The Magic Theatre in San Francisco, a company that attracted nation-wide attention in 2000 with their starry world premiere staging of Sam Shepard's The Late Henry Moss, has two world premieres on the boards for 2001-02, as well as two new SITI shows from Anne Bogart and a West Coast premiere by Charles L. Mee.
Kicking off the new Magic season is the world premiere of Matthew Wells' Schrodinger's Girlfriend, playing in October and November. Kenn Watt (Summertime) directs this Joe Orton-ish comedy about a sexy cabaret singer whose search for the secrets of life, sex and the universe leads her to physicist Erwin Schrodinger, who thinks he can solve the contradictions of wave/particle activity by studying her. The Magic will host a sort of "preview reading" of Schrodinger's Girlfriend July 18 as a part of the company's Science on Stage series.
The Eviction by Victor Lodato combines puppetry and lyrical language to describe the mix of fantasy and reality that makes up the life of a homeless man living on the streets. Juliette Carrillo (Eyes for Consuela at the Magic) directs this world premiere from the author of The Mystery Schoool and The Bread of Winter. The Eviction will run Feb.-March 2002.
With the spring, Anne Bogart and the SITI Company bring two pieces on remarkable individuals, Bob on avant-garde director Robert Wilson, and Room, a meditation on "A Room of One's Own" author Virginia Woolf. Will Bond is Bob and Ellen Lauren is Woolf in the separate shows, running for two weeks each in March and April, 2002.
In June, 2002, Erin Mee directs her father's First Love, making its first appearance on the West Coast. A sweet comedy about love in the waning years of life, First Love is the latest from Mee, who wrote Summertime for the Magic with Kenn Watt and will work on the companion piece, Wintertime, while in residency at the Magic. His other writing credits include the Humana hit Big Love, Orestes, Another Person Is a Foreign Country and The Trojan Women: A Love Story. Two more slots in the 2001-02 season have yet to be filled. The Magic Theatre will also host a Festival of Canadian Playwrights in 2002, featuring script-in-hand performances of new works from the United States' northern neighbor.
Subscriptions to the Magic are $85-$185. The Magic Theatre is located on the third floor of Building D at the Fort Mason Center. For reservations, call (415) 441 8822. The Magic Theatre is on the web at http://www.magictheatre.org.
— By Christine Ehren
