Monster Fun Naguales -- people, creatures, and spirits that can change form -- play a big part in the folk art exhibit "Fantastic Creatures: Demons, Dragons, Mermaids, and Monsters," which presents naguales as benevolent guardians or spiteful figures, in keeping with the various beliefs on the essence of their nature. The terra-cotta animal-headed fertility figures and naguales of Teodora Blanco from Oaxaca, Mexico, lean more to the pre-Hispanic beliefs also represented in this show by zoomorphic figures and functional pieces like lizard, bird, serpent, and jaguar whistles. Candelario Medrano's naguales, which take the shapes of devils, fish, and lions, reflect the work of Medrano's adoptive father, Julio Acero, a famous toy-maker from Jalisco whose lion banks are included in the show. Alebrijes, the papier-máche figures that sprung from such artistic traditions as the firecracker-laced Judas effigies burned before Easter, will be shown alongside the naguales that inspired their creation. Polychromed ceramic mermaids and a mermaid body mask from Guerrero complete the exhibit, which opens at noon (and is up through March 29, 1998) at the Mexican Museum, Building D, Fort Mason, Bay & Laguna, S.F. Admission is free-$3; call 441-0404.
thursday
july 10
If You're Going to San Francisco ... The supes ought to warrant at least a song or two in the new musical satire show by Capitol Steps, who leave Beltway politics behind for a while in favor of Bay Area civic intrigue. Original Steps cast member and Burlingame native Bill Strauss should be a help when it comes to picking topics, although the five-actor troupe typically chooses material from the day's headlines. What began as entertainment for the 1981 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Christmas party evolved into a full-scale theatrical show and musical endeavor; the troupe has produced 17 albums, including A Whole Newt World and the Clinton-themed Return to Center. This show previews at 8 p.m. (and has an open-ended run) at Theater on the Square, 450 Post (at Mason), S.F. Admission is $20-35; call 433-9500.
Summertime, and the Livin' Is Easy Entertainment dresses down this season, as musicians take to the streets, Shakespeare plays the park, and series like "Summerfest/Dance '97" line up emerging new contemporary dance talent in high-flying, quickstepping concert with veteran performers. The opening week's first program (tonight and tomorrow night) finds former Margie Jenkins dancer Annie Rosenthal in Move One Face, with original music by Gabriel Rowland, along with pieces by Wild Goose Chase's Mercy Sidbury, Dimensions' Laura Elaine Ellis, and Mary Reid, who pokes fun at well-meaning but misguided attempts to control chaos. Dorothy Parker's quick wit and a collage of hits from the '30s and '40s bounce off one another in the Nesting Dolls' Shiny Gun, which plays with work by Sommer Ulrickson and Torque, among others, in Program 2 (Saturday and Sunday). The series continues with pieces by Ark III Dance, Underbelly Theater-Dance Beast, and others. Performances begin at 8:30 p.m. at Brady Street Dance Center, 60 Brady (at Market), S.F. Admission is $10-12; call 646-0661.
friday
july 11
Spock It to Me A parody of Star Trek might seem redundant to some folks, but in certain pockets of our universe, people are collecting and displaying commemorative Star Trek plates, planning their outfits for this summer's local Star Trek convention, and talking tribbles in densely packed chat rooms. It's die-hards like these who will get the most mileage out of Start Trekkin', an improvised parody of old and new versions of the show as well as offshoots like Babylon 5 (that is, if they're not complaining amongst themselves about minor factual inaccuracies). Eleventh Hour Productions stages the show, which boldly goes where William Shatner once admonished Trekkers to stop going in a now-legendary SNL skit. Even people who've only seen one episode (and who hasn't seen at least one?) are invited to keep on Trekkin'. Performances begin at 10:30 p.m. (and run Friday nights through Aug. 1) at the Bayfront Theater, Building B, Fort Mason, Bay & Laguna, S.F. Admission is $6; call 431-5092.
Real Wild Ones XuXa, a Brazilian porn star-cum-children's show hostess, inspires the Latina Theater Lab's comedy XIXI Xtra Special Xtravaganza, while the travails of waitressing inform Steve Hunter's Weight on Hand & Foot in the first program of five in the cabaret series "Wild Men/Wild Women," where wild is obviously a matter of degree. Happy-footed hoofer Wayne Doba, who nearly stole the show at the Ethnic Dance Festival's recent "It's the Feet" program, highlights the second, men-only segment. From the women-only nights: Strangefruit offers The Burglars Dream, the tale of a cat burglar who breaks into the home of a blind murderess, and Huckabay McAllister Dance performs an eerie coming-of-age piece involving debutantes and a flaming birthday cake. This collection of dance, theater, spoken word, comedy, and performance opens tonight with a gala benefit reception and entertainment by STEAMROLLER, Nesting Dolls, Alternate Currents, and others at 8 p.m. at the ODC Performance Gallery, 3153 17th St. (at Folsom), S.F. Admission is $15-25; call 863-9834 for a complete schedule of events.
