Curtain Calls: ‘The Sweet Delilah Swim Club’ reunites this month in East Bay
The lighthearted, yet touching, work follows five Southern women who met on their college swim team. For the past 33 years, the ladies get together at a North Carolina Outer Banks beach cottage. Expect lots of fun and laughter, maybe a few tears, as these women navigate life’s challenges.
Directed by La Tonya Watts, the cast includes Deborah Huaco (Vernadette Simms), Nathalie Archangel (Lexie Richards), Gwen Sampson Brown (Dinah Grayson), Teddie Gilbert (Sheree Hollinger) and Teresa Grosserode (Jeri Neal McFeeley).
For tickets, go to claytontheatrecompany.com.
Berkeley: Growing up in New York City, Amy Oppenheimer always thought she would be an actress.
“I performed at school and camp and discovered! I was best at character roles,” said Oppenheimer. “But when I graduated at 17, I realized character roles would be harder to come by at that age. When I didn’t get into Tish (I was number one on the waiting list!), I didn’t see a path forward in the theater for me.”
Oppenheimer decided to move to California and figure out something else for her life. That something else became the law, first as a lawyer and then as a judge.
“The thing about the arts is you can be great but never be recognized. But if you go to a professional school, you know you’ll have a career and that maybe there’s something important you can do. I feel I’ve been very lucky,” Oppenheimer said. “I’ve been able to train people about bias and employment discrimination, which was very satisfying. I also spent a lot of my career writing and realized how much I loved it.”
Now retired from law, Oppenheimer takes her five decades experience on the front lines of equal opportunity employment and workplace investigation and melds them into her first solo piece “Looking for Justice (In All The Wrong Places).”
“It all started when I took a writing class from David Ford [artist-in-residence at The March]. He said to start telling a story about something you knew, and I realized a situation in 1970 when I was working in Appalachia was something I always wanted to write about.”
Oppenheimer took additional classes, often writing a section of the play with each class. Ford not only helped her finish her play, but he’s also directing her debut at The Marsh Berkeley, Sunday through March 29.
Oppenheimer begins her work with her journey to California in 1971, deciding to become a lawyer, coming out as a lesbian, working as a judge and the joys and difficulties of parenthood followed by her traumatic experience in 1970.
“I also discuss restorative justice and how to stand up to bullies. Because I didn’t do that. I did what I thought was the right thing to do in 1970, but I was never happy with my decision,” Oppenheimer added.
“Looking for Justice” performs at The Marsh Berkeley on 2120 Allston Way. Call 415-282-3055 or go to themarsh.org for tickets.
Lafayette: Town Hall delves into the heart of humanity with “Belonging,” the theme for its 82nd main stage season.
According to Artistic Director Richard Perez, the season will explore belonging — asking who gets welcomed, who gets left out and how we find, fight for and build connections together.
As to how Town Hall plans to accomplish its goals, we must wait until March 8 when the season is formally announced at a special party. Light bites and music start at 4 p.m. followed by sneak peeks at scenes from the upcoming season.
Admission to the season announcement party is free, but reservations are required. RSVP to townhalltheatre.com/2026-2027-season-announcement.
Also in Clayton: Here’s your chance to be in a campy musical set in 1979 on a floating casino and disco cruise ship. If that sounds like fun, be sure and audition for Clayton Theatre’s “Disaster!” A ’70s Disaster Movie Musical.
Written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, the musical parodies the over-the-top disaster films of the 1970s. It features a cast of quirky passengers who must find their way through every catastrophe imaginable while also bursting into such iconic ’70s hits as “Hot Stuff,” “I Will Survive” and more.
Auditions (all adults except one child aged 10-13) take place April 19, 5:30-7:30 p.m. and April 20, 7-9 p.m. at Endeavor Hall on 6008 Center St. in Clayton. Rehearsals begin Sept. 26 with performances Oct. 16-25. Go to claytontheatrecompany.com for more details.
Reach Sally Hogarty at sallyhogarty@gmail.com, and read more of her reviews online at eastbaytimes.com/author/sally-hogarty.