Go See a Play! What’s Happening June 20-26
Show me Summertime! It’s here, the official start of summer, and there are 20 plays, musicals and operas, plus one circus, to enjoy this weekend. (Is this a record?)
Outdoors, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis closes out its park run of “Love’s Labors Lost,” this weekend, while “Kinky Boots” at the Muny is the second show of the second century, ending Tuesday.
It’s the last chance to see “Be More Chill” at New Line — OK, the run is sold-out, but there are still student tickets and a waiting list that they manage to get in most of the time.
Others ending their run include the A.R. Gurney comedy “Sylvia” at Stray Dog Theatre, and Act Inc. in St. Charles, with their double header, “Travels with My Aunt” and “Leaving Iowa.”
The Opera Theatre of St. Louis is in repertory with their four summer offerings. The midwest premiere of “The Boy from Oz” continues at Stages St. Louis.
New offerings include Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” at SIUE, “101 Dalmatians” for young audiences at Stages St. Louis, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” by the Q Collective and “Indecent” by Max and Louie Productions.
In Community Theatre, Looking Glass Playhouse’s Youth Show is “Singin’ in the Rain” and O’Fallon Theatre Works presents “The Miracle Worker.”
Whatever your preference, go see a play and kick off a summer of fun.
“An Amazing Story: German Abolitionists of Missouri”
Gitana Productions
June 20-23
Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 and 5:30 p.m.
Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand
www.gitana-inc.org.
What It’s About: This provocative original play is inspired by the amazing stories of such remarkable individuals as Friedrich Munch, Judge Arnold Krekel and August Boernstein; German immigrants and leading abolitionists in the State of Missouri. Through the lens of history, we will bring to life the elements of what it means to strive for social justice for “others” when advocating within and outside of one’s own cultural group. While many Germans who came to the Midwest were staunch defenders of a “color-blind” democracy some immigrants set aside their values in order to survive and be accepted during the period before and after the Civil War. As is the case with most Americans there are often contradictions in our beliefs often colliding and challenging us to clarify what is most important. The German story is an important American story…where the ideal of Democracy brings together unlikely and diverse champions.