Theatre Rhinoceros Presents Cabaret

The parallels between Cabaret’s 1930s Nollendorfplatz, Berlin and present day Castro, San Francisco, are undeniable. Both promise a haven for the queers and weirdos who might have to hide their true colors in their daily life – largely by way of providing a light escape, or a series of semi-engaged distractions, for the marginalized, whether that’s through satirical arts and performance, alcohol, drugs, casual intimate encounters, or music that somehow never seems to stop playing. “So – life is disappointing? Forget it!” demands Cabaret’s bewitching Emcee, embodied here by long standing Rhino player and collaborator Rudy Guerrero. 

Theatre Rhinoceros, then, embodies the fictional, infamous Kit Kat Club – a hole in the wall full of immediately living, queer art and artists hungry for bigger stages, somehow surviving year after year as budgets tighten, institutional leaderships transition, and live theatres continue to disappear from the local landscape. If we are to survive, as queer artists embracing ourselves and our history, how complicit can we be? Must we be?  

Cabaret starts November 21st, is directed by John Fisher with music direction by Armando Fox and choreography by Adin Walker, and stars an ensemble of nine Bay Area actors and three live musicians. This production is made possible by support from honorary producer Lawrence Dillon, as well as the San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts, Horizons Foundation, The Geller-Sullivan Trust, The Bob Ross Foundation, Tom Horn, Ira Kurlander and Andy Guest, and the donors and supporters of Theatre Rhinoceros. 

CABARET. Book by Joe Masteroff. Based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. Music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb. CABARET is presented in arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Tams-Witmark LLC. www.concordtheatricals.com.

The Artists

John Fisher (Director) enjoyed an eight-month run of his show A History of World War II at The Marsh, after playing two successful runs of the show in Manhattan (United Solo Festival/Theatre Row – Best Actor Award – and Pangea Performance Venue) and another in Los Angeles (The Broadwater). He is a two-time winner of the Will Glickman Playwright Award, as well as being a recipient of the GLAAD Media Award, the Theatre Bay Area Award, two Cable Car Awards, The Bay Guardian Goldie Award, the BackStage West Garland Award, and seven Critics’ Circle Awards. His plays include the award-winning Action Hero, Shakespeare Goes to War, To Sleep and Dream, Combat!, and Medea, The Musical, which recently opened Off-Broadway in NYC.

Armando Fox (Music Director, Piano/Conductor) is a classically trained (since age 5) Cuban-American pianist who completed pre-conservatory training at the Mannes College of Music, New York, now part of The New School. He studied piano performance with concert pianist and educator Michael Boriskin and others as well as music theory, ear training, ensemble performance, choir, arranging… the whole enchilada. He grew up in New York City and loves musicals; he’s Music Directed about thirty of them, including several original orchestrations or reductions for both classic and new works.

Adin Walker (Choreographer) is a director, choreographer, and academic collaborating on new works and reimagined revivals. He is a graduate of Princeton University where he studied English, Theatre, and Gender & Sexualities, and he is a PhD candidate in Theatre & Performance Studies at Stanford University.

Rudy Guerrero* (“Emcee”) – Rhino performances include Bad Hombres, Macbeth, Priscilla Queen of the Desert (SFBATCC Award Winner for Best Actor in a Musical), Equus, Road Show, and Drunk Enough to Say I Love You. Other credits include performances at 42nd St. Moon, A.C.T, Berkeley Rep, Central Works, Connecticut Rep, Foothill Music Theater, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Magic Theatre, Marin Shakespeare Company, Marin Theatre Company, Playground, SF Playhouse, TheatreWorks, and Word for Word. Rudy has a BFA in Musical Theater from Boston Conservatory and a MFA in Acting from American Conservatory Theater. *The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of  Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Brendan Looney portrays “Cliff Bradshaw” in Cabaret.

Landyn Endo portrays “Ernst Ludwig” in Cabaret.

Stephanie Fields portrays “Fraulein Schneider” in Cabaret.

Gabriel A. Ross (“Herr Schultz”) has appeared onstage at Theatre Rhinoceros several times including in Action Hero, Shakespeare Goes to War, Transitions, Timon, and Dare BnB. He performed with The Thrillpeddlers long running production of Pearls Over Shanghai, and Hot Greeks. Some other musical appearances include Assassins (Oswald) at CMTC and Superstar (Apostle) at Willows. He recently appeared in RVP’s production of The Book Club Play (Alex).

M.C. Mendonca (“Fraulein Kost”) is excited to make her Theatre Rhinoceros debut in Cabaret. She has been a theme park performer for over a decade, and recently returned to the Bay Area after performing as a costumed character at Disneyland. Credits include: BAD Musical Theatre’s American Psycho (Sabrina), Foothill Music Theatre’s Bullets Over Broadway (Olive U/S, Ensemble), and Sunnyvale Community Players’ Urinetown (Dance Captain, Ensemble). She is a UC Berkeley alumna with a BA in Theatre and Performance Studies. 

Megan Soledad (“Sally Bowles”) is thrilled to be making her Theatre Rhinoceros debut! Bay Area credits include: Julia in 1984 (Aurora Theatre Company), 11Reflections (Golden Thread Productions), A Chorus Line (SF Playhouse), The Woman in The Turn of the Screw (Town Hall Theatre Co.), Serena in Legally Blonde (Foothill Music Theatre), Mourning Becomes Electra (Eugene O’Neill Foundation), Margaret Leavitt in Silent Sky (Summer Repertory Theatre), Head Over Heels and In The Heights (Berkeley Playhouse), Dancing Home (SFYT), and The Sound of Music (Throckmorton Theatre). Megan recently earned her Masters in opera from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Emma Roth understudies Sally Bowles, Fraulein Schneider, and Fraulein Kost.

Raphael Buenaventura understudies Emcee, Cliff Bradshaw, Herr Schultz, and Ernst Ludwig.

Theatre Rhinoceros was founded in San Francisco in 1977, and is the longest running LGBTQ+ theatre in the nation. We develop and produce works of theatre that enlighten, enrich, and explore both the ordinary and the extraordinary aspects of our queer community. Our emphasis is on new works, works about under-represented members of the larger queer community, and revivals of lesser known queer classics. Over the years Theatre Rhinoceros has received many awards of recognition including: Theatre Rhinoceros Day in the City Proclamation from Mayor Gavin Newsom, State Assembly Certificate of Recognition from Senator Mark Leno, recognitions from Congressperson Nancy Pelosi and Assembly Persons Tom Ammiano and Carole Migden, numerous Cable Car, BATCC and TBA Awards and Nominations, and the GLAAD Media Award for Best LGBT Theatre.