KRL has always enjoyed shining the spotlight on local creators—whether they are singers, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, artists, writers, or actors. This week we are chatting with local actor Chris Giese who has been seen on the stage with Reedley’s River City Theatre Co. many times, as well as at Hobb’s Grove every Halloween, and in several indie movies. Born in Dinuba, Chris now lives in Fresno.
Lately, we have seen a lot of shows on the darker side—we started off with Sweeney Todd in Visalia, then The Bad Seed at 2nd Space, and now Next to Normal in Selma. While all three shows are wonderful and wonderfully done, Next to Normal is the one among them that is most likely to strike a chord with many because of its realistic portrayal of mental illness. It is also the most likely to have you reaching for the tissues.
Fresno Lexus Broadway in Fresno is presenting Fiddler on the Roof at the Saroyan on May 16 and 17. Recently, KRL had the opportunity to interview cast member Maite Uzal who plays Golde about the show! Maite is from Madrid, Spain.
The Pillowman opens this weekend at Fresno State presented by Fresno State’s University Theatre. We had the chance recently to chat about the show with the show’s director, J. Daniel Herring, who is also a professor and Department Chair at Fresno State.
This Thursday, April 27, a new show opens at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia. Their Performing Arts department will be presenting a play called ARGONAUTIKA: The Voyage of Jason and the Argonauts. This one will be unique as it will be co-directed with some of the students at COS, together with Chris Mangels who is a Professor of Theatre and Cinema Arts as well as the Resident Scenic Designer, Fight Choreographer, and one of the two Resident Directors. We took a moment to chat with Chris and some of the students involved.
I really enjoy finding new places to share with our readers, especially coffee shops! During the Rogue Festival in March, I discovered that a new coffee shop had opened up in a familiar location in the Tower District. Alchemist Coffee Lab has taken over the location where Hi-Top coffee used to be, just down the street from Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater on Wishon. After trying their delicious hot mocha, I decided to reach out to learn more and recently chatted with owner Hamzeh Mahmoud.
Fresno Lexus Broadway in Fresno's next show coming to the Saroyan Theatre will be Hairspray. The performances will be next week on March 21 and 22. KRL had the chance to chat with one of the actors in the show recently, Ryahn Evers, who plays Amber Von Tussle.
The Fresno Ani-Me Con is happening again on March 18 and 19. We attended last year and it was so much fun! Recently we chatted with one of the local artists who will have a booth there, Ziang Her, about her art and where to find her booth for Ziang Her Art at this year’s Ani-Me Con.
I am not exaggerating when I say that I would pay to watch Martin Dockery read a phone book—he is just that good! (for those who don’t know what a phone book is, it was a book where you could find people’s names and phone numbers back before the internet) When I saw he was going to be at this year’s Rogue Festival I knew I had to be there. During the pandemic, Martin performed many stories on YouTube and I caught as many of them as I could—now I was finally going to be able to see him again in person.
The Rogue Festival is here! Here are more of our Rogue Festival show reviews! There will be many more to come! We also have several Rogue Performer Preview articles that have been going up over the last few weeks.
