Local, Live... and Safe!

What'll we see in EC?

Cows, Casinos, and Citizens’ Committees!
El Cerrito’s under-the-radar reputation belies a rough and lawless history. From Ranchero to cattle path, from “City of Sins” to “the City of Homes,” home of “Big Bill” Pechart and the origin of child care centers, this scrappy, little part of the Bay holds hidden delights, as illuminated by performers who call this area home.

Saturdays and Sundays
May 15 – 30 only
Start times available between 2 and 3:45

The show runs approximately 2 hours and is family-friendly.

Thank you for coming!

This episode was funded by:
Theatre Bay Area (CA$H Grant) and 
El Cerrito Arts & Culture Commission (Mini-Grant)

Now Featuring:

El Cerrito

Young Asian man with glasses wearing fedora and headphones around neck playing small guitar

Audience Members Say…

“The artists were so generous and happy to be performing. We felt that, the gift of performative exchange that we ALL have been craving.” 
 

“One couldn’t know what to expect, and in that way each artist and each location became a unique performance experience all to their own.
Getting to know the diversity of the local artists ‘hiding amongst us’ and the diversity of their talent and interests made it like a treasure hunt.” 

“My dad and I had a wonderful adventure… The ‘podcast’ system worked great. Beautifully told. Surprising. Had no idea about the history and was very surprised and liked the historical local gossip. It also brought up great conversations with my dad about what he knew about bootlegging and other stories that spurred conversation.”

“The final musicians were astonishingly great, the beloved home very moving; the poetry, the Indigenous songs, the Colombian music, the dance among the red poppies… so much. And I learned so much from (the) narration too. This is such important work, going to the very source of art.”

“I had the most powerful, memorable time participating in this today, and came away so inspired about our city’s history and incredible artists!
A must-see for local fans of innovative cultural experiences—and there’s so much here I’ll be thinking about for a long time.”

“Erin Merritt did it again with Neighborhood Stories: produced and directed a full, multi performance love letter of a show to a city I knew so little about and now I feel like I’ve always known it—El Cerrito. She killed me right of the bat when she greeted us, the occupants of three cars allowed per time slot, with her summary of what it meant to live through the past pandemic 14 months of profound losses and isolation, and how we are all still connected through the sights we see, the air we breathe, the sounds we hear… Her introduction was so healing and moving, I wish I had recorded it to keep finding new comfort in it for later. I wish I had taken more pictures of the seven gorgeous, talented performers who kept surprising at different hidden spots all over town. I was too immersed in the liveliness of it all, the unZoomness, the lack of screens.
Erin produced something so brave, original, beautiful, and intangible, as the performance arts themselves are; they are there for the moment you open all your pores to, and then the moment is gone, but when it’s done right, you are transformed through it forever.”

Featured Artists

Cascada de Flores

Multidisciplinary Artists

Featuring Arwen Lawrence’s ravishing voice and guitarist Jorge Liceaga’s supple accompaniment, Cascada de Flores brings a personal perspective to the Latin American songbook, adapting tradition into musical storytelling.
May 15, 16 & 29 only.

Cascada de Flores

KJ Dahlaw

dance artist

KJ’s work examines unruliness; queer theology; the body; and practices of counter-hegemony in the dancing body through the lineage of tanztheater. UnrulyBodyTanztheater.com

Jake Fong

Multidisciplinary Artist

Jake is a performing artist with backgrounds in spoken word and Polynesian dance. He was raised in Kensington (and taught at Hilltop for several years) and currently is attending school at San Francisco State.
May 15/16 only.

Akaina Ghosh

Actor

Akaina (they/them) is a Bay Area theater artist who is passionate about reconstructing historically significant narratives through a gender expansive lens and generating new works that center queer voices and perspectives. 

AkainaGhosh.com

Annie Kahane

Multidisciplinary Artist

Annie Kahane creates artworks at the crossroads of poetry, song, dance and theater. May 22 – 30 only.

aliveandwellproductions.org

Anne Yumi Kobori

Playwright

Anne Yumi Kobori is a Japanese-American playwright with a passion for intersectional theatre and a nostalgia complex for the Jazz Age.
Her “The Disappearance of Betty La Rose”
was commissioned by NS and written for Akaina Ghosh.  

AnneYumiKobori.com

Los Bahianatos

Musicians

Los Bahianatos (by * yay * NA * toes) 
specialize in traditional Colombian dance music featuring the button accordion, including cumbiavallenatomúsica sabanera and salsa colombiana
Follow at
www.facebook.com/bahianatos
 May 22/23 only.
Erin Merritt

Erin Merritt

Producer/Director

Producer/director Erin Merritt loves to bring people together outside the box.
Check out more of Erin’s work at erinmerritt.com
or watch her interview with Oakland’s
The Yay: Bay Area Theatre Podcast.

Eevelyn Mitchell

Poet

El Cerrito native Eevelyn Janean Mitchell,
the city’s brand new Poet Laureate
premieres a new poem about the meaning of Home.

Eevelyn Mitchell

The Plonsey Scheme

The Plonsey Scheme

Musicians

The Plonsey family—renowned composer/saxophonist Dan, singer/writer/actor Mantra, and their sons Cleveland and Mischa—create improvisational music and stories for our times.
Listen here

Indigenous woman with bright smile, straw hat and orange bandana around neck smiles confidently to right side of camera

Alicia Mary Retes

Storyteller

Alicia M. Retes, an engaging performer, weaves original songs into interactive and intriguing Native stories that uplift listeners of all ages. Shape-Shifters and Mischief-Makers of all sorts are eager to emerge for delightful magical moments. 
—Lauren Snell, Mill Valley Library and Jessica Ryan, San Anselmo Library
Alicia.M.Retes@gmail.com

John Schott

Musician

John Schott is a composer and guitarist with 13 CDs on different labels. Check out his music and musings at
JohnSchott.com
May 30 only.

El Cerrito Fun FAQs & Easter Eggs

Like much of the East Bay, what we now call El Cerrito is the unceded ancestral homeland of the Huichun Ohlone (Lisjan) people, now organized under the Muwekma Tribe. Learn more at the Muwekma website or pay land tax to help the Lisjan communities regain their land. As the Muwekma say, “Akkoy Mak-Warep, Manne Mak Hiswe! Welcome to our land where we are born!”

Get lots of cool info—geographical, architectural, fascinating, and scandalous, even a quiz—at the El Cerrito Historical Society website.

Who says the old days were dull? Starting near the end of WWI, San Pablo in El Cerrito was a major hub for gambling.

El Cerrito Plaza used to be a notorious track for dog racing that also sometimes added ostrich races. See for yourself.

Music has always flourished here, and Down Home Music Store/Arhoolie Records has been a source for roots music since 1976.

Thank you to all our helpful El Cerrito Neighbors!

This episode is funded by the El Cerrito Arts & Culture Commission‘s Mini-Grant program and Theatre Bay Area‘s CA$H Grant program.

Special Thanks:
Aimee Lind (Getty Research Institute), Jesse “Chuy” Varela (KCSM) and Robert Weaver (Old West Gun Room) for research information;
Corey Mason (keCg/One World Radio) and Contra Costa Civic Theatre for help getting the word out;
Down Home Music/Arhoolie Records for saying yes to the improv;
and everyone at the El Cerrito Historical Society, especially David Weinstein, whose kind words early in the process help us know we were on the right track.