The Jungle at the Curran

By Ana Pines on Apr 9, 2019 in Arts, Arts & Culture, Community, Features, Theatre & Musicals

The Curran has brought “The Jungle” to the Bay Area after having sold out shows in New York and London. The play is based on a self made refugee camp that was located on the outskirts of the French city, Calais, from January 2015 to October 2016. Calais’s proximity to the UK, the desired final destination, is why many refugees continue to arrive there today.

SDLFF – Frontera Filmmakers

By Melissa Sanchez on Mar 22, 2019 in Arts & Culture, Community, Features, Festivals, Film

The San Diego Latino Film Festival shows a variety of themed short film blocks. Every year I make sure to check out one of their showcases. This year I attended Frontera Filmmakers, featuring movies made by directors near our border town of San Diego and Tijuana.

Film Review: Nos Llaman Guerreras

By Melissa Sanchez on Mar 20, 2019 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

The documentary film Nos Llaman Guerreras (They Call Us Warriors) directed by Jennifer Socorro, Edwin Corona and the late David Alonso, centers on the Venezuelan women’s soccer team and their fight to win the first World Cup for their country. What makes these women different from all other female soccer players, they had to fight against their country’s political and economic strife to get there.

SF – SEAN DORSEY DANCE Launches 15th Anniversary Season

By Ana Pines on Mar 9, 2019 in Arts & Culture, Dance, Features

SEAN DORSEY DANCE celebrates 15 years of award-winning dance performances, cultural activism and history-making achievements with a return engagement of, “Boys in Trouble” at Z Space (March 14-16)

26th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival

By Ana Pines on Mar 1, 2019 in Arts & Culture, Features, Festivals, Film

This year’s San Diego Latino Film Festival (SDLFF) from March 14 – 24, 2019 marks its 26th year. It will take place at the AMC 18 Fashion Valley theaters and Digital Gym CINEMA in North Park.

Mary Poppins Returns – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Dec 22, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

When the original Mary Poppinsfilm came out in 1964, it was a refreshing and light-hearted story that audiences ate up with a spoonful of sugar. The playful nanny and her chimney sweeper sidekick, provided the perfect distraction from the chaos and violence that was ripping through the outside world at the time,

Dear Evan Hansen – You’re Not Alone

By Ana Pines on Dec 8, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Theatre & Musicals

You may cry some tears as the show deals with tough topics like suicide, depression, anxiety, and divorce. Multiple characters explore the feeling of not belonging regardless of their situation and the everyday persona they present to the world. A great show for parents to watch with their teenagers, if you can get them to be seen in public with you.

Cirque Du Soleil’s Volta – Finding Freedom in You

By Ana Pines on Nov 16, 2018 in Arts, Arts & Culture, Dance, Features

Cirque Du Soleil’s Volta is the 18th show presented under the Big Top at AT&T park in San Francisco. This rendition has a more urban feel than previous shows due to its inclusion of stunts with BMX bikes and a game of double dutch. These are things that some of us have seen in our own neighborhoods and are always impressive. It triggered many in the audience to rise in applause.

Men on Boats at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater

By Ana Pines on Nov 9, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Theatre & Musicals

“Men on Boats” tells the story of the 1869 expedition by one-armed ex-soldier John Wesley Powell. The playwright, Jaclyn Backhaus, was inspired by Powell’s published journals. The historic expedition to explore the lower reaches of the Colorado River, via the gorges of the Grand Canyon was the first sanctioned by the U.S. government, one of many tongue in cheek facts pointed out throughout the play.

By Melissa Sanchez on Nov 3, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

The biopic film Bohemian Rhapsody directed by Brian Singer, tells the story of not only Mercury, but of the band. How they came into existence and how they were catapulted into fame with their iconic hit songs.

Mid90s – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Oct 27, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

The film Mid90s accurately captured the adolescent sentiment that many people grow up with, the feeling that parents don’t understand our feelings, and the undeniable urge to seek out fun and excitement on our own terms, like I did when I was a teenager. I must have been 17 or 18 when I gave my 13-year-old cousin my World IndustriesWet Willy skateboard because to be totally honest, I sucked at skateboarding.

Beautiful Boy – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Oct 19, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

What does the face of drug addiction look like in the United States? Are they young and white, living in an affluent neighborhood, or a person of color living in the projects? The truth is that drug addiction has no barriers; it can affect anyone who is susceptible to the lures of euphoria and escape.

Sweat at A.C.T.’s Geary Theatre

By K Quintanilla on Oct 6, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Theatre & Musicals

Sweat is a poignant story about a group of steel factory workers living in Reading, Pennsylvania, whose lives are transformed in the midst of a recession. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, the play reveals the chaotic results that stem from insecurities among a group of once tight-knit co-workers, bringing to light their distrust, entitlement issues, prejudices, and their struggle to retain and define the American Dream.

The Sisters Brothers – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on Oct 1, 2018 in Features, Film

The Sisters Brothers gives us a western film with a masculine heart. It includes many western movie tropes such as, gunslinging, whiskey drinking, and saloon entrance making men, but what sets this movie apart from others is that it shows us that there is more to these men, than just their wild ways.

Book Club – Film Review

By Melissa Sanchez on May 18, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Film

The time has finally come where Hollywood is embracing and making movies that older actresses can star in and that audiences want to see on screen. In Bill Holderman’s new film, Book Club, the story centers on four lifelong friends in their 60’s, who decide to read Fifty Shades of Grey for their monthly book club selection and how the book ends up changing their lives.

‘Head Over Heels’ Has Got the Beat!

By Ana Pines on Apr 20, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Music, Theatre & Musicals

Bay Area the Go-Go’s fans won’t want to miss the new musical ‘Head Over Heels’ playing until May 6 at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre. The show comes to the Bay stage with an impressive team including Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening) as director.

Cirque Du Soleil Brings Its First Ice Show, CRYSTAL, to San Jose’s SAP Center

By Ana Pines on Mar 29, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Dance, Features, Humor, Music

CRYSTAL—Cirque du Soleil’s 42nd production and first-ever experience on ice—has arrived in San Jose’s SAP Center until April 1, 2018. In typical Cirque fashion, the show is innovative, visually stunning, funny, and full of imaginative scenarios that only a Cirque show can take you through.

Vietgone at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater – A Story of Love and Loss

By Ana Pines on Mar 22, 2018 in Arts & Culture, Features, Theatre & Musicals

The American Conservatory Theater is presenting Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone,” at the Strand Theater until April 22. The story revolves around how two Vietnamese refugees fall in love, one is a fighter pilot, Quang (James Seol) and the other a U.S. Embassy worker, Tong (Jenelle Chu).