622 Available for Lease.
A unique opportunity has opened up at 622 Broadway. Property includes sidewalk etching courtesy of Garry Goodrow and many, many ghosts.
Author: The Committee Movie
The Bocce Ball
When Alan and Latifah (then Irene Riordan) arrived in San Francisco, their friend Victor DiSuvero found them a property in North Beach that was perfect for their new cabaret. It was called The Bocce Ball. Latifah, pregnant with her first child, oversaw the construction of the theater while Alan developed the show with his ensemble at the Mime Troupe’s church on Ord Street.
Cheech and Chong 2016
They name-dropped The Committee as a major influence. Earlier in the day, Tommy mentioned the Committee and referenced our doc on the Papa and Lund Show on 95.7 The Game. Listen here at the 27:25 mark. Thanks Dan Burt for the tip!
Rob Reiner & Larry Bishop at The Hungry i.
In the late sixties Rob Reiner and Larry Bishop spearheaded an improv group in Los Angeles called The Session, which included Richard Dreyfuss and others. Reiner and Bishop formed a duo out of that group and went on tour. Here they are doing press for a show at The Hungry i, courtesy of the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. Within a year, Reiner would find himself onstage at The Committee. Reiner provided more background about this time in his 2011 interview with A.V. Club which you can find here.
Kertia Thomas Black
Kertia Thomas Black, member of The Committee from 1969-70. Thanks again, Kertia, for joining us for an interview last month and providing us with this photo!
Pat Paulsen Visits San Francisco.
The San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive is finding amazing gems these days. Check out The Committee’s Smothers Brothers co-conspirator Pat Paulsen in this appearance at a White Front discount store (now the Safeway at Potrero Center). “Hold for audience applause.” LOL.
Dr. Kertia Black
Many thanks to Dr. Kertia Black, who visited us in San Francisco this weekend! For a turbulent and unforgettable year (1969-70), Kertia performed with The Committee at 622 Broadway with a cast of newer faces, helping to hold down headquarters while the old guard stormed Los Angeles.
Kertia offered a fresh perspective on The Committee’s latter days and vivid memories of her Committee castmates and director Del Close, The Committee’s workshops, and the emotional toll that the work ultimately took on her.
The interview took place at PianoFight (pictured here) which lent us their bar and support for the shoot. PianoFight, a bar and theater complex, is an amazing resource for theater artists in San Francisco, hosting performances and live music every night of the week. We encourage a visit!
New Production Website Launched!
We’ve officially re-vamped our website and it feels great. The website that we had up until now was very much a “placeholder” site. It was good enough for our Kickstarter campaign back in 2013, but we were in desperate need for a better forward-face. Thankfully our friend Jason Gohlke, with his deep WordPress skills and eye for design and usability, came to our aid.
The new The Committee Movie site was designed to focus on the site’s content and community.
The site is built on WordPress, which powers 25% of the Web and combines simplicity for users and publishers with state-of-the-art flexibility and security. Best of all, it’s free and open-source with a community of thousands of WordPress developers who have contributed code, design, and templates to the larger Web.
It is optimized for all devices and browser sizes, so you can enjoy the rich media experience whether you’re on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer, or even a phablet or a netbook (but, sadly, not a Newton or a Jitterbug).
It is also seamlessly tied to our blog, so our website and blog are now under one roof.
We will continue to make improvements as we go of course, but we’re really proud of our new site and we hope you enjoy it.
Another One from The Vault.
From the vaults – found some great new footage of The Committee from their storied trip to Manhattan, KS (home town of Del Close). Really great stuff of them off stage and just enjoying the ride – super-excited to have found this!
Pictured here: Del Close, Jim Cranna, and John Brent.