Laugh Attack Actor/playwright Christopher Durang's deft comic talent has seen a local revival of late, with the vignettes Actors Theater put together in Durang/Durang, the upcoming Center for Theater Arts production of The Actor's Nightmare, and now the Sea Theater's staging of Laughing Wild, a satire about the differences between men and women and the social ills that plague them both. The Catholic Church takes a beating here (much as it did in the Catholic-raised Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You), as protagonists Man and Woman argue over homosexuality and the ozone layer, good sex and supermarkets. Linda Ayers-Frederick is Woman to Matt Ross' Man in the show, which takes its name from poet Thomas Gray's line "moody madness laughing laughing wild amid severest woe." It opens at 10 p.m. (and runs through Aug. 17) at the Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter (at Powell), S.F. Admission is $12; call 433-7875.
Seeing Is Believing The art keeps on coming and the artists themselves keep on going with a boost from Visual Aid, an organization that supports the work of artists with life-threatening illnesses. Visual Aid helps artists pursue their craft through direct services such as free art supplies distributed through the program's ArtBank. At the fourth annual Visual Aid exhibit, the payoff is in the work of 32 participating artists, among them Marcos Reyes, Julian Faulkner, Barbara Cooper, and Michael Johnstone. The exhibit, a non-juried group show of photography, painting, and various other media, opens with a reception at 6 p.m. (and is up through Aug. 9) at the Lab, 2948 16th St. (at Capp), S.F. Admission is free; call 777-8242. The exhibit will also be included in the July 16 Mission Art Crawl.
saturday
july 12
Caber Guy Beware of low-flying logs and oatmeal-stuffed sheep's intestines at the 23rd annual Oakland Scottish Games, where pipe bands will march through the crowds trying to stir up some proper Celtic enthusiasm for heavy events like the caber toss, in which sturdy men in short plaid skirts try to heave 18-foot-long, 120-pound poles end over end. Expect to find haggis among other more appetizing refreshments like meat pies and hearty ales at this open-air celebration, which showcases nimble Highland dancers alongside agile Shetland sheepdogs competing in sheep and duck herding events. Youngsters get a petting zoo and Shetland pony rides, oldsters are invited to partake in a complimentary wine tasting with Ivan Tamas Wineries, and the turn-of-the-century estate where the event is held offers tours for anyone who's interested. The games begin at 10 a.m. (also Sunday) at the Dunsmuir House & Gardens Historic Estate, 2960 Peralta Oaks Court (at 106th Avenue), Oakland. Admission is free-$14; call (510) 615-5555.
sunday
july 13
I Beg of You, Don't Speak! The Mighty Wurlitzer will be warm to the touch after the daylong Silent Film Festival, a salute to the movies' captivating silent era, with live musical accompaniment by pianist Michael Mortilla and organist Dennis James. Mortilla sets the melodramatic mood for Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), a supernatural affair starring Mary Pickford as a neglected tyke who travels to the Land of Happy Children after taking too much sleeping medication; Keith Lawrence of the Mary Pickford Foundation will introduce Pickford's own 35mm print of the film, which screens at 11:30 a.m. Norma Shearer stars as a small-town girl whose dreams of finding a stenography job in the Big Apple are deferred by an unexpected foray into the vaudeville circuit in Upstage (1926), which screens at 2:15 p.m. James plays for the 4:45 p.m. screening of Doctor Jack (1922), the Harold Lloyd comedy about a country doctor who cures a young lady's ennui with a prescription for excitement, and for The Merry Widow, Eric von Stroheim's romance between a prince and a showgirl, which screens at 8 p.m. Author Mark Vieira will sign copies of Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits and historian Steve Levin will discuss the history of the event's host, the Castro Theater, 429 Castro (at Market), S.F. Admission is $8 per film, except for The Merry Widow, which is $10; call 558-9085.
monday
july 14
Girls on Film Lesbianism plays out in fresh and unexpected ways in the internationally touring short-film program "Girlfriends." Three girls crammed into the back seat during a car trip switch from the "Dad, she's on my side" battle cry to a squabble over Louisa May Alcott's sexuality in Barbara Heller's seven-minute Little Women in Transit. In Ela Troyano's Carmelita Tropicana: Your Kunst Is Your Waffen, a performance artist moonlighting as a building superintendent gets thrown in jail for protesting and winds up singing and dancing with her sister inmates. Among the other attractions in this West Coast theatrical premiere are Monica Pellizzari's Just Desserts, the comic tale of an adolescent Italian-Australian girl's association of every sexual event in her life with some kind of food, and Christine Parker's Peach, about a working-class Maori girl's attraction to a butch tow-truck driver. The screening begins at 7 and 9:15 p.m. (also Tuesday; 2, 4:30, 7, and 9:15 p.m. Wednesday) at the Roxie Cinema, 3117 16th St. (at Valencia), S.F. Admission is $3-6; call 863-1087.
tuesday
july 15
Fib and Claw Unsubstantiated rumor has it that the Geraldine Fibbers' new album, Butch, was a reluctant name change from the original title, Bitch, a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Meredith Brooks and her hit of the same name. But never mind. The more important elements to the album are Steve Fisk's playing of the celeste, which adds a ringing chime to the band's rustic, fucked-up country punk (singer Carla Bozulich, don't forget, sprung from Ethyl Meatplow). Claw Hammer, whose noisy blues-based punk on Hold Your Tongue (and Say Apple) is still scorching eardrums weeks after its release, share the bill with the Fibbers, in a kind of warped but intriguing showdown between enigmatic leads, with Bozulich's crooning and yowling preceded by Jon Wahl's guttural moans and Didjits-like shriek. Patsy kick off the show at 9 p.m. at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell (at Polk), S.F. Admission is $8-10; call 885-0750.
