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Pacifica Spindrift Players
Category: Arts & Entertainment Performing Arts Performing Arts [Edit]
1050 Crespi DrivePacifica, CA 94044
(650) 359-8002
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 3 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
Charles B. said: "Incredible work done both on stage and behind the scenes on Seven Guitars. It was great seeing Bay Area actors whose work I've come to know and love in several plays, Margo Hall and Toby Windham, along with other fine actors bringing…" read more »
7 reviews for Pacifica Spindrift Players
7 reviews in English
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Review from Alice C.
Benton, ME
1/25/2012
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Pacifica Spindrift Players
Opening Night 1/6/12
One of the many rewards of going to small theater productions (Pacifica's Spindrift theater seats 98) is chatting with the cast and crew in the lobby after the show. There Elisa Valentine (Maggie in the current run of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) told me that is one role every actress wants to play: she can be by turns shrewd, seductive, a sweetheart, a vamp, and of course, catty to the hilt. All in the first act, where Valentine's Maggie owns the stage. She shares it with a sullen, almost absent husband (Collin Wenzell as Brick), a washed-up sportscaster with too much on his mind that he tries to drown with alcohol.
He doesn't say much; just lies on the sofa seeming asleep, or gets up to pour himself another drink while Maggie in what amounts to an extended soliloquy alternately berates, cajoles, flatters, and attempts to seduce him. Nothing doing, for this scene. Brick's not having any of it. "How long does this have to go on? . . Go on, take a lover. You know you want to." Outside their bedroom window, others in the household of this decaying southern mansion are listening in. We in the audience are too. The secrets unfold themselves slowly.
Partly it's the masterful script, but more the details of the production that create this world. The very clever set design by Henry Sellenthin gives us on one stage a bedroom, parlor, a hallway outside a door, a balcony, and a star-filled night sky (by lighting designer Carson Duper) just outside the French doors. There's more air and frame than wall and scrim; bars on the railing, the transom, the brass bedstead all give the subtlest hint of how these lives are contained in cages. The characters don't see them, but we do.
And oh, those characters! Williams gave them words to say, but fine acting by the entire cast breathes life into them. In the second act Wenzell's lethargic Brick catches fire, slowly, as his overbearing, sonofabitch father (John Musgrave as Big Daddy) confronts him over his constant drunkenness. This son's a disgrace, the other one's a disappointment, and he has no trouble expressing himself about it. Brick takes it all in, another reason to fail.
Big Daddy's slowly dying although he doesn't know it. He's heartbroken. He won't let anyone see it, but we can hear it by the unconscious catch in his voice when he says Brick's name. The second act builds slowly, gracefully under Gary Pugh-Newman's patient direction. One by one the layers that father and son had both so carefully protected themselves with are peeled away and we see depths in each of them that they cannot see for themselves. The second act belongs to them. At odd moments each reveals to the other--if not to himself--aspects kept concealed their entire lives together. In a slow ballet they move toward each other, then pull away.
The play was written in 1955. Brick's implied homosexuality--Big Daddy says his son's too-close friendship with another young man was "not exactly normal"--and the importance of keeping it a secret, was a big deal then. But in this play, nothing is quite what it seems. Yes, Brick and Skipper were very, very close, but "It was pure and true, and that's not normal." A deep, deep friendship, gone to ruin over fear of what others might have said. Brick has crippled himself with alcohol over this, and will not hear his father's kind words, or recognize his father's love. But we do.
Supporting actors enter and depart, preparing the way for the fine ensemble work of the third act, when every one of them gets to take center stage for a time, and makes good use of it. Characters who previously had been more walk-ons burst into life, each with his own heartache, fear, intrigue, betrayal. Big Mama (Joan Pugh-Newman) finally learns the truth about her husband--he's dying, this man who has held her in such contempt for forty years, and she won't hear a word of any of it. By the final curtain, we've seen them all, and recognized ourselves in them.
This remarkable production by Pacifica Spindrift Players is replete with subtleties of lighting, set design, acting, and direction of this remarkable production that do not lend them selves to simple description. You really must go see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to see all of what I mean.
