The Oscars are just around the corner and we will be celebrating in our usual high/medium/low/mix-it-up style. Join us for our 8th Annual Awards Night Party! It’s the Oscars broadcast live on Feb. 26, with costume contest, auction and prizes. A delicious dinner from our great local restaurants, appetizers, desert and wine are all included in the ticket price.
This year’s costume contest brings a wealth of opportunity. Steampunks have HUGO. Those who favor casual yet chic clothing made from expensive fabric that drapes nicely can come as the modern-day characters from MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. Marilyn Monroe (MY WEEK WITH MARILYN) and Margaret Thatcher (THE IRON LADY) are both options; or just wear your usual Izod shirt, wind-breaker and baseball cap (MONEYBALL). Something for everyone.
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Tickets are $55 General ($45 for Lark Theater members), $75 VIP. They are going quickly, so we recommend you call in advance: 415.924.5111. Details on our website.
Local shopper Steven Spielberg
Okay, maybe not every day (though a friend did find himself in line at the checkout at Lucky Supermarket behind Steven Spielberg. For real! It went like this: “Hmmm, that guy’s got some nice shoes… Wow, he’s buying expensive wine…Whoa! That’s Steven Spielberg!”). But around Oscar time, that’s how we like to think of ourselves. We had a fantastic Award Night bash this year. We were sold out in advance for the event (make a mental note for next year), and our audience/community came through with imaginative costumes, lots of fun and hilarity, and generous support.
Please scan the list of local merchants who supported us with in-kind donations for this year’s party, and visit them. They are all wonderful.
Acqua Hotel
Ambrosia
Bloomers of Larkspur
Bryan’s Fine Foods
Burritoville
Chad Carvey
Courtyard by Marriott Larkspur Landing
Walt Disney Family Museum
D.J.’s Chinese Cuisine
Donna and Chuck Huggins
Donut Alley
Emporio Rulli
Eliza Haskins Koeppel
Fabrizio Ristorante
flourchylde Bakery
Gala 484
Il Fornaio
Infineon Raceway
Insalata’s
Jesse et Laurent
Left Bank Brasserie
M Clothing
Marin Country Mart
Marin Symphony
Marin Theatre Company
Mary Clyde
Melting Pot of Larkspur
M & M Team of Pacific Union International
Pizzeria Picco
Red Robin Catering
See’s Candies
Stefano’s Pizzeria
Table Cafe
Tavern at Lark Creek
Tutu School
Ward Street Cafe
Yankee Pier
YogaWorks
…but first a word about our sponsors. On March 7, 2010 the Lark Theater held its Sixth Annual Academy Awards Party. This year we were blessed with a beautiful day, so our elegant and imaginative party-goers didn’t have to worry about their Forties-style hat feathers drooping or blue body-paint running in the rain. We were also lucky to have unprecedented support from friends in the local merchant community, who generously donated delicious food, wine and an array of very special items for our live and silent auctions. Thanks to them we had our most successful Awards Night Gala ever.
Please follow the links for more information and frequent these terrific local businesses. We are grateful to ~
Akinoms Creations by Monika Eggen
Ambrosia
Balloon Delights
Bodhana Bed & Breakfast
Book Passage
Bryan’s Fine Foods
Burritoville
Cavallo Point
Mary Clyde
Courtyard by Marriott Larkspur Landing
Cuisine by Lela
DJ’s Chinese Cuisine
Donut Alley
E&O Trading Company
Emporio Rulli
Fabrizio Ristorante
Handley Cellars
Donna & Chuck Huggins
Il Fornaio
Jessie & Laurent
Eliza Haskins Koeppel
Korbel Winery
Left Bank
M Clothing
Magnolia Avenue Salon
Marin Country Mart
Marin Suites Hotel
Marin Symphony
Marin Theater Company
Tina McArthur
Melting Pot Larkspur
Mountain Home Inn
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
Peter Paul Wines
Pizzeria Picco
Red Robin Catering
Richard Rubenstein
Rustic Bakery
See’s Candies
Stacy Scott Catering
Stefano’s Pizzeria
The Tavern at Lark Creek
The Walt Disney Family Museum
Tutu School
Ward Street Cafe
Yankee Pier
YogaWorks
So, we were saying: We’d like to thank the academy for bringing back last year’s spectacular 60,000-pound Swarovski crystal curtain, with all-new topaz fringe. Against that clean, snappy white set – to die! Next year maybe a row of rubies? Also for a classy show across the board, and the lovely Mr. Baldwin and always delightful Mr. Martin. A marvelous time was had by all. ‘Till next year!
The Lark Theater celebrates our 5th Birthday on July 9, 2009.
Do you know the story of the Lark? It’s a good story – a local example of people stepping up to make a difference right on their own main street.
