Hellishly fun Hand job at Berkeley Rep

Hand to God is just the spiritual exploration we deserve at this point in our sordid human existence. Imagine if the current administration reimagined "Sesame Street" in its own twisted, greedy, egocentric, power-mad image and you might get something like Robert Askins' hit play now at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Peet's Theatre.

In a small Texas town, the Lutheran church becomes the epicenter for that most human of showdowns: between good and bad, right and wrong, authority and anarchy, virtue and sin, reality and fantasy.

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Puppeteer wakes up the weird to stop bullying

The horrific stories about kids and bullying just keep on coming. Even in the face of something extraordinary like the "It Gets Better" campaign, bullying persists. It may take generations to quell the cruelty, so let's get started.

Walnut Creek native Leslie Carrara-Rudolph is doing something about bullying in the best way she knows how. If you saw the wonderful Muppet puppet improv show Stuffed and Unstrung at the Curran Theatre last month, you saw what a genius puppeteer Carrara-Rudolph is. Well now she's returning to her hometown with a children's show that directly address bullying and self-esteem – but in a fun, family-friendly way for ages 6 and up.

The show is Wake Up Your Weird, and it stars a sock puppet named Lolly Lardpop.

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