Tabard Theatre Company Executive Artistic Director Jonathan Rhys Williams is inviting the public to celebrate his birthday with him at the theater at San Jose’s San Pedro Square on Feb. 15. He doesn’t want anyone to bring gifts for him — but he is definitely hoping they consider a gift for Tabard, which he says is in serious financial trouble.
“Rather than just put up a show, we want to tell the story what it’s been like for the last couple of years. I’m hoping to put a personal face on the challenges we’ve been wrestling with to provide these arts experiences for people,” Williams said. “We definitely want to draw awareness to the arts at large. We know we’re not the only ones going through this.”
Tabard is hoping to receive a California Venue Program grant, but Williams says even that would just get the company to the summer. “If it goes through, that’s a big game-changer for us, but it really just extends the lifeline,” he said. “The only thing that’s going to get us through this is getting more audience in the room.”
Like other performing arts groups, Tabard was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic as live performances were shut down. Anticipating the necessity for livestreamed performances, Williams had a new video and audio system installed in the cozy, 150-seat venue. Between livestreamed shows, rent breaks and extra fundraising, Tabard managed to make it to the 2022-23 season, which everyone predicted would be a return to normal. But this season has been a roller coaster ride with audiences growing over the summer and then shrinking again because of the delta variant.
Things were looking up in early winter, but then the omicron surge came and scuttled plans to produce the musical “Triumph of Love” this month. Williams hoped to replace it with a non-musical show with a smaller cast, but he couldn’t get one that would allow them to produce it in-person and livestreamed — an option he wanted to keep open for audiences.
Instead, Tabard will offer a “Winter Thaw” concert series for four weekends in February and March, and it’s being launched Feb 15 — which also happens to be Williams’ 53rd birthday. He’s invited some of his musician and singer friends, including actor James Creer, to join him, providing entertainment while also sharing their experience during the pandemic. Doors open around 7 p.m., with the stage stuff starting at 8 p.m. Admission is free, and it’s also being livestreamed. You can RSVP to attend in person or online at www.tabardtheatre.org.
And the first show in the “Winter Thaw” series is just a few days later on Feb. 19 with the Dirt Rakers, a five-person Americana band from the Santa Cruz mountains, hitting the stage at 3 p.m. Other shows are in the works, but the only one confirmed so far is Aardvark, a Grateful Dead cover band, on March 12.
JUST THE TICKET FOR SPORTS FANS: Can you imagine scoring season tickets to the 49ers, Sharks and Earthquakes? It could happen to you, thanks to a new fundraiser by the San Jose Sports Authority, the group responsible for bringing big events from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships to the NCAA basketball tournament to Silicon Valley.
It was a tough couple of years for the organization, as more than 20-plus events scheduled to come to the area were cancelled because of COVID. But it hurt even more to lose its signature fundraising events, the 2020 San Jose Sports Hall of Fame ceremony and the annual Bocce Battle in 2020 and ’21.
Executive Director John Poch says that was the inspiration for the Golden Ticket Raffle, which will support its COVID High School Relief Fund for the Central Coast Section and the REACH Youth Scholarship program. There are 1,000 tickets being sold at $100 each, with the prize being a pair of regular season tickets to the 49ers and Quakes in 2022 and Sharks in 2022-23. That’s 67 total games, and you can bet the winner will end up with lots of new friends.
The winning ticket will be drawn on April 2 at SAP Center during the Sharks game against the Dallas Stars. You can get your entry at sjsa.org/product/goldenticket.
ART AND ABOUT: Santa Clara University’s de Saisset Museum has a new solo exhibition on display featuring the work of Bay Area artist Kara Maria. The series of paintings and works on papers covers her work from 2013 up to her latest piece, “Stardust (Ohlone tiger beetle)” from last year, with the colorful works raising awareness about species that are endangered or extinct. “Kara Maria — Precious and Precarious: Life on the Edge of Extinction” opened Jan. 28 to the campus community, but it’s now also open to the public through June 11. A free public reception will be held April 1 at 7 p.m. Go to www.scu.edu/desaisset for more details.
You’ve still got a few weeks to check out the Los Gatos Art Association’s Greater Bay Area Open, a juried exhibit of fine art at the New Museum Los Gatos. Artists from Napa to Carmel submitted pieces in line with the theme, “Listen, Learn, Change, Grow,” which matches the name of a campaign launched recently by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce. The jurors included Triton Museum Executive Director Preston Metcalf and NUMU Art Curator Julie Ericsson. It runs through March 12, and you can get more information at www.numulosgatos.org.
FIRST LOOK DELAYED: What a bummer that Terri Nunn and Berlin — scheduled to be the first act playing at the revamped Guild Theatre in Menlo Park — have been postponed from their original date of Feb. 19 to May 7. Construction delays are to blame. The historic movie theater, which closed its doors in 2019, is undergoing a $35 million transformation into a concert hall. Jazz great Robert Glasper is now on deck to be the opening act Feb 25, and our fingers are crossed that we don’t have to wait much longer. See the upcoming schedule at www.guildtheatre.com.
AT THE BIG GAME: Media outlets from around the globe have been converging on Los Angeles for Super Bowl LVI this week, and the San Jose-based Bay Area Review is among them this year. Publisher Brigitte Jones says she’s thrilled that the publication was accepted as credentialed media and sees it as an amazing opportunity for a publication owned by a Black woman to share space with the big-name media. You can check out some of what they’ve been doing at www.thebayareareview.com.
Source: www.mercurynews.com