Marin is full of great, colorful little towns, but few have held on to their historic character as stubbornly as Larkspur. Downtown Magnolia Avenue is anchored at its South end by the Victorian mansion that houses Tavern at Lark Creek (cheers to the good people who decided to make the exquisite fare of the Lark Creek Inn affordable!), and in the North by the 1936 Art Deco cinema, the Lark. As recently as 2003, the proud people of Larkspur would hang their heads as they passed the Lark, which had been standing empty and dark for five long years.
Finally – as the wrecking ball loomed – they said “Enough! We won’t let this piece of our history, this place that could nourish our minds and souls, this place where we made out in high school while watching Mother, Jugs and Speed disappear forever!”
Executive Director Bernice Baeza and our nascent Board urgently pleaded the theater’s case all over town. Donations large and small poured in. Local residents came to do the hard physical work of tearing out the old, damaged interior and, later, to painstakingly hand-paint beautiful new Art Deco – style murals on our walls.
The Lark is still a labor of love by and for our community. Marin residents know their county is more diverse than is often assumed. In our audience are old and young, people of means and many who struggle, people from a range of interests and backgrounds. The staff, Board and volunteers of the Lark work hard to offer a wide variety of cultural programs and events to entertain and inspire. Just look over the list of our past productions. You’ll find something for everyone – and if we missed you, we welcome your suggestions.
So, on July 9th we celebrate. Come by for free cartoons, birthday cake and root-beer floats. And, if you haven’t yet, become a member of the Lark. If you’re a local resident, if you know how few historic, single-screen cinemas still operate in this country and it makes you sad, if you believe we need places to gather and reminded – through art, celebration and meaningful discourse – of our individual and collective potential, then the Lark Theater is your place and we need your support.
Time once again for the Lark Theater Name-That-Thing Quiz:
“It’s thin-skinned, temperamental…. Only when someone has taken the time to truly understand its potential can [it] be coaxed into its fullest expression. And when that happens, its flavors are the most haunting and brilliant and subtle and thrilling and ancient on the planet.”
Sounds like so many of us, no? Once the flush of self-recognition has cleared from your cheeks, you might remember this from Paul Giamatti’s soaring paean to Pinot in the wonderful film Sideways. Pinot sales went up 16% in the Western US when this movie came out. See it again with the haunting and thrilling flavors of locally-produced Pinot Noir still on your tongue at our Pinot Days at the Lark Theater event on 5/14. We’ll host three local producers (Ketcham Estate, Eno Wines, and Suacci Carciere), followed by a screening of Sideways. Tasting at 7:00pm, film at 8:00pm. Tickets are only $15. A fantastic date night and surely a memorable celebration of life, love and the noble grape. A co-production between the Lark Theater and Pinot Days.
Everyone and their mother will find something to enjoy during the first week of May, as we wind up to Mom’s special day. Gone With the Wind, Sing-along Mamma Mia, Joy Luck Club (a special celebration of mothers and daughters, sponsored by neighbors the Magnolia Avenue Salon and DJ’s Chinese Cuisine), a tribute to Mary Pickford (lots more on our Mary Pickford festival here), and – if she’s not one for the chick-flicks – Goodbye Solo are ALL playing during the first week of May. See our website for showtimes.
Do you have tweens? Then you know Twilight, the teenage vampire romance series that has invaded the adolescent psyche like some kind of rampant cross between Harry Potter and Titanic (the movie). Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown). One critic calls it “a cloudburst mood piece filled with stormy skies, rippling hormones… Hardwicke stirs this teen pulp to a pleasing simmer.” To die over if you’re a teenage girl, and a guilty, lightly cheesy pleasure for grown-ups. Starts April 10, rated PG 13. Dress up! Here’s how.
For grown-ups who prefer more complication and less cheese with their steamy romance thrillers, we have Duplicity, with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, starting 4/10. On 4/16 at 1:00pm we’ll offer a Cinemama screening: bring your little baby, up to two years old, at no extra charge. Changing table provided.
Music lovers who don’t yet love Peter Rowan have their chance on Thursday, 4/16. A venerable, grammy-winning artist who has played with Bill Monroe, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman and countless others, Rowan serves up bluegrass with flavors of folk, rock and reggae. Simple, distilled melodies, thoughtful lyrics and smooth, nimble pickin’ that will expand your musical horizons even as they make you feel right at home.
Daters! Bring that charming person you are hoping so desperately to impress to our Big Night dinner-and-a-movie event on Saturday, 4/18. We’re serving an Italian dinner at 7:00pm followed by the fun and fabulous food movie, directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott with a great ensemble cast. Tickets for all this are only $20, so the pressure’s off, plus you’ll be supporting your local independent cultural center, which will make you look, well, local, independent, cultural and centered. As the tagline goes, “In love and life, one big night can change everything.” Fingers crossed!
We celebrate the future of local filmmaking with our annual Youth Film Festival on 4/26, 12:00 – 3:30pm. Please buy your tickets soon, especially if your kid has a film in the festival. They sell out fast. This year we are especially impressed by the resourcefulness, creativity and care these student filmmakers have brought to their work. Awards announced at the event.
If you missed last week’s post, please scroll down to see the rest of what we’re doing in April.
