Opens today at 450 Florida
By James Ambroff-Tahan | Special to The Examiner
Sep 3, 2025
Rodney Earl Jackson Jr.’s musical “The Day the Sky Turned Orange,” which debuts Friday at SFBATCO, depicts a dramatic and seminal day in recent San Francisco history.
Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. said that when smoke from a spate of wildfires turned the skies over the Bay Area an ominous orange on Sept. 9, 2020, he woke up in the morning thinking it was the middle of the night.
The eerie experience motivated Jackson — the artistic director of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company — to create a musical about that memorable day, he said.
“This was a snapshot in our very recent history when the representation of the turmoil we were dealing with — an orange sky — was undeniable,” Jackson said. “It was the universe, God, Buddha, Allah’s way of saying, ‘Wake up, notice what's going on. Don't pretend we can continue business as usual. Do something, make a plan.’”
“That day activated me to make a play to get people to care about the climate and our world,” he said.
Jackson’s artistic vision will become a vivid, soulful reality Friday when he directs the world premiere of SFBATCO and Z Space’s two-act R&B and hip-hop musical “The Day the Sky Turned Orange” at San Francisco’s Z Space. The production runs until Oct. 5.
Musical about ‘Orange Skies Day’ is a loving critique of SF
Greg