AlterTheater Ensemble

I had a great time tonight at Lauren Yee’s A Man, His Wife and His Hat, a Jewish play about a man who loses his hat, his wife and his best friend and gains a golem (as like Frankensteins Monster) and gets his wife and hat back only to lose them. There’s also their daughter who floated away as a baby, her fiancé who is also in danger of floating away, and an all-​knowing, all-​blabbing wall.
As one of the actors said to me, it’s kind of like The Honeymooners meets Waiting for Godot. It’s way crazy fun. They’re extending it. Check it out at this bare-​bones storefront theatre. Performance is at 1414 Fourth Street.

AlterTheatre keeps the edginess intact with North Bay theatrical events. They are based in downtown San Rafael and will perform at a different local venue for each production they produce. Most recently this was 888 Fourth Street on the eastern side of downtown San Rafael. Prior to that, they could more often be found in a venue on the west side of town.
AlterTheatre is an ensemble place, which means that strong attention is placed on casting, design and script choices. This past year, they expanded their season to three plays, and intend to continue with three for the foreseeable future. I appreciate how they often mix bold new plays in with something more known. With this past season, that meant re-​introducing INTIMATE APPAREL by Lynn Nottage, world premiering a new workshop piece by Bob Ernst, and local premiering TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO by Nilo Cruz.

Dedication, passion and provocative.
No, this isn’t a personal ad. This is AlterTheater Ensemble. Performances here are thought-​provoking, well performered at various locations for a great and reasonable price.
Concessions are all by done by donation (but much deserved for all their effort!)
Being a theatre goer AND doer… I know that it’s hard to get funding even if you do all of the above – so I highly HIGHLY recommend checking out their website and dropping in for a show. You won’t regret it.

Intimate Apparel did rule (although another Lynn Nottage piece, «Fabulation», up now at Fort Mason, sure doesn’t…We’ll see about «Ruined» — up next for me at Berk Rep.) The current show from Alter, Bob Ernst’s, is a lot harder to recommend. He’s still an amazing peformer/​writer/​force of nature. The piece, though, while intriguing, is pretty darn mysterious and kinda long. But, the homemade cookies and complimentary (donation requested) wine make it all good, right? I like the vitrine setting. It works well for Bob’s current show, I thought. And try to allow time to eat before or after at Sol Food, nearby.