A look around Reno’s spring theater scene

Fans of live theater in Reno are in luck this season—from blockbuster Broadway tours to intimate, small-cast comedies, the Biggest Little City offers something for everyone who’s willing to go looking.

To aid your search, here’s a few highlights in the offing:

The University of Nevada, Reno’s sprightly Department of Theatre and Dance takes a darker tone with this semester’s musical, “Cabaret,”playing from Feb. 24 to March 5. As the Nazis rise to power in late 1920s Germany, the goings-on at a Berlin nightclub ominously foretell the coming decade’s horrors, with a cast of demanding roles at the musical’s heart.

“Stupid F***ing Bird,” a modern adaptation of Anton Chekov’s “The Seagull,” anchors the season with performances March 31 to April 9.

The department’s website promisingly calls it “gutsy.”

Still without a theater design and technology specialist to replace retiree Mike Fernbach, the department will be staging both productions in the Redfield Studio Theatre, likely again without microphones or lights. Confronting this challenge yielded defiantly excellent results last semester: their continued efforts are worth notice.

Dance, meanwhile, takes the stage at the Lombardi Recreation Center April 19 to April 23. The Spring Dance Concert will offer a slate of brand new works from faculty and guest choreographers alike, promising range and variety in keeping with its eclectic fall counterpart.

At Brüka Theatre downtown, the highbrow ethical comedy “Lifespan of a Fact,” running Jan. 20 to Feb. 11, gives way to a heady take on “Hamlet” in “When Churchyards Yawn” March 10 to March 25.

Reno Little Theater, in midtown, starts the year with a witty take on Sherlock Holmes in “Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery”. Rosie Calkin, a University of Nevada, Reno acting instructor, fronts the murder mystery as Holmes, running from Jan. 20 to Feb. 12. For a more experimental choice, “Small Mouth Sounds,” running April 14 to April 30, gathers a cast of six in a silent wilderness retreat.

Finally, the Pioneer Center Downtown will be welcoming three touring Broadway productions this spring. The jukebox musical “Ain’t Too Proud”, playing Feb. 14 to Feb. 19, traces the journey of R&B group The Temptations through a catalog of their most popular songs. “Come From Away,” playing March 28 to April 2, recounts a true story of stranded flights having to land in a small Newfoundland town in the days following 9/11. In what might be the most eagerly anticipated of the series, “Anastasia,” based on the beloved animated film, will treat the Pioneer Center stage May 16 to May 21 to the tale of a lost Russian princess uncovering her past.

“Churchyards” follows all the characters in Hamlet’s extensive body count in purgatory.

Brüka ends the spring with a tragicomedy “The Beauty Queen of Lenane” from April 28 to May 20.

The Nevada Museum of Art is undergoing a $60 million expansion project to include 50,000 additional square feet for gallery, education, and other specialized spaces. While the museum has offered free admission to high school students in Nevada for about a decade, beginning in September 2022 students from the University of Nevada, Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College can also enjoy free admission to the museum.

“A generous donation was given to UNR and TMCC students which allows them to take advantage of the museum’s resources. The museum advocates for higher education and a commitment to the arts, education, and culture, so this is the perfect place for students to come and broaden their studies and creativity,” Hunt said.

The Free Student Admission program was made possible by the Wayne L. Prim Free Student Admission Endowment, a $2 million dollar gift which will enable the program to exist in perpetuity.

To receive free admission college students must show their student identification card at the front desk. In addition to gaining free access to the galleries, students can also attend Art Bite talks hosted on Fridays at noon and every first Thursday of the month where singers and songwriters are showcased from 5 to 7 p.m..

Rebecca Eckland, Director of Communications and Marketing for the Nevada museum of Art, explained the expansion project, which will occur on the south side of the building, was announced in May 2022, and entered its third phase in August of this year.

“The museum has a long history of supporting arts education in the state of Nevada.. We wanted to expand that program to offer free access to the museum to UNR and TMCC students so they can experience a world-class museum that is right here in Reno,” Eckland said.

Taylor Hunt, a University of Nevada, Reno art history major and employee of the museum, provided insight to the museum’s recent

Hunt mentioned she is excited for an increase of school field trips and tours. With the museum’s expanded capacity and infrastructure, the institution will be able to welcome more than 12 thousand K-12 students annually, doubling its current capacity.

“This almost doubled capacity is really special because it allows for students to have the space to learn and become more familiar with art,” Hunt said.

The Center for Art + Environment, the museum’s research hub, will be expanded to grant additional access to its extensive art, archive and library collections.

The multi-phased expansion project is already showing visible progress on the Northwest corner of the museum through the renovation of the Wilbur D. May Sculpture Plaza.

The space now features an installation titled “Monument to Sharing,” the creation of the Fallen Fruit Collective, composed of artists David Allen Burns and Austin Young. Monument to Sharing includes twenty-one fruitbearing trees, a berry patch and a series of edible pollinators the public is welcome to harvest, inviting guests to explore ideas of generosity, agricultural production and the meaning behind the word community.

While the expansion project will not be complete until 2025, the museum will continue a full schedule of exhibitions and programs due to the endowment.

As a result of the expansion project, the overall exhibition space will increase from 15,000 to nearly 30,000 square feet for the ongoing display of the permanent art, archive, and library collections. A dedicated art and architecture bookshop, a rooftop sculpture garden with mountain and skyline views and additional classroom and education spaces for school tours are all a part of what museum

Capturing Princess Diana’s story: “The Crown” season 5 review

By Gabe Kanae

In November of 2020, Netflix’s “The Crown” released its most anticipated season yet: season four. The show captures the reign of England’s Queen Elizabeth II who was in power from 1952 until her recent death last year. When the highly-acclaimed season four dropped, the show pulled in existing fans and new viewers with the introduction of the legendary Princess Diana who in the show was played by actress Emma Corrin. One of the show’s biggest successes is capturing the people these characters were built upon with almost nearly identical looks. With this success, the show gives the visuals of younger versions of these people and chillingly captures those who have died as if they were still alive.

Emma Corrin’s portrayal of the younger Princess Diana in season four was entirely immersive, engaging and impactful. When “The Crown” released its next season on Nov. 9, replacing Corrin with the amazing Elizabeth Debicki was not only a reminder of her predecessor but also provided a nearly perfect re-creation of Diana.

Along with Debicki, the show replaces the entire cast for the third time in order to capture the aging and growth of the Royal Family.

In season five, the late Queen Elizabeth II is played by Imelda Staunton, Prince Phillip is played by Jonathan Pryce and Prince Charles by Dominic West.

While Pryce and West received criticism about their portrayals visually, both actors provide their acting talent in a way that is both engaging and character building.

Staunton’s acting is absolutely grand in this season as she portrays the Queen in what is considered to be one of her most challenging and cursed years. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who love Princess Diana, but it was clear her story would be the main topic when it was confirmed that this season would cover the years of the 1990s.

Filled with dread and honesty, Debicki really does find herself accurately becoming the late Princess of Wales on the screen. It takes a moment for a viewer to adjust to the change from Corrin to her; but while Debicki captures the real Diana, she also looks like an older version of Corrin’s younger Diana in multiple scenes. Recreating the legendary “Revenge Dress”, the infamous BBC Panorama interview, and Andrew Morton’s “Diana: Her True Story” — this season proves that Diana’s impact on the royal family was not only massive but explains to a new generation the impact she had and how her marriage and life unfolded. Continued online at nevadasagebrush.com

Gabe Kanae can be reached at gkanae@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter via @NevadaSagebrush.