Soundstage Productions 

Through 7/28/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

The Woolgatherer by William Mastrosimone is a charming dark comedy about two lonely people struggling to connect. Cliff is a truck driver stuck in town while his rig is being repaired. Rose works at the local five-and-dime and is a woolgatherer in two senses of the word: she habitually withdraws from reality into her daydreams, and she also collects sweaters from the men who have passed through her life.

ACT Inc

Through 8/5/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

The Man with a Load of Mischief by Ashley Dukes is set entirely within a remote English country inn whose name is the source of the play's title. As the play opens, the innkeeper and his wife anticipate the arrival of guests: a nobleman accompanied by his manservant, and a lady accompanied by her maidservant.

Off Center Theatre

Through 7/15/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

Pride's Crossing tells the story of the fictional Mabel Tidings Bigelow, rebellious daughter of a very proper New England family, from age 10 to age 90. In the Tidings family, men become Olympic divers and sail around Cape Horn, while women are expected to stay inside and behave themselves.

ACT Inc.

Through 8/3/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

Enchanted April is a slight but charming play concerning four English ladies who in 1922 spend a month sharing a rented castle in Italy. As was the literary tradition of the day, they manage to shed their cares and solve their problems in record time under the influence of this southerly Forest of Arden.

Avalon Theatre Company

Through 10/21/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

In the 1950's William Inge was one of the hottest playwrights in America, considered a peer of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller and with a string of Broadway hits and a Pulitzer Prize to his credit. Inge's critical reputation has slipped considerably in the intervening years, however, and many of his works seem dated today. One notable exception is Bus Stop, which may have aged best of any of his works: the production currently playing at the Avalon Theatre seems as relevant to our time as the original production must have seemed to audiences in 1955.

Webster University Department of Theatre and Dance

Through 10/07/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

Anton in Show Business is a satire on the contemporary American theatre, loaded with inside jokes and populated with characters and situations which will be familiar to anyone who takes an interest in the theatre scene. It is one of many plays attributed to "Jane Martin," but is widely believed to have been written by Jon Jory, former producing director of the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Stray Dog Theatre

Through 11/17/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

Until I read the program notes for Stray Dog Theatre's production of And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little, I hadn't realized that Paul Zindel, best-remembered today as an author of young adult novels, studied writing with Edward Albee. It makes perfect sense, because And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little is sort of Edward Albee Lite, incorporating Albee obsessions and mannerisms but lacking both his depth and consistent artisanry. The story concerns the unhappy Reardon sisters, one of whom has recently gone off the rails and all of whom would rather poke a mad dog in the eye with a sharp stick than let sleeping dogs lie.

The Orange Girls

Through 7/29/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

You have to hand it to the Orange Girls: they don't back down from a challenge. And putting on An American Daughter, the last play by the late Wendy Wasserstein, is a challenge for several reasons, which I will take up in a minute.

Soundstage Productions

Through 11/17/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

Soundstage Productions enriches the St. Louis theatre community by bringing us staged readings of rarely performed works. Their current production, Arthur Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays, directed by Dave Houghton, is a perfect choice for Soundstage because while no one would place it among Miller's major plays (in fact, it often seems more like sketches from the playwright's notebook than a finished work), it remains interesting for the light it sheds on the playwright and his working processes.

First Run Theatre

Through 6/24/2007
Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh

First Run Theatre Company specializes in presenting original, unpublished, unproduced works by regional playwrights. The Spectrum Festival of Short Plays is their current offering: 15 plays are presented in sets of seven and eight on alternating nights.