"It can feel daunting, but I'm lucky because we have an amazing crew," West said. It's the first time she has taken on the role by herself for a full-length show. This time, for the Joplin Little Theatre production of "Leading Ladies," she's directing. 15-Michaela West is often on stage - occasionally as a leading lady. It's a story about disaffected youth but, as far as I know, no one dies or is accused of sexual assault, making it possibly the most straight-laced and cheery show of the lot.Mar. In it, a 12-year old tomboy dreams about escaping to the Alaskan wilderness as her family prepares for her brother's wedding. The best alternative may be "The Member of the Wedding," opening at Barksdale's Willow Oaks location (Sept 21-Oct 28). Is there any respite in this theater season teeming with treachery, darkness, and peculiarity? 9-18) and University of Richmond offering "Macbeth" (Nov.15-18). When they decide to pose as the woman's nieces, the result is three classic elements of farce death, money and cross-dressing crammed together in one play.Įven the local university theater programs are going Goth, with Theatre VCU planning a production of "Dracula" (Nov. The latest madcap romp from playwright Ken Ludwig, author of "Lend Me a Tenor" and "Moon Over Buffalo," features a pair of down-on-their-luck thespians trying to scam a dying old lady out of her fortune.
21), the convoluted mystery that's thrilled audiences since its Broadway debut in 1979.īut death doesn't have to be all doom and gloom, as Chamberlayne Actors Theatre will try to prove with its staging of the comedy "Leading Ladies" (Oct. 18) tells the powerful tale of an innocent man condemned to the electric chair in 1948 and the teacher enlisted to help him "die like a man."įor those who like a touch of suspense mixed with death, Barksdale at Hanover Tavern will offer "Deathtrap" (Sept. The specter of death haunts several shows this fall, most distinctly in the first production from the former Living Word Stage Company, recently renamed the African-American Repertory Theatre. You may never think of Ole Saint Nick in the same way. 8), which is rife with sexual abuse, rape and adultery. Set in a parallel universe where homosexuality is the norm, the musical chronicles the complications that arise in Heartsville, USA, when a potential hetero love affair blossoms.Īfter the frothy whimsy of "Zanna," things turn decidedly darker at RTP with the pitch-black Christmas comedy, "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues" (Nov. The 2005 Off-Broadway production of "Marmalade" was criticized for being too broad, an indication that Firehouse director Rusty Wilson's naturalistic style may be a good fit for the material.Īlmost by definition, the gay-centric Richmond Triangle Players (RTP) regularly push the envelope. Other characters include a suicidal 5-year-old and a criminally neglectful babysitter. The title character is the cocaine-snorting, sex-toy-wielding imaginary friend of Lucy, an emotionally disturbed 4-year-old girl who finds extreme ways to deal with her parents' divorce. Marmalade" takes surrealism to the next level. 5-21) seems comparatively normal, you know there's weirdness afoot this season.Ĭertainly the strangest fall show of all will be the next offering from the Firehouse Theatre Project, which seemed to have broken the last possible taboo with 2005's "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" But making its Richmond premiere Sept. When the story of a child who looks like a rodent (Theatre IV's "Stuart Little" (Oct.
#Madcap comedy plays with crossdressing full
Swift Creek Mill Theater raised some eyebrows this month by opening its 2007-08 season with "Urinetown: The Musical." A show about a town awash in - well, you know seemed a bit edgy for a company best known for its feel-good musicals and slamming-door farces.īut as it turns out, the Mill was just setting the stage for an autumn full of dark, deviant and downright twisted shows a veritable cavalcade of oddity that will challenge many local theatergoers.
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