Little Girl Blue: The Rise of Janis Joplin

-
By Shannon Stockwell 


Kacee Clanton as Janis Joplin in A Night with Janis Joplin.
Photo by Mark and Tracy Photography.
Singer Janis Joplin—the focus of A Night with Janis Joplin, opening at The Geary Theater on June 7—is often hailed as the first female sex symbol in rock and roll. She paved the way for female singers to break down barriers of sexism in the music industry. But before she became a feminist icon, her folksy, bluesy tone formed the soundtrack to the 1967 Summer of Love.

Joplin first heard of the San Francisco music scene while staying with her aunts in Los Angeles in 1962. But it wasn’t until music promoter Chet Helms passed through Texas and heard Joplin perform that she became determined to try her hand at singing professionally.

The music scene in 1963 San Francisco had not yet moved to the neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury, which would have its heyday later; it was still largely in North Beach, which was populated by beat writers and folk musicians. Joplin performed at small gigs around the city and began to gain a fanbase.
 
After a brief return to Texas, Joplin returned to San Francisco and auditioned for a band: Big Brother and the Holding Company. The members of the band were blown away by her gritty, soulful voice. She was hired immediately, and within six days of arriving in San Francisco, she was performing with Big Brother.

With Big Brother, Joplin’s fame skyrocketed. The band played at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967 and was the only act to get an encore performance. By the end of 1967, it was making $2,500 a show, which was unheard of for a band that hadn’t yet released a full album. Cheap Thrills, featuring “Piece of My Heart” and “Summertime,” would be released in 1968.

A Night with Janis Joplin runs June 7–July 2. Click here to purchase tickets through our website. Want to learn more about Janis Joplin and the Summer of Love? Click here to purchase Words on Plays, A.C.T.'s in-depth performance guide series.

Popular posts from this blog

Learning from the Inside Out: Hear from the 2018–19 Fellows

-
Image
By Annie Sears

Every year, each department here at A.C.T. welcomes a Fellow for the season, providing mentorship to young professionals as they transition into the theater industry. For ten months, we Fellows are immersed in the world of San Francisco’s premier regional theater, learning how a nonprofit runs from the inside out. Some of us are on our feet in the rehearsal room, and others are writing for Words on Plays. Some are working with local youth in classrooms, and others are working with needle and thread in our costume shop. Within our respective fields, we’ve been growing both personally and professionally, acquiring all sorts of random and useful skills. Here’s an authentic peek into what we’re learning here at A.C.T.

Hannah Clague, Education and Community Programs Fellow: I learned when to wear sneakers to work (when you’re rolling around of the floor teaching a group of sixth graders to act), and when to wear heels (when you’re in a board meeting trying to secure fundi…
Read more

Of Special Guests and Animal Instinct: A Non–Human Interest Story

-
Image
By Kayla Minton Kaufman

The cast of Edward Albee’s Seascape slowly filters in to A.C.T.’s William Ball Studio as the morning sun starts to warm the space. Cups of coffee or tea from the green room in hand, their hellos and good mornings fill the room as pages of the script turn for last minute review. All of this is classic rehearsal room sights and sounds—until the elevator dings, and a meow emerges from the lobby.

Enter award-winning playwright Winter Miller, who is shadowing our Seascape rehearsal process from first read to opening night. She rocks a front-wearing, kangaroo-style backpack. Nestled inside is the star of our rehearsal room: her cat, Gato. For a production where tuning into animal instinct is key, having this creature prowling around is surprisingly valuable. “It’s such a collaborative room, it makes sense to draw inspiration from a cat,” says Sarah Nina Hayon, who plays Sarah, a human-sized lizard. “I do watch him during rehearsal sometimes.”

At first sight, the roo…
Read more

Behind the Scenes at A.C.T.: An Interview with Usher Joe Mac

-
Image
By Annie Sears
Joe Mac came to the Bay Area on a spur-of-the-moment road trip. It was 1978, and Joe had just completed undergrad in his home state of Pennsylvania when a friend called and said, “Pull $200 together. We’re going to Santa Cruz.” So Joe, who had never been west of the Mississippi River, spent two weeks sleeping in the back of a Volkswagen with his friend and a husky. When he first glimpsed the Pacific, Joe said, “I’m not going back. I’m starting my life here.” And he did.

For 40 years, Joe has been active in the Bay Area theater community. A member of the Actors’ Equity Association, Joe’s performed on several regional stages. He’s also house-managed at Beach Blanket Babylon and 42nd Street Moon. Most notably, he was the managing director and producing associate at Marines’ Memorial Theatre for 18 years. Now—in addition to decorating local bars and manning the Coca-Cola Fan Lot at AT&T Park—he’s an usher at the Curran, the Palace of Fine Arts, and here at A.C.T.

You’v…
Read more