MARK JACKSON

“Stuffed with charm and surprising insight, The Companion Piece is the vaudevillian brainchild of director Mark Jackson and actor Beth Wilmurt… The Companion Piece blends the fantasies and creative quandaries of the actor, the collaborative process, and the choices actors (and, as you soon realize, people) make to follow their hearts, tying them together in a way that seems random and nonlinear until the curtain goes down and your brain begins to click through the whacked-out whimsy to find the channels of meaning.”

7X7 MAGAZINE (7X7.COM)

“Comical and existential, The Companion Piece is a charmingly inventive new work of devised theater conceived by actor Beth Wilmurt and directed by Mark Jackson… Clever, frequently hilarious, and gently moving… It produces one captivating scene after another, often with the simplest of means.”

SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN

“What is thrilling about watching The Companion Piece is how this 80-minute show has been developed through constantly taking dramatic risks. Many moments are intriguing – some even inspiring.” 

THE HUFFINGTON POST 

“You could throw a lot of adjectives at The Companion Piece, a world-premiere creation by director Mark Jackson, actor Beth Wilmurt and their crew: wily, zany, exciting, perplexing, silly and utterly beautiful. But they don’t quite create the picture of just what the Companion experience is. …The Companion Piece, directed with Jackson’s signature precision and inventiveness, is a disarmingly delightful show to watch, but it’s even more interesting to think about afterward. Now how often can you say that about something this entertaining?”

THEATERDOGS.NET

“One of the most intriguing productions of 2011. …In its quirky rhythms, audacious inventiveness, and masterful stagecraft, there are flashes of true brilliance. …It’s difficult to convey the amount of beauty, humor, and skill in these routines, with their misleading sense of haphazardness. It’s clear how much care has been lavished on what we’re seeing. While on one level the narrative seems disjointed and scattered, as mercurial as a person’s moods, on another we see how finely wrought it is, how much work and intelligence went into making it that way. Even in moments of stillness, there’s no awkwardness in the staging, no wavering of the audience’s focus… What Jackson and his colleagues accomplish with The Companion Piece is so rich, so daring…”

SCENE 2

“Beth Wilmurt and Mark Jackson have produced The Companion Piece with a frantic, madcap glory that gives striking insights to the creative process… The Companion Piece thrives in metaphor, where the subtext of their competition to devise the winning idea is a poignant story of identity and success.”

SF BAY TIMES

“The Companion Piece is a charming piece full of bliss… Mark Jackson has once again proved that he is one of the best directors in the Bay Area by creating this vaudeville dreamscape.”

TALKINGBROADWAY.COM

“Director Mark Jackson, and performers Beth Wilmurt, Chris Kuckenbaker and Jake Rodriguez are among the most captivating theatre artists in the Bay Area. This world premiere devised theatre production is hilarious, physically exhilarating and in places deeply moving. …Vital and inspiring and totally worth seeing.”

LIES LIKE TRUTH (artsjournal.com)

“We’re in the hands of experts. It shows in this smart, engaging creation… I loved The Companion Piece, not least because of the glittering sheen of Jake Rodriguez’s vaudevillian and the ease and charm of Wilmurt and Kuckenbaker as the struggling couple. I also loved the casual, go-for-broke inventiveness of the enterprise, in scenes that range from a madcap intensity to touching quietude… Graceful, astonishing and mysteriously moving… A funny, touching meditation on getting along and working it out…”

PIEDMONT POST

“It's hard to know what to expect next at The Companion Piece… It's a show full of pleasures… But if the sequence of acts seems random, Companion leaves a playful lingering sensation of pieces falling into place with a purpose… Jackson uses the whole, deep Artaud stage, pacing the bits, bickerings and missteps with sharp synchronicity.”

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE