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Stories by Jeff Smith

Dropping the August Title of Eternal Woman at the Old Globe

The views in the Old Globe’s world premiere musical, A Room with a View, are one of the show’s best features. Heidi Ettinger’s sets re-create Florence, Italy, and Surrey, England, with enlarged postcards from 1908. …

March 21, 2012
A Great Escape, Part Three

The Best Made Plans Toward the end of World War I, the Germans boasted that their prisoner-of-war camp on the western outskirts of Villingen was tight as a sealed tomb. A ten-foot-tall, barbed-wire fence surrounded …

March 21, 2012
A Great Escape, Part Two

Trial and Terror “Very few prisoners of war try to escape,” writes historian Dwight R. Messimer, “and very few of those who do, succeed.” When a German U-boat sunk his ship, Lieutenant Edouard Izac became …

March 14, 2012
A Great Escape, Part One

Capture “I rather expected to be wounded or killed or even drowned,” writes Navy lieutenant Edouard Izac. “It was only natural that…the [USS President] Lincoln would finally be torpedoed….But never once had the thought of …

March 7, 2012
An Intimate Stage

This is backward. When you attend a play you go from the parking lot to the box office to the show. At the La Jolla Playhouse, you go from the box office back to a …

February 29, 2012
Royal Raymond Rife: Into the Micro Beyond

On August 12, 1971, the San Diego Union printed an obituary: “Dr. Royal R. Rife, 83, an optics engineer who invented a high-power microscope, was buried yesterday at Mt. Hope Cemetery. Rife had worked on …

Hidden History: The Ballad of Juan José

Dreams don’t care about time or space. They freely remix the known and unimaginable. In Culture Clash’s American Night: The Ballad of Juan José, a kaleidoscopic dream guides the title character on an official tour …

February 15, 2012
The Old Globe’s Recommendation; A Behanding in Spokane at the Cygnet

Aaron Feldman’s so connected that when he sits by the pool and the beer runs out, he whines: “No one has texted me in, like, AN HOUR!” He lives in Brentwood, his father’s a big-time …

February 1, 2012
North Coast Rep stages James Goldman’s Lion in Winter

Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, their sons Richard I and King John: mighty names, each exuding historical import. Henry II dressed like a commoner and ruled, at one point, from Scotland to the Pyrenees. His …

January 18, 2012
Over, Under, Through

The Old Globe staged Tracy Lett’s August: Osage County and did a masterful job. Also at the Globe, Adrian Noble turned Shakespeare’s The Tempest into a musical with “wood notes wild.” The La Jolla Playhouse …

January 4, 2012
The Death Ship Returns to Baja and Salvation

The Death Ship Comes Alive When the crew of the San Diego heard they were finally going home, relief erupted. “They thought they might have a few more days to live,” writes Father Antonio Ascensión, …

Bitter Cold and Scurvy Dog Vizcaíno’s Ships

Toward the Freezing North As Sebastian Vizcaíno’s expedition prepared to leave San Diego Bay, a member of the crew struggled to board a launch. Stiff-legged, barely able to walk, he stumbled, struggled to stand up, …

Rewind the Clock to the Ghosts of Seasons Past

Jacob Marley’s isn’t the only Ghost of Christmas Past. Everyone probably has a few. They may not arrive in chains, shaking a bony finger at the void, and whispering “beware.” In fact, they may be …

December 14, 2011
Rock the Cynics

‘What’s buzz? Tell me what’s a-happening!” “When do we arrive in Jerusalem?” “Will no one stay awake with me?” “Did Mohammed move a mountain, or was that just PR?” “Did you mean to die like …

December 7, 2011
Wrestling Angels

When a close friend died from AIDS, Tony Kushner dreamed about an angel “crashing through someone’s bedroom ceiling.” It wasn’t an archangel — a Gabriel or a Michael — or a chubby Disney cherub plucking …

November 30, 2011
Exploring San Diego Bay

Fifty years after Columbus first set sail, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo discovered “a sheltered port and a very good one” on the California coast. Guarded by a steep promontory, dark green with vegetation, a channel doglegged …

X-Ray Eyes

During OnStage Playhouse’s intermissions, the houselights come up, but the actors remain in character onstage. As audience members talk among themselves or scan text messages, the characters play cards and do small tasks in whispers. …

