A sex scandal at Center Repertory Company? Yes! At least on stage as the company, in co-production with TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, presents “Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Mystery Musical.”
Written by Bay Area composer/playwright Min Kahng and directed by Jeffrey Lo, this world-premiere musical explores the social taboos around aging while celebrating the Boomer spirit and the joy of intergenerational connections.
“Happy Pleasant Valley” tells of internet influencer Jade Park, who when her career falters, decides to help her rebellious grandmother June by solving the mysterious deaths at her grandmother’s senior residential facility. It seems all of them were current or former lovers of her exuberant grandmother.
“I’m thrilled to put a bow on my first season at Center REP with Min’s exceedingly joyous, sexy and downright hilarious world premiere musical,” said Center REP Artistic Director Matt M. Morrow.
“Happy Pleasant Valley” runs Sunday through June 29 at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center on 1601 Civic Drive. For tickets, call 925-943-7469 or go to centerrep.org.
Also in Walnut Creek: Synergy Theater’s initial run of “Improvised Dungeons and Dragons: A Spontaneous Quest!” has become a cult-classic prompting the company to return to the Lesher Center for three encore performances June 21 at 3:15 p.m., Aug. 22 at 7:15 p.m. and Sept. 27 at 7:15 p.m.
“Something really took off with the audience,” explained Kenn Adams, the company’s artistic director. “People were coming back two or three times. They were coming in costume, bringing their friends and hanging out by the stage door to meet and take pictures with the cast. The energy was just through the roof. We had D&D fanatics in the audience and people who had never even heard of the game before, but it just didn’t matter — the whole audience went crazy for the show.”
For tickets, call 925-943-7469 or go to centerrep.org.
Pride Month: Walnut Creek will also celebrate Pride Month in style with lots of events happening in June including Drag Queen Bingo (June 6), Drag Open Space Hike (June 7), Pride Day at Bedford Gallery (June 7) and a Post-Show Pride Mixer at Center REP’s “Happy Pleasant Valley” (June 18).
For complete information, go to walnutcreekartsrec.org/programs-activities/events/pride.
Also celebrating Pride month, The Marsh San Francisco presents John Fisher’s one-man true-crime crusade “Doodler” about a serial killer who targeted gay men.
The show runs Saturday through July 6 at 1062 Valencia St. in San Francisco. Call 415-3055 or go to themarsh.org for tickets.
Lafayette: Town Hall Theatre closes out its season with a tale of rivalry and power with Sam Shepard’s dark comedy “True West.”
“’True West’ is rooted in the mythology of the American West — deserts, cowboys, and the fierce ideal of rugged independence. Yet Latinos, particularly Mexican Americans, have always been an essential part of that history, even as their stories have often been erased or overlooked,” said Artistic Director Richard Perez. “I’ve long wondered what it would mean for a Latino cast to reclaim that space.”
Perez got his wish with Director Katja Rivera and her cast composed of Linda Amayo-Hassan, Christian Arteaga, Justin Hernandez, Adam Mendez Jr. and Guillermo Ornelas.
Shepard’s story of two very different brothers — one a drifter and petty thief and the other a successful screenwriter — runs June 5-28 with a mariachi band performing in the lobby on opening (June 7). For tickets, call 925-283-1557or go to townhalltheatre.com/true-west.
Alameda: Altarena Playhouse offers a powerful, thought-provoking work with Tennessee Williams “Suddenly, Last Summer.”
Williams’ work tells of a distraught mother’s attempts to silence her niece from telling the horrific tale of her son’s murder. So afraid of the truth being exposed, she attempts to have the young girl declared insane and a lobotomy performed.
The play was made into a movie in 1959 starring Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift and Mercedes McCambridge.
At the Altarena, Artistic Director Katina Psihos Letheule directs a cast that includes Danail Georgiev, Jeffrie Givens, Jasmine Guerrero, Thomas Hutchinson, Lori Mrochinski, Billie Simmons and Sarah Zehner.
The 90-minute no intermission drama runs Friday through June 29. For tickets, call 510-523-1553 or go to altarena.org.
Oakland & Alameda: Circus Bella returns to the East Bay with its own modern twist on the one-ring circuses of old. All performances are dedicated to Circus Bella’s long-time composer and band leader Rob Reich, who passed away unexpectedly.
Appropriately titled “Hoopla,” this year’s circus will be full of circus enchantment and madcap mayhem as the company’s talented troupe of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers and clowns perform to Rob Reich’s lively tunes. All performances are free.
While performances occur throughout the Bay Area, the circus comes to Oakland on June 4 at 5:30 p.m. at DeFremery Park on 1651 Adeline St. and July 10 at Lincoln Square Park on 261 11th St. It also performs July 26 at Alameda’s Radium Runway on 2151 Ferry Point.
For more information, call 415-480-4239 or go to circusbella.org/circusintheparks.
Reach Sally Hogarty at sallyhogarty@gmail.com, and read more of her reviews online at eastbaytimes.com/author/sally-hogarty.