Here’s what’s behind the curtain this week in Tampa Bay theater…
IT’S A PROBLEM BECAUSE BRITS ARE SO UNACCUSTOMED TO HOOLIGANS: At a recent performance of TRT2’s thrillcom Bethany, playing through Sunday at Ybor’s Silver Meteor Gallery, a drunk patron disrupted – or enhanced, Ybor being Ybor – the mood by adding his own random ejaculations to the evening’s entertainment, including the upbeat affirmation, “What a gentleman!” The experienced cast, no strangers to the patronage of the occasional noisy wackjob in any local theater, took the outbursts in stride, and were dismayed only by the fact that Ybor’s answer to Dean Martin had attended the same evening as a delegation from the USF British International Theatre Program.
NEW PLAYS ARE THE THING: Joining regional producers Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota, the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and City Theatre in Miami, Stageworks Theatre Company has been accepted into the National New Play Network. Stageworks is first in Tampa Bay to join the NNPN, an alliance of nonprofit theaters that promotes the development, production and continued life of new plays, apparently with some success: In the just-announced 2015 Helen Hayes Awards nominations, five of the six honorees for Outstanding Original New Play or Musical were NNPN progeny. Stageworks is big into new plays this season, staging three new works including its hit comedy Birds of a Feather, playing through Feb 15.
PELVISTORIES: Now playing at Powerstories Theatre is a double swivel: the Lavonne Mueller-edited anthology Elvis Monologues and Ellen Byron’s Graceland, a two-hander about kooky uberfans vying to be the first guest at the Elvis museum on opening day. Dedicated to projects that explore and celebrate personal storytelling, and stories of women and girls in particular, Powerstories puts up plays, open mic nights, a Girlstories Leadership Theatre for Hillsborough middleschoolers and other empowering projects out of its funky little theater on West Kennedy Blvd.
ONLY CHER GAVE A LONGER FAREWELL TOUR: Four weeks ago, SCENE BREAKER broke the news of celebrated actor Steve Garland’s farewell-to-the-Bay performance in Jeffrey Hatcher’s A Picasso, which was to take its final bow Jan. 19. But reports of Garland’s departure have been exaggerated. The reading was so popular last month that it’s being revived for one performance only this Monday night at Studio@620. Then it’s really over. Honest.
Got a tip for SCENE BREAKER? Email Scene Breaker in care of A&E Editor Julie Garisto, julie.garisto@creativeloafing.com.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2015.