St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of August 22, 2016

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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.

Alfresco Productions presents August: Osage County on Saturday, September 27 at 7:30 p.m. "Come see Tracy Lett's Pulitzer Prize winning play! This dark comedy about a big crazy Midwestern dysfunctional family is one you won't want to miss!" Performances take place at the Alfresco Art Center, 2401 Delmar in Granite City, IL. For more information: (618) 560-1947 or www.alfrescoproductions.org.

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents CSI: Bissell through October 30. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

Doubt
Photo: John Lamb

Union Avenue Opera presents Douglas J. Cuomo's opera Doubt, based on the play by John Patrick Shanley, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, August 26 and 27. "Father Flynn enjoys a secure appointment and popularity in the community until Sister James suspects him of carrying on an improper relationship with the school's first African-American student. Sister Aloysius, the school's authoritarian principal, sets out to remove Flynn. Gender politics, race relations and the role of the church, questions about personal responsibility, doubt, right and wrong are all brought to bear here. So much in Doubt is about what is left unsaid and continually running beneath the surface." The production stars famed soprano Christine Brewer as Sister James, a role she created at the opera's 2013 premiere. 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.

St. Louis Shakespeare presents the comedy The Heir Apparent by Jean-François Regnard, as adapted by David Ives, Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m., August 26 - September 4. " Paris, 1708. Eraste, a worthy though penniless young man, is in love with the fair Isabelle, but her forbidding mother, Madame Argante, will only let the two marry if Eraste can show he will inherit the estate of his rich but miserly Uncle Geronte. Unfortunately, old Geronte has also fallen for the fair Isabelle, and plans to marry her this very day and leave her everything in his will-separating the two young lovers forever. Eraste's wily servant Crispin jumps in, getting a couple of meddling relatives disinherited by impersonating them (one, a brash American, the other a French female country cousin)-only to have the old man kick off before his will is made! In a brilliant stroke, Crispin then impersonates the old man, dictating a will favorable to his master (and Crispin himself, of course)-only to find that rich Uncle Geronte isn't dead at all and is more than ever ready to marry Isabelle! The multiple strands of the plot are unraveled to great comic effect in the streaming rhyming couplets of French classical comedy, and everyone lives happily, and richly, ever after." Performances take place at the Ivory Theatre, 7620 Michigan in the Carondelet neighborhood. For more information, call 314-361-5664 or visit stlshakespeare.org.

Inherit the Wind

Insight Theatre Company presents the drama Inherit the Wind through August 28. "Bert Cates a 1920's schoolteacher is put on trial for violating the Butler Act, a state law that prohibits public school teachers from teaching evolution instead creationism. Rachel Brown who is Cates girlfriend is also the daughter of Reverend Brown is torn between the opposing beliefs held by Cates and her father and her love for both of them." Performances take place in the Heagney Theatre, 530 East Lockwood on the campus of Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves. For more information, call 314-556-1293 or visit insighttheatrecompany.com.

Mustard Seed Theatre presents Kindertransport, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., through September 4. “During 1938-39, almost ten thousand children, mostly Jewish, were sent from families at risk in Nazi occupied Germany to safety in Britain. Samuel's play explores the lives of mothers and daughters torn apart and brought together by this “Kindertransport.” ” Performances take place at the Fontbonne Fine Arts Theatre, 6800 Wydown Blvd. For more information, call (314) 719-8060 or visit the web site at www.mustardseedtheatre.com.

The St. Lou Fringe Festival runs through August 27 at several venues in the Grand Center area including the Kranzberg Arts Center (501 N. Grand) and TheStage at KDHX. Performances include traditional theater, dance, music, comedy, circus arts, performance art, cabaret, and burlesque, with acts from St. Louis and around the country. "This year's festival will coincide with Grand Center's new arts event Music at The Intersection and will include both new and familiar programming. 2016 will see the premiere of microtheater (short performances for an audience of no more than 9 patrons in an intimate, immersive setting), spin rooms (post show talk backs an workshops), Voices Unleashed (A number of festival slots are reserved for producers who are underrepresented in mainstream theatrical settings based on ethnicity, gender identity, language, dialect, age, physical ability, BMI, or other barrier), and an incubator program (a specialized collaborative showcase setting with more support for emergent artists). Past favorite programs like Fringe Family and the Artica sculpture garden will again enliven Strauss Park." For a complete schedule, visit stlfringe.com.

Tell Me On a Sunday
Photo: Jill Ritter Lindberg

New Line Theatre presents Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Tell Me on a Sunday Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through August 27. "This pop-rock song cycle follows a young English woman newly arrived in New York, brimming with optimism, and her journey through America and the perils of ill-advised romance. As she seeks out success and love, she weaves her way through the maze of New York and Hollywood social life, and through her own anxieties, frustrations, and heartaches, and she begins to wonder whether there are better choices to be made." Performances take place at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive, three blocks east of Grand, in Grand Center. For more information, visit newlinetheatre.com or call 314-534-1111.

Next Generation Theatre Company presents the musical West Side Story Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 and 7 p.m. through August 27. "Pulled directly from the pages of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the musical takes place on New York's West Side in the mid-1950s amidst widespread racial and social tension. The show begins as a war is building between two rival gangs fighting over the same piece of turf: born and bred New York boys, The Jets, and Puerto Rican immigrants The Sharks. In the midst of the battlefield are two young romantics, good-boy Tony, a Jet ready to leave the gang life behind, and wide-eyed Maria, the sister of Sharks leader, Bernardo. When Tony and Maria unexpectedly meet and fall for one another, tension between the rival groups only escalates, leading to a bloody and senseless rumble that costs both sides young lives. In spite of the violence, the true story at the core of the show is two lovers trying to find a way to be together-and whether either can survive when hate and ignorance are unwilling to yield." Performances take place at the Florissant Civic Center Theater at Parker and Waterford in Florissant, MO. For more information: florissantmo.thundertix.com

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Zombie Love through October 28. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

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.