Theater season has arrived, and to borrow from Rodgers and Hammerstein, it’s bustin’ out all over.
This week brings three notable new plays:
Chameleonic bay area actress Roxanne Fay is onstage Tuesday with My Unspeakable Confessions, a one-woman show in which she plays Gala Dalí, wife, muse and beloved co-conspirator of the brilliant artist Salvador Dalí. It is, of course, being presented at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, in the Raymond James Community Room.
Subtitled Gala Dali Declines to Explain Herself, Fay performed the play by Heather L. Jones here in 2011, and again at the Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, New York – something of a second home for the actress – in 2018.
Raved SRO Magazine of the Bridge Street production: “Ms. Fay’s powerful incarnation was by turns, admirable and arrogant, playing with the audience’s instinct to pigeonhole Gala. This made it hard to know whether Gala was likable, a raving egomaniac, or both. And in the presence of such a force of nature, who cared? One thing was certain; to live in ‘Galaland’ was not for the faint of heart.”
Tuesday’s curtain time is 6 p.m. Find tickets at this link.
Nocturnal darkness
At the Off-Central (St. Petersburg), the “Think Inside the Box” series continues Thursday through Saturday with performances of Adam Rapp’s drama Nocturne. It’s a one-man show in which Weston Allen Kemp plays The Son (as he’s identified in the script), a 32-year-old writer who’s been living with guilt, grief and crushing depression since he accidentally killed his younger sister, when he was 17. Understandably, the incident completely destroyed his family.
“Nocturne,” director Debbie Yones says on the Off-Central’s website, “gives us an opportunity to explore some difficult subjects, but also to talk about hope, healing, and the ways art can help us find beauty in even our darkest moments.”
There are talkbacks following two of the performances: Saturday (show at 5 p.m.) A discussion of men’s mental health with Dr. Adam Miller; Sunday (3 p.m. show) an arts in healing talkback with Becca McCoy and Ginny Sain. Find all info and tickets at this link.
Literary laughs
In Tampa, Katherine Yacko portrays one of the world’s most-read and most-produced 19th century literary figures. The play, opening Friday at Stageworks Theatre, is Jane Austen in 89 Minutes.
It’s a laugh-a-second comedy that condenses all of Austen’s novels – from Sense and Sensibility to Persuasion – in, you guessed it, 89 minutes. The cast of what Stageworks calls a “madcap romp” includes Sarah Haun, Katrina Stevenson, Jonelle M. Meyer, Aaron Ford, Spencer Meyers and Darrin L Person.
Playwright Syrie James will be in attendance for Sunday’s 3 p.m. show, and will conduct a post-performance Q&A afterwards.
Jane Austen in 89 Minutes runs through Oct. 11 (Friday, Sept. 25 is sold out). Find showtimes and tickets at this link.
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