Bibo and Bertie Someone gives Albert Einstein an African gray parrot for his 75th birthday — and author Sarah Lawrence imagines that the clever bird doesn’t miss this opportunity to teach the great physicist something he doesn’t know: how to love. March 1-11 at the Silver Meteor Gallery, Tampa. 813-813-586-4273, labtheaterproject.org. —ML
GASP! Creative Loafing’s fourth annual arts mashup — a mix of theater, dance, music, food and miscellany at the Tampa Museum of Art — adds a new angle this year. Or rather a slope: We’re staging a series of free outdoor performances on the slope above the Riverwalk just beyond the museum’s western walls. A collaboration between playwright Sheila Cowley, choreographers Helen Hansen French and Paula Kramer, actors Eugenie Bondurant and Chris Rutherford and a troupe of top local dancers, it’s called “Air/Earth/Fire/Water” and it’ll be performed throughout the evening. And since GASP! is taking place on St. Paddy’s Eve this year, who knows what other shenanigans we’ll get up to? Mar. 16, VIP 6-10 p.m., GA 7-10 p.m., Tampa Museum of Art. VIP $50 ($55 after Jan. 19), GA $20 ($25 after Jan. 19). cltampa.com/gasp. —DW
Gladiola The first fully staged work by local writer Colleen Johnson explores the collateral damages of a struggling 30-year marriage. Directed by Chris Rutherford. The Studio@620, 620 1st Ave. S., St. Pete. Jan. 25-27 and Feb. 1-4. Preview Jan. 24. 727-895-6620, studio620.org. —DW
Gnit Tampa Repertory Theatre and its artistic director, C. David Frankel, have a proven knack for capturing the wonderfully oddball, off-kilter world of Will Eno (their 2016 production of his play The Realistic Joneses being a case in point). Now they’re at it again, with hilarious results, in Eno’s deadpan rethink of Ibsen’s fabled adventurer Peer Gynt as a self-absorbed American (pronounced “Guh-NIT”) oblivious to the harm he causes. Terrific ensemble work and stylish direction. Studio 120, Theatre Center, 3837 USF Holly Dr., USF Tampa. Through Jan. 28, tamparep.org. —DW
Keely and Du As relevant today as when it premiered in 1993, Jane Martin’s script, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, posits a future in which women are kidnapped by Christian evanglists to prevent them from having abortions. Innovocative Theatre’s co-production with Stageworks is blessed by two intensely realized performances: K.D. O’Hair as a kidnapping victim and and Dawn Truax as a woman counseling her to keep her baby. Powerful stuff (and only one weekend left). Through Jan. 21 at Stageworks, 1120 E. Kennedy Blvd. #151, Tampa. stageworkstheatre.org. —DW
The Magic Flute Talk about a magical mystery tour. Mozart’s beloved opera has it all: high priests, a gallant birdcatcher named Papageno, the Queen of the Night, and a score that hits some of the highest and the lowest notes in the canon. St. Petersburg Opera, The Palladium. Feb. 2 and 6 at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. 727-823-2040, stpeteopera.org. —DW
Pat Oleszko The cheerfully outrageous, bigger-than-life performance artist makes a rare area appearance at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts’ opening reception for The Family Acid, a show of photos by “psychedelic pioneer” and counter-culture chronicler Roger Steffens, whose eclectic circle of associates includes Oleszko. FMoPA, 400 N. Ashley Dr., Cube 200, Tampa. Oleszko performance Fri. Jan. 26, 6 p.m. The Family Acid continues Jan. 26-Mar. 16. 813-221-2222, fmopa.org. —DW
A Piece of My Heart Depending on whom you talk to, this play is either a stirring remembrance of the roles women played in the Vietnam War or a manipulative reduction of real lives to cardboard stereotypes. What all agree is that the play is about six women — five nurses and a country singer — and their lives before, during, and after the conflict. The drama has been produced everywhere, and was recently called “the most enduring play on Vietnam in the nation” by the Vietnam Vets Association. You decide. Powerstories Theatre, 2105 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Feb. 8-25. 813-253-2000, powerstories.com. —ML
Roe It may seem that a play about the famous Roe v. Wade case would be a dry exercise in documentary theater at its most earnest. But playwright Lisa Loomer (The Waiting Room) has found all the drama and most of the humor (!) in the alliance of young lawyer Sarah Weddington and pregnant lesbian Norma McCorvey (who chose the “anonymous” name Jane Roe) in their combat with the State of Texas for abortion rights. Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Mar. 14-Apr. 15. 941-321-1397, asolorep.org. —ML
Tampa International Fringe Festival The lottery tickets have been drawn, the rehearsing has begun, and we wait in hot anticipation for the second annual TiFf. A majorly good time in its inaugural year, the fest promises to be even bigger and better in 2018 (it’s expanded from one to two weekends), with acts from all over the world (including our own backyard) performing in venues throughout Ybor. May 3-12, tampafringe.org/TIFF. —DW
Women Laughing Alone With Salad Sheila Callaghan’s hilarious, limit-busting play is about female body images and the ways in which men, women and the media conspire to hold half the human race to an impossible image of perfection. The play introduces us to Guy, whose mother is a former feminist now devoted to beauty treatments, and to the love interests in Guy’s life, Tori and Meredith, both insecure about their mortal frames. In the second act, when Guy has become an advertising executive trying to market an anti-depressant for women, the play enters into a Cloud Nine-like festival of ideological cross-dressing. Urbanite Theater, 1487 2nd St., Sarasota. Apr. 6-May 6. 941-321-1397, urbanitetheatre.com. —ML
