Maggie Yates - Page 6

Phi Phi is gone, and Tatianna and Alyssa Edwards are back in the game. Start your engines-it's the RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE ALL STARS top 6: The Art of the Deal.

Elements Theatre Collective Presents: 'In a Word' Since the disappearance of her son two years ago, Fiona has created a narrative of her version of events born from grief, regret, and the guilt of unspoken relief of being freed from the burden of a special needs child she was not equipped to handle. Runs 9/30 at the Java Station; 10/1 in Lompoc; and 10/2 at Maraville Santa Barbara. www.elementstc.org

'Much Ado About Nothing' is a Shakespearian comedy that plays, essentially, on the idea that gossip is a bitch. With sultry tango, occasional jovial singing, and slapstick stalking throughout the playing space, 'Much Ado About Nothing' is a natural, entertaining Shakespearian experience.

Trust the Duchess: It ain't over just yet. Why? Because the eliminated All-Stars are back, baby! Coco is back, and her tear-away arrival ensemble is beaded to the gods. Tatianna is back, and her boat neck mini-dress turns into a sleek, studded Selena-brassiere. Ginger is back, and what starts out as big and silver folds down into something … bigger and silverier, if that's possible. And Alyssa Edwards is back, back, back again!

Santa Barbara supports a sizeable, like-minded artistic community that has, for the past two years, collided their stories and aesthetic styles into building blocks of communal inspiration. The constructed product is the annual On The Verge Summer Repertory Theater. This festival presents a vision of reality interpreted by the young, upcoming generation of theater artists.

Last week's dramatic elimination prompts real talk amongst the remaining queens about how the 'rules' of the game. Alyssa Edwards explained that her decision to give Ginger Minj the heeled boot was because she felt other bottom-runner Katya had been better in the competition on a more consistent basis. Phi Phi and Roxxxy see Alyssa's decision to eliminate based on personal choice rather than the judges' critiques as a betrayal of the sisterhood, though Roxxxy has the good sense to only voice her opinion on the confessional camera. A note from Ginger asking the girls to 'play a fair game' incites the ladies to squabble, but Katya (thank you, Katya!) shuts them down. It's a competition, after all, and Alyssa can choose whomever she wants to kick out of the game.

Litmoon's production captures the resounding void of the Wingfields' desperation. 'The Glass Menagerie's' characters, flawed past self-awareness, anxiously grasp at a lifestyle unavailable to them. The audience champions their hopes while simultaneously recognizing the folly of their untenable desires. Striking and complex, Litmoon's The Glass Menagerie offers a view of the constant regret that haunts those bereft of realistic hopes for a better future.

RuPaul's Drag Race has shown an increasing willingness to share its self-awareness, and more and more frequently does the show reminds us that any 'reality' competition featuring seasoned performers (which these drag queens are) will sashay the line between the vitality of unscripted television and the polish of a rehearsed variety show. 'The HERstory of the World' is no different, and the queens are cast appropriately: Alaska's middle-gender aesthetic is put to the task of playing 'the original naughty girl,' Eve; Phi Phi O'Hara, queen of cosplay, is cast as Helen of Troy; Ginger is Katherine the Great; cool-kid Detox plays the ultimate spoiled brat, Marie Antoinette; Alyssa Edwards prepares to rep her Texas pride as gunslinger Annie Oakley; Roxxxy Andrews will portray professional pageant queen Eva Peron; and Katya gets a chance to bat her lashes as Princess Diana.

Get ready for on-stage shenanigans (including slap fights, hypochondriac melt-downs, and injuries from swinging doors).

Spectrum Ministries Santa Barbara presents a performance of 'Sinner/Saint,' a new play written, directed and performed by Westmont alumna Lindsey Twigg and Danielle Draper.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a play with enjoyable moments and talented performers. Unfortunately, the production simply has too limited a range of emotion to be memorable.

The summer of 1974 was a time of political and social upheaval. Nixon is considering resignation post-Watergate scandal, and publishing heiress Patty Hearst is at large with the Symbionese Liberation Army in Southern California. 'Kiddo and Patty Hearst' examines a young woman's struggle to grow up in a tumultuous era, just around the corner from famous LA haunts.

Devised, written, directed, and performed by Jeff Mills, Erica Flor, and Madelyn Robinson: Proboscis Theatre's recent efforts, 'Bloody Beautiful' and 'Strap-On,' are intimate and provocative works that delve into personality manifestation.

Instant Karma Improv Comedy returns to Center Stage Theater to present one night of spontaneous hilarity on Saturday, June 11th at 8:00pm.

While indecent in the twenties, Coward's absurd situation comedy delivers potency in the twenty-first century, now that common social opinion of pre-marital relations isn't nearly so damning.

Summer Stages is your guide to upcoming theatrical events for the summer in the Santa Barbara area. Check out this year's shows!

Interesting, overlapping personal narratives tell slightly different stories, making the whole story strong, but mysterious in the little places of ambguity. The mythic nature of the story and the characters leaves some magical unreliability that makes the story mystifying in it's fairy-tale qualities.

Based on the title, one might assume that Joshua Harmon's 'Bad Jews' is a play more specifically rooted in Judaism that it actually is. While Harmon's play does revolve around several characters vying for a relic from their recently deceased grandfather, the play is actually not about what makes someone a 'Bad' Jew, but more broadly, what makes someone a bad person.

In 'We Want the Funk: A Rustbelt Lullaby on the One,' charismatic Chuck resolves to trust in the notion that economic depression and cultural oppression can be overcome by creating music. Chuck can't play an instrument, but he devotes his energy to forming a funk band to connect his community to their grander calling. That calling might be a literal ticket out of the slums if their band hits it big across the nation; but Chuck, who Goodwin describes as a 'ghetto spiritual leader,' is more interested in the transcendent aspect of music.

A provocative, modern, and intimate play about the processes of troubled, magnificent minds, 'Proof' provides the sweet relief of calm moments amongst a hailstorm barrage of trauma.