There’s swagger aplenty in “Joshua’s Boots,” along with a cattle stampede, a lynching and the complicated business of growing up Black in the American West of 1878. After a white mob murders his father in Tennessee, young Joshua heads west, hoping to make a life among the cowboys.
Director Adam Flores knows the size of these ingredients and, more importantly, their proportions. Working with Adolphus Hailstork’s music and Susan Kander’s deft libretto, he gives this hourlong opera its humor, heartbreak and historical weight, all governed by an admirable sense of restraint.
Michael Breaux plays Joshua with unwavering conviction, giving the young man’s journey a believable emotional center. His singing and acting possess an assurance that makes Joshua’s determination palpable.
Angel Love is a heartbreaker as Joshua’s Mama, then gives Sally Fingers a knowing blend of Miss Kitty from “Gunsmoke” and Joanie Stubbs from HBO’s “Deadwood.” She has the former’s poise, the latter’s worldly edge and the good sense to know what sort of men she’s dealing with.
Joshua (Michael Breaux) meets tavern keeper Sally (Angel Love) in Dodge City. Photo by Eric Woolsey
Sam Hawkins plays Frederick, the prejudiced trail boss who hires Joshua and treats him with open contempt. Hawkins makes that prejudice so convincing, so deeply ingrained in the man, that Frederick’s eventual change of heart after Joshua saves his life during a stampede strains credibility. Hawkins may have done his job a little too well for the libretto’s own good.
James Stevens handles four roles—Geezer, Frank, Captain Pershing and Cookie—with the unruffled ease of a man changing hats. Ricco Martin Jr. gives Natty Green, a cowboy Joshua encounters on his journey, his full allotment of swagger, then reins it in enough to reveal the man beneath the mannerisms.
One of the opera’s loveliest moments comes beside a campfire, where a solitary figure listens as Kayden Brooks sings from offstage. His voice meets Hailstork’s music and Kander’s words at precisely the right emotional temperature. A lovely bit of theatrical alchemy.
There are more performers onstage than musicians in the pit, though you’d never know it from the sound. Stephen Mager draws a remarkably full-bodied performance from his chamber orchestra, seemingly anticipating the singers’ every move. One hopes the young artists appreciate just how good they’ve got it.
Lucinda (Anna Edwards) complains to Cooke (James Stevens) that girls aren’t allowed to become cowboys, too. Photo by Eric Woolsey
Can a puff of smoke in a projected Tennessee holler be fraught with meaning? It can in the hands of video designers David Sajewich and Kylee Loera. That ominous detail signals Joshua’s father’s lynching.
Elsewhere, their projections establish the changing landscape of Joshua’s journey and, during the cattle stampede, join Giac Noelle’s choreography in sending bodies and images into convincing commotion. Suggestion and spectacle, each in its proper place.
The partnership among Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, COCA and its Artists in Training program gives emerging performers the opportunity to work alongside seasoned professionals, with the same artistic expectations. “Joshua’s Boots” makes a persuasive case for that collaboration and for the future of opera in St. Louis.
“Joshua’s Boots” was presented October 21–24 at COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre.
(L to R) Kayden Brooks, Thomas Chatman, Ricco Martin Jr., Éamon Ewing, Cameron Hadley, and Kameron Henry as cowboys in “Joshua’s Boots.” Photo by Eric Woolsey
Laced with cynicism about the human condition, director Cristian Mungui’s Palme d’Or-winning “Fjord” is less a provocative conversation-starter than a slow-motion trainwreck of harshly enjoyable proportions.
We follow the trials and tribulations of the Gheorgiu family, devout evangelical Christians who have just moved from Romania to a remote, snow-covered village in Norway after a tragedy. Mihai (Sebastian Stan), a Romanian, is stern, buttoned-up, and working as an engineer. His more sensitive Norwegian wife, Lisbet (Renate Reinsve), is a nursing home worker who spends much of her time caring for their newborn baby.
Mihai and Lisbet have four other children. Their oldest, teenagers Elia (Vanessa Ceban) and Emmanuel (Jonathan Ciprian Breazu), bond with their new next-door neighbor Noora (Henrikke Lund-Olsen). Noora’s father, Mats (Markus Tønseth), is the local school headmaster, who lives with his wife Mia (Lisa Carlehad), an attorney, and her disabled father, Åke (Øyvind Venstad Kjeksrud), who Lisbet helps care for.
There’s definitely tension between the Gheorgius and the rest of the community. Whether or not people state it outright (but most of them do), the town “others” the whole family for their conservative cultural roots.
Elia and Emmanuel are also clearly shaken by their strict upbringing. Noora encourages them to break the rules and, well, act like teenagers; her rebellious spirit partly stems from harsh treatment from her own secular parents.
Things spiral out of control (albeit quite deliberately via the film’s pacing) when schoolteacher and bus driver Frida (Lisa Loven Kongsli) notices bruises on Elia’s body. Suspecting abuse, she reports the Gheorgiu family to Child Protective Services. After Mihai admits spanking the children, Child Services promptly puts all the children into foster care without giving Mihai or Lisbet an opportunity to accurately defend themselves.
Thus begins a tragicomic battle through the legal system where every party believes they’re doing “the right thing” as they’re rapidly destroying the lives of those they’re trying to protect. Indeed, “Fjord” views the adults at the center of its drama through a deeply nihilistic lens — positioning both sides as ignorant to the impacts their actions have on the children thrown into this situation against their will.
