Gabriel Marin The Mother F**ker the Hat SF Playhouse 

Principal Actor in a Drama or Comedy in a house under 100 seats Miyaka Cochrane As You Like It Impact Theatre 

Principal Actress in a Drama or Comedy in a house under 100 seats Maria Giere Marquis As You Like It Impact Theatre 

Principal Actress in a Drama or Comedy in a house over 300 seats Sharon Lockwood Vanya and Soina and Masha and Spike Berkeley Rep 

Principal Actress in a Drama or Comedy in a house under 100 seats Susan Zelinsky Steel Magnolias Novato Theater  

Principal Actress in a Drama or Comedy in a house 100 to 300 seats Susi Damilano Abigail's Party SF Playhouse 

Set Design in a house 100 to 300 seats Bill English Storefront Church SF Playhouse 

Set Design in a house under 100 seats Harry Reid Steel Magnolias Novato Theater Co. 

Set Design in a house over 300 seats Yoon Bae Disconnect San Jose Rep 

Solo Performance in a house over 300 seats David Strathairn Underneath the Lintel ACT 

Sound Design in a house over 300 seats Erik Carstensen The Pianist of Willesden Lane Berkeley Rep 

Sound Design in a house under 100 seats Liz Ryder Eurydice Custom Made Theatre Co. 

Sound Design in a house 100 to 300 seats Matt Stines The Arsonists Aurora Theatre 

Sound Design in a house over 300 seats Rick Lombardo The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus San Jose Rep Theatre 

Specialty: Fight Choreography in a house 100 to 300 seats Miguel Martinez Camelot SF Playhouse 

Specialty: Movement in a house under 100 seats Daunielle Rasmussen, Movement Eurydice Custom Made Theatre  

Specialty: Projection Design in a house over 300 seats Erik Scanlon Projections Carrie, the Musical Ray of Light 

Specialty: Projection Design in a house 100 to 300 seats Micah J. Stieglitz Camelot SF Playhouse 

Stage Direction in a house under 100 seats Norman A. Hall Steel Magnolias Novato Theater Co. 

Stage Direction in a house over 300 seats Richard E. T. White Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Berkeley Rep 

Stage Direction in a house 100 to 300 seats Sheri Lee Miller La Cage au Folles Cinnabar Theater 

Touring Show in a house over 300 seats Anything Goes Anything Goes SHN

—Golden Thread staged 'The Fifth String,' another of their Islam 101 miniature extravaganzas at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, in the venerable century-old Masonic Building in Moorish revival style, kitty-corner to the Oakland Main Library, and now headed to a run this weekend at Brava! Theater in San Francisco's Mission District ... 

Written and directed by Golden Thread's founder, Torange Yeghiazarian, 'The Fifth String'—about the historical and legendary figure, a Persian or Kurdish instrumentalist, singer and composer at the court of the caliph in 9th century Baghdad, who came to Cordoba in Andalusia when most of Spain was ruled by Berber and Arab muslims, bringing Eastern culture with him—as well as his own musical, culinary and fashion innovations, some of which remain with us. 

Golden Thread raved it up as something like a cross between a festival and something operatic. The cast constantly switches roles; it's a storytelling play, and sometimes Ziryab himself changes hands ... The cast is from all over: Munif Alsafi, Camila Ascencio Betancourt, Jamie Coventry, Deborah Eliezar, Majd Murad, Naima Shalhoub—each with their own special performing talents ... acting, juggling, tumbling, just plain cutting up, playing various instruments from East and West (including Persian Tar, Oud—Ziryab's instrument, to which he reputedly added the fifth set of strings—fabulous percussion, harmonica, guitar—and raising voices in song, from Arabic singing to a blues to rap (as models walk the ramp in Ziryab's latest 9th century designs). 

Operatic, too, in the sense of importance given to—and achieved by—music (by Faraz Minooei) and wonderful design (by Mokhtar Paki, some of it on goldenthread.org ), modular arabesques with colored patterns that—shifted around into different configurations—uncannily matched the architecture of the Cultural Center's grand hall ... 

The fun of a show, meant for the whole family, that combines a fast-paced yet absorbing, informative story out of a not-so-familiar past, is infectious throughout—another success for Golden Thread's mission to give voice to the history and present circumstances of the Middle East—so close to us in so many ways, but still tantalizingly unfamiliar to most. 

Friday, May 16 and Saturday , May 17 at 8, Sunday, May 18 at 3, Brava Theater Center, 2781-24th Street at York, San Francisco. $$15-$22. goldenthread.org 

—Giulio Perrone's Inferno Theatre—resident in Berkeley the past few years—brought off a performing arts windfall with modest means this past weekend in the venerale South Berkeley Community Church, where they regularly perform. 

But their Contemporary Peformance Diasporas Festival featured a dozen other companies, solo acts, films besides Inferno—a true festival, and a very fine one, always—as any real festival should be—spontaneous and genial, but carefully put together, the acts complementing each other effortlessly. 

And the acts mapped out a wide terrain of performance, from Dell'Árte Company—which Perrone once directed—with Joan Schirle, Laura Munoz and Ruxandra Cantir (from the US, Spain and Moldavia) brilliantly performing selections from a new piece, 'Elizabeth's Book,' adapted from a historical event, when a woman in a concentration camp made a book of pictures of ordinary life before the camps, to cheer her book-loving friends and fellow internees ... and what happens after liberation ... to Christine Geramin (of Canada) and Slater Penney (who teaches at Berkeley Rep) performing a deux Germain's splendid choreography of a dance piece that tells a story of many couples, 'Le Projet Migration,' done with humor and acrobatic grace ... to the Five Deadly Improvisers, a San Francisco troupe of Kung fu-clad performers, making up onstage, while performing, a whole Hong Kong film scenario from an audience suggestion ("The Buddhist Squirrel") ... 

Many festivals, much more grandly funded and publicized, accomplish much less than this seemingly modest endeavor, which found its audience locally, coming out to acclaim and just enjoy its variety—and its point, of artists from all over the world, working together in the Bay Area. 

(Jerome Solberg of Actors Ensemble of Berkeley valiantly ran the boards, made announcements, even stood in for a role in Inferno's managing director Jamie Greenblatt's affecting little piece, about an Askenazi woman, daignosed with cancer, and a sewing machine ... ) 

Theatre of Yugen's artistic director Jubilith Moore performed with musician Polly Moller an improvisation, in brilliant costume from the Noh stage, from the story to ancient play, 'Semimaru'—exceptional voice, gestures, movement and flute, as a disturbed princess, wandering the hills near Kyoto, hears a flute and finds her blind brother—turned out of the Imperial court to die—playing it in a hut. 

Inferno staged a longer version of 'Oblivion,' put on before at the International School in San Francisco, a "take-off" of 'Antigone' in modern times, wry, sometimes bitter, to the heart of contemporary existence. 

Just a few of the 13 acts over three evenings, but giving a sense of the range of the inaugural sessions of an annual festival that will continue to grace Berkeley and the Bay Area.