Bay Area arts: Here are 9 great shows to see this week and beyond

There are a lot of wonderful concerts, plays and exhibits to see this weekend and beyond in the Bay Area. Here’s just a partial roundup.

Last hurrah for Sketch dances

After a long career as a performer with several California dance companies, Amy Seiwert has evolved into one of the Bay Area’s most acclaimed choreographers. And her company, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, has been applauded for its innovative and captivating performances. Among Seiwert’s most popular traditions has been the annual Sketch performances, which over the years has presented 37 new works by multitude of of risk-taking choreographers.

With Seiwert set to assume her new post as associate artistic director at the famed Smuin Contemporary Ballet in the fall (and it’s been announced she’ll take over as Smuin artistic director in 2024); this year marks the 13th and final Sketch series. Sub-titled “Lucky” (get it?), Sketch 13 comes to ODC/Dance Theater in San Francisco this weekend with a program of four world premieres by Seiwert; Natasha Adorlee, a former artistic fellow at Imagery known for embracing contemporary dance, ballet and martial arts in her work; award-winning Canadian choreographer Hélène Simoneau; and acclaimed choreographer Trey McIntyre, whose works are well-known to Bay Area dance fans and whose new work at Sketch 13 is said to be inspired by American Sign Language.

Performances will feature eight dancers from Imagery and a variety of other Northern California dance companies. As for Seiwert’s Imagery, the company will continue performances through 2024 before disbanding next March.

— Randy McMullen, Staff

‘Much Ado’ in Livermore

The Shakespeare & Performing Arts Regional Company (formerly Livermore Shakespeare Festival) is continuing its Shakespeare in the Vineyard summer series with one of the Bard’s most beloved and frequently produced comedies, “Much Ado About Nothing.”

Full of the Bard’s trademark double-dealing, costly misunderstandings, jealousy,  gossip, scandal and people chafing under societal constraints and expectations, “Much Ado” centers on two couples dealing with issues and obstacles that remain surprisingly commonplace today.

“Despite having worked on Shakespeare’s plays for over 20 years,” says “Much Ado” director Lisa A. Tromovitch, “I am still amazed at how the issues he was exploring over 400 years ago are still issues we wrestle with today.”

The production, adapted by Mary Ann Rodgers, plays at the Darcie Kent Vineyard, 7000 Tesla Road, Livermore, through Aug. 6.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, $18-$60; sparctheater.org.

— Randy McMullen, Staff

Star-studded Jazz Fest comes to Napa

Now in its second year, the Robert Glasper-curated Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa is celebrating the influence of jazz on hip-hop over the last half-century.

The lineup for the three-day event is nothing short of sensational, featuring headliners Mary J. Blige, Nas and Chance the Rapper as well as Smino, Rakim & DJ Jazz Jeff, Digable Planets, Big Freedia, De La Soul, Ari Lennox, Talib Kweli & Madlib, BJ the Chicago Kid, PJ Morton and many other talents.

Glasper, who is the artist-in-residence, is set to appear all three days. Comedian Dave Chappelle serves as host.

Sounds like an amazing way to spend a long weekend up in Wine Country. It’s also part of the nationwide observance of hip-hop’s half-century milestone.

Details: July 28-30, Silverado Resort, Napa; $225 single day, $375 two-day pass, $575 three-day pass; bluenotejazz.com/jazz-festival-napa

— Jim Harrington, Staff

‘Cymbeline’ free tour is underway

Theatrical productions don’t come much more efficiently titled than Free Shakespeare in the Park. That’s the name of San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s annual summer shindig, which, indeed, serves up a free and first-rate performance of a Shakespeare play at several Bay Area parks and amphitheaters. This year’s production is “Cymbeline,” one of the Bard’s lesser-known but more compelling works.

Its complicated storyline follows the titular king who’s dealing with a lot of issues. He’s still crushed by the loss of two sons who were kidnapped 20 years ago; his daughter has gotten married behind his back and his wife, for a variety of reasons, wants him dead. And that’s just the beginning. Shakespeare supposedly wrote “Cymbeline” late in his career and many Bard aficionados consider it one of his best, if not most complicated, works. S.F. Shakespeare Fest is presenting “Cymbeline,” directed by Maryssa Wanlass, weekends at Cupertino’s Memorial Park through Aug. 6; Redwood City’s Red Morton Park Aug. 12-27; San Frsancisco’s McLaren Park Sept. 2-10; and the Bruns Amphitheatre in Orinda Sept. 16-24.

Details: Go to sfshakes.org for more information.

— Bay City News Foundation

Images from an unlikely source

The 13 photographers whose works are featured in a recently opened Walnut Creek exhibit are nationally recognized artists praised for their technical prowess, resourcefulness and for producing images like no one else. They’re also blind.

“Sight Unseen: International Photography by Blind Artists,” a touring exhibit now showing at the Bedford Gallery in the Lesher Center for the Arts, not only boasts some eye-popping and spectacular images, it explores the nature of what “seeing” really is and the broad spectrum of stimuli that go into the art of taking pictures. Henry Butler, for example, is also a talented musician and, as, as promoters put it, “uses audio cues to capture the vibrant street life and characters in his hometown of New Orleans.” To him, music and photography are simply different manifestations of the same restless creative spirit.

Many of the artists lost their vision through accident or tragedy and rely somewhat on the memory of their sight to fuel their work. Artists Evgen Baycar and Pete Eckert often shoot at night to facilitate the act of creating what they “see” in their minds. Some works incorporate Braille so they can be experienced by blind viewers as well. “Sight Unseen” is one of those exhibits where the artistic process is as celebrated as the works on display.

Details: Through Sept. 17; Bedford Gallery, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek; noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays; pay what you can; www.bedfordgallery.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

A mariachi opera plays Oakland

It’s 13 years old now, but it couldn’t be more relevant today. “Cruzar,” fully “Cruzar la Cara de la Luna,” or “To Cross the Face of the Moon” is the poetic title of the 2010 opera by the late Jose “Pepe” Martinez that originally premiered at Houston Grand Opera and is now the second offering of West Edge Opera’s Festival 2023. Baritone Efrain Solis sings the role of Laurentino, a Mexican immigrant whose story we follow over the course of 50 difficult years, and mezzo-soprano Kelly Guerra is his wife, Renata.

The bilingual production gets an assist from conductor Sixto Montesinos and his 10-member Mariachi Azteca band. Directed by Karina Gutierrez, “Cruzar” has two performances to go.

Details: 8 p.m. July 28 and Aug. 5; Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland; $10-$140; westedgeopera.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

Original Indy gets his due

Harrison Ford at 80 was deep into his fifth incarnation as the whipcracking, wisecracking adventurer/archeologist Indiana Jones when he was filming the current hit “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which uses some high-tech tricks to transform him into the dashing young man he used to be. But you can catch him again in his very first outing, as the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos, plays that iconic John Williams score live to a showing of the 1981 Steven Spielberg film “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” winner of four Academy Awards, twice in Davies Hall and once on an outdoor screen at the Frost Amphitheater on the Stanford campus.

Details: 7:30 p.m. July 27 and 2 p.m. July 30 at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; 7:30 p.m. July 28-29 at Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford; $50-$182 at Davies, $15-$95 at the Frost; you can access all tickets at sfsymphony.org.

— Bay City News Foundation