Mungiu’s film, loosely based on true events, is a bleak, chilly experience that takes its time building towards melodramatic conclusions, presenting its story with straight-faced seriousness that belies a playfully sinister heart. Given the quietly exaggerated way the narrative unfolds, perhaps it’s better to view the self-seriousness of “Fjord” with a layer of ironic dark poetry; stubbornness and hate take over while the younger generations lose their innocence.
The film isn’t interested in taking traditional, “left vs. right” sides here, though. Mungiu’s screenplay makes it clear that Mihai, Lisbet, and their children come from different societal and religious standards than the culture they’re assimilating into. Mihai and Lisbet are convinced their mistreatment by Child Services is due in large part to prejudice against their belief system when, ultimately, the ways they attempt to control and dictate their children’s lives is their real flaw.
Similarly, “Fjord” doesn’t take a particularly favorable view of the central Norwegians, who jump at the opportunity to alienate and condemn the Gheorgius without due process, far beyond the “see something, say something” guidelines the school administrators have.
What is clear, however, is that the main group caught in the crossfire is the kids — we focus almost exclusively on Elia and Emmanuel, who are pawns in an ever-increasing downward spiral.
“Fjord” takes an observational stylistic approach that’s evocative without being didactic, allowing tension to simmer scene-to-scene, at times to an almost unbearable extent, buoyed by icily atmospheric cinematography. Mungiu revels in making viewers uncomfortable here, with stark, naturalistic acting masking increasingly heightened emotions.
Stan gives one of his best performances as the severe and stoic Mihai, barely holding back his deep-seated rage. He’s perpetually in a state of backed-into-a-corner defense. Reinsve is as reliably excellent as ever, bringing more warmth and compassion to her portrayal as Lisbet balances her caring heart with the cutthroat reality of their messy, increasingly public custody battle. Supporting players Carlehad and Kjeksrud bring additional complexity as characters refusing to be painted in broad strokes.
Less successful are the child performers who are, almost universally, stilted in their performances. It’s unclear whether their emotional stuntedness results from their characters’ respective backgrounds, or from poor direction. Even though they fade to the background midway through, as “Fjord” focuses on the legal drama, it’s disappointing that when they are onscreen, the actors don’t bring the pathos that Mungiu gestures towards.
All in all, the less one takes “Fjord” seriously, the more effective it becomes as a shrewd critique of modern society and culture wars writ large. This isn’t a groundbreaking nor particularly illuminating experience. But it is a compellingly pessimistic time at the movies.
“Fjord” is a 2026 drama directed by Cristian Mungiu and starring Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Vanessa Ceban, Jonathan Ciprian Breazu, Henrikke Lund-Olsen, Markus Tønseth, Lisa Carlehad, and Øyvind Venstad Kjeksrud. The runtime is 2 hours, 26 minutes, and it’s rated R for language, full nudity, and self injury. It opened in theaters Oct. 23. Alex’s Grade: B+
Less a riveting call to action against Big Tech companies than a glib, self-congratulatory dramatization of forces dragging us into an apocalypse, director Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning” provides more eyeroll fodder than stirring revelation.
A companion piece to David Fincher’s 2010 film “The Social Network” and based on the 2021 series of Wall Street Journal articles titled “The Facebook Files,” Sorkin’s latest effort zeros in on Francis Haugen (Mikey Madison), a Facebook civics team engineer. Francis is distraught with Facebook’s disregard for user safety and the ways its algorithm funnels people into extremist groups.
Her worries are brushed aside by arrogant (and sexist) execs, including Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong), who is painted as more of an outright monster than he was in Fincher’s predecessor. He’s an antisocial automaton unwilling to atone for the damage he’s causing humanity if it means making a profit.
Francis reaches out to luddite Wall Street Journal tech and politics journalist Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White), who’s already investigating the company. They gradually form a friendship and sound the siren on Facebook’s actions, risking their lives and livelihoods. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic looms and Donald Trump’s MAGA movement expands — two subjects particularly vulnerable to the throes of misinformation under the guise of free speech.
Nefarious realities are revealed, but “The Social Reckoning,” without Fincher’s involvement this time around, ultimately highlights issues that most of us (except those living under rocks) have been aware of for years. The film comes across as an attempt at being an inspirational underdog story without, well, an actual reckoning taking place at any significant scale.
Sorkin’s heart is in the right place, but “The Social Reckoning” chugs along at a sluggish clip, seemingly afraid to acknowledge the reality of how Facebook (now Meta) has only swallowed up more of our lives since The Facebook Files released. Indeed, although it’s understandable that certain liberties need to be taken for the sake of “entertainment,” the film sands down the darkness of its story for maximum palatability.
Sorkin’s direction replaces the sinister atmosphere of “The Social Network” with pervasive blandness. Numerous scenes are stranded in repetitive, back-and-forth exchanges, relying heavily on rat-at-tat dialogue awash in clichés and contrivances where most characters end up sounding annoyingly similar to each other.
Performances suffer as a result. Francis is a timid, socially awkward, deeply conflicted individual who struggles to reconcile her belief in Facebook’s mission with the reality that it’s destroying minds. Madison shows her range portraying the opposite end of the introversion spectrum from “Anora,” but attempts at sincerity are undercut by Sorkin’s writing.
