People spend a lot of time obsessing about funding for the arts, the political controversies surrounding provocative works of art, and the myriad challenges of building new and younger audiences for the arts. What often gets overlooked in these discussions is the pure joy that artists create for their audiences.

In many ways, The Artist resembles A Star Is Born. One film star's career begins to crash and burn while another's takes wing against a background of tremendous churn in the film industry.

In preparing for the Marin Theatre Company's production of The Glass Menagerie, director Jasson Minadakis was determined to take a much different approach to the text.

If the crassness of the current social, political, and economic climate has you down in the dumps, I can't recommend a lovelier, more charming, experience.

Many children go to bed on Christmas Eve dreaming that Santa Claus will come down their chimney (even if they live in an apartment building) and leave presents for them under the family's Christmas tree. As most adults know, that just isn't how things work.

What do you say to a Muppet who looks you in the face and asks: "Is that your hand up my ass or are you just glad to see me?"

The San Francisco Bay area has such a vibrant arts community that prioritizing events can become a mind-numbing exercise. Here is a slideshow of the 11 most thrilling events I attended in 2011.

While the playwright has an interesting point to make, The Internationalist demands a tremendous amount of work for a very limited return on investment.

The first time I saw one of Bill Plympton's animated shorts was at one of the Spike & Mike Festivals of Animation. It wasn't long before Plympton's hallucinogenic adventures in storytelling were delighting audiences at the Sick and Twisted Festivals of Animation.