From haunted hotels and vampire balls to drag raves and downtown costume madness, Santa Cruz County is ready to get its freak on this Halloween weekend. Jana Marcus teams up with local paranormal storyteller Spooky Girl 831 to pick eight ways to eat, drink, dance and be scary.
Jana Marcus
A native Santa Cruzan, Jana Marcus has deep roots in the local theatre and arts scene. Daughter of renowned theatre director Wilma Marcus Chandler and famed poet and film critic Morton Marcus, Jana has carved her own creative path as a multi award-winning photographer. She was the premiere South Bay area theatre photographer for over 20 years as well as an award-winning documentary and portrait photographer. Jana has also had a stellar career as an arts marketer, creating acclaimed campaigns and content for Cabrillo College, Cabrillo Stage, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Tandy Beal and Company, Actors’ Theatre, Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre and more. Jana is the author of three books and the host of the true crime podcast, Line of Blood.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘The Lost Boys’ fans gather in Santa Cruz ahead of a potential 40th-anniversary bash
Nearly 40 years after “The Lost Boys” turned Santa Cruz into Santa Carla, actor Jamison Newlander hopes to bring the film’s worldwide fan base together in Santa Cruz for the 40th anniversary of its 1987 release. Two October events featuring international fan art, live music and a screening will test the waters for something bigger in 2027.
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Ghosts among us: Five of Santa Cruz County’s most haunted places
Phantom children, mysterious nuns, a woman in white, and one invisible dog with a very bad attitude. Just in time for Halloween, Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters founder Mary Anne Porter takes us through five of her favorite haunted places, where local history and ghostly legends have a way of getting tangled together.
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How maestro Daniel Stewart is shaping Santa Cruz Symphony’s 69th season
Santa Cruz Symphony Music Director Daniel Stewart is bringing together Dvořák and Nina Simone, Stravinsky and BTS, Rachmaninoff and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier for the orchestra’s 69th season, “Music Unites Us.” Jana Marcus sat down with Stewart to find out how those unlikely musical pairings come together.
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Mountain Community Theater’s ‘Rumors’ turns a cocktail party into comic chaos
Mountain Community Theater serves up Neil Simon’s “Rumors” at full comic speed, with a tight ensemble, precise direction by MarNae Taylor and standout comic turns from the cast. It’s a cocktail party gone spectacularly wrong, and great fun to watch.
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470 empty seats make some noise: What’s next for Cabrillo’s original theater?
Two weeks after Lookout asked whether Cabrillo College’s long-shuttered theater could have a second act, nearly 99% of 178 survey respondents said yes. Now a group of longtime Cabrillo artists and educators is exploring what it would take to bring the 470-seat theater back to life, while the college says it welcomes conversations about revitalizing the space.
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‘The Last Five Years’ at Santa Cruz Shakespeare: A beautiful production of a frustrating musical
Santa Cruz Shakespeare gives Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years” a thoughtful production, with terrific performances and wonderful live musicianship leading the way. But this musical autopsy of a failed marriage ultimately leaves us with one lingering question: What have we learned from the wreckage?
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Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s ‘Private Lives’ is deliciously funny — and gloriously toxic
Santa Cruz Shakespeare opens its fall season in delicious style with Noël Coward’s “Private Lives.” Charles Pasternak and Paige Lindsey White are marvelous as the spectacularly combustible couple who can’t seem to stay together or apart, bringing sparkling chemistry and impeccable comic timing to Laura Gordon’s stylish, laugh-out-loud production.
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Puccini, poker and profanity: ‘The Girl of the Golden West’ takes an unexpectedly funny ride
Puccini heads to the California Gold Rush in “The Girl of the Golden West,” where a contemporary English translation adds profanity, camp and plenty of unexpected laughs. The emotional depth sometimes gets lost along the way, but three terrific lead voices, particularly Jordan Best’s Minnie, make the production.
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470 empty seats: What happens to Cabrillo College’s original theater now?
For nearly half a century, Cabrillo College’s original theater hosted world-renowned musicians, Hollywood actors and generations of young artists. It has been dark since 2009. Now, amid a shortage of performance spaces in Santa Cruz County, some are asking whether its 470 empty seats could have a future.