November 16, 2011
Vizcaíno Meets Storms, Natives, and, Finally, San Diego

Lost and Found Onboard the flagship San Diego, Sebastían Vizcaíno hadn’t seen the Santo Tomás in 41 days. Before his expedition left Acapulco to chart the California coast in 1602, the old Santo Tomás had …

Senior Moments

Back in the ’60s, Robert Anderson wrote a one-act called I’m Herbert. Depending on how old you are, it could be a comedy or a tragedy. In the play, a man and a woman, senior …

November 2, 2011
A Search for Water on the Sea

Water Everywhere Sebastián Vizcaíno began charting the California coast on May 5, 1602. Three ships crossed the Gulf of California, from Mazatlán to Cabo de San José. After several tries, they finally cleared the cape …

Wordplay

Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793) deserves better than he usually gets. He wrote tragedies, tragicomedies, and comedies — first in Italian, later in French — and helped inject vitality into a flagging commedia dell’arte tradition. Though quite …

October 26, 2011
God Blessed and the Devil Cursed Vizcaino’s Crews

Of Miracles and Grave Misfortunes It had to be a miracle! As Sebastián Vizcaíno’s three ships neared the bay at Cabo de San José, a fog curtained the shoreline, and the ships separated beyond hailing …

Nudging Recollections

The title of Matthew Lopez’s comedy-drama sounds unfinished. Hear Somewhere, and you expect “a place for us” to follow. And why not keep going: “Peace and quiet and oooo-pen air [kick it up!] WAITS for …

October 5, 2011
Edward II at Diversionary; The Marvelous Wonderettes at Moonlight

In the movie Braveheart, Patrick McGoohan plays silver-bearded, steely-eyed Edward “Longshanks.” A mere aside of his could kill — or a fit of anger, as when he heaves his son’s male lover out a castle …

September 21, 2011
Across the Vermilion Sea

Three ships nodded with the tide in Acapulco Bay. The San Diego, Santo Tomás, and Tres Reyes were light draft vessels, able to anchor in shallow waters. Each had been careened — flopped on its …

Assault the Place of Peace

By rights, we should call San Diego “San Miguel,” after the archangel who evicted Lucifer and his minions from heaven. At his first landfall in Upper California — September 28, 1542 — Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo …

Sam Woodhouse Picks the All-Time Best of the Rep

The San Diego Repertory Theatre has entered its 36th season. It has produced 265 shows. I asked Sam Woodhouse, cofounder, to talk about the ones where the Rep or he, personally, made a leap forward …

September 7, 2011
Assault on a Galleon

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo never received full credit for exploring the Pacific Coast, complained historian Henry R. Wagner. In 1602, 60 years later, Sebastián Vizcaino sailed north, covered the same territory, and “arbitrarily changed” Cabrillo’s findings. …

Hairspray at Moonlight, Grace at Ion

In his youth, John Waters watched the Buddy Deane Show, Baltimore’s version of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, on WJZ-TV. For years, both programs had white teenagers only. Deane called his “the Committee.” They were “the …

August 24, 2011
Engaging Shaw at the Old Globe

“George Bernard Shaw” may have been his best fictional creation. The cantankerous genius loved to rant, like a spoiled brat, and turn conventions upside down. He renounced capitalism, organized religion, and social injustice, along with …

August 10, 2011
The Who's Tommy Unleashed at the Rep

You may remember him as Tonex (pronounced “To-nay”). The young mega-talent, who won a Craig Noel Award for Dreamgirls in 2008, changed his name. He’s now B. Slade. His skills have changed a bit, too. …

July 27, 2011
Rosa/Luisa: The California Whirlwind, Part Two

“Strange things are happening to this land,” said Luisa Moreno in 1949. “Yes, tragically the unmistakable signs are before us…who really love America. And it is we who must sound the alarm, for the workers …

The Tempest at Old Globe; Poster Boys at Diversionary

Since The Tempest opened in 1611, people have wondered where Shakespeare located its strange, enchanted isle. Prospero’s enemies are returning to Naples from a wedding at Tunis. A storm blasts them onto the rocks of …

