Word For Word: "Hard Times: Appalachian Stories" by Ron Rash ★★★★

 "If Jesus had driven a car, he would have bought it at Larry's." Ron Rash's story "The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth" is the first of three Rash short stories performed on the Z-Space stage in a new production by Word for Word. Larry (John Flanagan) is a small-town huckster who has come up with a sure-fire idea to enhance his celebrity and sell more cars. His ex-wife, Tracy, played by Molly Rebecca Benson, is the narrator of this tale. Jesus as advertising is a familiar trope, usually written by Northerners to denigrate Southerners, but Ron Rash is from Western North Carolina and all three of his stories feel not only sympathetic but honest.

The next two, "Sad Man in the Sky" and "Hard Times" are absolutely heartbreaking and both are directed by W4W veteran Amy Kassow. In "Sad Man," Paul Finnochiaro plays a war vet who has taken a job as helicopter pilot working for a tour company. Joel Mullenix is a down-and-out ex-con who hires the chopper to take him over an area where he can drop down presents for his estranged children who he is no longer allowed to see. But dropping packages out of a helicopter reminds the pilot of his war experiences, where children always ran away from the helicopter, not towards it. 

Mullenix also has a role as the father of a starving Appalachian family in the 1930s whose abject poverty brings his neighbors (Delia MacDougall and Ryan Tasker) to uncomfortable realizations about themselves. We will not divulge the last line of this story but you'd better get ready for weak knees and a thump in the chest.

While Word for Word's literal approach to story telling works better with some authors than others, Ron Rash's languorous and humorous story-telling is meant for this company. Please don't miss a most satisfying evening of live theater. You'll also get to hear the cast sing "Poor Wayfaring Stranger."  Buy any ticket and sit anywhere.

RATINGS ★★★★

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants Four Stars to Word for Word's production of "Hard Times: Appalachian Stories” by Ron Rash. Writing, staging, directing and the entire ensemble earn one star each. Ryan Tasker outdoes himself in "Hard Times." Well done, everyone.

NOTE: Z Space is a cozy theater. Every seat is good. Buy any one and sit anywhere.

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Word for Word: "Hard Times: Appalachian Stories by Ron Rash"

Z Space Below

450 Florida Street, San Francisco

Through Nov. 2

$45-$70

Noises Off: ★★★ BANG

We've seen two Noises Off productions at San Francisco Playhouse, eight years apart, the first with Susi Damilano directing and the current version helmed by Bill English. This 2025 production has a first act that moves a little slower, followed by a second act that never stops firing in all directions. Michael Frayn's 1982 West End love letter to acting and theater production, in which every action has an unequal. unexpected and outlandish reaction, retains all of its slapstick humor and frenetic pace.

Everyone in the fictional story is sleeping with someone else in the cast. Director Lloyd (Patrick Russell) is trying to get flowers to his current fling, Brooke (Sophia Alawi), but his penultimate sweetheart Poppy (Vivienne Truong) has a small problem which will keep getting larger for several more months. Frederick (Nima Rakhshanifar) has issues with just about everything that cause him nosebleeds at inconvenient moments. Selsdon (played to perfection by Louis Parnell) has his eye on the whiskey bottle at at all times. The cast is trying to perform on stage while chaos reins backstage (which we see at the brilliant beginning to Act 2).

A special shout out for the fake program on the back of the real program, in which we discover that the fictional play thanks Kumfy Restraints Ltd. for the straitjackets.

I mean, Kumfy Restraints. That earns a Bangle of Praise all by itself.

RATINGS ★★★ BANG

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants Three Stars and a Bangle of Praise to San Francisco Playhouse's production of "Noises Off." Lots of laughs and a barrelful of crazy.

"Noises Off"

San Francisco Playhouse

450 Post St. (2d floor of Kensington Park Hotel)

Through Nov. 8, 2025

$52-$145