Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
A Triangulation of Ambassadors
love the lesson of this one— June 28, 2011 10:39 a.m.
Opening-Night Rituals
We must remember that just like athletes, dancers, musicians, public speakers, and the like -- actors need to warm up, do daily practice, explore boundaries to improve their 'game' -- opening night is like the big game, the concert, 'the moment before'. It's essential to have something to ground your energy so that you can focus. Not just actors do that sort of thing, but it's likely more important for actors to have a ritual or at least a routine -- a preparation. More important, because actors are often required to incorporate athletics, dance, song, music, and public speaking - or juggling, or emotional turmoil, or comic timing or all of those skills in one performance, or even in one scene. Prep time is essential - it's not for 'luck' or because of superstition (although many althetes are known for being superstitious) -- it's for focus, gathering energy and getting ready for the marathon of nightly performances that follow!— June 28, 2011 10:38 a.m.
A Naked Stage
Pantomime might be a lost art? I thought so until I watched a recent performance of 'Miss Julie' -- the actors did the pantomime of drinks and cleaning, etc. so effectively that when the actress playing Miss Julie sat on a 'wine glass', the audience took great note of it and it became the topic of discussion after the show ended. My point is this: Wilder gave his audience a lot more credit than most playwrights do. When we read a novel, our imagination fills in the details of descriptions of scenery or how a character looks, the minute details of facial expressions or clothing colors and other physical characteristics -- in 'Our Town' and similarly bare-staged productions, the audience is just as capable of imagining the details. And, likely finds it much more satisfying to let their imagination create the scene by filling in details from their own experience. Our subconscious thrives on doing such creative work - especially within such a rich framework provided by Wilder's dialogue and narrative phrasing. We leave the theatre feeling full and satisfied because, although the words are Wilder's, we have completed the picture with our own experience of colors and 'our town' of streets, and neighbors and such. Lovely reminder of how the connection between the performers, the stage and the audience makes for a unique experience each and every time.— June 28, 2011 10:30 a.m.
Don Braunagel: 1939-2011
rest in peace— June 16, 2011 9:17 p.m.
A Favorite Memory of Don Braunagel
good story....— June 16, 2011 9:14 p.m.
Acting in 2100
yes! this has also been written about in 'Global Brain' by Howard Bloom -- AND, another comment (sorry I cannot remember the source) that caught my ear recently: our 'instinct' is actually just billions of years of collective memory..... we will just get better and better at reading body language and facial expressions, and 'remembering' what it means when someone says "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" as it applies to humans... we'll be experts at remembering through the collective memory -- and actors will continue to be the ones who are able to channel that memory and express it -- right down to the subconscious thoughts and motiviations of the character.— May 25, 2011 10:07 a.m.
A Spin on Fortune's Wheel: The Life of a Mine
soooooo much better than watching 'Alaska Gold' or whatever the latest reality TV show -- Mr. Smith always finds just the right angle to approach these stories with (the histories) -- and this one is no exception - what a wonderful way to dig for our own historical gold in San Diego!— February 27, 2011 7:24 p.m.
Where Words Fail
Jeff Smith nails it again - as usual: "The result in theaters: artistic timidity. Stage the familiar, the nonthreatening, the audience-stroking; show steaming pizzas, not famished faces." Everyone sees this elephant in the theatre lobbies, but no one is willing to point it out! THANK YOU Jeff Smith -- THANK YOU ion theatre! sheesh! I'm beginning to agree with Jerzy Grotowski: (paraphrased) 'everyone's a performer and theatre has become superfluous'. I'm always enlightend by reading Jeff Smith's columns and articles -- theatre and history -- he digs deeply into his subject matter and gives us such great lessons about the play, the theatre, and even philosophical and sociological trends! The kinds of things theatre ought to be doing. Thanks for pointing out some great mind-expanding theatrical pieces that are fighting through the sludge of 'cuisine theatre' that has become accepted as 'cutting edge' - Jeff Smith: a thinking man's (and woman's) kind of theatre critic for our times - post modern and otherwise. Thanks!— December 31, 2010 1:03 p.m.
Craig Stories, Act 1
This was the best memorial for Craig Noel -- so many of us who did not know Craig Noel very well,but know his work, and 'his' theatre - so many of us that were so fond of him, and admired him and would have loved to have told him so. This article feels like we had a chance to say it to him -- Thank you Jeff Smith - thank you for giving us a voice -- beyond Mr. Noel's great accomplishments and the 'myth' and the 'legend' factoids -- a personal farewell that we all have a chance to share in. Oh,how I would love to have a friend and mentor like him -- do any even exist any more? Thank you for that article. No other newspaper has done this in just this way - it's wonderful. Prosperina— April 29, 2010 7:51 p.m.
Boing Boing Clunk
how I miss San Diego's theatre! luckily I can always find Jeff Smith's insightful, entertaining, truthful reviews online -- he makes it seem like I was THERE --- enjoying every minute for better or worse -- fab comments on both pieces this week - thanks!— March 24, 2010 7:57 p.m.