The theater season is upon us! From our lauded St Louis institutions to the smallest new start-ups, September and October are packed with exciting entertainment opportunities.
The Repertory Theatre has already kicked off its season with One Man, Two Guvnors. The comedy, based on Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters, plays through Oct. 5 on the main stage. The Rep picks up again in mid-October with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Look for Safe House, which plays in the Studio Theater starting late January, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which will close the season in March/April.
The Fabulous Fox presents Mrs. Independent for two shows only on Oct. 5. The drama explores the changing gender roles of the family ‘breadwinner’ and stars Priest Tyaire and Robin Givens. Also showing in late October is Dirty Dancing, co-produced with Dance St Louis. But the Fox show that is a must-see is coming in March: Kinky Boots.
The Black Rep already completed its first show of the season, Purlie, and you will have to wait until Nov. 28 for its second offering, A Raisin in the Sun, one of my all-time favorite plays.
In smaller professional venues, Upstream Theater begins its 10th season with Sophocles’ Antigone, performing a new translation by David Slavitt Oct. 10 to 26. Upstream is known for quirky, American premieres of international plays that challenge its intellectually adroit audience. And The New Jewish Theatre begins its season Oct. 11 with The Diary of Anne Frank. Check out its website, as NJT has several offerings that look interesting. HotCity Theatre is near the end of its 2014 calendar season with one more offering, Reality, coming in December. If you are a fan of the mysterious, Stray Dog Theatre presents Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None Oct. 9 to 25. Stray Dog has a fiercely loyal audience, so shows tend to sell out quickly. St Louis Shakespeare will produce Much Ado About Nothing Oct. 17 to 25, and St Louis’ self styled ‘bad boy of musical theater,’ New Line Theatre, opens its 24th season with Bonnie and Clyde Oct. 2 to 25.
[on the marquee]
<<< Dustin Allison, founder and producer of the new November Theater Company, will launch with Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins Sept. 26. Allison is starting off small, only eight performances over two weekends, but he hopes to grow into a full season, “giving more opportunities to local artists.”
<<< Em Piro is the sprightly, fresh spearhead of St Lou Fringe, now in its fourth year. (Did you even know St. Louis had a Fringe Festival?) On Oct. 3 at 7:15 p.m., she and a group from POW! (Pockets of Wonder, a poetry-based street theater) will create an original production at PXSTL: Lots, the sculpture across from the Pulitzer Arts building. In mid-October she will perform a one-woman show, The K of D: An Urban Legend at 10 p.m. at the Revisionist Inn. She is fierce and a force to be considered.
Pictured: Raymond McAnally as Francis Henshall and Jack Fellows as Stanley Stubbers in One Man, Two Guvnors at the rep
Photo: Jerry Naunheim Jr.
