Daily Loaf

Hot on the heels of her appearance in Jobsite Theater’s And Baby Makes Seven, recent Tampa Bay area transplant Jessica Rothert slips into Stageworks’ production of Bad Dates, which previews tonight at the Shimberg Playhouse. Theresa Rebeck’s one-woman show, which premiered Off Broadway in 2003, is about Haley Walker, a Texas transplant living in Manhattan with her teenage daughter. And lots of shoes. Six hundred, in fact. Having found a measure of success in the big city as a restaurateur, single Haley is ready to dip her feet and their fashionable footwear back into the dating pool. From her bedroom, Haley addresses the audience as she prepares for or reacts to her titular encounters with the opposite sex. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Nothing says holiday cheer like spending time with the author of In Cold Blood (about the brutal murder of an entire family) and Breakfast At Tiffany’s (about a high-class hooker). But sometimes, Christmas traditions are re-imagined — like in A Truman Capote Christmas, which opens next week at American Stage.

This is the autobiographical story of the author’s childhood in which he is sent from his comfortable, familiar home to live with the father he has never met. Along the way, Capote (pictured left, with his father) discovers the truth about his past, his father and Santa Claus. Not From Texas acoustic band accompanies the show. Nov. 23-30, 7:30 p.m. Sun.-Mon., 8 p.m. Weds. and Fri.-Sat., American Stage, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, “pay what you can” admission, americanstage.org. – Franki Weddington

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. This weekend, The Frenzie Theatre company offers Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, an angsty adolescent show that asks what might happen to the Peanuts gang if they ever reached teenagerhood.

When CB’s dog dies of rabies, it causes him to question the existence of an afterlife — but with a burnout for a best friend, a sister who’s gone goth, an ex in the loony bin, and a load of inebriated buddies — he has no one to turn to for enlightenment on his existential questions. When he meets an artsy new friend, the limits of teen turmoil reach maximum levels in this darkly optimistic exploration of drug use, suicide, eating disorders, teen violence, rebellion and sexual identity. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Next weekend, you can shuffleboard boogie it down at the St. Pete Shuffle or get crazy with a few rounds of Bingo at your community theater in Tampa. The average age of Florida citizens might be rising higher than the heat index, but the youth of Tampa Bay are reclaiming these traditionally geriatric activities for their own. Next weekend, theater-goers young and old alike can enjoy a game of Bingo while they see the story of Babe and Sis unfold onstage in The Queen of Bingo.

The two sisters are polar opposites: Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. There’s nothing cozier than a handmade quilt on a cold winter night, but these blankets with humble beginnings have been elevated to the upper echelons of art at the Florida International Museum, which debuts two new quilt collections on Friday.

Rooted in Tradition: Art Quilts includes dozens of diverse works from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, which incorporate visual rather than practical elements like found objects, canvas, paper and paint. Sew – It’s Art! is a collection of quilts from Pinellas County’s quilt guilds that explores local history via the traditions, subjects, techniques and materials that combine to create our own colorful local quilt. (Pictured: French Braid Mountain Tops by Betsy Schobert) On display Nov. 6-Jan. 10, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun., Florida International Museum, 244 2nd Ave N., St. Petersburg, $8, $6 seniors and military, $5 students, 727-821-1448, spcollege.edu/FIMuseum. – Franki Weddington

After the break: From Havana to Hell’s Kitchen: A Latin Cabaret Read the rest of this entry »

In the midst of its successful run of Woman in Black, Gorilla Theatre presents a one-night-only staged reading of Stay, a new play by Sheila Cowley, starring Eugenie Bondurant, Christopher Rutherford, Nicole Jeannine Smith, Fred Lasday, and Bridget Bean. Remember in Misery, when Kathy Bates holds her favorite writer hostage, and goes at his ankles with a sledgehammer when he tries to escape? (Sorry in advance to the three of you who haven’t seen it.) Stay takes a closer look at that form of dark, all-consuming obsession that sometimes passes for love. Tues., Oct. 27, Gorilla Theatre, 4199 N. Hubert Ave., Tampa, 813-879-2914 for reservations; no online reservations accepted, gorillatheatre.com. Read the rest of this entry »

Jobsite Theater’s Night of the Living Dead isn’t even very funny. Insofar as it has a plot, it’s tiresomely repetitive, and the script, by Lori Allen Ohm, isn’t within miles of being the sort of inspired Charles Ludlam-like parody one might have expected. There are a few good moments — a couple of graphically gory shockers, some silly combats, and all the much-too-short scenes involving Jason Vaughan Evans — but in general this is a sloppy, flaccidly directed yawner that’s short on invention and memorable acting. In its 75 minutes, it offers about 30 seconds of real hilarity.

