St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of May 9, 2022

Now including both on-line and live events during the pandemic. Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills. To get your event listed here, send an email to calendar [at] stageleft.org.

Webster Conservatory Seniors

The Blue Strawberry presents the Webster Conservatory Senior Cabaret Showcase on Friday at 6 pm, May 13th. Eleven seniors of the Sargent Conservatory will perform an evening of songs from Broadway and the Great American Songbook. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. The show is also available via a live video stream.  The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

ERA Theatre presents the radio play SHE by Nancy Bell with music by Joe Taylor and Lyrics by Nancy Bell via on-demand streaming  "SHE controls the radio station of the fascist regime in power. SHE's also the star of the broadcast. Her recording studio abounds with music and oysters. But in the nearby government camps full of misfits and would-be revolutionaries, only torture and starvation is thick on the ground. Tonight, however, SHE's realm feels different. The bombs sound closer. Time moves faster. But SHE will finish her radio show, and it will be her finest. If executing every number in the broadcast means some people need to die, so be it; it is a small sacrifice. The citizens need her and she will not let them down." SHE is available on most major platforms including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, YouTube, and BandCamp. For more information: www.eratheatre.org

Hamilton
Photo: Joan Marcus

The Fabulous Fox presents the musical the musical Hamilton through May 15. “HAMILTON is the story of America then, told by America now. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway, HAMILTON has taken the story of American founding father Alexander Hamilton and created a revolutionary moment in theatre—a musical that has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education. With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, HAMILTON is based on Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography.” The Fabulous Fox is on North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: www.fabulousfox.com.

KTK Productions presents Neil Simon’s The Gingerbread Lady Fridays at 7:30 pm and Sundays 2 pm, May 13-22. “The Gingerbread Lady is a dark drama with comic overtones centering on Evy Meara, a cabaret singer whose career, marriage, and health all have been destroyed by alcohol. We meet her at the end of a ten week drying out period at a sanitarium when her friend, her daughter, and an actor try to help her adjust to sobriety. The friend is so constantly vain that she loses her husband; the actor, a homosexual, is also doomed, and indeed loses his part three days before an opening; and the daughter needs more affection than she can spare her mother. Evy's efforts at hosting a party crumble when she falls off the wagon and careens toward a tragic end.” Performances take place at St. John the Baptist Parish, 4200 Delor. For more information: kurtainkall.org.

The Lemp Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre and Jest Mysteries present The Comic Book Killer May 13 through August 27. "Calling all superheros and villains! There’s trouble afoot for you both! Evil Doctor Weevil is back and he’s trying to erase your very existence! The time has come to join forces against true evil and restore balance to the comic universe. But who will be the hero or heroes and rid this plain of Evil Dr. Weevil forever? Could it be you? Quick…to the Prius! Dawn your cape and spandex and meet us the famously haunted Lemp Mansion for a mystery like no other! Here I come to save the daaaaaay!!!!"  The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place in south city. For more information: www.lempmansion.com

Metro Theater Company presents In My Granny’s Garden live at multiple locations in the bi-state area May 13 through June 26 and streaming on line June 1 through 26. “Inspired by the children’s book by acclaimed playwright and New York Times bestselling author Pearl Cleage and her husband, writer and director Zaron W. Burnett Jr., In My Granny’s Garden invites the youngest audiences to explore the glory of growing your own food. Watch a tiny seed become a field of corn, green beans, collard greens, and bright red tomatoes. Step into a visual feast inspired by world renowned artist Radcliffe Bailey’s original paintings, and discover the one superpower that fuels Granny’s garden. The play promises to leave the very young nourished in body and soul. In My Granny's Garden was commissioned by the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information: www.metroplays.org

Anomalous Experience
Photo: Joey Rumpell

The Midnight Company presents Joe Hanrahan’s Anomalous Experience: A Modern Ghost Story Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays (May 15 only) at 2 pm, through May 21. “Inspired by true events, the play is designed as a public lecture from a respected psychiatrist. He’s been dealing with professional ridicule for his research into the phenomenon of Alien Abduction. In the course of the play, he will present two patients who, in very different ways, have been victims of their perceived abductions. While he’s not exactly sure what’s going on, the psychiatrist is convinced that something real, something profound, is happening to these people and to our world.“ Performances take place at the .ZACK in Grand Center. For more information: www.midnightcompany.com

R-S Theatrics presents While the Ghostlight Burns, a virtual discussion series featuring R-S Artistic Director Sarah Lynne Holt in conversation with St. Louis theatre artists, Mondays at 7 pm.  Conversations will be archived at the R-S Theatrics YouTube channel. For more information: r-stheatrics.com/while-the-ghostlight-burns.html

The St. Louis Black Repertory Company continues its in-person 45th Anniversary season with Jitney by August Wilson, opening May 11 and running through May 29. "Jitney is the eighth play in August Wilson’s ten-play Century Cycle which examines every decade of the 20th century and chronicles Black American history through the lens of The Hill District of Pittsburgh. Set  in 1977, Jitney takes on the devastating impacts of rapid urban renewal. As the city begins to shut down businesses - including the jitney cab station - to make way for new buildings, we meet five gypsy cab drivers as they struggle to survive." For more information: www.theblackrep.org.

Theatre Guild of Webster Groves presents the comedy Farce of Habit through May 15. Performances take place at 517 Theatre Lane at the corner of Newport and Summit in Webster Groves. For more information: theatreguildwg.org

Upstream Theater presents Beyond the Scorched Mountain, an evening of music and poetry from Ukraine and elsewhere, on Wednesday May 11 at 8 pm. “The evening features live music by Farshid Soltanshahi and includes poems by Dzvinia Orlowsky, Oksana Maksymchuk, Olga Livshin, Serhiy Zhadan, Ilya Abu Madi and Yehuda Amichai as read by Peter Mayer, Caitlin Mickey, Kathleen Sitzer, Jeffery Cummings, Mona Sabau, Farshid Soltanshahi and Philip Boehm.” Admission is free. The event takes place at the International Institute, 3401 Arsenal. For more information: www.upstreamtheater.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.