Events & Performances

 

Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange
Fall 2026 Season

Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange is a visually striking, one-hour theatrical work — five actors moving through a cascade of Dorothea Lange’s own photographs, her Dust Bowl migrations, her photographs of Central Valley labor camps, Japanese internment portraits, and elegies for natural resources. Written by poet Tess Taylor and directed by Ciera Eis, the play was born from years in the Oakland Museum of California’s own Lange archive, weaving her field notebooks, oral histories, and FSA driving reports into a polyphonic meditation on witness, migration, and time. This fall, Last West returns to the Bay Area for a full season of events — and prepares for its immersive black box run at Marin Theatre Company in spring 2027.

UPCOMING DATES

Sept 10, 2026 — On the Road with Last West at Marin Theatre
A rare chance to see Last West in the making. Join playwright Tess Taylor, director Ciera Eis, and the creative team for an open developmental workshop— an intimate evening inside the rehearsal process as the production prepares for its fall run. RSVP required.

Oct 16, 2026 — The Archive Comes Alive
How does an archive become a poem — and that poem become a play? Poet and playwright Tess Taylor joins Ken Light, Reva and David Logan Professor of Photojournalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, for an evening conversation about documentary poetry, photography, and the making of Last West. Set against a video installation drawn from Lange’s California archive — including her newly released Death of a Valley photographs — Taylor and Light explore what it means to carry images and testimony across ninety years. Their conversation ranges across the documentary tradition they share: the ethics of looking, the translation between image and word, and what Lange’s vision offers and asks of artists working now. A reception follows.

  • Location: UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Northgate Hall

  • Time: 5:30–8:30pm

  • More info: Free and open to the public

Oct 17, 2026 — Gallery Chats
Drop into OMCA for pop-up gallery teasers: short live scenes from Last West performed among Lange’s own photographs. A chance to encounter the play in the very archive that inspired it.

  • Location: Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)

  • Time: 1–3pm

  • More info: Accessible with museum admission

Oct 18, 2026 — Spotlight Sundays
Experience the full production. Five actors, Lange’s own words, and a stunning projected backdrop of her photographs — two performances in OMCA’s theater. A book signing with Tess Taylor follows the 3pm performance.

  • Location: Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)

  • Times: 1–2:10pm and 3–4:10pm. With museum admission.

  • More info / RSVP: museumca.org/recurring-events/

Oct 22, 2026 — Daring to Look: An Evening with Dorothea Lange's California
What does it mean to dare look at California — then and now? Poet and playwright Tess Taylor joins Marin Theatre Company Artistic Director Lance Gardner for an evening of conversation, readings, and a preview of Last West as it prepares for its full Marin run.