Tag archives: Marjorie Luke Theatre
The Marjorie Luke Theatre is reaching out with an urgent request as they seek to replace its outdated lighting system with energy-efficient LED fixtures. A new system would not only enhance the theatrical experience but also serve as a key part of the Luke’s commitment to sustainability and long-term cost savings, as LED fixtures would […]
The pop chestnut “The Rose” sold a million copies for Bette Midler, who sang the ballad in the 1979 movie of the same name and took home a Grammy award to boot. But it was Amanda McBroom that wrote the song that has become a classic, one that Conway Twitty covered for a No. 1 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
