The Mountaintop by Pulitzer winner Katori Hall is a two-character fantasy play set on the eve of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Heavy. You would think. However, what could be a bleak study of a national shame becomes thoughtful and witty thanks to some magical realism, a terrific cast, and Hall’s excellent ear for banter.

Yes, culty Shakespeare dorks like me will get weepy at the sacredness of it all.

Going on a journey through the forest of Athens with Spreckels Theater Company is a lot like hiking West County with kids.  You know the trail.  It's a timeless trail structured around patterns of madcap confusion and exhilarating surprise.  But you have to stop and wait for your kids every two minutes.  They need a snack.  They have to pee.   There’s a big stick.  Suddenly they’re standing on a tree stump singing Donovan.  Verily, the hike lacks momentum.

Played with menacing perkiness by Heather Shepardson, Tessa is both a slick TV host and a manifestation of white colonization. Maybe Satan. “Name your price,” she wheedles Patricia in a stunning scene that I really can’t spoil, “It's the last sacrifice you’ll ever have to make.” Chills.

Interview with Santa Rosa’s 6th St Playhouse Education Director Jonathen Blue. Call him “Blue”.

Rather than improvisors building scenes by mining bland suggestions from the audience -- “She’s in labor! She’s in labor at the dentist!” – StandProvers work with far more captivating material straight from the minds of professional comedians. It’s pretty genius.

I’m weird about sex. I don’t know. Probably the Catholic School. And the Nineties.

Joseph is show choir. On coke. And my point is: you can’t half-ass a literal mega musical whose sole reason for existing is to be an Adult Show Choir on Coke.

Vanilla. Validated.

I got drunk at The California again and watched a Snoopy illustrator, a retiree, a psych major and a housewife make theater magic.

It’s interesting that a franchise of not-quite-musicals about goofy nuns even exists. That millions of people have paid to see. Worldwide. And I saw the Christmas one. High.

And my heart stopped. I saw in the dark.