Tag archives: Marjorie Luke Theatre

Local News Updates
By Joanne A Calitri   |   February 6, 2024

Executive Director of Explore Ecology Lindsay Johnson announced the retirement of Melissa Brooks as Development Director of Explore Ecology. Incoming for the position is Morgan Coffey.  Coffey majored in cultural anthropology at UCSB and interned as a Waves on Wheels Marine Biology Educator for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. She volunteers as a […]

Dar She Goes
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 16, 2024

It might be her breathy and vibratoless soprano that somehow suggests both urgency and a leisurely, steady pace. Maybe it’s her knack for rhymes that never feel forced, or her commitment to a more universal truth in her songwriting. Or her ability to erase any divide between passionate politics and personal songs. Whatever the reason, […]

Major Milestone for the Marjorie Luke
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 2, 2024

It was shortly after the dawning of the new millennium that Santa Barbara Unified School District and a new nonprofit got together to upgrade the auditorium at Santa Barbara Junior High that had gone dark and fallen into disrepair. What started as a cleanup turned into a full-blown renovation of the historic Spanish colonial revival […]

‘The War Shirt’ Dons New Clothing 
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 19, 2023

It was just last year that Santa Barbara based actor-dancer Michael Downey wrote and performed a one-person play titled The War Shirt, which was produced and directed by former Access Theater founder turned visual artist Rod Lathim for Marjorie Luke’s streaming series. The story explored Downey’s experiences as a gay man, his relationship with a […]

Holiday Happenings
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 13, 2022

A Christmas ‘Unicorn’: And Now for Something Completely Different… It would be hard to imagine something more polar opposite from a Christmas show than Bulletproof Unicorn, a one-woman show from Los Angeles-based comedian and singer-songwriter Stacie Burrows rife with dark humor about trying to fix her dysfunctional family that culminates in her estranged, alcoholic brother […]

‘Nights of Grief and Mystery’ 
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 6, 2022

This spellbinding evening combines stories and observations from Stephen Jenkinson that were sparked and inspired by his years of work in palliative care with original songs and sonics from Canadian recording artist Gregory Hoskins and band. Jenkinson is the Harvard master’s in theology and social work, educated internationally, acclaimed author, poet, and culture worker best […]

Lodging a Love Story
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 19, 2022

The pandemic might have been a cause for pause for most of us, but Claudia Hoag McGarry took a different path. Not only did the screenwriter-turned-playwright take up watercolor painting – she’s created more than 575 pieces in 27 months, several hundred of which have sold online or, more recently, at Kathryne Designs in Montecito […]

A Shapeshifting Solstice Performance
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 28, 2022

Shapeshifting, in mythology and folklore, is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, or sorcery, Wikipedia says. Metaphorically, at least, and leaving out the part about demonic manipulation, that pretty much sums up Santa Barbara’s The ShapeShifters, the new supergroup/house band hosts created by Randy Tico.  “It’s about changing […]

The ShapeShifters’ Solstice Concert at the Luke
By Montecito Journal   |   June 21, 2022

The Marjorie Luke Theatre is proud to present The ShapeShifters band collective as they celebrate Solstice at The Marjorie Luke Theatre on June 25th beginning at 7 pm, located at 721 East Cota Street.  The evening will feature a two-set concert composed of Santa Barbara’s premier musicians and vocalists accompanied by a courtyard celebration with […]

Theater Talk: Crossing the Rubicon
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 10, 2022

Later this month, Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre Company finally reopens, more than two years after the pandemic put the kibosh on live theater everywhere, and long after virtually every other venue in the area has returned to roughly regular schedules. The mounting of theater shows again at the converted church a few blocks from downtown Ventura […]

Lights Up on Luke’s ‘Rotten’ Musical
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 8, 2022

Something rotten happened to Lights Up!, the teen theater conservatory/company, which opened for business back in 2018. That would be the COVID-19 pandemic, which of course has been pretty rotten for all of us. But the pandemic really put Lights Up! through its paces as the company has been operating under the restrictions for more […]

‘Carrie’ on My Wayward Daughter
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 9, 2021

Thirty-three years in, Carrie, the Musical — adapted from Stephen King’s best-selling 1974 novel by a team including Montecito’s own Dean Pitchford, who wrote the lyrics — still stands as one of the most notorious failures in Broadway history. Indeed, the production that closed after just five non-preview performances in 1988 even inspired the title […]

The Luke Ponders Pandemic Productions, then Faces Forward
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 15, 2021

The performing arts venues in Santa Barbara each responded to the pandemic in different ways. SOhO, the Granada, and the New Vic Theatre more or less went into hibernation, save for a one-off production or two (Montecito’s Pete Muller recording a Save Our Stages video; Grace Fisher’s holiday show; and Ensemble’s one-man An Iliad, respectively, […]

Lotus at the Luke
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 27, 2021

Back in the virtual world, the Marjorie Luke Theatre this weekend unveils its eighth video presentation in its virtual concert series spotlighting local musicians and others in highly produced digital productions shot with multiple cameras and professional sound on the stage of the historic venue.  All In For Love represents the live concert full-set debut […]

‘Storm Reading’ Revisited
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 19, 2021

Back in 1988 nobody could have predicted the success or impact of Storm Reading, a theatrical play starring and based on the life experiences of Neil Marcus, a humorist-philosopher who lives with a neurological disorder called Dystonia that dramatically impacts his ability to speak and control movement. That includes Rod Lathim, who as head of […]

Gillies Goes from ‘American Idol’ to Star of His Own Heart
By Mackenzie Boss   |   December 24, 2020

No one could fault Santa Barbara singer-songwriter-guitarist Jackson Gillies for letting early success go to his head. After all, while still battling both Type 1 diabetes and a painful skin condition called hidradenitis suppurativa, Gillies was a surprise winner of the 2016 local Teen Star competition at a sold-out Arlington Theatre at age 15, sang […]

Silver Linings Play
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 18, 2020

UCSB Theater’s new show is generating historical perspective for the challenges of the pandemic UCSB Theater’s Generations, a new piece devised for Zoom and directed by Anne Torsiglieri, aims to make the best of the bad situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps finding the silver lining in the seemingly endless sequestering. Fashioned as an […]

A New Pandemic Pastime
By Richard Mineards   |   November 5, 2020

Writer-producer-director Rod Lathim has an interesting new pastime during the pandemic: producing fig balsamic. “I have a prolific fig tree that I’ve never really paid any attention to, but in the summer it’s become a cornucopia of sweet purple figs and I do an annual harvest to make my fig balsamic, which I give away […]

UCSB Shakes it up All Over the ‘Net
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 21, 2020

UCSB’s Department of Theater and Dance’s new season got underway last weekend with a reprise of its summer production of Immortal Longings, a serious take on deals on issues of power and corruption in Shakespeare adapted and directed by Irwin Appel. This weekend, Appel launches its first-ever Naked Shakes Solo Festival featuring renowned artists Debra […]

Marjorie Luke, Staying Ripe in Stale Times
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 17, 2020

Venues and artists throughout the world are struggling with how to thrive or even survive during the extended pandemic. For Marjorie Luke board president Rod Lathim, joining the zeitgeist of endless Zoom performances proved completely unpalatable. Instead, the Luke – which only a year or so ago started producing its own events rather than simply […]