Wayne Harris'
THE MAY DAY PARADE

Extended!
November 15 – December 13, 2008
saturdays at 8pm
Marsh Studio Theater

My Cultural Landscape Blog: George Hayemont
My Cultural Landscape: Children Will Listen for the full review
“A brilliant performance by a uniquely talented artist.”

SF Theater Blog: Doug Konecky
For the full review http://sf-theaterblog.blogspot.com/
RATINGS: * * * BANG
"Harris, dominates the stage in a way most soloist cannot….. A musical force on the stage....it is hard to stay seated in your chair….. Wayne Harris doesn't enter stage left...he marches all over it!....This reviewer wanted to stand up and form a second line to (march) with him…. The ride never stops..."
“Harris is a fine writer….he dominates the stage in a way most soloists cannot….His description of the way it used to be makes us all long to have been there, marching down the boulevard, staying in step and keeping it real.”
- Doug Konecky, SF Theater Blog

Plank Magazine: Shane Birley
For the full review: http://www.plankmagazine.com/print/438
“His performance is touching, … It is obvious he loves the characters and is dedicated to maintaining their integrity.”
“Now that I am thinking about it, I want to relive that moment of surprise when I sat down in the theatre.”

“Wayne Harris skillfully interweaves deft character sketches…..gripping!”
- San Francisco Chronicle

“Harris takes his audience on a joyful ride”
“Moving….a play full of memorable characters and delightful stories”
– SF Bay Guardian

“Wayne is a wonderful storyteller, insightful, funny and soulful….his work both startles me and touches me.”
– Charlie Varon (actor/producer)

75 minutes
no intermission

All seating for this performance is first-come, first-served. 
Though a limited number (10) of Reserved Seat tickets are available, at $50 each.

This show is 12 and over.

Please do not bring infants to the show.

“Just the sight of them big butt girls in short skirts doing the “dirty dog” down Newstead Blvd. put the crowd into a frenzy…I mean, folks were following the band down the street. Ain’t seen nothing like it before or since”

There’s a parade coming! ….so, get a seat on the curb with a snow cone and watch as Wayne Harris portrays 1 Baptist  preacher, 3 generations on a porch, a 4 man  bass drum ensemble, 12 rather large “letter” girls bumping and grinding down a mid-town boulevard and the 100 member Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church Drum & Bugle Corps.

Award winning performer and San Francisco Bay Area favorite, Wayne Harris, takes us on a road less traveled…(or maybe less marched) as he prepares at 8 years old, for his first parade maneuvering between a jealous big brother, a drunken deacon, a foul mouthed banner partner, new shoes and a grandmother of biblical proportions…. all while learning the value of family, history and the importance of staying in step!

My Cultural Landscape Blog: George Hayemont
My Cultural Landscape: Children Will Listen for the full review

“A brilliant performance by a uniquely talented artist.”

“I was bowled over by the carefully-crafted nuances, intensely personal speech cadences, and fine layers of depth Mr. Harris brought to his extended family and loving cast of characters.   As a trained musician, his sense of pacing combines with the colors of his voice to create indelible impressions of the people in his neighborhood whose larger-than-life personalities grew even bigger before his impressionable adolescent eyes.”

“In The Mayday Parade, Harris is so adept at painting pictures with words that the audience never doubts that a parade is coming down the street.”  

“I haven't seen anyone pull off this kind of magical, mystical one-man parade since Professor Harold Hill landed in River City to tell its citizens about the day when "Seventy-six trombones led the big parade.”

SF Theater Blog: Doug Konecky
For the full review (scroll down) http://sf-theaterblog.blogspot.com/

RATINGS: *** BANG
”The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division awards 'May Day Parade' three stars with a Bangle of Praise. Two of the three stars are for Harris's writing and performing, but the third is for all those drum lines. He is such a musical force on stage that it is hard to stay seated in your little red chair. This viewer wanted to stand up and form a Second Line right behind him.”

“Wayne Harris doesn't enter stage left, he MARCHES all over it. He's a big man with a lot of energy and he uses it all.”

”Like all one-person shows, the performance is probably more important than the writing. Harris is a fine writer, and "May Day Parade" has many wonderful lines and a terrific flow, but Harris, who has been a performer all his life, dominates the stage in a way most soloists cannot. You can easily see him acting other people's material as well as his own.”

”His description of the way it used to be makes us all long to have been there, marching down the boulevard, staying in step and keeping it real.”

Plank Magazine: Shane Birley
For the full review: http://www.plankmagazine.com/print/438

“His performance is touching, … It is obvious he loves the characters and is dedicated to maintaining their integrity.”
“Now that I am thinking about it, I want to relive that moment of surprise when I sat down in the theatre.”