St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of September 21, 2015

[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 web site.

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All the Way
Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents the drama All the Way through October 4. " It's 1963. Following the assassination of JFK, Lyndon Johnson becomes America's "accidental president." Launched into the presidency over a country in turmoil, LBJ maneuvers and manipulates his way through a series of power plays to pass the Civil Rights Act and to guarantee a full term in the Oval Office. Deception, bullying and blackmail are all strategies in his arsenal. But in this 2014 Tony Award Winner for Best Play, featuring a large landscape of people and characters, LBJ makes clear that it's not personal, it's just politics. " Performances take place on the mainstage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

The Lemp Mansion Comedy-Mystery Dinner Theater presents Dead! Like Me through November 14. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents The Divine Buoyancy of Being by Cary J. Simowitz on Saturday, Septermber 26, at 7:00 p.m. as part of The A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival. "You've graduated. You're catapulted into the world. The obvious question is, What now? But four endlessly curious and hysterically funny friends have other questions. What happened? What job? What the f---? And finally, What if?" The performance takes place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit http://the performing arts department at washington university presents we the congressman by katie goldston on friday, septermber 25, at 7:00 p.m. as part of the a.e. hotchner playwriting festival. "it's an uptown smack down; bones crunch, eye' ta_blan>pad.artsci.wustl.edu.

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville presents the Equally Represented Arts production of The Residents of Craigslist at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 24, as part of Xfest: 4 Days of Experimental Theater. "The Residents of Craiglist is a one-act theatrical work that realizes the classified advertisements website Craigslist as a full yet lonely house containing a myriad of people - its residents." The performance takes place in the Metcalf Theater on the campus in Edwardsvile, IL. For more information, call 618-650-2774 or visit siuexfest.com.

The Full Monty
Photo: Peter Wochniak

Stages St. Louis presents the musical The Full Monty, based on the hit movie, through October 4. "Welcome back STAGES' red-hot award-winning smash hit THE FULL MONTY! If you were sold out the first time, you'll want to be sure to meet Jerry, Dave, Harold, Ethan, Malcolm, and "Horse" - six unemployed steelworkers who come up with a bold and unconventional way to make some much-needed cash, after witnessing their wives go wild for a group of male strippers. In the process, they discover renewed self-esteem and the importance of family, friendship, and the very human desire to live life to the fullest. With razor-sharp humor and toe-tapping pizzazz, THE FULL MONTY is musical theatre at its most heart-warming. " Performances take place in the Robert G. Reim Theatre at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 South Geyer Road in Kirkwood. For more information, visit stagesstlouis.org or call 314-821-2407. Read the 88.1 KDHX review!

The Bissell Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre presents Get "Hitched" To A Redneck Or Die through October 31. The Bissell Mansion is at 4426 Randall Place. For more information: bissellmansiontheatre.com

The Monroe Actors Stage Company presents the Frank Loesser musical Guys and Dolls, based on the stories of Damon Runyon, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2:30 p.m., theough September 27, in the Historic Capitol Theatre in downtown Waterloo, Illinois. For more information, visit www.masctheatre.org or call 618-939-7469.

The Black Mirror Theatre Company presents Happy Days by Samuel Beckett Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., through September 27. "Sinking into the earth, sun ablaze, no trees, no shade, a bell, ever ending sleep, with only a bag to see you through life. Who could cope with it all and still go on singing - only a woman! This is how Samuel Beckett described Happy Days." Performances take place The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information, visit brownpapertickets.com or email blackmirrortheatre at gmail.com.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents Library Love Story by Rachel Wilson on Saturday, Septermber 26, at 2:00 p.m. as part of The A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival. "Madelyn hides in the sentences on the page inside the book that's on the shelf within the doors of the town library. She will only come out when she's written the “happily ever after ending” to her own love story." The performance takes place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit http://the performing arts department at washington university presents we the congressman by katie goldston on friday, septermber 25, at 7:00 p.m. as part of the a.e. hotchner playwriting festival. "it's an uptown smack down; bones crunch, eye' ta_blan>pad.artsci.wustl.edu.

Christ Memorial Productions presents the musical Mary Poppins Friday sand Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2 PM, theough September 27. Performances take place at Christ Memorial Lutheran Church, 5252 South Lindbergh. For more information, visit CMPShows.org or call 314-631-0304.

