It was like old Richmond home week with friends and neighbors at The Playhouse on Friday, February 6, at the west coast premier of “The Glory of Living,” a play by Rebecca Gilman, starring Richmond native Lauren English.
The Playhouse is a newly opened San Francisco theater at 535 Sutter Street that is largely the work of Artistic Director Bill English, a long time Richmond resident, who may be better known locally as the contractor who built your neighbor”s home or addition. In fact, Bill English has been involved in the theater for over 40 years as an actor, director and designer. He is an accomplished pianist and composer and has appeared in films, television commercials and professional theatre. He recently won the Bay Area Critics Best Director and Best Production Awards for “Dealer”s Choice” by Patrick Marber. Bill directed “The Glory of Living.”
Bill”s daughter Lauren, who played Lisa Needham in “The Glory of Living,” grew up in Richmond and still calls Richmond home. She has become an accomplished actress, appearing in many theatrical productions throughout in the Bay Area.
The set design for “The Glory of Living” included haunting photos and videos on a rear projection screen orchestrated by John Behrens, another young Richmonder who has been involved in independent features, documentaries, live music and television for several years.
“The Glory of Living” was performed earlier on the east coast and starred Academy-award winning Anna Paquin. The play is set in the rural south and tells the chilling story of Lisa, the teenage daughter of a floozy who is first seduced by and then marries Clint Needham, a mean-as-a snake redneck, rapist and serial killer. The couple ends up moving from cheap motel to cheap motel for encounters with their latest victims, who are bored young girls Lisa picks up at strip malls and roadsides.
The play is really about the innocence of a lost soul whose shocking acts result from a manipulation beyond her control. Even after her attorney tries to make her see the light to save her own life, she refuses to budge from the fate that life has dealt her.
Michael Janes plays a Clint so convincing that those of us who know Lauren as a neighbor wanted to rush the stage to save her. Janes, who also choreographed the fight scenes, most recently portrayed the title role in “Visions of Kerouac” by Martin Duberman at Marin Theatre Company.
The play runs until March 13, Wednesday through Saturday, at The Playhouse, 536 Sutter Street. Box Office 415/677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org, www.ticketweb.com. Admission $30.
I also recommend a great place to get a quick bite to eat before the play. Cafe Expresso at 462 Powell Street is a sort of buffet-deli disguised as a bistro. It is incredibly inexpensive with a really great selection of entr”es.
