In Richard Schenkkan’s contemporary love story, By the Waters of Babylon, two loners from disparate worlds discover they have more in common than either would have believed possible. Catherine is a suburban Texas widow whose reclusive habits contradict her seemingly effusive and out-going nature. Arturo, an embittered Cuban exile and a poet with a green thumb, is the help she hires to turn her unkempt garden into “Something between Versailles and Central Park.” Both bear the emotional scars of mysterious past horrors, both cover these scars with layer upon layer of pretense, and both are in desperate need of some tender loving care. American Stage kicks off its 30th anniversary season with a four-week run of By the Waters of Babylon. The following week, the company launches its adventurous “After Hours” series with Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. A different guest actor or local celeb (this writer included) reads a monologue at shows presented after Babylon has finished for the night; a portion of the “Pay-What-You-Can” ticket proceeds to go to local YWCA programs for teenage mothers. Babylon, 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 3 and 8 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., through Oct. 12, and Monologues, 10:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 7 p.m. Tues. and Sun., Sept. 23-Oct. 12, 211 Third St. S., St. Petersburg, $24 previews/$37 opening night/$31-$39 all other times (Mainstage pricing), 727-823-7529.
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2008.
