Leading Ladies. March 7-24, times vary.
When a pair of disgraced Shakespearean
actors hear that an elderly lady is about
to die and leave her fortune to her
two long-lost English nephews, they
resolve to pass themselves off as her
beloved relatives and get the cash.
The trouble is,
when they get
to York, they
find out that
the relatives aren’t
nephews, but nieces.
Tickets $27-$37.
Hillbarn Theatre, 1285
E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City.
650/349-6411.
An Evening with C.S. Lewis. March
14, 7:30 p.m. Performed by renowned
actor David Payne, this dramatic solo
show is full of humor, offering a fascinating
and highly entertaining
insight into the man who
penned more than 30 works
including “The Screwtape
Letters,” “The Space Trilogy,”
and “The Chronicles
of Narnia.” Tickets $40-
$45. Montalvo Arts Center,
15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga.
408/961-5800.
Saloon: The Wild West
Comes Alive. March 20,
7:30 p.m. Presented by
Cirque Éloize, Saloon is an
action-packed musical acrobatic
adventure through the
desert. A spectacular cast of
individuals sets the scene for
this fast-paced show filled
with feats of strength, agility,
and original choreography, in
which the lover falls under the
spell of the saloon’s beautiful
Belle and sets off on a chase worthy
of the greatest Westerns. Tickets
$29-$46. Hammer Theatre Center,
101 Paseo De San Antonio, San
Jose. 408/924-8501.
Lectures
FEBRUARY/MARCH
National Geographic Live! Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m.
For NASA Engineer Kobie Boykins, the Mars
Rover’s success was also a personal triumph:
He helped design and build the solar arrays
that enabled the rovers to keep going long
after their planned 90-day life. Join Boykins
28 South Bay Accent
as he unravels the mysteries
of the red planet with
an update on the latest
chapter in Mars
exploration. Tickets
$35-$45. Hammer Theatre
Center, 101 Paseo De San Antonio,
San Jose. 408/924-8501.
Tamara Ireland Stone and Alexandra
Bracken. Feb. 8, 7 p.m. Celebrated
YA authors Tamara Ireland Stone and
Alexandra Bracken return to Kepler’s to
discuss their new books, writing, life as an
author, and more. Free. Kepler’s Books, 1010
El Camino Real, Menlo Park. 650/324-4321.
Roger McNamee: This Is Now with Angie
Coiro. Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. Roger McNamee
has teamed with others from the tech world to
challenge our new normal — to persuade us
that internet titans Facebook and Google present
an urgent existential threat to users and
society. Does his new book “Zucked” make a
persuasive case? Attend an evening of This Is
Now with local broadcaster Angie Coiro to find
out. Tickets $15-$45. Kepler’s Books, 1010 El
Camino Real, Menlo Park. 650/324-4321.
Vandana Shiva. Feb. 12, 8 p.m. Dr. Vandana
Shiva is an Indian environmentalist and
has written over 20 books on sustainable food
systems, ecology, and the role of women in
environmental movements in India and worldwide.
Dr. Shiva’s Navdanya initiative teaches
Indian farmers organic growing techniques and
maintains a food bank to promote biodiversity.
Tickets $20-$40. Mountain View Center for
the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain
View. 650/903-6000.
Story Is the Thing. Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. Join
fellow booklovers for Kepler’s quarterly reading
series, “Story Is the Thing,” where stunning,
emerging voices can be heard alongside
works from contemporary local masters.
Authors include Jeanne Althouse, Jamel Brinkley,
Tsun Yuan Chen, Andrea Donderi,
David Wystan Owen and Kathy Wang. Tickets
$12. Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real,
Menlo Park. 650/324-4321.
Evening Literary Seminar: The Beautiful
Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Feb. 25, 7 p.m.
“The Beautiful Struggle” describes Coates’s
boyhood in Baltimore in an erudite, radical
family. Whether discussing his Black Panther
father or the ways in which Coates wasn’t well
equipped for the crack-addled Baltimore of the
80s, the book cloaks page-turning content in
beautiful prose. Tickets $48 (includes copy of
book). Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real,
Menlo Park. 650/324-4321.
Charlie Jane Anders. Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m. The
Literary Foundation hosts Anders for a talk and
book-signing based about her latest novel, “The
City in the Middle of the Night.” This story is
set in January, a dying planet, half lit by endless
sun and half-plunged into icy night, where
the protagonist Sophie has recently been exiled
to the darkness. Free. Kepler’s
Books, 1010 El Camino Real,
Menlo Park. 650/324-4321.
Jill Abramson: This Is Now
with Angie Coiro. Feb. 27,
7:30 p.m. Abramson profiles
the defenders of the
legacy presses and the largerthan
life characters behind the
new speed-driven media competitors.
Those players include
Jeff Bezos and Marty Baron
(The Washington Post), Arthur
Sulzberger and Dean Baquet
(The New York Times), Jonah
Peretti (BuzzFeed), and Shane
Smith (VICE) as well as their
reporters and readers. Tickets
$15-$45. Kepler’s Books,
1010 El Camino Real, Menlo
Park. 650/324-4321.
Guy Kawasaki. March 4,
7:30 p.m. An icon of Silicon Valley,
Kawasaki is the author of 14 books,
including “The Art of the Start.”
After working with some of the biggest
tech companies in the world,
including a stint at Apple in the 1980s, this
guru of guerilla marketing went on to become
the poster of reinvention and a champion of
self-branding. Free. Kepler’s Books, 1010 El
Camino Real, Menlo Park. 650/324-4321
Shmuly Yanklowitz: Refugee Rights in
Polarized Times. March 31, 1 p.m. Rabbi
Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz will speak about the
Jewish underpinnings of his social justice work
with an emphasis on his work with Arizona
Jews for Justice and refugee rights. As a global
social justice activist and educator, Shmuly has
volunteered, taught, and staffed missions in
CALENDAR
TOP: CHRISTOPHER JONES
Jessica Lang Dance, Feb. 23, Hammer Theatre Center,
San Jose; Michael Franti and Spearhead, Feb. 8,
The Fillmore, San Francisco