The Guys. Anne Nelson's play, written and performed at Tribeca's Flea Theatre just a few weeks after 9/11, is about a firefighter trying to compose eulogies for eight of his missing colleagues, and about the writer/editor who strives to help him. For all who are still mourning our "beautiful, gleaming, wounded city." Jobsite Theater at the Straz Center, Sept. 8-25, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa, 813-229-STAR, jobsitetheater.org
Grey Gardens. How did the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis move from embarrassing riches to humiliating squalor? Based on the Maysles Brothers' documentary film, this musical acquaints us with Edith and Edie Beale — at the top and the bottom of their fortunes. Expect glitter and grotesquerie. freeFall Theatre, Sept. 15-Oct. 2, 6099 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-498-5205, freefalltheatre.com.
Macbeth. Shakespeare's reluctant murderer and his homicidal wife plot to win the crown of Scotland, but the damned blood they shed won't wash clean. Is life really a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? Or is it just a bad day? Gorilla Theatre, Oct. 13-30, 4419 N. Hubert Ave., Tampa, 813-879-2914, gorillatheatre.com.
Gruesome Playground Injuries. Rajiv Joseph is one of the hottest playwrights in America at the moment, and this morbidly funny two-hander helps to explain why. From age 8 to 38, Doug and Kayleen are wounded, battered, sliced and scarred — and it only brings them closer together. For anyone who's ever gone on a date in a hospital. Stageworks, Oct. 14-30, 1120 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, 813-251-8984, stageworkstheatre.org.
August: Osage County. Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning play is about the Westons of Oklahoma, a monumentally dysfunctional family whose attempt to rally together during a crisis is funny and tragic and deeply resonant. This may be the best theatrical work of the last decade. American Stage at the Palladium, Oct. 22-30, 253 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg, 727-823-PLAY, americanstage.org.
The Comedy of Errors. Following their superb production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the people at freeFall bring us Shakespeare's laugh-out-loud comedy about mistaken identities, love and money. Errors was probably Shakespeare's very first play; it's light on characterization but full of youthful energy, silly plotlines, and physical humor. Prediction: this writer will go far. freeFall Theatre, Oct. 27-Nov. 13, freefalltheatre.com.
Quills. The Marquis de Sade struggles for his right to free speech as his jailers and enemies go ever further in their resolve to shut the man up. This bloody comedy asks just how far an artist can go in his efforts to shock and scandalize, and how far society will go to silence a voice it finds offensive. Jobsite Theater at the Straz Center, Oct. 30-Nov. 6.
An Ideal Husband. While it doesn't have the non-stop brilliance of The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde's 1895 melodrama is a delightful confection about marriage, blackmail, appearances and authenticity. It's also possible that its plot may refer to various exortionate threats made in the 1890s to expose Wilde's homosexuality. American Stage, Nov. 18-Dec. 24, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, 727-823-PLAY, americanstage.org.
The Blue Room. David Hare's adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Reigen is about ten characters who form a daisy chain of sexual encounters across class lines. Two actors play all the characters, suggesting something about what Leonard Cohen called "New Skin on the Old Ceremony." The play was a big hit on Broadway in 1998, when Nicole Kidman briefly bared herself to a rapt audience. Prepare to be titillated; and watch out for STDs. Stageworks, Dec. 2-18, stageworkstheatre.org.
Seven Guitars. American Stage continues its admirable project of presenting all of August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle plays with this meditation on death and hope in 1948 postwar America. The play asks, who killed blues singer and guitarist Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, and then introduces us to a group of African-American characters, each of whom is looking for some sort of relief from the difficulties of existence. There's music and prophecy and grimly serious dialogue punctuated by salty, easy humor. And most of all there's Wilson's inimitable urban poetry. American Stage, Jan. 20-Feb. 26, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, americanstage.org.
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2011.
