How to Live in a House on Fire (Reading)
Performances are Nov 5th & Nov 7th at 6:30pm (Doors open at 6pm)
Tickets are $10; free for GLBT Historical Society Members, and sold through the GLBT Historical Society Museum website.
Show Details
Kari Barclay
BERKELEY, 1970: The Chateau Homosexuel is a gay commune on the brink of collapse. Amidst eviction threats and bickering housemates, Benny and Jeremy flirt, fall in love, and debate the future of gay liberation. In 2020, California wildfire warnings push them out of the same house as they struggle to evacuate their fifty years of history together. HOW TO LIVE IN A HOUSE ON FIRE is a story of solidarity, queer community, and love in moments of crisis.
Presented for the first time in the San Francisco Bay Area where the story takes place, this staged reading of a new play by performance scholar Kari Barclay looks to queer history as a lens to understand our current moment of climate grief.
Kari Barclay (playwright) (they/them) ... is a playwright, director, and theater maker interested in deepening audiences’ sense of time and sparking curiosity about sexuality and gender. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, they serve as Associate Professor of Theater at Oberlin College. Kari is a 2026 Dramatist Guild Foundation National Fellow and Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence in Playwriting awardee. Kari’s playwriting and directing has shown at Ars Nova, Cleveland Public Theatre, convergence-continuum, and Duke University, among other theaters. Kari’s original comedy Can I Hold You? was one of the first full-length plays about asexuality performed in the U.S. and enjoyed a sold-out run in San Francisco and workshop in New York. It has been taught at colleges and universities across the country and published in Marathi language translation. Kari’s play Stonewallin’ was the winner of the 2021 Southern Queer Playwriting Festival and opened at Richmond Triangle Players in February 2022. In their other life, Kari is a theater scholar and historian. Their nonfiction book, Directing Desire, examines the rise of intimacy choreography in theater and is out now from Palgrave Macmillan. Kari earned their PhD in Theater and Performance Studies in 2021 from Stanford University, where they studied with playwright Young Jean Lee. kari-barclay.com.
Cast
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Matty Placencia
(Drew)
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J Jha
(Anand)
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Omar Stewart
(Benny, 1970)
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ShawnJ West
(Benny, 2020)
Matty Placencia (Drew) ... is from Alameda, California. Their work is based in the normality, beauty, humor, and social complexity of disability. In 2018, they were the editor for Le Jour, which made its way to the Cannes Film Festival Shorts Corner. In 2024, they debuted on stage as John in Cost Of Living. Other loves of their life include cooking, playing music, and writing poetry.
J Jha (Anand) ... (all pronouns) is a gender non-conforming South Asian asylee, who is re-imagining the world from trans centers of gravity. She has been active in community organizing at the SF LGBT Center, Folsom Street Fair, UpYourAlley, Tenant and Neighbourhood Council(TANC), Parivar – Our South Asian Queer Trans Family, and Food Not Bombs SF. They have worked as an actor and performer in the Bay Area since 2014, after securing an MFA from the University of Washington. Seen on the stages of Oakland Theater Project (Lear, Angels in America I and II, Mahâbhârata, Exodus to Eden), CalShakes (The Good Person of Szechwan), Z Space (The BOX) among others. J, along with Circo Zero, performed Queer Migrants, a collaborative self-created/curated piece of street-story-telling on the steps of the US Customs and immigration Office, Sansom Street, San Francisco, CA. #translivesmatter #AbolishICE
Omar Stewart (Benny, 1970) ... is thrilled to join the staged reading of How to Live in a House on Fire. Recent credits include Choir Boy with Shotgun Players, Hot Wing King with New Conservatory Theatre Center and The Cook with Berkeley Rep Theater. Omar is a San Francisco–based actor.
ShawnJ West (Benny, 2020) ... (like Changé in French) (he/him/diva) — director, actor, storyteller. Notable directing credits include A Soldier’s Play, with Altarena Playhouse, Legally Blonde: The Musical, SWEAT and regional premieres of DOT, We Are Continuous, Wild With Happy, and Hot Wing King at New Conservatory Theatre Center. ShawnJ brings bold heart to every project, guiding artists to truthfully and authentically tell the story. He co-hosts Creatively Shaded, celebrating authenticity and joy in Black theatre.
Coming Soon – (Jeremy, 1970)
Coming Soon (Jeremy, 2020)
Creative Team
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M Graham Smith
Director
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Zoe Lozano-Strickland
Stage Manager
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Elio Amador
stage directions
M. Graham Smith (Director) ... is overjoyed to be directing with Crowded Fire where he’s served as Resident Artist for over a decade. Graham is a freelance Director, Educator, and Producer. Recent directing credits: Drag Queen Magic (Local Theater Co), As You Like It (Lanes Coven), The Tempest (Marin Shakespeare), Gods & Monsters (New Conservatory Theater), World Premieres of Obie winner Christopher Chen’s Home Invasion, Kevin Rolston’s Deal with the Dragon (Magic Theatre & Edinburgh Fringe), The Mortification of Fovea Munson (The Kennedy Center); Father/Daughter (Aurora); White Chip (B Street), Pickleball (B Street), You for Me for You (Crowded Fire), and White (Shotgun). Graham’s new play FDR’s Very Happy Hour, centering d/Disability and Access in an immersive environment had its World Premiere at Actors Theatre of Louisville last year and launched its National Tour in Denver a few weeks ago. He’s currently adapting and developing a play based on Kate DiCamillo’s The Puppet’s of Spellhorst with playwright Min Kahng at Chicago Children’s Theater. He teaches at A.C.T. and Berkeley Rep. He’s a graduate of Wesleyan University where he directed the first workshop of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights.
Zoe Lozano-Strickland (Stage Manager) ... is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who grew up sitting in Bay Area theatre green rooms watching her family play and perform. She has since worked in stage management at the American Conservatory Theatre, Marin Shakespeare Company and recently graduated from CIIS with a Master of Arts in Community Mental Health. She is eager to be a part of the backstage world her kid self fell in love with as the stage manager on How to Live in a House on Fire.
Elio Amador (Stage Directions) ... is a queer, trans Chicane theatre artist based in the Bay Area. They’ve performed as an actor with CenterRep, Theatre Rhinoceros, Play Cafe, and more. He’s also performed in Theatre for Young Audiences shows through NCTC YouthAware and Woander. They’ve also done directing, playwriting, and assistant stage management roles for theaters across the Bay. He is forever indebted to those who’ve loved and supported him.
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