Brent Parker, Author at Santa Maria Sun

Divine comedy comes to Santa Maria Civic Theatre

Neil Simon’s God’s Favorite tweaks a familiar story for lots of laughs

by Brent Parker February 10, 2009September 21, 2023

The work of beloved playwright Neil Simon returns to the Santa Maria Civic Theatre with God’s Favorite. Simon’s small-ensemble casts and intimate settings are perfectly suited to the civic theater stage, and SMCT’s list of past productions is full of them. Simon penned such hit Broadway comedies as Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, […]

Music, Arts & Culture

A Cactus among us

Santa Maria Civic Theater delivers a good time with its holiday show

by Brent Parker November 25, 2008August 17, 2023

Santa Maria Civic Theatre’s latest production is titled A Christmas Cactus, which sounds like it could be a holiday-themed western revue, or a western-themed holiday revue, but it’s neither. The “cactus” of the title refers to a big-city private investigator named Katie “Cactus” O’ Riley. Cactus (Sydney Asencio) and her assistant, Fred Booker (Iain Freckleton), […]

Music, Arts & Culture

Sweet theater

Santa Maria Civic Theatre pours a little Sugar! on the stage

by Brent Parker September 17, 2008January 16, 2024

Autumn is on its way, but Santa Maria Civic Theatre is presenting one more taste of good old-fashioned summertime musical comedy to kick off its 50th season: the world-premiere of Sugar! Oh, Sugar! Sugar! is a melodrama that invites you to “boo” and “hiss” the villain, cheer the hero, and “awww” the heroine. Fans of […]

Music, Arts & Culture

Community theater celebrates a milestone

Santa Maria Civic Theater celebrates 50 years

by Brent Parker September 3, 2008August 17, 2023

Even a theater critic such as myself gets sentimental when he learns that Santa Maria Civic Theatre is celebrating its 50th season this year. I have some personal experience with the organization’s history. My first (and, thus far, only) appearance on a Santa Maria stage was in the theater’s production of the suspense thriller Veronica’s […]

Opinion

Make Santa Maria’s arts community more visible

Santa Maria

by Brent Parker July 30, 2008July 25, 2024

I am a freelance writer who contributes to the Sun, but as a visual artist I want to say that I appreciated Shelly Cone’s piece (“Where is the art?”) in the July 17 issue. I particularly want to applaud Craig Shafer’s comment: “I don’t care if you’re blue collar, white collar, or blue blood, it’s […]