Page: B4 LAMORINDA WEEKLY www.lamorindaweekly.com 925-377-0977 Wednesday, February 13, 2013 Our mission is to provide personalized care, help maintain independence and AT HOME enhance our client’s quality of life on a daily basis. • Fully bonded and insured • Geriatric care management • Hourly care • Live-in care 3645 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite D Lafayette • Transportation to and from (beside Trader Joe’s) medical appointments www.excellentcareathome.com • Medication reminders Call to schedule a free assessment and plan care review. 925-284-1213 The Farnsworth Invention By Sophie Braccini Circus Oz From the Ground Up Fri, Feb 15-Sun, Feb 17, Zellerbach Hall • Prices start at $22 Half-Price for Ages 16 and under! “A little naughty, a little nice, a little death defying.” —The New York Times Australia’s Circus Oz returns to Zellerbach Hall with their renowned brand of collective mayhem. Stunt-jumping acrobats, fearless aerial artists, and slapstick knockabouts descend into chaos while live onstage musicians rock the house! A great show for the whole family! Made possible in part by the Macquarie Group Foundation Special Offer: Get a 15% discount on Adult Tickets! Use Promo Code Kangaroos Order Now for the Best Seats! Ticket Office Zellerbach Hall Order Online Charge by Phone Tue-Fri Noon – 5:30 pm calperformances.org 510.642.9988 Sat-Sun 1 pm – 5 pm Join our Email Club at Season Groups of 10 or more calperformances.org Sponsor: save 15% on most events for special offers From left: David Sarnoff (Jeff Draper) and Philo Farnsworth (Michael Doppe) Photo Stu Selland oel Roster is a tremendous fan of which Farnsworth invented the tele- to play Farnsworth. “But Michael is, Jscreenwriter and playwright vision. in real life, a realistic intellectual like Aaron Sorkin (“A Few Good Men,” The two men are different, but Farnsworth; something he brings nat- “The West Wing,” “The Social Net- both are endearing. They are vision- urally to the stage.” work”). He heard about Sorkin’s aries, idealists; they both dream larger With the play set in many differ- play, “The Farnsworth Invention,” than life. You wish they’d meet and ent times and places the director had when it opened on Broadway in 2007, set out on life’s adventures together. to find a way to cue the audience. read it and gave it to Town Hall The- But one is a radio man and the other “We built a large, vintage-looking TV atre Artistic Director Clive Worsley wants to create television. Sarnoff set for the stage that’s fed by a lap- last year. “Clive read it in two days immediately sees the threat and is top,” says Roster, “it felt appropriate.” Sunday, Feb. 24th and wanted it for Town Hall,” recalls bound to try to license television The rest of the set is very simple, Roster. “We checked around and through his own engineering team, which is hardly noticeable since the 4:00 PM found out it would be a Bay Area pre- and not let a self-taught genius reap play is packed with action. There are miere. Clive gave me the go-ahead to the benefits of the discovery. To those 16 actors performing, many of them Red Carpet Arrival, Photo Ops, Live Music, Dancing, direct it.” who tell him that television is a gadget playing more than one role. Dinner, Oscar Telecast on the Big Screen, Gift Bags, Roster has been Town Hall The- for the rich and ask where people It takes a few minutes at the be- atre’s education program director for would put such a big device in their ginning of the play to get oriented, Souvenir Wine Glass, Auctions, and Door Prizes! a few years. He is an actor—he was a homes, he answers, “Where their and sometimes the science can lose $125 VIP Tickets, $100 Regular Admission great Picasso in THT’s production of radio is.” the less physics-savvy among the au- For tickets: Picasso at the Lapin Agile— and has The quality of the casting makes dience. But quickly spectators ‘get it’ directed plays in other Bay Area ven- this THT production one of its best and the story captivates. Many refer- www.lamorindatheatres.com ues; “The Farnsworth Invention” vintages. Jeffrey Draper as Sarnoff ences are made to the marking events (925) 388-0782 marks his THT directing debut. has a very strong presence and gives of the time, like the Great Depression Ticket sales end February 16. The play opened Feb. 9 and runs a confident representation of a man and Prohibition, adding to the feeling Dinner provided through March 2. It is a non-fiction who was both a humanist and a busi- of being spirited away in a great ad- by Shelby’s play, or, to be more accurate, a roman- nessman. Michael Doppe as Philo venture. Restaurant of Orinda ticized non-fiction play. It tells the Farnsworth is instantly believable as Roster says that a woman came to story of the invention of television the young genius, passionate and vi- him after a preview and said that and the battle to patent it between two sionary. every high school student should see Fundraiser for the “Elevator Lift Fund” amazing men, RCA President David “Jeff (Draper) came to a reading it. “It is non-fiction, but Aaron Sorkin Sarnoff and inventor Philo of the play, but he had a previous en- made it clear that it is romanticized,” Farnsworth. gagement and could not play the says the director. “Most of the events The play is constructed as a nar- role,” remembers Roster. “Even are true, but there are discrepancies.” ration alternating between the two though we auditioned others, I kept This does not affect the theatrical ex- protagonists. It covers a large span of calling him about it because I thought perience. American life from 1921 to the 1940s he was the best. Then his schedule “The Farnsworth Invention” is and jumps from the East Coast where opened up and he was able to do it.” rated PG13 for adult language. For RCA was born and flourished to San Roster says that he thought at first more information and tickets, visit Francisco, the home of the lab in that Michael Doppe was a little young www.TownHallTheatre.com. Lion Dance Welcomes in Chinese New Year! Rumbling drums chased bad spirits far, far away as Leung's White Crane dancers jumped and twirled at the Orinda Library Feb. 9 to welcome in the Chinese New Year. Their lion's yellow and gold hues represented good luck and fortune - the drums, the strong beat's of his heart, said drummers Brandon Lok and Calvin Zhes. With eyes batting, the fearsome, furry one further delighted children and adults as leaf after lettuce leaf appeared magically from his flapping jaw, promising a prosperous Year of the Snake. Gung Hay Fat Choy! L. Snyder.