The screenplay takes a weirdly sexualized approach to her character that highlights friction between the film’s genuine attempts at social commentary with its reliance on outdated, Hollywood tropes. White doesn’t fare much better; he’s buoyed by his natural charisma and chemistry with Madison but thrust into a standard archetype.
Strong gives, by far, the standout performance here as Zuckerberg, yet we don’t even spend much time with him. The film jumps back and forth between the present-day investigation and Mark preparing for a United States Senate hearing years later. His performance — full of intimidating stares and off-kilter attempts at human conversation — almost resembles a Sith Lord from “Star Wars.” There’s definitely fun to be had watching him chew scenery, even if “The Social Reckoning” is far less interested in Zuckerberg’s interiority than in the obvious ways he clings to power.
The main issue with Sorkin’s film is that it cannot balance its grim, relevant subject matter with its insistence on being “clever” and crowd-pleasing. What results is a hodgepodge of snappy, often comedic dialogue awkwardly mixed with attempts at sobering stakes. Characters and dialogue reside firmly outside of reality while the film itself tackles the too-recent history of the COVID-19 pandemic and the January 6th Insurrection.
It’s confused, muddled, and disappointingly forgettable — a worthy story desperately in need of an upgrade.
“The Social Reckoning” is a 2026 drama directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Billy Magnussen, Bill Burr, and Betty Gilpin. The runtime is 1 hour, 52 minutes, and it’s rated R for language. It opened in theaters Oct. 9. Alex’s Grade: C-
A virtuoso performance by Jacob Flekier elevates funny and fearless comic Alex Edelman’s remarkable gift for storytelling to engage, charm, amuse and frighten in equal measure in New Jewish Theatre’s timely “Just for Us.”
What prompted this show’s development was Edelman’s real response to an antisemitic tweet aimed at him in 2018. With utmost seriousness, he decided to take it farther and attended a meeting of White Nationalists in Queens.
Although it’s the play’s centerpiece, the undercover experience is not the only nugget. Edelman vividly discloses the surreal details of that encounter, adding much self-deprecating humor.
He also has a flair for weaving different stories together – sharing about his family, his Jewish upbringing, his modern Millennial humor and pop culture shorthand. Flekier delivers the hilarity with Swiss-watch timing.
Jacob Flekier as Alex Edelman in “Just for Us.” Photo by Jon Gitchoff.
Sure, the Queens gathering is intense because he sees people no longer hiding behind their keyboards, but instead in the flesh. It’s unsettling to see hate up close, and an impassioned Flekier makes us feel what Edelman is feeling every step of the journey – that discomfort, the potential danger, and yes – even the humor.
Director Alan Knoll, a veteran behind the scenes and in front of an audience, cleverly unfolds this thought-provoking exploration of antisemitism, faith and identity. How far can empathy extend?
The director and actor have struck comic gold, with Flekier confidently embracing Edelman’s quick wit and quirks. The precisely-constructed narrative isn’t merely telling jokes but revealing a young man’s journey in an energetic style. We know these people he meets..
Flekier is that rare talent whose body language and vocal inflections seamlessly bring various characters to life. Now based in New York, the Webster University graduate has never failed to impress on stages in St. Louis.
Jacob Flekier as Alex Edelman. Photo by Jon Gitchoff.
Knoll knows how to bring out the best in him. They are kindred spirits who collaborate well — first in “Brighton Beach Memoirs” in 2019, which won the St. Louis Theater Circle Award for Outstanding Production of a Comedy, and in the acclaimed “Broadway Bound,” which received six nominations and one win.
In both NJT shows, Flekier masterfully played the Eugene Jerome character, which is playwright Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical alter ego and the central narrator across his famous trilogy.
Flekier also played the Neil Simon character, fledgling comedy writer Lucas Brickman, in “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” at both NJT, directed by Edward Coffield, and the Lyceum Theatre in Arrow Rock, Mo., directed by Knoll.
“Just for Us” is intimately staged in the Wool Studio to make it appear as a nightclub, and benefits from a resourceful set designed by Jayson Lawshee-Gress, who also expertly designed the warm lighting. Ethan Foss admirably navigated the sound.
Jacob Flekier. Jon Gitchoff photo.
You’ll never hear the phrase, “Can you believe it?” without thinking of this show. In 2021, Edelman turned his experience into a deeply personal one-man show, staged off-Broadway, then in both London and on Broadway, which was filmed for an HBO special.
He won a special Tony for the stage show and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. The cable TV special is currently streaming on HBO Max. Edelman, now 37, has been performing stand-up comedy since he was 15.
His relatable themes, repeated here, seem to strike a universal chord. Don’t we all want to fit in, in some way? We’ve also been in cringy spaces. The
Hearing Edelman’s captivating story is time well-spent, and seeing Flekier command the stage is 90 minutes of outstanding theater. An unexpected delight, “Just for Us” isn’t afraid to present different perspectives that broaden our world, make us squirm in our seats, and laugh in unison.
Jacob Flekier delivers Alex Edelman’s “Just for Us” at New Jewish. Photo by Jon Gitchoff.
