St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of November 18, 2019

There's a flood of new and continuing theatre this week, including a ton of cabaret courtesy of Jim Dolan's Blue Strawberry.

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Steve Brammeier

The Blue Strawberry presents Steve Brammeier in 68: Then and Now on Friday, November 22, at 8 pm. "Steve Brammeier has created a moving tribute to the songs of 1968, the year he graduated from high school. If you were around then, you will relive some of your memories - even if repressed. If not, you will hear a lot of great songs, and get a sense of a very formative time in our cultural and civic life. A very sweet and well-made show." The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: https://www.bluestrawberrystl.com.

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presents a staged reading of And Certain Women by Shaulee Cook as part of the Confluence New Play Festival on Friday, November 22, at 8 pm. "Yohannah. Shoshannah. Blink, and you'll miss their names, but they're there. Listed among those traveling with Jesus through Galilee in the Gospel of Luke, "and certain women… who provided for Him out of their resources." In the background of all his teachings and miracles, YoYoh and Shosh are there with their more famous compatriot Mags - running crowd control, scouting for good sermon locations, picking up after a particularly messy Passover dinner, and all the while wondering where the meteoric rise of this prophet they've grown to love is going, and what say, if any, they get to have in where it ends up." The reading takes place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: www.sfstl.com

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis's Imaginary Theatre Company presents The Ant and the Grasshopper on Saturday, November 23, with performances at 10:30 am, 12:30 pm and 3 pm. "The Imaginary Theatre Company will present The Ant and the Grasshopper in a pair of performances tailored for young people with sensory sensitivity and their families (10:30 am and 12:30 pm), as well as a conventional performance of the show (3 pm). Preparations for winter are underway, and no one is working harder than the ant family. When a zany, unproductive grasshopper arrives, he provides a welcome distraction for Little Ant, who finds work dull and repetitive. However, when the difficult winter season arrives, the grasshopper finds himself begging for help from the prepared ant family. Will they lend a hand to their lazy friend, or will the grasshopper be left out in the cold? Join us for this musical adaptation of a classic tale about the importance of hard work, and the value of fun and friendship!" Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University Campus. For more information: repstl.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 A Dickens of a Killing through January 4. The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place. For more information: lempmansion.com.

Feeding Beatrice
Photo: John Gitchoff

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Feeding Beatrice running through November 24. "It starts with the sound of a spoon scraping against glass and the wet noise of lips smacking together. June and Lurie have a haunting new houseguest - and she's ravenously hungry. They do their best to keep her fed and happy, but Beatrice always demands more. As she burrows deeper and deeper into their lives, the couple faces a horrific question: what will it cost to exorcise Beatrice forever?" Performances take place in the Studio Theatre at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: repstl.org.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents Ntozake Shange's choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, November 21-24. " The Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. From its inception in California in 1974 to its New York production at the New Federal Theatre and subsequent co-production with Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, for colored girls… has become a highly acclaimed critical success. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. First published in 1975 when it was praised by The New Yorker for "encompassing...every feeling and experience a woman has ever had," for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf is a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world." The performances take place in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre on the Washington University campus. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit pad.artsci.wustl.edu.

It's a Wonderful Life
Photo: Jennifer Lin

Metro Theatre Company presents It's a Wonderful Life, based on the classic film, through December 15. "The beloved American holiday classic leaps to life on stage in a delightful, heartwarming new adaptation. John Wolbers' "It's a Wonderful Life" has a clever twist: it's staged as a play within a play, more specifically a radio play within a play. On Christmas Eve 1949, KMTC Radio St. Louis is prepared to perform a live radio broadcast of "It's a Wonderful Life," when unexpected events transform the station's staff into the radio play's actors. Complete with microphones, live sound effects by a Foley artist, 1940s period costumes, and a diverse company of characters, the play tells the story of George Bailey and his discovery of the life-affirming message that one life can change the whole fabric of a community. " The performances take place at The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square in Grand Center.. For more information: metroplays.org.

The Monroe Actors Stage presents the musical It's a Wonderful Life, based on the classic film Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:30 pm, November 22-24. Performances take place in the Historic Capitol Theatre in downtown Waterloo, Illinois. For more information, visit www.masctheatre.org or call 618-939-7469.