Through January 29. 2012
http://www.pacificaspi...
650-359-8002
Review by David Hirzel
http://www.davidhirzel... -
Review from Maria M.
Pacifica, CA
1/7/2012
I have lived in Pacifica 23 years and have never been to a community theater untill this Saturday and was very impressed. I saw A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and thought all the actors played their part very well especially Maggie! If you live in Pacifica and haven't been you are definitely missing out.
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Review from Athena S.
5/12/2011
Really a beautiful area hiding a small little gem of a theater.
Saw Boxcar - El Vagon - directed by David Acevedo here. It was awesome and worth seeing. It's coming to SF so keep your ears open for it.
Pacifica Spindrift Players is a tiny playhouse which means all 30 seats are great !Listed in: BRAVO!
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Review from David H.
Pacifica, CA
Updated - 6/5/2011
The first time I saw this play (for me in 1992, of the film from 1982), a light went off for me: this is what theatre IS. I remembered that feeling, but apparently little of the play itself, and the moment I saw that Spindrift was going to produce it, I determined I WILL see this. Not so much for the staging, as for the play itself. To see if that my first impression would hold true after 20 years.
YES! Whole worlds of imagined reality--a bunch of them--are created for you, all in the set of a five-and-dime in McCarthy Texas in 1955--or is it 1975? In Henry Sellenthin's adept production, the timeshifts take us with a minimum of fuss between the two eras. One where James Dean's brief life lit the imaginary world of a small-town girl's (with one boy) fan club, and a later one where the made-up stories ultimately come into conflict with the convoluted world that came to be.
The center of the play is Mona, but ust when you think you know what is going on, what is about to happen, another character jumps effortlessly into the lead, and then another. And all the worlds that they weave with just the interplay of spoken word, become absolutely real. This play is full of surprises, even to one who thought he knew it. The drama of the drugstore as real life takes place right in front of you in the intimate space of the Spindrift's theatre.
You can go to larger venues, pay more money, but you will not find a better rendition of Ed Graczyk's play. Handsome kudos to actors Laurie Wall, Helen Artellis, Joan Pugh-Newman and the entire onstage ensemble and the Spindrift production team, for yet another wonderful theatrical experience.
Don't miss this one.
Through June 25 at Spindrift Theatre in Pacifica CA
http://www.pacificaspi...
650-359-8002
Review by David Hirzel
http://www.davidhirzel...1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/11/2011
Glengarry Glen Ross
Pacifica Spindrift Players
Pacifica Spindrift Players, always up for a challenge,… Read more »
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Review from Adena D.
Redwood City, CA
12/3/2007
Pacifica Spindrift Players is a gem of a community theatre hidden up in the hills of this lovely coastal community. Only a 15-minute drive south of San Francisco, a trip to the theatre is a great excuse to visit Pacifica and enjoy the beach, the amazing Taco Bell (yes, I said "amazing" and "Taco Bell" in the same sentence) and the beautiful scenery of the area. Plays here are hit or miss, but like any community theater you'll have good seats and they won't cost you an arm and a leg. Sweet!
*disclaimer: I've performed here and I will be directing "Bus Stop" later this season. My review is more about shows I've seen at the theater than the one I was in.* -
Review from Tiffany W.
Fresno, CA
1/30/2011
Came here for the 1st time a couple days ago to watch "Glengarry Glen Ross." I give the show 3.5*. It dragged abit and i got a bit bored frankly. The show was very short, 90 minutes net. We had an intermission after 45 min, woudl have preferred to just watch the entire play in its entirety w/o break.
I haven't watched the movie, so I'll see it soon so I can compare.
Seats were ok, comparable to most small playhouses. Seats were split between 2 sides. Snacks served during intermission.
Bought a season's pass so i hope the upcoming shows don't disappoint. -
Review from Brandi K.
Pacifica, CA
1/25/2008
I love and support local theatres. This one is amazing! Took in a show last year and loved every minute of it. It is a small theatre, but if you get your tickets in advance you would have no problem seeing a show. Looking forward to "Death Trap" in Feb. !