New Jewish Theatre presents the St. Louis premiere of Alex Edelman’s “Just for Us” from Oct. 1 to 18 at the J’s Wool Studio Theatre (2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146) October 1-18. Performances are Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Tickets are available by phone at 314.442.3283 or online at jccstl.com/njt.
Save the date to join us and go back to the ‘90s for a totally radical Arts For Life annual Trivia Night on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2027.
Gather your home skillets, wear something fly, and it will be all that and a bag of chips as we kick off awards season with a fun theme. Think about 1990s fads, fashions, pop culture, toys and games, blockbuster movies, nights at Blockbuster, Must-See TV, cult classics, Broadway hits and pre-Y2K days before internet, cellphones and digital.
Did you listen to boy bands, alt-rock, grunge, hip-hop and pop princesses in the waning days of the 20th century? Think Pixar, Pokemon, Play Station, Pulp Fiction, Pearl Jam, Potter, Power Rangers, Party of Five, Prince and Pauly Shore (to name a few).
We will announce our nominations for the annual Theatre Mask Awards (plays) and Best Performance Awards (musicals) honoring excellence in community theater and youth productions during 2026.
The event will take place at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer Road, St. Louis, with doors open at 6:30 p.m. and 10 rounds of general-knowledge questions to begin at 7 p.m.
Cash prizes will be awarded to first and second place teams. There will be a 50/50 raffle, silent auction, mulligans available, and a costume contest, with team and individual prizes.
AFL President Mary McCreight is excited to welcome the theater community and friends to the highly anticipated annual event. “Don’t miss the most fun time in metropolitan St. Louis’ community theater!” she says.
“Arts For Life recognizes the incredible talent we have in St. Louis community theater and honors the passion and dedication of those who build this amazing and unique theatrical community.”
Tables of 8 players are available, at $200 per table. To make a reservation, visit https://arts-for-life-2.square.site/ or www.artsforlife.org. You can also email: [email protected] for more information. Mulligans will be available, at 5 for $10 or 10 for $20.
For the past 27 years, AFL has honored musical theater with the Best Performance Awards and began the Theatre Mask Awards to honor comedy and drama productions in 2015. More information will follow on the dates and locations of the awards ceremonies.
Sponsorships are available – trivia rounds at $100 and event at $50, which includes group/company name and logo displayed at the beginning and end of event as a sponsor, then group/company name and logo displayed on our social media sites as a sponsor.
Arts For Life is a local not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to the healing power of the arts through its work with youth, the underserved and the community, with its goal of “Making a Dramatic Difference.”
AFL is dedicated to promoting public awareness of local community theatre, encouraging excellence in the arts, and acknowledging the incredible people who are a part of it.
For more information, email [email protected]. or visit the website.
Beware the unreliable narrator(s). Not giving any spoilers away, but “Verity” is turgid trash, and toys with truth, trust and too many twists to be a satisfying psychological thriller.
Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), hired to ghostwrite for wildly successful thriller novelist Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), uncovers what appears to be Verity’s autobiographical notes. She wrestles with the confessions about Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) and finds that separating fiction from reality is challenging.
Adapted by screenwriter Nick Antosca from simplistic novelist Colleen Hoover’s manipulative 2018 best-selling sensation, the movie has that same unconvincing plot formula with cliched characters and a left-field rushed conclusion. With a 1 hour, 58-minute run time, it is also slow and dull.
Most egregious is its hollow heroine Lowen, straining credibility because she is played by the blandest leading lady in Hollywood, Dakota Johnson (winner of not one, but two Golden Raspberry “Razzie” Awards for worst actress – “Madame Web” and “Fifty Shades of Grey”).
Anne Hathaway, in flashback, as successful thriller writer Verity Crawford.
A nepo baby – her parents are Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, she has made some strong indies (“Peanut Butter Falcon” and “Cha Cha Real Smooth” succeeded because she could be lowkey in them). But her deadpan delivery is hard to warm up to, particularly in a supposedly sizzling affair.
Johnson’s monotone indifference is annoying because Lowen is a serious writer (sure, let’s believe this), who is good enough to be published but not read or known. She’s waiting in the wings, eager for her big break, and she has a backstory that’s never fully addressed.
When Lowen is conveniently at an intimate birthday dinner with her employer’s husband, she admits to having “resting bored face.” That’s not a stretch, but most of the dialogue is. And the logic throughout is absurd.
Thrown together, because we must have a forbidden love angle while the catatonic wife, in a wheelchair and bed-ridden, creates an overly emotional detour between Lowen and the handsome man of the house – you see that coming from the ‘meet-grisly-cute.’
Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett as strangers who meet through tragedy.
Oh, how bizarre. But blood, especially tawdry and titillating, is a recurring motif. So are bite marks. No vampires, however, were harmed in the making of this howl at the moon. We keep hearing about Verity’s vile villains she concocts in her lurid fiction – but in reality, her real-life is more disturbing. Or is it?
Hoover and company, desperately emulating “Gone Girl” with a touch of wannabe Daphne du Maurier, focuses on dark and sinister through characters’ ridiculous whispering and superficial seductiveness.
Despite having Oscar winner Volker Bertelmann compose the score, the histrionic strings are so on-the-nose with ‘dun-dun-dun’ beats every time something is about to be revealed that it evokes laughter.
Unfortunately, this high-gloss schlock isn’t even a good way to have fun with pretty people being plastic, or a ‘hate-watch,’ with like-minded pals who enjoy snickering over faux raciness.