The play begins with Barbara (Kari Goetz) and Johnny (Matthew Lunsford, pictured left), siblings who’ve come to a cemetery in order to place a wreath on their father’s grave. They’re rudely interrupted by a zombie (Evans, pictured right) who struggles with Johnny, leaving Barbara to escape to a house in the vicinity. There she tries to call for help, but her cellphone’s not working, and the blood she sees on her hand seemingly sends her into shock. A rescuer arrives: Ben (Dayton Sinkia), a forward-thinking good guy who helps her fight off more ghouls and then proceeds to board up the visible doors and windows with a few unconvincing planks. Read the rest of this entry »

American Stage’s After Hours Series returns with Paul Rudnick’s new comedy, The New Century, which has gotten some pretty good press — the New York Post warns that there are “so many gut-busting one-liners that those with heart conditions are advised to steer clear.” Here’s the set-up: Helene brags on her three gay sons at her Long Island chapter of POLGBTQCCCO: Parents of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, The Transgendered, The Questioning, The Curious, The Creatively Concerned and Others. Mr. Charles, on the other hand, is finding his flamboyant ways a bit of a drag. The new gay order of NYC exiles him, and Charles now spends his time with a hunka-hunka burnin’ love named Shane, with whom he produces a cable TV show called Too Gay? On the other side of the world (or so it seems) Midwestern Barbara, a competitive cake decorator and craftswoman, has lost a son to AIDS. When the three drastically different characters collide, expect a lot of laughs tossed with a hefty dose of poignancy. Oct. 20-Nov. 1, 7 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., American Stage, 163 3rd Street N., St. Petersburg, $20, $10 student rush tickets 30 minutes prior to curtain, 27-823-7529, americanstage.org. – Franki Weddington Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. American Stage’s After Hours Series returns next Tuesday with Paul Rudnick’s new comedy, The New Century, which has gotten some pretty good press — the New York Post warns that there are “so many gut-busting one-liners that those with heart conditions are advised to steer clear.”

Here’s the set-up: Helene brags on her three gay sons at her Long Island chapter of POLGBTQCCCO: Parents of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, The Transgendered, The Questioning, The Curious, The Creatively Concerned and Others. Mr. Charles, on the other hand, is finding his flamboyant ways a bit of a drag. The new gay order of NYC exiles him, and Charles now spends his time with a hunka-hunka burnin’ love named Shane, with whom he produces Read the rest of this entry »

Eckerd College’s new exhibit, The Jim Crow Effect: Drinking From the Fountain, includes artifacts from that tension-fraught era in American history. Today, Dr. Cody L. Clark, an artist, musician and collector of Jim Crow memorabilia and Professor Randolph Lightfoot, President of the African American History Museum Board, discuss the importance of the images for understanding the past. (Pictured: memorabilia on display in The Jim Crow Effect) Weds., Oct 14, 3 p.m., on display Oct. 9-16, Eckerd College, 4200 54th Avenue S., St. Petersburg, eckerd.edu/events.

Under the steady baton of conductor Jack Heller, the Tampa Bay Symphony performs selections from the German masters, including Mendelssohn’s “The Beautiful Melusine Overture,” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica,” and French Horn soloist Kurt Klotz offers Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1. The symphony visits several locations this week, including: Sun., Oct. 11, 4 p.m., Ferguson Hall, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa; Weds., Oct. 14, 8 p.m., Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Rd., Clearwater; and Fri., Oct. 16, 8 p.m., Mahaffey Theater, 400 Firs St. S., St. Petersburg; $20, tampabaysymphony.com. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. If you scare easily or shudder at the thought of ghosts and dark, scary rooms, perhaps you should sit this one out. This weekend, Gorilla Theatre presents the classic ghost tale, Woman in Black.

