This North Coast Weekend

This weekend Redwood Curtain opens Other Desert Cities, a 2011 family drama by Jon Robin Baitz, featuring Bernadette Cheyne, Cassandra Hesseltine, Lincoln Mitchell, Lynne Wells and Charlie Heinberg.  Scenography (scenic, lighting and costume design) by Lynnie Horrigan, sound design by Jon Tunney, technical direction by Liz Uhazy.  This play was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.  There's more information about it and the production at the new Redwood Curtain blog.

After previews on Thursday and Friday, October 30 and 31, opening night is Saturday November 1 at 8 p.m. with gala reception.  Performances continue Thurs-Saturdays through November 22.  To reserve tickets email boxoffice@redwoodcurtain.com or call 443-7688.  Or online here.

It's the home stretch for Dell'Arte's Kickstarter campaign to support Mary Jane: A Musical Potumentary, a home grow film based on Dell'Arte's twice-staged musical with local "potumentary" footage, in collaboration with Emmy-nominated and BBC veteran filmmaker John Howarth.  

To celebrate the project and maybe even reaching the Kickstarter goal (more than halfway there right now), Dell'Arte is throwing a potluck at the Logger Bar in Blue Lake on Sunday (Nov. 2) beginning at 6 p.m.  In addition to a raffle of Mary Jane memorabilia and  a special "Bloody Mary Jane" bar, there's classic pot songs and MJ hits on the jukebox.

You can contribute to the campaign by clicking here.  On the project itself, here's the dope:

"On stage, Mary Jane sought to examine at all aspects of the local pot culture here in our Humboldt County home, from its regional economic importance to the grim particulars of violence and environmental degradation. The film seeks to fuse the staged production with documentary footage of the marijuana-growing world, illustrating the reality behind the fiction and bring the perspectives of Humboldt artists to the forefront of one of the most talked-about industries in the United States.

The musical documentary will feature 15 original songs, composed and performed by the professional actors and musicians who live in the real-life community of Humboldt County's ‘Emerald Triangle’. It will be shot in Dell'Arte's own backyard in the summer 2015."