The Yay - A Bay Area Theatre Podcast

Norman Gee is back and Radhika Rao is back for the third time on the Yay (check out Episodes 21, 131) – as we welcome guest Tina D’Elia, who is just finishing up her one woman show Overlooked Latinas, which played at Theatre Rhinoceros and closed October 1st. Tina D’Elia is an actor, writer, a performance coach, voice over talent, a casting director and a co-screenwriter. Among other accomplishmen...

It's always wonderful to have the beautiful and talented Katherine Park on the Yay – if you missed her, she was on Episodes 246 and 250 – as our guest host and our guest is Dani Spinks and Joe Waterman. Dani is a master of gore makeup - check out her page www.aGOREabledesigns.com. Dani and Joe are the new co-owners of Eclectic Box SF, which will take the place of StageWerx at 446 Valencia Street i...

The Yay welcomes back Adrian Deane, who was on Episode 82, five years ago. Since then, she’s lived overseas and has just gotten off stage, performing the title role of Anna Christie, the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Eugene O’Neill. Anna Christie is a play written in 1921, but the play has so many issues that are relevant today: the judgement society has on women, women’s independence and a re-ex...

Norman and I host two very talented ladies: Jessica Mele, who has a one-woman show called Eat the Mama, at Z Space this weekend only – Sept 14-17, and her director, May Liang, who is also a resident artist at Crowded Fire. We talk about the show, what motivated Jessica to write it, the careers of both ladies and where they see themselves in the future. You can learn more about Eat The Mama via thi...

Our next guest is the incredibly talented Aaron Henne, the artistic director of Theatre Dybbuk, a Jewish based theatre company in Los Angeles, who will be performing at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto (performing the Merchant of Venice) today at 6:30pm; the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco (also performing the Merchant of Venice, and exploring the subject: The Villany You Teach) tomo...

The Yay is back, and Norman is back! A couple of weeks removed from his Much Ado About Nothing and my doing Radio Golf, we’re back in the saddle ;) And we have a great guest – Joseph Leonardi, a veteran actor whom I worked with when we were a part of Eastenders Repertory Theatre, where I last saw him on stage in Melissa James Gibson’s [sic]. Joe talks about what it was like doing theatre in the 90...

The Yay is back but Norman is busy with Much Ado About Nothing and we hope to see him in August. Our guest is Kulwa Apara, who has a one woman show going up at Theatre Brava called Brain Like Berkeley. She’s being directed by our guest host, the wonderful Kehinde Koyejo – you’ll remember her from Episode 214. We talk about Brain Like Berkely, what prompted Kulwa to write it – we’ll also catch up w...

Norman is busy rehearsing for Much Ado About Nothing, so we have Neil Harkins (who was on Episode 222) as our guest host. Our guest today is Marty Pistone, the director and board member of Sixth Street Playhouse. I worked with Marty when he was a consultant for Off Broadway West, and their production of Hedda Gabler, back in 2010. We talk about Marty’s upbringing in Chicago, his views on the state...

Norman is currently in southern California, attending the memorial of his step father – in his place is our consulting producer, Mallory Somera and our very special guest is San Francisco Chronicle theatre reporter Lily Janiak. It’s a thrill to have her on and Lily shares with us her role as a theatre critic, what has inspired her to be a writer and a glimpse of her background. Lily Janiak can be...

Norman is still in France, touring with Word for Word’s production of Home – my guest host today is Danny Hall, who was last on the Yay on Feb 1, 2020 (Episode 143). Our guest is Elijah Collins, an expert in visual – Dan, Elijah and I worked on Tasha, a one woman show that ran earlier this year. We’ll talk about incorporating video and visual arts to live theatre, Elijah’s upbringing and what thea...

Norman is on his way to France, touring with Word for Word’s production of Home – so my guest host is Eric Johnson (Episode 252) and our wonderful guest is Heather Atles, an incredible actress, whom I had the pleasure of stage managing when we did The Marriage of Bette & Boo, back in 2001. Heather has also been busy doing singing telegrams and was an instrumental part of the Tilted Frame Network,...

Norman and I are thrilled to have Dr. Ayodele Nzinga as our next guest for The Yay. Dr. Nzinga is an actress, director, playwright, poet, educator and community advocate. She is the director of the Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc., Oakland's oldest North American African Theater Company and founder of Lower Bottom Playaz Summer Theater Day Camp. She was the director of 3Girls Theatre’s Tasha. We talk abo...

Norman and I welcome Fred Pitts as our next guest as The Yay enters our 7th year! Fred has been a part of many bay area companies like the African American Shakespeare Company, Palo Alto Players, the Pear Theatre, Custom Made Theatre and now has his one man show, Aren’t You.. at the Marsh. Fred talks about his upbringing, his approach to theatre, his take on the state of bay area theatre today and...