Closely based on English author Susan Mills’ novel, the stage performance – adapted by Stephen Mallatratt – is said to chill, thrill and terrify audiences. It follows Mrs. Drablow, who lives and dies alone in a desolate house in a dreary part of England. Depressing, right? After Drablow dies, a young lad from London is sent to attend her funeral and sort out her papers. As you may have guessed, the unlucky chap gets caught up in the dark, tragic secrets that remain in the now empty, dismal house … or is it empty? Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Next Monday, see The Laramie Project onstage, which explores the long-term effects of Matthew Shepard’s murder (the result of a brutal, homophobic hate crime) on his hometown of Laramie via in-depth interviews with his mother, friends, and, most chillingly, his murderer, Aaron McKinney – the results of which eventually became an HBO special and play.

Tonight’s performers take the stage just once for The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, which returns to Laramie to find out if anything has changed – at home and around the country — and includes Read the rest of this entry »

Tes One (nee Leon Bedore) returns to Tampa for Repeat Offender, his first solo show in five years. The artist’s prints are familiar to local gallery-goers (and to CL readers — he did our Obama-inauguration cover in January), and his new collection contrasts “nature with technology, grime with grace.” The results are immediately striking and visually interesting, but require closer inspection to fully digest. More often than not, what’s underneath the surface is even more important than the clearly visible — like the snarling grizzly bear screenprinted over a sign advertising “space available.” Ironic, of course, because we’re cutting down the trees in the grizzly’s space to make our signs. Best of the Bay-winning DJ Mega and Nak 1 scratch at the opening reception. Sat., Oct. 3, 7-11 p.m.; on display through Nov. 30, Redletter1 Gallery, 1510 E. Eighth Ave., Ybor City, free, 813-241-2435, tesone.net. –Franki Weddington

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when buxom lasses and dudes in lederhosen lift steins to praise the amber liquid that will sustain us through the cold, cold winter — Oktoberfest! But how will you be able to take advantage of the two simultaneous brew celebrations this weekend? No worries, you won’t have to.  Do you like the crisp and simple taste of American and international macro-brews, sampled in refined comfort while sharks and rays look on in jealous hunger? Head to the CL-sponsored Brews by the Bay: Oktoberfest 2009 at The Florida Aquarium. Along with the full repertoire of Anheuser-Busch, you’ll be able to sample beers from Magic Hat, Boddington’s, Stella Artois and many others, all while noshing food from restaurants like Datz Deli. Smoke, and more. If local craft brew floats your sudsy boat, then Dunedin Brewery’s ninth annual OktoBEERfest is more your cup of tea. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Next week marks the opening of The Doctor Is In!, C. David Frankel’s adaptation of Moliere’s 17th century French farce, The Doctor in Spite of Himself .

Written centuries apart, both poke fun at the gullible patients who swallow anything the good doctor shoves down their throats (useless pills and wild diagnoses included). This kick-off to TheatreUSF’s season promises a “contemporary American never-never land where anything can happen – including the transformation of a simple fishing-camp owner into a miraculous physician capable of curing…well, anything.” (Pictured: Nathan Juliano and Victoria Rae Sook in The Doctor Is In!) Oct. 1-11, 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., USF College of Visual and Performing Arts Theatre II, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, $12 in advance, $15 day of show; students and seniors $8 in advance, $10 day of show, arts.usf.edu. – Franki Weddington

HCC’s Visual and Performing Arts Series presents Danny Hoch’s (pictured) critically acclaimed one-man show, Jails, Hospitals and Hip-Hop — with a twist. Accompanying lone actor Curtis Belz’s eight monologue characterizations – which include Flip, a good ol’ boy from the Midwest who has come to identify with urban hip-hoppers; Bronx, a sidewalk vendor who gets pinched for selling without a license; and Sam, a prison guard with an anger management problem (evidenced by his beating a prisoner nearly to death) –are musician Matt Wetherington and choreographer/dancer DeMario Henry. Wetherington’s original score includes mixing on stage and live guitar; Henry shows off fresh hip-hop moves and dance, and his hip-hop troupe, the VYB Dance Company, kicks off the show. Sept. 17-19, 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., Hillsborough Community College – Ybor Campus, Performing Arts Building, Corner of Palm Avenue and 14th St., Ybor City,  $10 general admission, $5 students and seniors, free for HCC students, faculty and staff, 813-253-7695. – Lily Reisman Read the rest of this entry »