St. Louis Community College at Meramec presents Maple and Vine Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2 pm, November 20-24. "Katha and Ryu have become allergic to their 21st-century lives. After they meet a charismatic man from a community of 1950s re-enactors, they forsake cell phones and sushi for cigarettes and Tupperware parties. In this compulsively authentic world, Katha and Ryu are surprised by what their new neighbors - and they themselves - are willing to sacrifice for happiness." Performances take place in the theatre on the campus at 11333 Big Bend Road. For more information, www.stlcc.eduor call 314-984-7500.

St. Louis University Theatre presents Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, November 21-24. "Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 and tells the story of Becca and Howie Corbett. When a tragedy upends their lives, they struggle with their relationship, their family, and the challenging process of surviving an unimaginable loss." Performances take place in Xavier Hall, 3373 West Pine Mall. For more information: slu.edu/utheatre.

The St. Louis Family Theatre Series presents the Theatreworks USA production of Rosie Revere, Engineer Saturday and Sunday, November 23 and 24 at 2 pm. " Ms. Greer's classroom includes three inquisitive out-of-the-box thinkers. Rosie Revere has big dreams. Iggy Peck has a relentless passion for architecture. And Ada Twist's curiosity can drive her teacher crazy. A fun new musical based on the books Rosie Revere, Engineer; Iggy Peck, Architect; and Ada Twist Scientist by Andrea Beaty, which spotlights the STEMcurriculum (focusing on science, technology, engineering and math). TheatreworksUSA, New York, NY" Performances take place at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre at Parker and Waterford in Florissant, MO. For more information, call 314-921-5678 or visit www.florissantmo.com

Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presents a staged reading of Tidy: A Play About Mass Extinction by Kristin Idaszak as part of the Confluence New Play Festival on Saturday, November 23, at 8 pm. "A struggling detective novelist recently read a self-help book about how to be happy. Actually, it's about how to tidy. As she cleans her house, the novelist excavates her own personal history and the history of the planet. But as she discovers troubling gaps in her memory, a series of clues lead her closer to an answer she may not want to find. Tidy: a play about mass extinction examines the holes in our lives that we try to fill through consumption, and how we decide what to keep and what to leave behind. Who and what will survive the sixth mass extinction? And will it spark joy?" The reading takes place at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand in Grand Center. For more information: www.sfstl.com

Uvee Hayes

The Blue Strawberry presents The True Facts of Life As Revealed by the Blues and Soul of Uvee Hayes on Saturday, November 23, at 8 pm. "A Macon, Mississippi native, Uvee Hayes was born and reared with the Blues. Her mom had a little country store where she would have Friday and Saturday night gatherings. People would come from all over to play, to sing, to listen, to dance. 'You heard nothing but the blues,' says Uvee, 'and those folks danced the dust up off the floor'." Join Uvee for a night of classic Blues straight from the source." Kapree Graves sings backup with a band consisting of James McKay on bass, Cornelius Davis on piano, Dennis Brock on lead guitar, Keith Robinson on drums, and Chris 'Iron Jaw' Taylor on harmonica. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.bluestrawberrystl.com.

Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts presents Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, November 21-24. "Viola has been shipwrecked in a violent storm off the coast of Illyria; in the process she has lost her twin brother, Sebastian. She disguises herself as a boy and assumes the name Cesario for protection. Thus disguised, Viola enters the world of Twelfth Night. This cross-dressing, ship-wreck surviving, poetry-loving girl finds herself at the center of a not-so-average love triangle. " Performances take place on the Browning Mainstage Theater of the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information, www.webster.edu or call 314-968-7128.

The Women of LockerbiePhoto: Joey Rumpell

Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble presents The Women of Lockerbie through November 23. "The Women of Lockerbie is written in the structure of a Greek Tragedy, examining the crash of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The story follows, Madeline, a mother from New Jersey searching the hills of Lockerbie for her son's remains. She encounters the women of Lockerbie, who are struggling against the U.S. government to get the clothing of the victims found in the plane's wreckage. The women, determined to convert an act of hatred into an act of love, want to wash the clothes and return them to the victim's families. The Women of Lockerbie is inspired by the true story." Performances take place at The Chapel Venue, 6238 Alexander Drive. For more information: slightlyoff.org.

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.