Andrea Gordon is our next guest on the Yay (and Norman is back!). Andrea is an artistic associate with 3Girls Theatre and also has ties with the Magic Theatre – she’s an actress, a director and a writer. We’ll talk about her upbringing, her time studying and working in New York in the ‘70s, her views on directing and the state of bay area theatre today. SHOWS: Tasha (3 Girls Theatre) Feb 24 – Marc...

We are extremely delighted to have Rachel Deatherage as our next guest on The Yay – I thought we’d never get the opportunity, when she relocated to Berlin, Germany several years ago – but she’s back in the states, performing in Vallejo at Verismo Opera, performing as Valentin in Gournod’s Faust on March 5th and 11th. I was last on stage with Rachel when we were in Candide, with our musical directo...

Tanika Baptiste is our next guest on The Yay – she is the Executive Artistic Director and founder of Speculation Theatre, who is directing The Piano Lesson at Gallo Center for the Arts. We talk about the state of theatre, how she got her start and where she sees herself in the future. Tanika can be contacted directly via Instagram here: @tanikabaptiste SHOWS: Tasha (3 Girls Theatre) Feb 24 – March...

Our next guest is Eric Johnson, who I last worked with when we did The Marriage of Bette & Boo (he was Boo) back in 2001. Eric has been busy doing the Twilight Zone live stage shows, formerly done at the Exit. We talk with Eric about theatre in the Aughts, theatre now, and what’s in store for him in the future. SHOWS: Raymond’s Run & Blues Ain’t No Mockin’ Bird (Z Space) January 23 (one day only)...

We bring back Kimberly Ridgeway (this time live) – she was last on Episode 155, back in June 2020. As always, Kim is busy – acting in the staged reading of Siren, at Shotgun Players (Jan 9 & 10) and then she will be acting in Slow Food at the Altarena (Jan 20-Feb 19). On her IMDB page, she's listed in films like Hopes Identity, The Confession and Robin's Hood. We talk about what’s going on with he...

For the first Yay episode of 2023, I’m excited to interview Lauren DePass – she last graced the stage at Sixth Street Playhouse in their production of The River Bride, along with Terrance Smith (Episode 102). Norman Gee is celebrating the new year in Tahoe with his beautiful wife Mara, so my guest host is Katherine Park (Episode 246), who will be participating in the L12 Loft Space Songwriting Fes...

We couldn't let 2022 go away without doing one more Yay! Norman is back in the chair after finishing up Meet John Doe, and we also have our wonderful consulting producer Mallory Somera. We talk about what the year has been for us - dealing with the closures of the Exit, Dragon Theatre and the Flight Deck; we get into a very deep conversation about our mental health; more talk about the Altarena; a...

We had April Deustchle on two years ago (Episode 175), where we talked about her life, her travels and what brought her to the bay area. An article came out in the SF Chronicle on October 28th that dealt with actors being mistreated at the Altarena. She comes back on to tell her side of the story and to engage in a bigger conversation about how the dialogue between actors and directors should be,...

I first met our next guest, Max Chang, when he was our stage manager for my show, Four Men in Paris. Since then, he has graced the stage at the Chanticleers, even getting a write up in the paper about his role as Picasso. He’s also a stand up comic and his next show will be Christmas at the Biltmore. Max has truly grown as an actor and overall performer since I met him in 2018 and he shares his jo...

Gifted bay area actress and singer/songwriter Katherine Park is my next guest on The Yay. She’s in a film called Up in the Clouds, which you can see on Amazon Prime, and her beautiful song, We’ll Glow in the Dark Forever, is on Apple iTunes (https://itun.es/us/6eGOlb) and the video can be viewed on Youtube. She was last on stage as Eleanor of Aqutaine for the play The Anarchy Quartet at the Exit....

Our next guest, Lauren Jiang, is one I had the pleasure of working with when we did Pear Slices earlier this year at the Pear Theatre in Mountain View. She and her boyfriend, James M. Jones, are both young actors in the bay area and they share how they got involved in theatre, what they’re doing now and what they’ll be doing in the future. Both Lauren and James can be found on Facebook. SHOWS: Mur...

I had the pleasure of being on stage with our next guest, Louis Schilling, when we did It’s Only A Play. Louis is now in Murder on the Nile (Coastal Rep Theatre). Louis shares his journey in theatre, his upbringing and where he sees himself in the future. Louis can be reached directly at loudrea@comcast.net SHOWS: Murder On The Nile (Coastal Rep) Sept 30 – Oct 23 (no shows Oct 14-16) Louis Schilli...