Verity and Jeremy meet.
Appearing grounded and unfailingly polite, Hartnett does what he can as family man Jeremy Crawford in a thoroughly thankless role. Now that he’s had a career resurgence, with “Trap,” “Oppenheimer,” and “The Bear,” it’s nice to see him play a hunky and caring dad, no matter how much he’s secretly hiding. Because aren’t all male characters in Hoover’s novels not what they appear to be? Dun-dun-dun!
After the disingenuous “It Ends with Us” in 2024, in which Hoover did survivors of domestic abuse no favors by triggering, without any warning, and trivializing toxic relationships, I was furious.
So, loath to try another one of her film adaptations, I changed my mind just to see if I was missing something. Oh no. My first impressions are correct about terrible writing.
Are studio’s this desperate for content? Apparently so, because she sells a ton of books and movie tickets. Her “Regretting You” and “Reminders of Him” were box office hits. Are these forgettable airport/beach reads?
Ghostwriter Lowen Ashleigh in Verity’s office.
Director Michael Showalter, who directed Anne Hathaway’s charming, breezy romantic comedy “The Idea of You,” Jessica Chastain to an Oscar in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” and the superb Oscar-nominated “The Big Sick,” is at the helm, so what happened?
Did he convince himself he could pull a Paul Feig and hit gold with “A Simple Favor” like success? Perhaps the twisted thriller genre isn’t a good fit, unlike his wildly popular comedies and ‘women’ pictures. Not only are the actions of all involved mostly ludicrous, but the shock values are insincere, especially the ending.
Nevertheless, Hathaway acquits herself by taking the campy route. Looking all glamorous in slinky red outfits and wearing fiery red lipstick, she ramps up the sex appeal as America’s most alluring novelist of popular pulp fiction. Oh look how fun she is on talk shows – and eating chicken wings on “The Hot Ones”!
She lowers her voice a husky register when she’s doing voice-overs of her unnerving autobiography that she left on a USB flash drive hidden in a cigarette box in her desk. Oh, Kathleen Turner in “Body Heat” has nothing on Hathaway here – or Barbara Stanwyck in “Double Indemnity.”
Incapacitated Verity (Anne Hathaway) outdoors in Vermont.
Fully committed as this mystery woman, Hathaway chews the scenery with menace in ‘before’ scenes while looking wan and lifeless, incapacitated by a car accident in ‘after’ scenes, to give a viable contrast. Remember her 15-minute Oscar-winning role as impoverished Fantine in “Les Miserables”?
She may be over-exposed this year in “The Odyssey,” “The End of Oak Street,” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” but she’s doing her best Miranda Priestly here in the sole portrayal that works (even if it’s not a shred realistic).
Now, she is bankable. So that’s the one saving grace in the “Verity” sad misfire that has too many unresolved issues and too little to recommend.
“Verity” is a 2026 psychological thriller directed by Michael Showalter and starring Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, and Josh Hartnett. It is Rated R for sexual content, some nudity, language, violence and bloody images, and the run time is 1 hour, 58-minutes. It opens in theatres Oct. 2. Lynn’s Grade: D.
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis has lavished Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Appropriate” with an extraordinary amount of artistry, care and, yes, love. Director Benny Sato Ambush and company expend all three in service to the script, then leave it to the audience to decide what to carry away. A production this accomplished leaves the play nowhere to hide.
What emerges is a play about the corrosive nature of secrets and what happens when excavation produces more questions than certainty. The horrifying photographs discovered among a dead father’s possessions provide the catalyst, while foreshadowing something still more disturbing and revelatory. What they unleash within his surviving family becomes the play.
The Lafayettes, a white Southern family, have gathered at their late father’s crumbling Arkansas plantation house to empty it, sell it and presumably get on with their lives. Scenic and lighting designer Matthew McCarthy’s cluttered house looks in need of repair—hell, beyond repair—much like the family temporarily occupying it. The place is simultaneously familiar and foreign to them, an ambiguity Ambush mines throughout.
So does his exceptional ensemble. This is a family of old wounds and long memories of psychic bruises, and Jacobs-Jenkins knows where to press. Eventually everyone presses back. Fights are notoriously difficult to stage convincingly, and fight choreographer Shaun Sheley engineers this one so that accumulating hostility makes violence feel inevitable even as its eruption arrives as a shock. Bodies collide, years of grievance turn physical, and the production lands one of its most difficult moments.
Jilanne Marie Klaus makes Toni’s anger intelligible while allowing its ugliness full rein. Her grievances have calcified into an understanding of sacrifice, loyalty and what she believes she is owed. By Toni’s climactic declaration, Klaus has made clear how she arrived there, even as Toni reveals how far those grievances have carried her.
Joel Moses spends significant stage time bare-chested as Franz attempts to lay bare the man he believes he has become. Moses turns a faux-baptism and Franz’s pleas for understanding into blistering acts of self-revelation. Then Frank’s past resurfaces, forcing the family to contend with the man he was and the man claiming to stand before them now.
Michael James Reed begins with Bo’s recognizable silhouette—the tightly wound New Yorker juggling a threatened career, wife and children while hoping to dispatch his family obligations—and gradually opens him to something more vulnerable. In the aftermath of the violence, Reed brings Bo both home and not-home, allowing believable tears to reveal another dimension of a man whose competence has carried him only so far.
