Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine is brilliant and unsettling

Woody Allen, now 77-years old, is dead serious in his latest film, Blue Jasmine, though his emblematic relief-giving humor plays off stereotypes about New Yorkers, the San Francisco landscape, class/cultural differences, and dysfunctional human relationships. According to a recent Wall Street Journal tribute to the iconic director, his 48th feature, "is based on a story…

After the Revolution is my cousin, Amy Herzog’s tour de force play. (An Aurora Theatre Berkeley production)

Amy Herzog is regaled as one of the most gifted young playwrights of her generation. Not only has she been a recipient of the well-regarded Lillian Hellman prize, but she's amassed a slew of New York Times rave reviews. Charles Isherwood, Arts editor, lauded After the Revolution in a generous media spread that wove in…