With TRAIL OF TEARS celebrated playwright Kathryn Schultz Miller once again brings history to life in this gripping drama. View 1800s America through the eyes of youthful and determined Chosen One as his people are forced to abandon their homeland in the Smoky Mountains. With his wife, Snow Owl, and his father, Walking Bear, he fights valiantly to save his people, but is overcome time and again by the attractive empty promises of the new settlers. This dramatic tale of one man's heartbreaking struggle to hold on to his Cherokee heritage is a fresh look at a painful chapter in American history.
Imaginary Theatre Company (ITC), the young audiences touring ensemble of The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, will present Trail of Tears by Kathryn Schultz Miller. This powerful play will be performed in the E. Desmond Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Boulevard in Forest Park, March 25-April 3, 2011.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) presents Macbeth by William Shakespeare. This poetic and potent drama will be performed on the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road (on the campus of Webster University), Webster Groves, thru March 6, 2011.
Since I've become a theatre critic I've had the opportunity to see several productions of William Shakespeare's MACBETH, and most have left me wanting in one way or another. But, just as Roman Polanski's gritty 1971 film adaptation is, for me at least, the best interpretation of the Bard's play that has been made into a movie, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis has produced a staging that is vastly superior to any I have encountered to this point. This dark, bloody, and brooding production of Macbeth provides an excellent evening of theatre, and features a talented cast and powerful design and direction.
The 2011 season opens with the St. Louis premiere of BECKY'S NEW CAR by Steven Dietz. This comedy starring Susie Wall is about a middle-aged woman who has the chance to trade in her average life for an alternate adventure with an uber-rich elderly gentleman. Since its debut in 2008, the play has been received enthusiastically at regional theatres across the country from Sacramento to Cincinnati. BECKY'S NEW CAR will be directed by Tlaloc Rivas and runs June 9-19.
Twenty-two St. Louis theater companies are represented in the nominations for the Sixth Annual Kevin Kline Awards. Thirty plays and musicals produced in the St. Louis area during 2010 now share 112 nominations in 22 different categories for the coveted award.
When the weather cooperates as sweetly it did on opening night (May 28, 2010), there's nothing that can compare to the experience of sitting under the stars in Forest Park and watching an ensemble of top notch performers and technicians take on the task of staging one of William Shakespeare's classic works. Shakespeare Festival St. Louis is presenting HAMLET this time around, and it's a splendid production that will provide attendees with the opportunity to catch a performance of what may well be the most famous play in history. It's certainly Shakespeare's finest hour, and you're certain to encounter a veritable plethora of familiar phrases that have become part of our own creative language as you listen to his sparkling dialogue.
Upstream Theater will present the local premiere of OUTLYING ISLANDS by David Greig, one of Scotland's leading playwrights. Set on a remote island off the coast of Scotland on the eve of World War II, the play shows three characters caught in a web of mounting sexual tension. A keen exploration of the human animal, a moving study of young people grappling with emotions, and a brilliant snapshot of that pristine moment in 1939 before the cataclysm-told with a lyrical language that has a power all its own. For mature audiences.
Upstream Theater's production of Scottish playwright David Greig's OUTLYING ISLANDS is an intriguing evening of theater, thoroughly confounding expectations, and providing plenty of food for thought. As a person who seeks out the unusual and unexpected, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself haunted by moments from it that linger in the memory long after viewing. Maybe it was all the references one character makes to Laurel and Hardy's classic 1937 film comedy Way Out West, or the fact that they actually break into a song from that film, warbling a drunken rendition of 'The Trail of the Lonesome Pine'. Whatever the cause, Philip Boehm's fine direction, and the wonderful work of an exceptional cast, help to make this a compelling and entertaining journey.
Upstream Theater will present the local premiere of OUTLYING ISLANDS by David Greig, one of Scotland's leading playwrights. Set on a remote island off the coast of Scotland on the eve of World War II, the play shows three characters caught in a web of mounting sexual tension. A keen exploration of the human animal, a moving study of young people grappling with emotions, and a brilliant snapshot of that pristine moment in 1939 before the cataclysm-told with a lyrical language that has a power all its own. For mature audiences.
The 5th Annual Kevin Kline Award Ceremony, held on Monday, March 22 at 7pm at the Loretto-Hilton Theater honored excellence in professional theatre in St. Louis. Recipients included: Jason Cannon (Doubt), John Contini (Barrymore), Neva Rae Powers (Souvenir), Jerry Russo (Glengarry Glen Ross), Cathy Simpson (A Song for Coretta), and Kirsten Wylder (Wonder of the World).
The Fifth Annual Kevin Kline Awards will take place on Monday, March 22, at 7pm, at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the campus of Webster University. 125 productions presented by 40 constituent theatres were judged in 2009, and awards will be given out in 22 categories.
Shakespeare Festival St. Louis announced the full cast of this season's production of HAMLET, running May 26-June 20, 2010. As previously announced, St. Louisan and Kevin Kline Award winner Jim Butz plays the title role. Joining Butz will be Justin Blanchard as Laertes, John Rensenhouse as Claudius, Anderson Matthews as Polonius, Deanne Lorette as Gertrude, Rob Krakovski as Ghost/Player King, and Kimiye Corwin as Ophelia.
The Fifth Annual Kevin Kline Awards will take place on Monday, March 22, at 7pm, at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the campus of Webster University. 125 productions presented by 40 constituent theatres were judged in 2009, and awards will be given out in 22 categories.
The nominees for the 5th Annual Kevin Kline Awards have been announced. The annual ceremony will be held on Monday, March 22 at 7pm at the Loretto-Hilton Theater.
2009 provided me with the opportunity to review 126 of the more than 200 shows that were available in the St. Louis region, and it began in terrific fashion with New Line Theatre's NIGHT OF THE LIVING SHOW TUNES. This was a wonderful sampling of contemporary show tunes performed by a cast of talented locals, and featuring artistic director Scott Miller's fine accompaniment on piano. In the acoustically perfect confines of the Sheldon Concert Hall, these unique melodies made a glorious noise. And, as I continued on my quest to expose my young son to the world of musical theatre, I ended the year with the Imaginary Theatre Company's splendid presentation of BAH! HUMBUG!. I was lucky enough to catch quite a few gems in between, and I've decided to compile a list of the ten most intriguing and engaging productions I saw in 2009.
St. Louis Actors' Studio continues its third season, themed Love and Honor with an offbeat comedy: John Kolvenbach's LOVE SONG. When Beane-a lonely oddball-suddenly finds blissful happiness with the woman who was burgling his apartment, his sister Joan is baffled. Even as Joan attempts to unravel the identity of this mysterious new love in Beane's life, her brother's newfound joy seeps into her own life and rekindles her marriage. LOVE SONG is an exhilarating and menacingly comic rhapsody to the power of love-whatever form it may take.
As the New Jewish Theatre continues its Bat Mitzvah Season, we take another look at Father-Son relationships with Donald Margulies' brilliant BROOKLYN BOY which opens with a preview performance on Wednesday, December 2 and runs through December 20. For this production, we will once again return to Clayton High School's more intimate Little Theatre.
