St. Louis Shakespeare Presents ANTON IN SHOWBUSINESS 8/6-15

In a reversal of the traditional Shakespeare style of having an all male cast playing both male and female roles, St. Louis Shakespeare's second offering of their 26th season, Jane Martin's Anton in Show Business, boasts an all female cast playing both genders. "I think the interesting thing is that they (the cast) are really playing men, men's roles, not women playing male characters reinvented to be a woman," says director Carolyn Hood.

A hit at the 24th Humana Festival of New American Plays and the winner of the 2000 American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award, Anton takes you backstage in a fast-paced and remorseless look into the world of theatre. The all-female cast performs multiple roles (including men) in this uproarious comedy about a self-centered television actress (Sabra Sellers), a jaded New Yorker (Amy Kelly) and an enthusiastic ingenue (Gabby Greer) brought together for an ill-fated production of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters in San Antonio, Texas. The "three sisters" are supported by actresses Nicole Angeli, Andra Harkins, Andrea Purnell and Maggie Murphy.
Anton unapologetically skewers incompetent producers, idiot directors, surgically beautified actors, crass sponsors, self-important critics, and even such sacred topics as multiculturalism, and satirizes, celebrates, and challenges the importance of theatre as an art form today.

Anton in Show Business runs August 6-15 at the Grandel Theatre (3610 Grandel Square). For ticket information please visit the SLS website at www.stlshakespeare.org or call 314.361.5664.

Photo credit: Gabby Greer, Sabra Sellers and Amy Kelly