The St. Louis Area Theatre Calendar

For the Week of 8/13/2018

Updated Saturday, August 11, 2018

Brought to you by Stage Left and 88.1 KDHX.

To submit your event, send an email to calendar at stageleft.org. Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills for inclusion here and on the enhanced version of this calendar at the Stage Left blog (where you can offer comments, updates and corrections).

And don't forget to check out my list of St. Louis theatre links!

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Addams Family Affair through October 28. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com.

Stages St. Louis presents Cheers: Leading Men Don't Dance, the company's annual fund-raising cabaret, on Monday, August 13. The pre-show reception begins at 6:30 pm followed by the performance at 8 pm. The events takes place at the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer Road. For more information: stagesstlouis.org.

CSZ St. Louis presents The ComedySportz Show on Saturday nights at 7:30 pm. The show is "action-packed, interactive and hilarious comedy played as a sport. Two teams battle it out for points and your laughs! You choose the winners the teams provide the funny!" Performances take place on the second floor of the Sugar Cubed, 917 S Main St. in St Charles, Mo. For more information: www.cszstlouis.com.

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Dead Like Me through November 3. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

Equally Represented Arts presents Faust go down with all the re$t, through August 18. The show is "an experimental, rock-opera-adaptation of Goethe's most celebrated work. The script was created by the ensemble. Join us for this capitali$t tragedy with music, dancing, and drinking." Performances take place at Foam, 3359 S. Jefferson Ave. For more information: www.eratheatre.org.

Act Two Theatre presents The Great American Trailer Park Musical through August 19. "A country-rock and blues musical about agoraphobia, adultery, '80s nostalgia, spray cheese, road kill, hysterical pregnancy, a broken electric chair, kleptomania, strippers, flan, and disco, The Great American Trailer Park Musical centers around regular guy Norbert and his agoraphobic wife, Jeannie, whose marriage is threatened by Armadillo Acres' newcomer, the hot young stripper Pippi. The trailer park also plays home to a Greek-chorus-like trio of women Linoleum, Betty and Pickles, each dysfunctional in her own right." Performances take place in the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre at 1 St Peters Centre Blvd, St. Peters, MO 63376. For more information: act2theater.com.

St. Louis Shakespeare presents Mike Bartlett's King Charles III August 17 - 26. "The Story: The Queen is dead: After a lifetime of waiting, the prince ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Mike Bartlett's controversial play explores the people beneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family." Performances take place at the Ivory Theatre, 7620 Michigan in the Carondelet neighborhood. For more information, call 314-361-5664 or visit stlshakespeare.org.

R-S Theatrics presents the musical The Light in the Piazza Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. through August 26. "Winner of numerous Tony Awards in 2005, this musical tells the story of a young American woman vacationing with her mother in Florence in the 1950s. When the woman falls for a local Italian man, uncomfortable truths come to light about what was past and what may be future." Performances take place at The Marcelle Theatre in Grand Center. For more information: r-stheatrics.com.

Union Avenue Opera presents Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, August 17 - 25. Lost in the Stars is "a provocative work which addresses the weighty moral issues of racism and injustice, relevant now more than ever in St. Louis. For his final Broadway score, Kurt Weill gave passionate voice to this powerful, uncompromising social indictment of apartheid South Africa. The stirring story is of two aging men - a black country parson and a white British planter - drawn into friendship by a shared grief. The parson's faith is challenged by his son's unintentional murder of the planter's son, while the planter acquires faith through the loss of his son. Sadly, the years have not diminished the timeliness of the theme, which is the tragedy of all people." Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. The opera is sung in English with projected English text. For more information, visit unionavenueopera.org or call 314-361-2881.