The women reveal different constructions of womanhood as the house strips away first impressions. Lizi Watt tightly unwinds Rachael scene by scene, moving the exasperated wife and in-law toward grievances and moral claims she fully earns. Maggie Newstead-Adams lets River arrive in full crunchy-granola, woo-woo New Age space-cadet mode, then deftly reveals deeper waters beneath the family’s assumptions about softness, youth and femininity.
The next generation is already carrying things forward. Braden Phillips makes Rhys a kind of put-upon horny Boo Radley opposite Ainsley Hammond’s naive teenage-rager Cassidy, while the youngest child innocently supplies one of the evening’s consequential revelations about the grandfather none of them fully knew.
Then there is the album.
It looks almost like a revered family Bible, a hefty, timeworn volume expected to preserve births, deaths and generations of Lafayette history. Instead, its pages contain photographs documenting horrific racial violence against Black Americans. Ambush stages this grotesque inversion of a family keepsake almost as another character, introducing the book with a held moment in a spotlight. It passes from revulsion to fascination and something more uncomfortable: prurience, that human impulse to gawk, the same one that slows traffic as drivers looky-loo through their windows at a fatal crash.
The album gets deliberately submerged in an attempt at erasure, then returns waterlogged to center stage as the family contemplates what it might fetch. The progression grows more grotesque: horror becomes curiosity, human suffering becomes collectible, and finally someone puts a price on it.
There is something here of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” his collection of linked stories about the physical and emotional burdens carried by soldiers in Vietnam. Call these the things they inherited: the Lafayettes return carrying old grievances and discover their dead father has left them much more to carry.
That inheritance also explains why “Appropriate” belongs at a Tennessee Williams festival. Jacobs-Jenkins has acknowledged borrowing from Williams and other American dramatists. That is the Tennessee Effect at work: inheritance put back to work, absorbed, altered and extended. “Appropriate” might be what happens when Big Daddy from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is already dead and buried—or is he? The patriarch is gone, but the house, the inheritance, the secrets and the damage remain.
Sound designer Mary Robinson’s insistent cicadas and ghostly whispers make the world beyond the house almost another presence. Ambush opens that world further in his culminating historical montage, where Robinson’s sound carries us from the secrets of one Southern family into the larger history of racial violence in America. Different people in the audience inevitably receive that history from different starting points. The production can put the same history before everyone. It cannot make that history equally remote—or equally revelatory—to everyone.
Walking toward the parking lot afterward, one woman supplied perhaps the most appropriate curtain line:
“I feel like we need a debrief.”
Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis’s production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Appropriate” runs through Sept. 27 at the Catherine B. Berges Theatre at COCA, with remaining performances Sept. 25–27. For tickets and more information, visit twstl.org.
Stages St. Louis is proud to announce its 2027 Season, featuring three distinct productions that explore the power of connection, courage and unexpected twists: ONCE, LES MISÉRABLES and CLUE: ANOTHER BLOODY MURDER.
From a bittersweet story of two musicians brought together by chance to one of musical theatre’s most celebrated epics and a funny new murder mystery, the 2027 Season will bring unforgettable stories and characters to the Ross Family Theatre at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center.
“I love the range this season has.” Producing Artistic Director, Gayle Seay, says.“Once is intimate, it pulls you in through its music and the quiet connection between two people. Les Misérables is epic, not only in its scale, but in the size of its emotions. And Clue: Another Bloody Murder is deadly funny, with all the twists, surprises, and wonderfully outrageous characters that audiences love. Together, they show three completely different ways that theatre brings us closer.”
ONCE May 28 – June 27 Set on the streets of Dublin, ONCE follows two musicians whose unexpected connection brings new life to their music — and new possibilities to their futures. Featuring the Academy Award-winning song “Falling Slowly,” this intimate musical is a moving story of love, longing, and the courage to begin again.
LES MISÉRABLES July 23 – August 22 The legendary musical LES MISÉRABLES is a sweeping tale of love, sacrifice, and redemption. Set against the unrest of 19th-century France, this epic story brings unforgettable characters and one of musical theatre’s most powerful scores to life.
CLUE: ANOTHER BLOODY MURDER September 17 – October 17 Reclusive rock star Bobby Boddie invites six suspicious guests to his secluded mansion for a mysterious celebration. When a blizzard traps them inside and the bodies begin to pile up, no one is above suspicion. CLUE: ANOTHER BLOODY MURDER is a deadly funny whodunit filled with familiar weapons, outrageous suspects, and bloody good twists. Stages is thrilled to be among the first to premiere this new installment from the minds that brought us our #1 selling show in our 40 year history – Clue!
“Stages St. Louis prides itself in creating theatre that brings us closer.” Mosbacher Family Executive Producer, Andrew Kuhlman, says. “I cannot wait to see how this mission guides our 2027 Season. Audiences can expect to be closer than ever before to romance, inspiration, and mystery as they come to life at The Kirkwood Performing Arts Center.”
For the first time ever, 3-show subscribers can renew their subscription online! Renewal packets have been mailed and should be arriving soon. New subscriptions will become available January 2027 followed by single tickets coming Spring 2027.
Additional information about casting, creative teams and special events will be announced at a later date.
