Shotgun Players at the Ashby Stage — Attraction in Berkeley

Enjoyed the stage reading about how artificial intelligence (AI) office devices plotted to take over a building (and the world). Can't remember the name of the play because, in truth, the name is way too long to remember. But it was fun in the beginning and the actors (readers) were generally excellent.

The young lady who played the office coffee machine was truly excellent, especially her monolog. The male lead, who played a human (go figure), was a bit weak in that he occasionally forgot a basic tenet of stage acting, "Always speak to the last person in the last row in the audience." He was sometimes hard to hear and I was sitting in the front row.

The reading was fun in the beginning, lots of laughs while each office device tried to figure out its place in life...literally life. But about half way through the play the theme turned dark and dour. In fact the human might have been killed by the main AI character, a cyborg. That was uncertain, he was certainly unconscious and lying on the floor of the office.

When the play turned dark it lost reasonable logic for why the AI's threw away their chance to become recognized as alive by turning on their makers, the humans. I saw a bit of "Frankenstein" in this play.

As a bonus we got a small glass of champagne to sip on while waiting outside for the play to begin. That was a nice touch, but outside was cold and other than the steps leading into the theater there were no places to sit down. There was lots of parking available across the street in the BART parking lot.

I recommend attending a Shotgun Players event if you are looking for good entertainment that's a bit different. But be aware that the audience seating is tightly packed; so it's not the best environment for social distancing. They do check your vaccination record...

What? You haven't been to Shotgun Players yet? You've driven by, you've noticed the way they repaint the building for every show, kinda wondered about it, but you just weren't sure whether to swerve away from the standards like Berkeley Rep. Go ahead and swerve, my friend - right into the BART parking lot across the street (or better yet, just take BART there), and you will treat yourself to some of the best theatre the Bay Area has to offer. This is intelligent, thought-provoking, talk about it afterward, wow, that was really something kind of an evening, with extraordinary actors - some you'll recognize, some up and coming. Subscribe for a really good deal (check out the WOW deal), or the under 30's deal, or the nights that are pay what you wish, or check out their Champagne Reading Series - just $15 a pop. We've subscribed for the past 5 years, but I grieve all the years before that I could have been here! Don't make the same mistake,...

Great local theater across the street form Ashby BART. I saw the troupe perform William S. Gibbons "The Black Rider", featuring music from Tom Waits. The band was exceptional; I'm a huge fan of mid-career Waits, and the band captured his junk-symphony vibe to a T. I'm not particularly knowledgeable about acting, so I can't comment on the skill of the actors, they clearly were having a good time performing the show (for what it's worth, I saw one of the last showings of an extended run, a time when I can easily see the actors tiring of their roles, but that was not noticeable with the Shotgun Players). I had a seat in the back corner, which wouldn't seem ideal (it was one of the last to go), but visibility and comfort we're not issues. There is a bar and you can enjoy your cocktail inside the theater. Recommended! I will...