Now Playing thru July 31…
Artwork by Stephanie Whigham.
Synopsis
The annual Pear Playwrights Guild is back for their 24th season of fresh Pear Slices! This beloved series has brought over 100 new works, all written by local writers to Pear's audiences.
Join us for what Bay Area critics have lauded as “an evening of exciting, live theatre” that is “overall highly engaging and thoroughly entertaining,”* and a “tradition [to] look forward to” with new works that are “quirky and thought-provoking.”**
Featuring new works from local playwrights and Guild members: Barbara Anderson, Paul Braverman, Max Gutmann, Greg Lam, John Levine, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Tom Mercer, and Maury Zeff.
*Theatre Eddys on Pear Slices 2025.
**Palo Alto Online on Pear Slices 2024.
Cast
Raymond Alvarez
Sarah Benjamin
Irina Dianova
Tim Huang
Stephen Sherwood
Alexandra Velazquez
Production Team
Directors: Joey Dippel and Tonya Mara
Lighting Designer: Noah Price
Sound Designer: Victor Swinkels-Ryan
Costume Designer: Nancy McClymont
Technical Director: Louis Stone-Collonge
Stage Manager: Rue Zadik
Assistant Stage Manager: Sam Crow
Artistic Associate & Production Manager: Lysander Abadia
Runtime
120 minutes with a 15 minute intermission.
Reviews & Press
“…Pear Slices fest offers eight 10-minute plays, and the range of the buffet is pretty impressive. Also impressive is the care the company has taken with each one, giving all of these entries their own lighting, costumes and sometimes music.” - The Almanac | Read the full review!>>
KQED names Pear Slices one of “The 11 Best Plays and Musicals to See This Summer in the Bay Area”!
“Delightfully entertaining!" - Pear Patron
"These plays hit all the feels - comedy and drama." - Pear Patron"
Inventive and creative stories, with wonderful performers." - Pear Patron
Pear Slices 2026
The Tree
by BARBARA ANDERSON
“[SPOILER] is so perfect it’s hilarious.” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: An Old Man and an Old Woman face that their Old Oak Tree is dying and must be cut down. As he begins cutting, The Old Man and the Tree discuss illness and death.
Featuring
Irina Dianova……….…..Woman
Tim Huang……………....Man
Stephen Sherwood…….Tree
Directed by
Tonya Mara
Dirty Harry and Virgin Sally
by PAUL BRAVERMAN
“It’s all pretty hilarious… and both actors do an excellent job.” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: On Easter Sunday, 1987, the last California Condor in the wild was captured and brought into the San Diego Wild Animal Park as part of an effort to save the species, which was down its last 22 members. It did not go as planned.
Featuring
Raymond Alvarez……….…..Harry
Alexandra Velazquez……….Sally
Directed by
Joey Dippel
After Amy
by MAX GUTMANN
“..a masterwork in the things that go unspoken. It’s a simple and powerful scene.” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: Wyatt is surprised to see an old acquaintance at his mother’s funeral. When the two men meet, there are further surprises.
Featuring
Raymond Alvarez……….…..Jonah
Tim Huang…………………...Wyatt
Directed by
Joey Dippel
The Shrewing of the Tame
by GREG LAM
“...an incisive post-mortem on the original Shakespeare...” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: After the events of Taming of the Shrew, Bianca checks in on the newly domesticized Katherine to tell her how things have changed for the women of Padua, and to ask how they might change them back.
Featuring
Sarah Benjamin……….…....Katherine
Alexandra Velazquez………Bianca
Directed by
Joey Dippel
Cyrano No No!
by JOHN LEVINE
“The play has an accelerating momentum that gives it a fun sense of careening out of control.” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: Chris is in a dating “dry spell” when his new computer operating system takes charge of his social life and more.
Featuring
Irina Dianova……….….....Voice
Stephen Sherwood……...Cyrano
Directed by
Tonya Mara
Elam
by TOM MERCER
“Break out the Kleenex for this one… cuts a little close to the heart.” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: A family is torn apart and put back together again courtesy of the United States government or so they think when they encounter a son and his long lost mother.
Featuring
Raymond Alvarez……….…....Elam
Sarah Benjamin……………....Agent
Tim Huang…………………….Walter
Alexandra Velazquez………..Benita
Directed by
Joey Dippel
Once Upon a Dream
by BRIDGETTE DUTTA PORTMAN
“...takes the Disney princess trope to new places.” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: Three fairy-tale heroines meet at a sleep study institute to discuss their troubles. Can they find a solution--and true love?
Featuring
Sarah Benjamin……….…....Rose
Irina Dianova……………..…Penelope
Alexandra Velazquez….…...Goldie
Directed by
Tonya Mara
Girls Just Want to Have Patents
by MAURY ZEFF
“…very amusing, and the plot twist is damned clever.” - The Almanac. Read the full Pear Slices review!>>
About the play: When 1940's screen siren Hedy Lamarr invents a superior radar-jamming technology, she must keep it out of the hands of the Nazis...while, at the same time, acting in a film where she must find the inner strength in an underwritten character.
Featuring
Irina Dianova……….…....Victor
Sarah Benjamin…………Hedy
Stephen Sherwood….….Holt
Directed by
Tonya Mara