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville presents The Wonderheads production of The Middle of Everywhere at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 25, as part of Xfest: 4 Days of Experimental Theater. "What do you get when you mash together Pixar, Maurice Sendak, and Doctor Who? A time and space bending adventure by mask imagineers the WONDERHEADS, that's what. When two unlikely strangers discover a mysterious device at a bus stop, they are whisked away on a cosmic journey through time and space...but will they claim their place in the universe and find their way home? The Middle of Everywhere is performed in full-face mask, a form so magical it will delight the child in you, whether you're eight or eighty. " The performance takes place in the Metcalf Theater on the campus in Edwardsvile, IL. For more information, call 618-650-2774 or visit siuexfest.com.

The Looking Glass Playhouse presents the classic musical The Music Man Wednesday through Sunday September 24 - October 4. Performances take place at 301 West St. Louis Street in Lebanon, Ill. For more information, visit www.lookingglassplayhouse.com.

Alpha Players present the musical Oliver!, based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, September 25 - October 4 at The Florissant Civic Center Theater, Parker Rd. at Waterford Dr. in Florissant, MO. For more information: alphaplayers.org or, call 314-921-5678.

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville presents the Lucky Plush Productions presentation of of The Queue at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23, as part of Xfest: 4 Days of Experimental Theater. "Equal parts dance and theater, The Queue unfolds in a fictional airport, where travelers stumble humorously, tragically and awkwardly into each-others' private lives. Created by Lucky Plush founder/director, Julia Rhodes, and collaborator, Leslie Danzig, The Queue finds its influences in early 20th-century forms of slapstick, vaudeville, Busby Berkeley-style choreography, creaky one-act plays and a 1746 farcical play about a family inheritance. These sources and performance vocabularies collide with contemporary dance and the distinctly non-theatrical context of waiting to create a dance-theater production, showcasing Lucky Plush's signature blend of immediacy, humor and kineticism." The performance takes place in the Dunham Hall Theater on the campus in Edwardsvile, IL. For more information, call 618-650-2774 or visit siuexfest.com.

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville presents ROY G BIV: A Story Through the Eyes of a Rock Icon is written and performed by R. Ernie Silva at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 13, as part of Xfest: 4 Days of Experimental Theater. "In the world of music no figure became a greater symbol of the time than the West Coast boy from Seattle. The immortal lefty, the American Rock Icon, that in the midst of the British invasion somehow managed to climb the top of the rock and roll mountain seemingly coming out of nowhere and then in a flash, just like a comet in the night, was gone....But what did it all mean, how did his life and time manage to cross so many roads at once, and leave us wanting for more? In this astonishing look at the life of a rock icon, R. Ernie Silva's brilliant performance as the most prolific rock guitarist of all time, takes us to a space and time, ethereal and eternal! " The performance takes place in the Dunham Hall Theater on the campus in Edwardsvile, IL. For more information, call 618-650-2774 or visit siuexfest.com.

Seminar
Photo: John Lamb

St. Louis Actors' Studio presents Teresa Rebeck's Seminar through October 4 at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle. "A provocative comedy from Pulitzer Prize nominee Theresa Rebeck, four aspiring young novelists sign up for private writing classes with Leonard, an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting Broadway comedy." For more information, call 314-458-2978 or visit stlas.org.

Venus in Fur
Photo: John Lamb

The West End Players Guild opens their 105th season with David Ives' Venus in Fur Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, September 25 - October 4. " It's the end of a rainy day and a dismal casting call. As the director packs up to head home the door swings open, and in walks the woman who seems born for the role - strangely, eerily so. Is it the director's dream come true, or a stylish nightmare? Venus in Fur is David Ives at his best - very sexy, very funny and very, very smart. " There will also be a show on Thursday, October 1, at 8 PM. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, call 314-367-0025 or visit www.westendplayers.org.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents We the Congressman by Katie Goldston on Friday, Septermber 25, at 7:00 p.m. as part of The A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival. "It's an uptown smack down; bones crunch, eye's gouge and there's even a little poison in the tea. The politics of the USA are played out with rope-a-dope style in this offbeat comedy about a waitress, a news broadcaster, a World Federation Wrestler named The Congressman ... and the writer who made him up." The performance takes place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit http://the performing arts department at washington university presents we the congressman by katie goldston on friday, septermber 25, at 7:00 p.m. as part of the a.e. hotchner playwriting festival. "it's an uptown smack down; bones crunch, eye' ta_blan>pad.artsci.wustl.edu.

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.