Lights Up! 2024

Buy your ticket

Festival admission for the full afternoon is Pay What You Can, or a suggested donation of $20. You can pay the $20 online, or call the box office at 408-295-4200 to name your own price.

Back onstage for the first time since the Covid outbreak, our annual “Lights Up!” festival of new plays returns on Sunday, Aug. 4. The lineup features some of the South Bay’s top talent, including acclaimed Equity actors Mark Anderson Phillips and George Psarras. In 2020, City Lights turned “Lights Up!” into a podcast series of radio plays. Now, the festival is back in the building, featuring dynamic readings of two full-length plays, and a Maker Fair showcasing a variety of artists.

Readings begin at 2 p.m with a new adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mystery Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter, written by George Psarras. Also City Lights’ sound designer and composer, Psarras is a theater, TV and film actor whose City Lights credits include Blithe Spirit and The Merchant of Venice.

Mark Anderson Phillips* directs and stars as Sherlock. Other cast: George Psarras*, Jeffrey Bracco, Tom Gough, April Culver, Sam Ricci, Dan Cardenas, Keenan Flagg, Max Tachis and Maria Marquis. *Member, Actors’ Equity Association.

Then, at 5 p.m., the festival presents a new adaptation of Jules Verne’s thrilling Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Playwright Max Tachis has also appeared in many City Lights shows, including Waiting For Next and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Kit Wilder directs. Cast: Tom Gough, Simar Kaur, Sam Ricci, April Culver, Dan Cardenas, Keenan Flagg, Deb Anderson, Stephanie Renee Foisy, Kimberly Scofield and Maria Marquis.

“Lights Up!” readings are script-in-hand, but are often so vivid that the audience forgets the actors are holding books. The event includes ample time for audience feedback, which is invaluable as the playwrights modify and ready their works for a potential mainstage production.

Meanwhile, the “Lights Up!” Maker Fair will be open from 1 to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 5, featuring four artists from the City Lights community: Executive Artistic Director Lisa Mallette (handmade hostess gifts), marketing director Rebecca Wallace (collage art), and actors Keenan Flagg and Rachel Bakker (ceramic art).

The “Lights Up!” festival is generously sponsored by Elaine Baskin and Ken Krechmer, in memory of Rick Holden. Rick was a major supporter of the arts at City Lights and in the South Bay as a whole.

Parking info:

Should you require ADA parking, email us or add a note to your order to reserve a spot in front of the glass doors. We will accommodate as many as possible. For everyone else, there’s free parking a short walk away. Most ParkSJ garages offer 90 minutes of free parking, and the parking website ParkSJ.org is a great resource providing real-time parking availability, maps and more.

The closest city lot is the First Street and I-280 Lot, under the freeway. Parking there is free on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays.