Steal Heaven, the new play at San Diego REPertory Theatre takes us to the afterlife where political and social activist, Abbie Hoffman, who co-founded the Youth International Party (“Yippies”) in 1968, is an activist guru in heaven. He has the power to send someone in purgatory back to Earth if they pass his training. He sees potential in Trish, played by Summer Spiro, a young veteran-turned activist, who finds herself there after being accidentally shot while protesting in front of the White House.
The training begins and the audience was delighted when Trish also received lessons from John Lennon and Albert Einstein. When Trish was shot she was the only one protesting. She is impressed by a speech that Hoffman wrote during his days and he points out that that just proves the fact that not much has changed. People are still protesting issues that someone like Hoffman would have hoped to be resolved by the 21st century. There are many humorous parts to the play but the crux of it all is to never give up on humanity. They also learn valuable lessons about themselves through each other including self-forgiveness.
The show will be running until Jan. 25. You may also want to check the calendar for some of the surrounding events occurring prior to the show including Amigos Del REP Poetry Slam Saturday, Jan. 17. sdrep.org
The Museum of Man and the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park held a Centennial Beer Tasting Jan. 8. The celebration included multiple craft breweries, local eateries and several members of the San Diego Costume Guild dressed up. If you missed it don’t worry there’s always something to explore there.
Their BEERology exhibit is on display through summer 2015 and beer tastings are schedule throughout the year. Explore the links between beer and culture, as it’s one of the most widespread drinks in the world. Headhunters from the Amazon would chew poisonous cassava root so it could become a drinkable beer. The Inca’s drank Chicha, their golden corn beer. Mesopotamia is where the first barley beers were made and the oldest liquid beer ever discovered, a millet and rice beer, is from China. Do you know what the longest word for a type of beer is? It’s believed to be Nihamanchnihamanchii, which is brewed and drunk by the Shuar people of the Amazon. Good trivia to know when San Diego’s craft brewing scene keeps expanding.
I also got to check out the family friendly exhibit, Monsters! If it’s a creature that you’ve read about, heard about or dreamed about then it’s probably included in this exhibit. Learn about their backgrounds, where they come from, what they look like and behaviors. You’ll be surprised at how many of them are friendly. There’s plenty of interactive fun to stimulate your imagination such as making a monster of your own, putting on a play with strange creatures and exploring their habitats but, no matter what, don’t look under the bed. It was fun to watch some tipsy adults look under the bed even though they were told not to, and they say kids don’t listen. museumofman.org