An Unimportant Day

Ancient history tells of kings or wheat contracts, says the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. But what about daily life in Babylon or Greece? Or, more recently, Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire? Wilder chose …

June 30, 2011
The California Whirlwind, Part One

She thought she’d finally found a home. For two decades, Luisa Moreno abandoned her private life and championed the rights of workers. She zigzagged around the country, protesting, organizing, and negotiating for labor unions: garment …

My Name Is Asher Lev at North Coast Rep

"How can evil and ugliness make a gift of beauty?" When he was six, Asher Lev began noticing the contours and textures of the world. He became alert to shadings of color, to the degrees …

June 15, 2011
A Dram of Drummhicit at La Jolla Playhouse

According to Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley’s new play, Drummhicit — pronounced drum-hkkkt — is a single-malt Scotch. It’ll curl your nose and lacquer your teeth but is not ready for prime time. Neither is …

June 1, 2011
Tracy Letts's August: Osage County at the Old Globe

In the dead of summer, temperatures in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, reach triple digits, with the humidity not far behind. The town, 60 miles north of Tulsa, near the Kansas border, lies along Tornado Alley. But in …

Unforgettable: Banner Challenges Julian's Supremacy

Drury “Drew” Bailey and the Founding of Julian City, Part Two In 1858, asked to write about why “A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss,” Drury “Drew” Bailey compared it to “the wanderer who starts…with bright …

Anna Deveare Smith in Let Me Down Easy

It took an historic, three-way collaboration — the San Diego Rep, Vantage Theatre, and the La Jolla Playhouse — to bring Anna Deavere Smith to San Diego for the first time. The collaboration breaks ground …

May 4, 2011
Julian? Who's Julian?

Drury Bailey and the Founding of Julian City, Part One On November 10, 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno sailed into San Miguel Bay. He renamed it “San Diego,” after his flagship and the saint of Alcalá. For …

Lamb’s Players Theatre's The Book of the Dun Cow

In Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, Chauntecleer the Rooster dreams an omen. A beast “like a hound” terrorized him with such a fearsome look, the rooster almost died. He wakes up groaning and tells his …

April 20, 2011
Jumpin' Julian, Way Back When

Civilization and Its Malcontents “Julian was never the hell roarin’ town commonly associated with mining camps,” wrote Dan Taylor in 1939. And that’s been pretty much the image ever since. Even so, the lure of …

Unforgettable: The Long and Winding Road to Gold

After gold had been discovered in the Cuyamacas, ranchers accustomed to outback solitude witnessed an eerie parade: would-be miners trudging up an old Indian trail from Santa Ysabel to Julian City. The steep and rocky …

Unforgettable: Tales from San Diego's Fields of Gold

’Twas Gold that Made ’Em Do It “Enchanting visions of the good to be accomplished,” an unnamed author wrote in Hutchings’ California Magazine (1857), “of pleasures to be enjoyed, turned [a miner’s] footsteps toward the …

Cygnet Theatre's Cabaret

Her shoulders arched, her eyes a sniper’s stare, Karson St. John stalks the stage like a linebacker who just made a game-saving tackle. She plays the Emcee in Cygnet Theatre’s Cabaret, a casting choice that …

April 6, 2011
Simpatico at New Village Arts

Every time someone enters in Sam Shepard’s Simpatico, it’s as if the stage dips like a spider web...or waterbed. One move, even a tiptoe, alters what’s come before. Parts rise, others sag. Here is now …

March 23, 2011
Little Miss Sunshine at La Jolla Playhouse

So how do you re-create a road movie on stage? Best of show at La Jolla Playhouse’s hit-and-miss Little Miss Sunshine: David Korins’s set, enhanced by Ken Billington’s bold lighting, depicts the shifting geography from …

March 9, 2011
There's Gold in Them Thar Cuyamacas

The Life of a MinerIn August of 1870, when Louis Redman went to pick wild grapes along a creek over the mountain from Julian, he happened upon the American Dream. Something glinted in the rust-colored …

Superior Donuts at the Rep

After the world premiere of his epic A Lie of the Mind in 1985, Sam Shepard told an interviewer that no matter what he wrote next, the critics would rip it to shreds. Instead of …

February 23, 2011

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