The Shotgun Players’ production of “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” with Danielle Cheiken, was one of the Bay Area’s best stage shows in 2022, and you can still catch it though Feb. 5.It was hardly the best of times, but we’ve seen a lot worse. After a long dry spell in and out of quarantine, 2022 saw the first full year of in-person theater on Bay Area stages since 2019, even if productions were still fewer and less robustly attended than in pre-COVID days.
It’s been a year of upheaval and renewal, with the departures of Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s longtime managing director Susie Medak and a bunch of artistic directors, including California Shakespeare Theater’s Eric Ting, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s Rebecca Ennals, AlterTheater’s Jeanette Harrison and Marin Theatre Company’s Jasson Minadakis.
Point Richmond’s Masquers Playhouse reopened after six years of rebuilding. San Francisco’s venerable EXIT Theatre closed its doors, and San Jose’s Dragon Productions Theatre Company shut down. Cal Shakes has announced that it might not stage any productions of its own next year. Amid all that, there was a whole lot of excellent theater on local stages. Here, in no particular order, are 10 of the most memorable moments in Bay Area that I was fortunate enough to witness this year.