David M. Jenkins, Alison Burns and Jessica Rothert in "And Baby Makes Seven"

Actor, director and lighting designer, Karla Hartley has got to be one of the most versatile theater people in the Tampa Bay Area.  She has directed such widely divergent plays as The Crucible and Psycho Beach Party, and she has designed and stage managed shows from such far-reaching locations as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is currently the Producing and Educational Programming Manager at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and I last saw her when she played Dr. Scott and Eddie in TBPAC’s wonderful production of The Rocky Horror Show.  (As if that isn’t enough, she also co-directed the show.) We are indeed fortunate to have her.

Her latest venture is directing Jobsite Theater’s production of And Baby Makes Seven. Here’s the unlikely plot: Anna, Ruth and Peter await the arrival of their newborn child, but first they must rid the crowded apartment of their three imaginary children. Playwright Paula Vogel redefines the meaning of family and completely blurs the lines between illusion and reality, power and subjection, friendship and love, female and male. I had the pleasure of interviewing Karla the week before the show’s opening. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. This weekend marks the return of American Stage’s August Wilson series, the third in a ten-year commitment to producing each of the acclaimed African-American playwright’s major works. (Check out what CL theater critic Mark Leib thought of the first two shows in the series, King Hedley II and Gem of the Ocean.)

August Wilson’s best play, Fences, is about Troy Maxson, an African-American rubbish collector whose bitterness and sense of lost opportunities make him a problematic husband and father. Set in Pittsburgh in 1957, it’s also about a time when new opportunities for black citizens were slowly becoming real, but the indignities of the past were too raw to be forgotten. As in all Wilson’s plays, the language is poetic, the characters are indelible, and the metaphors — including, in this case, the trumpet carried by Troy’s brain-damaged brother Gabriel — are brilliant. What happens to a dream deferred? Wilson’s answer is riveting. (Pictured: Evander Duck, Jr., Travus Leroux and Jayne Trinette in Fences) Sept. 25-Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3 p.m. matinee Sat.-Sun; Previews Sept. 19-20 and 23-24, 3 and 8 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Weds.-Thurs., American Stage, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, $26-$45, $10 student rush tickets 30 minutes prior to curtain; Sun., Sept. 20 and Tues., Sept. 29 are “pay what you can” admission, americanstage.org. – Mark Leib

Leading Ladies is sort of like Some Like It Hot for the theater world — a funny farce that follows Jack and Leo, two down-on-their-luck Shakespearean actors who resort to cross-dressing in an attempt to swindle a little old lady out of her fortune, with a mix-up of romantic entanglements along the way! Visit franciswilsonplayhouse.org for more info. (Pictured: Leading Ladies at Theatre Jacksonville, courtesy eujacksonville.com) Sept. 16-20, 8 p.m. Weds.-Sat., 2 p.m. matinees Sat. and Sun., Francis Wilson Playhouse, 302 Seminole St., Clearwater, $10-$20.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not a big crier, but when I went to see American Stage’s production of Tuesdays with Morrie, I reminded myself to think happy thoughts. It was useless. Tuesdays is about a reporter who visits his former professor every week. Sounds nice until you find out that teach has Lou Gehrig’s disease. Fortunately, my nose-blowing went unnoticed in the cacophony of sniffles and the manly variety of throat-clearing that covers for crying. (Pictured: Michael Edwards and Chaz Mena in Tuesdays with Morrie.)

[About Daily Best of the Bay: From now through mid-September, CL writers and editors are providing sneak peeks of some of their selections in advance of the Best of the Bay Issue Sept. 16. The polls are now closed for the Readers' Poll portion of Best of the Bay, but you'll find all the winners in the BOTB issue. See you at The Loafies on Sept. 15!]

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Today’s edition is a new play at Club Nautico, where “all are welcome.”

