DON'T MISS …
Intimate Apparel. Years before Lynn Nottage won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Ruined, she composed this deceptively straightforward play about an African-American seamstress, Esther Mills, who makes corsets for black friends and for wealthy white women. Nottage based her play on her great-grandmother’s story, and one of its key virtues is the evocation of 1905 New York City and of the sort of woman that white-written history has tended to ignore. Sept. 16-Oct. 11 at American Stage, St. Petersburg. $39-$49, 727-823-PLAY, americanstage.org.
Lebensraum. As part of Jobsite Theater’s continuing relationship with acclaimed dramatist Israel Horovitz, this 1996 play about German war guilt and Jewish memory will come to the stage in January. In the play, Germany’s chancellor invites 6 million Jews to settle in Germany with “citizenship and full benefits.” The drama focuses our attention on two, a man from Gloucester, Mass., who brings his non-Jewish wife and teenaged son; and a concentration camp survivor who leaves Australia to live in Berlin. Horovitz, 76, will be coming to Tampa for the opening. Jan. 8-31 at Jobsite Theater, Tampa. $28, 813-229-STAR, jobsitetheater.org.
Our Town. According to author Thornton Wilder, this much-beloved American classic was “an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life.” Sixty-seven years after it first took the stage, Our Town continues to be the most moving statement of awe in the presence of human existence that’s ever been written. Sure, the dialogue is often corny; but the form of the play is forcefully modernist, and the presence of the Stage Manager is still a potent departure from that old, unnecessary “realism.” Jan. 16-Feb. 14 at freeFall Theatre, St. Petersburg. $20-$48, 727-498-5205, freefalltheatre.com.
Also on the radar …
Tampa Bay Theatre Festival A hit last year with positive feedback for its variety and accessibility, the second annual TBTF returns Sept. 4-6 with educational workshops, celebrity guest and Blacklist star Harry Lennix, free networking events, competitions, full-length plays and an awards party. Activities will all take place at the Straz, Stageworks and HCC-Ybor. tampabaytheatrefestival.com.
The Children’s Hour. Lillian Hellman’s 1934 drama is about the two headmistresses of an all-girl’s boarding school, and the student who falsely accuses them of lesbianism, threatening their careers and even their lives. Hellman had her first big hit with the play, which was banned in Boston, Chicago, and London. Sept. 17-Oct. 4, Tampa Repertory Theatre, Tampa, 813-783-5466, reservations@tamparep.org.
The Importance of Being Earnest with Zombies. You’d think Algernon and Jack and Gwendolyn and Cecily had enough on their plates without a zombie apocalypse adding to the mischief. But in freeFall artistic director Eric Davis’s comic adaptation of the Wilde classic, the hunger for brains far outpaces the craving for cucumber sandwiches. Oct. 3-Nov. 1, freeFall Theatre, St. Petersburg, 727-498-5205, freefalltheatre.com.
Lights Rise on Grace. Stageworks celebrates its new status as a member of the National New Play Network with Chad Beckim’s drama about a Chinese-American young woman and the African-American adolescent whom she loves. When both families oppose the match, the stage is set for rebellion and two journeys of self-discovery leading to a reunion years later. Oct. 8-25, Stageworks, Tampa, 813-374-2416, stageworkstheatre.org.
Silence! The Musical. Filthy and unprintable lyrics ensue when Clarice Starling, Hannibal the Cannibal, and Buffalo Bill break into comical song in this unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs. Jobsite is co-producing with the Straz Center at the Jaeb Theatre on this one. Oct. 14-Nov. 22, Jobsite Theatre, Tampa, 813-229-STAR, jobsitetheater.org.
Carmen. Opera’s favorite cigarette girl wants you to know that she’ll love whom she’ll love when she pleases. Which is bad news for Don Jose, who’s nuts about her, and good news for a certain toreador. Oct. 16, 18, 20 at St. Petersburg Opera, St. Petersburg, 727-823-2040, stpeteopera.org.
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. Winner of the 2014 Tony Award for Best Musical, this comedy tells the story of Monty Navarro, who sets out to murder his way to an inheritance that, at least at the start, is far out of reach. Oct. 20-25, Straz Center, Tampa, 813-229-STAR, strazcenter.org.
Kinky Boots. With a composer like Cyndi Lauper and a book-writer like Harvey Fierstein, this show is made to please. And imagine the premise: a conservative shoe factory heir learns to depend on a flamboyant drag performer to set him on the way to wisdom, tolerance and boot-making success. Dec. 1-6, Straz Center, Tampa, 813-229-STAR, strazcenter.org.
Jitney. August Wilson’s play, the first that he penned of his Century Cycle, is about Becker, who in the 1970s runs an unofficial, unlicensed cab company in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. Jan. 20-Feb. 21, American Stage, St. Petersburg, 727-823-PLAY, americanstage.org.
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2015.