For season information, visit StagesStLouis.org or contact the Stages Box Office at (314) 821-2407.
Stages St. Louis is the region’s foremost not-for-profit company committed to making high-quality theatre more personal, welcoming, and accessible to everyone. Stages locally produces and presents over 100 Broadway-caliber mainstage performances from June to October, in addition to cultivating the talents of aspiring young artists through its Stages Performing Arts Academy (SPAA). Now its 40th year, Stages St. Louis is dedicated to bringing patrons closer through its mission of “Creating unforgettable theatre through oneof-a-kind productions, inclusive stories, and lifelong learning.”
Since 2021, The Ross Family Theatre at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center has been the artistic home for Stages St. Louis mainstage productions. The intimate, 529-seat venue is located at 210 E. Monroe Ave., Kirkwood, Mo., 63122.
A heart-tugging unbreakable bond between a man and his best friend, a German Shepherd, gives “Heart of the Beast” its sincere emotional center while the pair struggles to survive brutal conditions.
The well-crafted action-adventure’s intensity never lets up, nor do the tender feelings – be prepared with tissues. Odin (real name Uber) steals the movie as James’ loyal combat-trained buddy.
In real life, Uber is a search and rescue dog discovered in New Zealand by trainer Andrew Simpson. He’s one camera-ready canine that will swiftly melt your heart.
In Cameron Alexander’s original screenplay, both have been traumatized by war, and now retired, spend time enjoying a simple life. Their trust, their desire to keep each other safe, and their affection for each other are extraordinary, and always can be seen and felt.
Military buddies James and Odin.
In a strong, silent soldier role, Brad Pitt’s character, Special Forces officer James Belmont, is an expert in military preparation, survival training, and working closely with a dog. He must find a way out as the plane crash has left them stranded in the Alaskan wilderness.
With only minimal supplies and physically damaged, they endure non-stop hardships. The natural elements and the dangers of lurking animals create obstacles.
Both man and dog are up for depicting the challenges. Calm and cool Pitt is adept at physically demanding roles, as he demonstrated in his top-grossing 2025 film ‘F1 The Movie” as Formula 1 driver Sonny Hayes, and in his 2019 Oscar-winning performance as stuntman Cliff Booth in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (which he’ll reprise in David Fincher’s sequel this holiday season).
Director David Ayer, who worked with Pitt before on the gritty World War II film “Fury,” emphasizes the psychological and the physical toll of their predicament, and the distinct chemistry between actor and animal that propels the nearly silent storytelling.
Finding their way stranded in Alaska.
J.K. Simmons has a brief scene as a kindly, wise explorer-adventurer who wanders into Pitt’s campground, and he’s the only human in their territory until much later. Anna Lambe plays a local woman.
Cinematographer Mauro Fiore, who won an Oscar for “Avatar,” does impeccable work here, capturing both the beauty of nature and the fight against it in sweeping panoramic views. So does editor Dody Dorn, effective at portraying both the isolation and the grandeur of the rugged terrain.
Composer Jared Michael Fry’s earthy, ethereal music score complements the beautifully shot film. He has worked with Fry on several Jason Statham films “The Beekeeper” and “A Working Man,” and paints an interesting portrait through soundscapes. He meshes indigenous roots music with cinematic sounds – using Inuit group Pamyua and choral ensemble London Voices.
A grounded story about companionship and healing that keeps moving for 101 minutes, “Heart of the Beast” delivers a dramatic punch without being maudlin. This is a film you can’t put on cruise control – one must invest, and then, the vast scale has suddenly become an intimate, heartfelt piece.
“Heart of the Beast” is a 2026 action-adventure thriller directed by David Ayer starring Brad Pitt, J.K. Simmons, Anna Lambe and Uber the German Shepherd. It is rated: PG-13 for violence, peril, bloody/injury images and some language and runs 1 hour, 41 minutes. It opens in theatres Sept. 25. Lynn’s Grade: B+
With its complex characters, fractured family dynamic and multi-layered storyline, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ explosive drama “Appropriate” has much to unpack.
At their peak, a powerhouse local cast takes us on an unsettling, unforgettable journey, for their characters aren’t prepared for all the emotional baggage that will spill out. Well-cast and well-rehearsed, this production showcases intense immediate realism.
Dark secrets will be revealed, forever shaking the family. Think of it like a bandage being ripped off an open wound – repeatedly. The atmosphere is combustible – a marvel of sight, sound, imagery and tension under Benny Sato Ambush’s direction.
The cicadas are loudly buzzing on a hot, muggy summer night in rural southeast Arkansas when three Lafayette siblings converge to settle their late father’s estate. The clutter in the decaying plantation home is as profound as the anxiety as they prepare for an estate sale.
This is not a warm family reunion – interactions are awkward, bitter and contentious. This play, first performed in 2013 and then off-Broadway a year later, was revived in 2023 to much acclaim. Its power is intact, reminding us of systemic racism and unconscious bias when it’s hard to confront as legacy.
The Lafayette siblings – Jilanne Marie Barnes, Joel Moses, and Michael James Reed, with Lizi Watt holding photo album.
Wayward son Francois “Frank” (Joel Moses), who now calls himself “Franz,” is seeking redemption after years of addiction and bad behavior. He drove there from Portland with his eccentric young fiancé, River (Maggie Newstead-Adams).