If you’re looking for a place to avoid Ronda Storms (or maybe run into Charlie Crist), I’d put my money on Gypsy Productions’ new show, Questa – which promises to offer poignant insight on sexuality, spirituality, love and loss. After Paul, the victim of an attempted gay bashing, kills (perhaps accidentally) his attacker, he’s overcome with guilt. He seeks redemption and solace by secretly following his victim’s mother, hoping to ease her pain. (Pictured: Daniel DiPiazza and Daniel Harris in Questa. Photo by Brad Minus.) Through Sept. 13, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3 and 7:30 p.m. Sun., Club Nautico, 4900 66th St., St. Petersburg, $20, nauticostpete.com. – Franki Weddington

The Suncoast AIDS Theatre Project presents Die, Mommie, Die, another installment in the The Summer Nights of Alternative Theater Series, which benefits the Metropolitan Charities, providing services to locals living with HIV and AIDS. The show is a campy, comedic melodrama that borrows from 1960s thriller flicks. It follows Angela (played by Matt McGee), who poisons her husband via suppository (ew). Angela’s vengeful daughter convinces her brother to kill their mother. When Angela drinks the LSD-laced coffee he gives her, all of her dark secrets come tumbling out. Mon., Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m., American Stage, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, all shows are “pay what you can admission,” americanstage.org.

At tonight’s Anti-Aging and Weight Management Cooking Class, “Healthy Chef” Sherell White shares nutrition facts, which foods in your diet are costing you calories, and what to replace them with, before her cooking demonstration. The menu includes: herb-seasoned Alaskan sockeye salmon, sherry-peppered tofu steaks, broccoli-cabbage slaw, brown rice pilaf, gluten-free chocolate buckwheat donuts and more. Mon. Aug. 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Aquastone Spa, 300 Beach Dr. NE, St. Petersburg $45, 727-823-4636.

Last December, just a few months into Jobsite’s 10th anniversary season, I wrote this blog for Creative Loafing about lessons learned trying to run a theater for an entire decade.

We’re now just a few days away from the end of this 10th season, and I’ve had time for further reflection.

Left to right: Amy Gray, Chris Perez, Ami Sallee Corley, Spencer Meyers, Katie Castonguay, Stephen Ray and Jason Vaughan Evans in "Pericles." Photo by Brian Smallheer.

We finish the final show of our season, a rousing and hilarious punk rock mob reimagining of the Pericles story, with a video tribute to 10 awesome years in Tampa Bay.  From the genesis of the company, represented by a photo of five awkward and rebellious 20-somethings on the loading dock of USF’s Theater I, cycling through all of our productions and major milestones, to a staged promotional shot of our dead-sexy board in one of the Carol Morsani Hall dressing rooms, photographed by Steve Widoff.

It moves me every night.  Oh, yeah, I’ve watched every single performance of Pericles — from lights up to lights down — something I’ve never done before. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Today’s edition is a fundraising theater event at American Stage.

The Suncoast AIDS Theatre Project presents Die, Mommie, Die, next week’s installment in the The Summer Nights of Alternative Theater Series. The show benefits the Metropolitan Charities, providing services to locals living with HIV and AIDS. The show is a campy, comedic melodrama that borrows from 1960s thriller flicks. It follows Angela (played by Matt McGee), who poisons her husband via suppository. Angela’s vengeful daughter convinces her brother to kill their mother. When Angela drinks the LSD-laced coffee he gives her, all of her dark secrets come tumbling out. (Pictured: Joey Panek, Matt McGee and Joey Panek in Die, Mommie, Die) Visit americanstage.org for more info. Aug. 17 and 24, Mon., 7:30 p.m., American Stage, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg, all shows are “pay what you can” admission.

Often recognized as Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, the Secret Theatre Company puts a new spin on the old ultraviolence with their production of Richard III. Quick to point out that this hybrid of theater and rock ‘n’ roll is “not to be confused with a rock musical” (we’re not talking Andrew Lloyd Webber here), the performance fuses a live show by local rock band Sobriety with “stylized period design and graphic deaths,” all in a smoky, sinister setting that’s sure to mold the mood for Richard’s epic rise to power. Witness Richard’s evolution from oily antihero to prey of gloom, self-doubt and paranoia after his coronation, gained through betrayal and foul play. The ever-popular State Theatre is an ideal venue to host the bevy of bands that open the show with original music and a score of six songs written just for Richard. (Pictured: Giles Davies in Richard III) Aug. 8, Sat., 8 p.m., State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, $20, $15 students, 727-895-3045, statetheatreconcerts.com. — Franki Weddington

