Tip-top ten

Happy holidays, Theater Dogs!Thanks for reading the blog in 2006. I'll try to make it bigger, better, funnier and fresher in 2007.Below you'll find my Top 10 list of favorite theater experiences in 2006. I'd love for you all to share some of your favorites as well, so use the comment feature liberally.1.The Clean House,TheatreWorksSarah Ruhl's immaculate play — is it a comic drama or a dramatic comedy? — reveals a writer so attuned to the human heart that her work may actually be beneficial to your health. This production, helmed by Juliette Carrillo, sure was. Love is a mess, Ruhl tells us. It's dirty (like a good joke), messy and, at its best, like really good homemade chocolate ice cream.2. The Glass Menagerie, Berkeley Repertory Theatre The news that Rita Moreno, the Bay Area's resident living legend, would tackle the role of Amanda in this Tennessee Williams classic was intriguing. Could Moreno handle it? Anyone who doubted Moreno's chops was quickly proven wrong by her powerhouse portrayal of a mother desperate to see her children succeed in a harsh world. Director Les Waters gave us such a fresh approach to the play that it almost seemed newly minted.3. Love Is a Dream House in Lorin, Shotgun PlayersPlaywright Marcus Gardley did a magnificent thing with this world-premiere play: He turned a neighborhood into art, and in doing so made the specific universal. Gardley immersed himself in the history of Berkeley's Lorin District — from the recent past clear back to Native American days — and, with the help of director Aaron Davidman, managed to capture something significant about each era leading up to the present. The cast of more than 30 professionals and nonprofessionals found the heart of the piece and showed us over and over again that without community, we're not much.4. Hunter Gatherers, Killing My Lobster Of all this year's comedies, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's world premiere for sketch troupe Killing My Lobster was the meatiest. Maybe it had something to do with the onstage slaughter of a lamb at the play's start. Or maybe it was the huge chunk of roasted meat that factors into the play's bloody end. Whatever, this was an aggressively funny play about our primal, cave-man impulses, man's need to hump (or kill) everything in sight and woman's need for chocolate.5. 4 Adverbs, Word for Word San Francisco's Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) ended his "Series of Unfortunate Events" books this year, but not before releasing a book under his own name. Four chapters of that book (Adverbs) became the basis for a typically wondrous production by Word for Word, the company that translates short fiction to the stage without changing a word of the original text. Kind of makes you glad Lemony Snicket is taking a break.6. Dessa Rose, TheatreWorksA musical about slavery sounds like a glum proposition, but in the hands of composers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, glum turns into serious, which turns into transcendent. Based on the novel by Sherley Anne Williams, the story of an escaped slave and the slave owner she reluctantly befriends bears the weight of history and the healing power of music.7. In On It, Encore Theatre Company Canadian playwright/director Daniel MacIvor's work isn't that well-known south of our northern border, but based on this dynamic, beautifully directed and performed piece,MacIvor should be in demand. Actors Ian Scott McGregor and Glenn Peters broke the fourth wall, bent time and concealed key details as they told us the story of actors who used to be lovers working on a play about their relationship. Or were they?8. Gem of the Ocean, American Conservatory Theater The late August Wilson received a beautiful valedictory production of his second-to-last play from ACT and director Ruben Santiago-Hudson. The electric jolt of Wilson's language — "So, live!" are the play's final words — coursed through the nearly three-hour show, but the sturdy cast, headed by Michele Shay as Aunt Ester, made it very much alive.9. Restoration Comedy, California Shakespeare Theater San Francisco writer Amy Freed's effervescent comedy is based on two 17th-century comedies that wished they could have been this fresh and funny. Special mention must be made of the hilarious Danny Scheie, who played Sir Novelty Fashion who later becomes Lord Foppington, the star of the show-stopping Act 2 fashion show (Anna R. Oliver provided the costumes).10. Permanent Collection, Aurora Theatre Company This serious drama about race relations by Thomas Gibbons veered into polemics, but before it did, the battle between a black man and a white man over a collection of art is humane, disturbing and, best of all, thought provoking.The best shows that didn't necessarily originate here (or were on their way somewhere else — like Broadway) include: Jersey Boys (Best of Broadway/SHN); A Chorus Line (Best of Broadway/SHN); The Miser (Berkeley Repertory Theatre/Theatre de la Jeune Lune); The Light in the Piazza (Best of Broadway/SHN); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Stone, Nederlander, Barrington Stage Company et al); Swan Lake (Best of Broadway/SHN).For more 2006 highlights, check out Jones for Theater.OK. Now you...