Stressed-out eldest sister Antoinette “Toni” (Jilanne Marie Barnes) considers him toxic and won’t extend an olive branch. Brother Beauregard “Bo” (Michael James Reed), an attorney like their father, is expecting to take charge like he always does, but Toni is the executor. They all bicker incessantly.
Bo’s wife, Rachael (Lizi Watt), and their two precocious children, Cassidy (Ainsley Hammond) and Ainsley (Aviv Giancola-Poremba), came from New York City, thinking of this as an educational trip. Toni’s troubled son Rhys (Braden Phillips) is present. These are flawed relatives with enough intergenerational trauma for an eight-episode limited series.
“Appropriate,” with all the intentional meanings of that word, will delve into race, identity, and historical legacy. As the patriarch’s despicable past is discovered, the evidence can’t be ignored or denied. How family members deal with a photo album of graphic lynchings and other disgusting emblems of a vicious white supremist adds to the uncomfortable territory.
The playwright, who has won two Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an Obie Award, has a natural command of how people interact and converse. His dense dialogue combines caustic wit with raw pain and sharp contemporary insight – and yes, phrases will shock.
Not a fun family reunion.
Joel Moses’ Franz is this deeply vulnerable bundle of insecurities, trying to show the better person he has become, but his siblings can’t let go of their hurtful memories about his decadent past and their resentful feelings. Unlocking a pitiable black sheep as only he can, Frank is another masterful performance by one of St. Louis’ finest actors.
Joining him in top-tier reliability is Michael James Reed, who is, without fail, always at the top of his game. He provides interesting layers to the complicated Bo, Ivy League-educated and successful.
At first, it feels like Bo checked out of caring about his family a long time ago. His main concern is the corporate ladder, and he appears to be the family “fixer.” Money-centered, he’d monetize the dad’s hateful artifacts in a heartbeat. But he’d love to distance himself from this tarnished past; he just wants to recoup all the funds he spent caring for dear old dad and get back to Manhattan.
Jilanne Barnes’ Toni is tired. Exhausted by life, her short straw, and trying to fix broken things that can’t be repaired, she is unpleasant for 95% of her stage time. That is heavy for an actress, and Barnes’ meets the challenge. Toni sacrificed and deeply cared for her father. She refuses to sully his memory.
Shrill and spiteful, she has alienated most everyone there, especially Bo’s Jewish wife Rachael. First impressions on the sister-in-law are that she’s a typical affluent status-conscious mother, trying to control the outside world’s influence on her children.
Estate sale preparation not going smoothly.
Lizi Watt displays Rachael’s buttons that Toni keeps pushing, with antisemitic name-calling, and it gets ugly — “August: Osage County” nasty. Fight choreographer Shaun Sheley’s work is noteworthy.
Most surprising is Maggie Newstead-Adams’ nuanced portrait of River. She presents herself as New Age and is derided for her ‘hippy-dippy’ qualities. Assuming she’s a stereotype, she proves herself to be wise beyond her 23 years and compassionate. Newstead-Adams’ poise among all the other acclaimed talent is impressive.
Spiritually, she is most attuned to the ghosts haunting this old plantation. Mary Robinson’s impeccable sound design announces the spirits’ eerie presence, as the family talks about the two graveyards on the property – one white, one with black slaves (without headstones).
When the third generation finds disturbing relics of their bigoted grandfather, the sins of the past erupt. As the program points out: “Walls remember what a family chooses to forget.”
By society’s standards, Daddy — Ray Lafayette — was a highly successful, highly educated man. He lived in Washington D.C. for a time, during a lauded legal career, and chose to return to the ancestral homestead, with thoughts of turning it into a bed-and-breakfast.
What secrets does Daddy have in that photo album?
Toni and Frank both refer to his mental deterioration, but the moral decay is something the family is loathe to address. But they start to peel back time, remembering behaviors. An all-white cast, dealing with the reality of historical racism, examines how the past haunts the present, and the bigger picture that it represents.
The outstanding artisans connected with this complicated production have crafted a stunning, crumbling Southern Gothic setting. The ambience is immediate, and so are the bad vibes. Matthew McCarthy’s richly appointed set design, complimented by Mikhail Lynn’s meticulous prop design, plunges us into this dilapidated structure, with the family’s despair emanating from every junk-filled corner.
McCarthy also designed effective lighting, and Ethan Dudenhoeffer was a wizard as technical director. Abby Pastorello’s costume design captured every character’s personality with terrific verve.
To reduce commentary about “Appropriate” can point out the obvious — a dysfunctional family in deep denial, which could stamp Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” and other landmark plays in the same way. That is why it’s not hard to see this connection that the Tennessee Williams St. Louis Festival chose to pivot with — “The Tennessee Effect” as this 11th year’s theme. It’s, well, appropriate.
Big brother will man-splain.
The takeaways are plentiful. We can only try to do better when we know better. If we aren’t willing to have discussions, where does society go?
In “Appropriate,” there is no tidy ending, no way to wrap up with a soothing bromide or suppress this legacy. The two-act dark drama is raw, unflinching, and damning of white fragility.
Some inheritance. They should be hot and bothered. And so should we.
The Tennessee Williams Festival presents the St. Louis premiere of “Appropriate” Sept. 17-27. Performances take place at the Berges Theatre at COCA in University City. For more information: twstl.org
