The Naked Nativity and ‘Mack the Knife’

Some activity among the local artists who make up Fourth Stage, a small community production company: P. Joshua Laskey and Margaret Morneau have been joined by Ally Krumm (all previously with Beyond the Proscenium Productions, which seems to be taking a hiatus). Morneau told SN&R that Fourth Stage is planning a winter production of Laskey’s original work The Naked Nativity for the holidays. The Naked Nativity has a family at an inn, but Mom and Pop have two sons, and one is kind of prodigal. He’s an itinerant philosopher who’s assembled a following of groupies—you might even call them disciples. It sounds like fun, but Fourth Stage is still in the early stages and hoping to line up a theater soon. Also on deck for next season at California Stage is a bit of Brecht and Weill. Ray Tatar took a few minutes from shopping for supplies at Capitol Ace Hardware to mention that California Stage’s season will likely include a staging of The Threepenny Opera. And off I went, singing off-key: “Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne.”