In the claustrophobic world of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, hell is other people — three people, to be exact, condemned forever to an over-decorated drawing room with only themselves for company. So it's intriguing to hear that the upcoming production of the play by the Tenderfoot Theatre Project will be much more heavily populated: In addition to the three damned protagonists, we'll meet the men and women they've done wrong, portrayed by actors placed among the audience at the Palladium. This approach, besides being inventive, also provides extra roles for actors, all of whom are past or present students of Gibbs High School's Pinellas County Center for the Arts, as is everyone else involved in staging the show. The Tenderfoots are taking on a very tough play, but if any young artists can make it work, it's this bunch. By the way, the producing director is PCCA senior David Brinkmann, who was one of the talented under-25ers the Planet profiled back in January. Thurs.-Fri., July 27-28, 7 p.m., $15 adults/$12 students and seniors, Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg, 727-822-3590, www.mypalladium.org.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2006.
