Bay Area Arts: 6 shows and concerts to catch this weekend

From the San Francisco Mime Troupe to the son of a famed Bay Area folk musician, there are a lot of cool shows and concerts to catch in the Bay Area this weekend.

Here is a partial rundown.

Mime Troupe is back for summer fun

At a time when the political landscape seems about as solid President Biden’s debating skills; the San Francisco Mime Troupe returns to remind us in its uniquely hilarious fashion: It could be worse. A lot worse.

The politically minded musical theater company returns this week with another new production that, per tradition, will be performed at parks and other outdoor venues through the summer.

This year’s show, created by Michael Gene Sullivan and Daniel Savio, and directed by Velina Brown, is titled “American Dreams.” It centers on a Black American who is so fed up with his liberal dreams getting dashed that he throws his support to the Conservative cause, to the dismay of college-professor daughter, who’s wondering if her dreams of a political utopia are nothing more than a mirage.

The show, which touches comically — and from a decidedly left perspective — on such hot-button issues as A.I., student unrest, voting security and more, opens 2 p.m. today at Mission Dolores Park, San Francisco, and plays Saturday in Berkeley. The tour goes through through Sept. 8 with mostly outdoor stops in Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Orinda, Davis and more.

Details: All performances are free; go to www.sfmt.org for schedule and more information.

— Randy McMullen, Staff

Oakland film series serves up free comedy classic

Yearning for a taste of 1980s nostalgia? Or have children who haven’t yet experienced the joy of practical effects? Then head to Oakland’s Jack London Square on July 5 for a special showing of “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” the classic 1989 comedy that surprisingly hasn’t been remade like every other successful movie.

The screening takes place on the Marina Lawn under the night sky as part of Oakland’s ongoing Waterfront Flicks series. Previous movies have included “Toy Story” and “Beetlejuice,” but you won’t want to miss Rick Moranis’ finest work as a kooky inventor who accidentally minimizes his children down to ant size, then throws them out with the garbage where they’re forced to fend against horrendously large insects. (What stressed-out parent hasn’t at least once dreamed of doing this?)

No word yet if the screening will be paired with the short Roger Rabbit movie “Tummy Trouble,” which accompanied the original theater release.

Details: Screening starts at 8:30 p.m., gather on the Marina Lawn near Heinold’s: First and Last Chance Saloon; free; blankets and/or lawn chair welcome; snacks and sandwiches can be ordered from Left Bank; jacklondonsquare.com/events

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Son of an icon takes the stage

He might have grown up in a conservative New Jersey family, but David Grisman wound up creating a big part of the catchy, syncopated sound that defined the Bay Area’s free-wheeling folk scene in the late 20th century. After moving to the Bay Area, Grisman, a stunningly talented mandolinist, began establishing his musical identity, one that brought him in contact with Jerry Garcia. The two formed a lifelong friendship and musical partnership. Grisman was a member of the Garcia-led bluegrass band Old and In the Way and helped create a musical blueprint that melded folk, bluegrass, classic string-band music and gypsy jazz. Garcia dubbed it “Dawg” music in Grisman’s honor, reportedly because Grisman was being followed by a pooch one day when the two were strolling on Stinson Beach.

We don’t know what happened to the pooch, but Grisman’s music lives on, partly in the form of Grisman’s son, Sam, who is also a talented string musician. Noting that his love for his father’s music comes from its sound as well as the joy and camaraderie it represents, the young musician has created the Sam Grisman Project, which specializes in performing Grisman/Garcia tunes, particularly from the early 1990s, as well Sam Grisman’s own songs. The band performs at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage club on July 6.

Details: 8 p.m.; $49-$54; thefreight.org.

Star violinist lands in Bay Area

It was apparent fairly early on that drive and talent were never going to be a question for young Queens, New York, violinist Damien Escobar. At 10, he became the youngest student ever accepted at the Juilliard School of Music. After sharpening his skills busking on the streets of New York, Escobar and his brother formed the duo Nuttin’ But Stringz. About a decade ago, Escobar decided to go solo and he has hardly looked back.

Acclaimed as a phenomenal musician with a knack for merging soul, jazz and hip-hop with contemporary classical music, Escobar has earned a global following with his tuneful albums as well as his activism. He founded the Violins Against Violence foundation in 2007 and has been active with the VH1 Save the Music Foundation and UNICEF, and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2018.

Hailed as a terrific live performer, Escobar is out on the road showcasing his most recent release, “Gemini,” and comes to Yoshi’s in Oakland for a weekend set.

Details: 7 and 9:15 p.m. July 5, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. July 6; $49-$89; yoshis.com.

— Bay City News Foundation

Rare appearance by Dinnerstein

The incomparable pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who launched herself into the stratosphere with an exquisitely expressive 2007 recording of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” that is still the go-to choice for many a devotee (the New York Times dubbed her “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation”), is not often heard here in the Bay Area. So you might want to avail yourself of the chance to hear her perform July 5 as part of pianist Awadagin Pratt’s Art of the Piano Festival, presented in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Barbro Osher Recital Hall on the 11th floor of the Bowes Center at 200 Van Ness Ave.

Dinnerstein draws a part of her program from music on “Undersong,” the final installment of a trilogy of albums recorded at her Brooklyn home during the pandemic. She will play Couperin’s “Les Barricades Mystérieuses”; Schumann’s “Arabesque, Op. 18; “Mad Rush” by Philip Glass; Erik Satie’s “Gnossienne No. 3” and Schumann’s “Kreisleriana, Op.16.”

Details: Concert time is 7 p.m; $20, artofthepiano.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

Literature comes to life

Have you ever found yourself squirming uncomfortably in your seat on a plane, bus or train, trying to avoid eye contact with a nosy, way-too-chatty seatmate who just can’t seem to take the hint? Acclaimed Irish writer Kevin Barry has written about it, to hilarious effect, in “The Wintersongs,” one of three of his short stories that is being enacted, with full text intact, on stage by the energetic San Francisco-based theater troupe Word for Word. Actors Stephanie Hunt and Ailbhe Doherty play the entrapped young girl and her elderly seatmate in the story, which takes a somewhat surprising turn.

Also being presented are “Who’s-Dead McCarthy,” so named for the annoying protagonist named McCarthy who is thrilled to be catching everyone in town up on who is the latest unfortunate person to shuffle off this mortal coil, and “The Coast of Leitrim,” which is about an awkward Irish guy who gets interested in, then obsessed by a younger Polish girl.

Details: Performances 8 p.m. July 5-6; ZSpace theater, 470 Florida St., San Francisco; run is through July 21; $40-$65, zspace.org/barry.

— Bay City News Foundation