Nick Freed News

The St. Louis Theatre Circle announced their 2024 Nominations on Friday. STAGES St. Louis’ production of CLUE and New Jewish Theatre’s production of INTO THE WOODS lead all productions with 11 nominations each. Twenty-four different companies and 55 unique productions were represented among 165 nominations in 33 categories. Awards will be handed out on Monday, March 25th, 2024, at The Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts on the Webster University campus.  

MINDGAME is the current offering from Albion Theatre Company. Albion closes its inaugural season with another exceptional production directed by the company’s artistic director Robert Ashton. Once again, Ashton proves he has outstanding vision as a director and is a masterful storyteller. Production after production, he ensures his cast and crew are thoroughly prepared to present a polished product and MINDGAME is no exception. Ashton has well-rehearsed his trio of actors and they marvelously deliver on Horowitz’s script that is laden with psychobabble. His leadership has resulted in an incredibly satisfying production of Horowitz’s only full-length play with exceptional performances from his cast.

Glass Elevator’s inaugural production of a 60-minute play of caustic humor showed that this company has an artistic vision that needs to be explored further. The St. Louis arts community may have a budding theatre group to add to the robust and growing number of companies who produce plays and musicals of high quality.

Albion’s extraordinary production of Pinter’s work is grounded in Suki Peter’s sharp direction, brisk pacing and her collaboration with her actors. The performances she elicits from each of the cast members are balanced perfection. Her use of the space within Brad Slavik’s smartly appointed period set design conveys the confined intimacy one would feel in an overcrowded small rundown boarding house. Marjorie Williamson’s graphic & scenic design, Gwynneth Rausch’s props and Tracy Newcomb’s superb costume design all perfectly transport the audience back into the late 1950s.

Special Offer - St. Louis Shakespeare presents 'Romeo and Juliet'

The Factory Theater presents the continuation of last year's holiday special, Xmas War, with Xmas War: ENDGAME, December 13 - 21 at Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St. Factory Theater's holiday production is a double feature with the company performing last year's show and then continuing the story with this year's sequel. The production runs for two weekends only, Friday, Dec. 13 and 20 and Saturday, Dec. 14 and 21, at 8 p.m. Xmas War: ENDGAME is directed by Matt Engle and written by Scott OKen. Tickets are $15 each, and may be purchased through the Box Office by calling 866-811-4111 or by visiting TheFactoryTheater.com.

When 2014 came and went and The Plagiarist's Season Pass hadn't been 'dead-headed' enough to actually see every possible ending of their choose-your-own-adventure play it was sad. The cardboard and duct taped futuristic worlds, the Star Trek/Galaxy Quest-esque space suits that were just sexy enough to excite, but not scandalous enough to make one feel bad for the actors, and then there was the random malort-flavored snow-cones that for some reason were offered in between rides…2014 was a good year, if incomplete for only seeing a handful of Season Pass choices.

Eclipse Theatre Company, the only Midwest theatre company to feature one playwright in one season, will continue their 2019 Christopher Durang Season this summer with a production of Beyond Therapy, with Rachel Lambert directing.

AstonRep Theatre Company is pleased to conclude its 2018-19 season with Rebecca Gilman's dramaTHE CROWD YOU'RE IN WITH, directed by Co-Artistic Director Derek Bertelsen*, playing May 16 - June 16, 2019 at The Raven Theatre (West Stage), 6157 N. Clark St. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.astonrep.com or by calling (773) 828-9129.

Beyond Therapy will continue Eclipse Theatre Company's 2019 Christopher Durang Season this Summer

AstonRep Theatre Company is pleased to conclude its 2018-19 season with Rebecca Gilman's drama THE CROWD YOU'RE IN WITH, directed by Co-Artistic Director Derek Bertelsen*, playing May 16 - June 16, 2019 at The Raven Theatre (West Stage), 6157 N. Clark St. in Chicago.

AstonRep Theatre Company is pleased to announce casting for Rebecca Gilman's drama THE CROWD YOU'RE IN WITH, directed by Co-Artistic Director Derek Bertelsen*

The Factory Theater presents the second production of its 25th anniversary season, the world premiere of The Next Big Thing, playing at the Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St., March 9 April 21, 2018.

The Factory Theater presents the second production of its 25th anniversary season, the world premiere of The Next Big Thing, playing at the Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St., March 9 April 21, 2018. The new play is written by Company Member and Managing Director Carrie J. Sullivan and directed by Company Member Robyn Coffin.

Were we prepared for the first sound queue of tonight's cultured night of theater? No. Were we pleasantly surprised to see actress Jessica Saxvik as Mrs. Ubu contort and screw her face into all the looks we imagine ourselves to possess the morning after a midnight run to Taco Bell? Yes. Are we wondering just where sound designer Brendan Monte got his source material for all the bodily functions we heard through the night (and maybe a little concerned for his physical health)? Probably. And let's face it are we also concerned for the mental health of all the minds involved in crafting Ubu II: Electric Boog-Ubu)? Obviously, but none of these questions stifled our enjoyment of this laugh a minute sequel to Alfred Jarry's slightly better known Ubu Roi.

Interrobang Theatre Project concludes its 2016-17 Season, exploring 'Flesh and Blood,' with the Chicago premiere of Deanna Jent's drama FALLING, one family's battle against stigma from society and each other. Directed by Co-Artistic Director James Yost*, FALLING will play March 17 - April 16, 2017 at The Athenaeum Theatre (Studio 2), 2936 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.interrobangtheatre.org, by calling (773) 935-6875 or in person at The Athenaeum Theatre Box Office. The press opening is Sunday, March 19 at 2 pm.

The 'Driver's Seat' Monthly Reading Series  continues with... THE LAST MATCH by Anna Ziegler.

Played out under the bright lights of the U.S. Open Semifinals, The Last Match is a battle for the ages. Rising Russian star Sergei Sergeyev is pitted against American great Tim Porter in an epic showdown that follows two tennis titans through pivotal moments in their lives both on-and-off the court.

Descended from the Old English sele, or 'hall', the word SALON has come to mean a gathering designed to entertain and enlighten (from BUST magazine). The events reached their 'apogee' during the 17th and 18th centuries in French aristocratic homes. There were rich and plenteous foods, there were games and glamour, music to engage in and these events were of course also 'binges of bon mots, banter and verbal and artistic prowess, intellectual orgies.' Salons were incubators of ideas that started with conversations.

This July, The Factory Theater will open its production of Dating & Dragons at its new home on Howard in Rogers Park. Dating & Dragons comes on the heels of The Last Big Mistake, which was one of the best-selling shows in company history.