There’s no doubt that Texas comedian Ron White gets filed under “redneck humor” in most folks’ minds, and with good reason. He shot to national attention as part of the four-person “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” a few years back, yukking it up alongside double-wide staples Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy. But White, who brings his Behavioral Problems Tour 2009 to Tampa Bay, was the least redneck of the quartet, opting instead for a more subversive brand of self-deprecating humor centered on his over-indulgences. Sure, you can focus on his “Tater Salad” persona, but we prefer the wickedly funny side that saunters onstage with a half-smoked cigar and a tumbler full of scotch. Not exactly a sophisticate but not quite ready to be consigned full-time to Branson, Mo. Consider this: He early on did a bit about a friend of his who was a homophobe. “Is that the most useless thing you can possibly be is afraid of gay people? We’re all gay. It’s just to what extent are you gay,” the joke began. And for those parents who loooooved Blue Collar Comedy on Comedy Central, just forget about taking your kids to see the in-concert White; he works blue. Real blue. Fri., Aug. 7, 7:30 pm, Progress Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater, 400 First St. S. St. Petersburg. $44.75. 800-745-3000. www.mahaffeytheater.com. — Wayne Garcia

Read the rest of this entry »

I interviewed Joe Popp the weekend before opening night of Pericles in a dark, smoky bar in downtown Tampa. He was affable and talkative — I guess I expected more of a pissed-off punk guy. I mentioned that I had seen his punk rock Macbeth at American Stage’s Shakespeare in the Park series in 1997. It was a kick-ass production that still stands as one of the theater’s best-attended events ever. For that reason, I can’t wait to see Pericles at Jobsite Theater.  Joe wrote the music and lyrics for Pericles and also plays guitar and functions as the narrator.

See what Popp had to say about how he turned Shakespeare’s least-produced work into a modern, pop-punk-riddled tale of incest, intrigue and murder in the streets of New Jersey, where Pericles becomes Perry the mobster.

Read the rest of this entry »

Time’s winding down to see Release, an exhibit by artist and skateboarder Dan Lasata, who unveils his skate-life-influenced works in his first public show. The pro ‘boarder is inspired by skateboard graffiti, and combines painting and sketchwork to create his trippy, graphic images. On display through August 13. (Pictured: an unnamed work by Lasata featured in the Release exhibit) Cafe Bohemia, 128 Third St. S., St.Petersburg, 727-895-4495.

Part of American Stage’s After Hours Series, Circumference of a Squirrel was named one of the top ten plays of 2008 by theater critic Mark Leib following its run at Studio@620 last year. Acclaimed by Leib as “darkly comic,” it’s a one-man play that spins circles of meaning around the character Chester, a tortured, obsessive young man preoccupied with everything but the task at hand. A self-diagnosed “rodentophobe,” he frets ceaselessly about his parents, his ex-wife and the constant threat of rabies. Chester shares details about his father’s irrational fear of squirrels and disease, a childhood burden that in turn infected Chester’s own life. Aug. 4-22, 7:30 p.m. Tues., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., American Stage, 211 Third St. S., St. Petersburg, all performances are “pay what you can” admission, americanstage.org.

Welcome to Radar, where we run down the up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Today’s edition is a dark performance piece about poet Sylvia Plath’s life and death:

Method Machine Productions and twenty@620 present Paul Alexander’s homage to Sylvia Plath’s lifework with Edge: The Story of Sylvia Plath. The one-woman show, starring Marcy J. Savastano, shadows Plath in the final hours of her life, as she reflects on her childhood, her husband, poet Ted Hughes, and her own legacy. In the tradition of great writers (and poets especially), postmortem fame is achieved as much through personal eccentricity as it is quality of work — and to get any kind of street cred in the writing world, authors compete for both the Pulitzer Prize and the most morbid method of committing suicide. Sylvia Plath wins in both categories: she’s the first writer to be posthumously awarded a Pulitzer, for The Collected Poems, and her only novel, The Bell Jar, is lauded for its dark, semi-autobiographical exploration of a spiral into mental illness. As for the suicide, she carried it out in grand style when, at the age of 30, she sealed herself off from her children’s bedrooms, turned on the gas stove, and stuck her head inside. Aug. 6-16, 7 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 1 p.m. Sun., The Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S., St. Petersburg, $30 front row seating, $25 general admission, $15 students and seniors, 727-895-6620, studio620.org.—Franki Weddington