Where Jewel Theatre Company struggled to revive its audience numbers after the COVID shutdown, Santa Cruz Shakespeare had a banner season in 2022. Indoors vs. outdoors is certainly a factor, but what of shifting demographics, economics, attention spans in the smartphone age? And is there a secret sauce in local audiences’ tolerance for new or unfamiliar styles? Wallace Baine explores.
The Here & Now
Posted inCoast Life
‘Gay Guerilla,’ algorithm meets rave and deep listening at Fall Creek as Indexical springs forward
Avant-garde musical organization Indexical kicks off an ambitious stretch Friday, with a blend of classical music and art rock at the Tannery; Saturday brings an offsite with Santa Cruz Underground Music and an “algorave”; and Monday marks the start of a weekly series of improvisational workshops for musicians.
Posted inCoast Life
Brew Cruz rides again with Coffis Brothers collab
Annie Pautsch and the Brew Cruz brewery tour haven’t been as frequent a sight as pre-pandemic, but she’s bringing the bus back this weekend as part of “Coffis Space,” hitting Woodhouse and Humble Sea on the way to Saturday night’s happening at Moe’s Alley.
Posted inCity Life
Get hip with the latest volume of Santa Cruz counterculture history
“Hip Santa Cruz, Vol. 6” is out now, and you can commune with the OG hipsters and immerse yourself in the local 1960s vibes with the writers at the Santa Cruz Art League on April 8.
Posted inCoast Life
With nod to Quixote, Santa Cruz’s Elizabeth McKenzie takes readers on an adventure in new novel
“The Dog of the North” is Elizabeth McKenzie’s follow-up to her acclaimed 2016 novel “The Portable Veblen,” and she’ll talk about it in person at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Tuesday, the day it’s released.
Posted inEducation
Sparking empathy at new Cabrillo exhibition
Inspired by the work of writer Jamil Zaki, “The Empathy Project: Art, Compassion & Connection” brings together works by students, faculty and staff at the Cabrillo Gallery and the Cabrillo Library Gallery, opening Monday and running through April 14.
Posted inCoast Life
Hitchcock rules the weekend in Scotts Valley
Screenings of “Shadow of a Doubt” and “Vertigo” are just the tip of the iceberg as Scotts Valley celebrates its famous former resident, iconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, with a two-day festival Friday and Saturday.
Posted inCity Life
Surf City Lights: Bad Animal’s grand ambitions to become the world’s next great bookstore
Blessed by Beat poet and San Francisco bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti, downtown’s Bad Animal — a high-end Thai-inspired restaurant and wine bar living inside a deeply thought-out bookstore that’s the brainchild of Andrew Sivak — deserves its own attention as an emerging Santa Cruz cultural touchstone on par with Bookshop Santa Cruz and its now-defunct predecessors Logos and The Literary Guillotine.
Posted inCoast Life
From Harbor High to Hollywood A-list, Adam Scott knows how to ‘Party Down’
With his 50th birthday a month away, Santa Cruz native Adam Scott has cemented himself in the show-biz firmament as a contemporary everyman, from “Parks and Rec” to “Severance” to the current Starz reboot of “Party Down,” in which he first starred in 2009.
Posted inScotts Valley
Hitch craft: New Scotts Valley festival celebrates local connections to the great Alfred Hitchcock
Many in Santa Cruz County know that legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock had a retreat in Scotts Valley, and with the city’s new performing arts center providing a worthy setting, locals aim to burnish that connection March 10-11 with a celebration including film screenings, historical presentations and a costume contest.