Mamma Mia!
Photo by Peter Wochniak
Stages St. Louis presents the musical Mamma Mia!, based on the music of ABBA, through August 19. "The ultimate feel-good show, MAMMA MIA! uses the music of ABBA to tell the hilarious and touching tale of a teen's search for her birth father on a Greek Island paradise. See why 54 million people all around the world have fallen in love with this pop-music phenomenon of a mother, a daughter, three possible dads, and an unforgettable trip down the aisle! Chock full of explosive dance numbers, you'll want to unleash your inner "Dancing Queen" with such ABBA hits as "Winner Takes It All," "Take A Chance On Me," and the smash title tune, "Mamma Mia." This enchanting tale of love between mothers and daughters, laughter between old friends, and a celebration of newly found family is a guaranteed non-stop party that you won't want to miss!!" Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road in Kirkwood. For more information: stagesstlouis.org.

Madden Productions presents Maybe This Time Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, August 17 - 19. "This 90-minute play shows four online dates with good and bad, humorous and sad results. You not only see and hear the two people on the blind date but also see and hear what their brains are thinking. It shows how miscommunication and misunderstanding can lead to all kinds of unexpected and unwarranted consequences. You will laugh, you will be moved and you may even see yourself in there too." Performances take place at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 N. Boyle. For more information: brownpapertickets.com

Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, August 15 - September 1. "SATE celebrates its twelfth year producing theatre in St. Louis with its Season of Entrapment. The 2018 season will explore the definition of entrapment: the state of being caught in or as in a trap. For the third production of its Season of Entrapment, SATE will present No Exit. No Exit, or Huis clos, is Jean-Paul Sartres existentialist play in which three damned souls are brought to the same room in hell by a mysterious Valet. Expecting medieval torture devices to punish them for eternity, they are surprised by the deceptively simple and relatively ugly room. As they are all introduced, none of them will admit the reason for their damnation: Garcin says that he was executed for being a pacifist, while Estelle insists that a mistake has been made. Inez however, demands that they all stop lying to themselves and confess to their crimes. This play is an exploration into the human psyche and the invisible wounds we are capable of inflicting upon others, and ourselves. No Exit is the source of Sartre's famous quotation 'L'enfer, c'est les autres' or 'Hell is other people.'" Performances take place at The Chapel Venue, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

The Robber Bridegroom
Photo by John Lamb
Stray Dog Theatre presents the musical The Robber Bridegroom Thursdays through Saturdays through August 18. There will also a show at 8 pm on Wednesday, August 15. This rousing, bawdy Southern fairytale comes from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Driving Miss Daisy. Set in Mississippi, the show follows Jamie Lockhart, a rascally robber of the woods, as he courts Rosamund, the sole daughter of the richest planter in the country. Thanks to a case of double-mistaken identity, the entangled relationship begins to unravel. Throw in an evil stepmother, her pea-brained henchman, and a hostile talking head-in-a-trunk, and you have a rollicking country romp." Performances take place at The Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information, visit straydogtheatre.org or call 314-865-1995.

Ken Haller
The Cabaret Project presents its monthly Singers Open Mic Night on Wednesday, August 15, from 7 to 10 pm. Drop by and enjoy a night of great music from St. Louis cabaret artists, backed up by pianist and music director Carol Schmidt. This month's special guest MC is St. Louis cabaret star Ken Haller. If you're planning to sing, be prepared to do one or two songs and bring music, preferably in your key. It's also recommend that you have your song memorized. The event takes place at Sophie's Artist Lounge on the second floor of the .ZACK performing arts space at 3226 Locust in Grand Center. For more information: thecabaretproject.org.

The St. Lou Fringe Festival opens on Wednesday, August 15, and runs through August 26 at multiple venues in the Grand Center area including the Kranzberg Arts Center, Grandel Theatre and the .ZACK Arts Center. Performances include traditional theater, dance, music, comedy, circus arts, performance art, cabaret, and burlesque, with acts from St. Louis and around the country. "Fringe features an array of original material-meant to celebrate all of the arts. Tech is minimal and time is a factor at our festivals. Shows are often kept brief (Fringes most frequently have shows right around 60 minutes in length) and technical requirements kept simple (minor sets, streamlined cues, nothing elaborate)." For a complete schedule, visit stlouisfringe.com.

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.
For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.
Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.