Lynn Venhaus

Total Post: 1300

Lynn (Zipfel) Venhaus has had a continuous byline in St. Louis metro region publications since 1978. She writes features and news for Belleville News-Democrat and contributes to St. Louis magazine and other publications.  She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, currently reviews films for Webster-Kirkwood Times and KTRS Radio, covers entertainment for PopLifeSTL.com and co-hosts podcast PopLifeSTL.com…Presents.  She is a member of Critics Choice Association, where she serves on the women's and marketing committees; Alliance of Women Film Journalists; and on the board of the St. Louis Film Critics Association. She is a founding and board member of the St. Louis Theater Circle. She is retired from teaching journalism/media as an adjunct college instructor.

St Louis Actors’ Studio to Restart 14th Season in September

St Louis Actors’ Studio to Restart 14th Season in September

:September 2021 will mark the restart of St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s Fourteenth season themed “The Lost Episodes”.The world is finally returning to normalcy and with that, STLAS is excited to get back at it. Producing word-class, thought-provoking entertainment at our intimate Gaslight Theater. We cannot wait to see you in the fall! Season subscriptions are the best way to experience St. Louis Actors’ Studio–you get a discount and no-hassle ticket exchanges and reserved seat signage. Let’s come back strong – get a group together this season and make a year of it!Our 2021-22 season, “The Lost Episodes.”

“The Zoo Story/The Dumb Waiter”
by Edward Albee/Harold Pinter
Directed by Wayne Salomon, Starring William Roth*
September 17 – October 3, 2021
Classic early one act plays by two giants of the theatre.  Edward Albee and Harold Pinter.
THE ZOO STORY – A man sits peacefully reading in the sunlight in Central Park. There enters a second man. He is a young, unkempt and undisciplined vagrant where the first is neat, ordered, well-to-do and conventional. The vagrant is a soul in torture and rebellion. He longs to communicate so fiercely that he frightens and repels his listener. He is a man drained of all hope who, in his passion for company, seeks to drain his companion. With provocative humor and unrelenting suspense, the young savage slowly, but relentlessly, brings his victim down to his own atavistic level as he relates a story about his visit to the zoo.

“Edward Albee is a voice unparalleled in American theater.” —NY Times.
“The dialogue crackles and the tension runs high.” —Associated Press.
“Darkly comic and thrilling.” —Time Out NY

THE DUMB WAITER: As the New York World-Telegram & Sun describes: “In the basement of a long-abandoned restaurant, two hired killers nervously await their next assignment. Barred from daylight and living public contact by the nature of their work, they expend their waiting time in bickering. So eerie is the situation that everything becomes comic, or grotesque, or both. Ben re-reading a newspaper and exclaiming in disbelief over the news items, Gus fussing with an offstage stove and offstage plumbing. Ben bludgeoning Gus into silence if he as much as mentions their work. Gus worrying that someone had slept in his bed. So then the ancient dumbwaiter comes to life, the suspense becomes almost unbearable—that expertly has Pinter put the nerves of his characters and audience on edge.

“A distinguished gift for sheer, old-fashioned theatrical effectiveness, including the use of melodramatic suspense and the hint of sinister forces lying in ambush.” —NY Post Statesman

“Comfort”
By Neil LaBute
Directed by Associate Artistic Director, Annamaria Pileggi,
Starring Kari Ely* and Spencer Sickmann*
December 3 – December 19, 2021
A new play by STLAS friend and associate Neil LaBute in which a successful author and her son meet after some time apart and revisit their troubled relationship. What’s at stake? Whether or not the instinctive bond between mother and child can survive not just the past, but also two new book deals.

“Mr. LaBute is writing some of the freshest and most illuminating American dialogue to be heard anywhere these days.” —NY Times.

“No contemporary writer has more astutely captured the brutality in everyday conversation and behavior: That kind of insight requires sensitivity and soul-searching.” —USA Today
.
“It is tight, tense and emotionally true, and it portrays characters who actually seem part of the world that the rest of us live in.” —Time.

“Hand To God” by Robert Askins
Directed by Associate Artistic Director, John Pierson
Starring Eric Dean White* and Colleen Backer
February 18- March 6, 2022
After the death of his father, meek Jason finds an outlet for his anxiety at the Christian Puppet Ministry, in the devoutly religious, relatively quiet small town of Cypress, Texas. Jason’s complicated relationships with the town pastor, the school bully, the girl next door, and—most especially—his mother are thrown into upheaval when Jason’s puppet, Tyrone, takes on a shocking and dangerously irreverent personality all its own. HAND TO GOD explores the startlingly fragile nature of faith, morality, and the ties that bind us.

“The fearsome critter [Tyrone], who takes possession of a troubled teenager’s left arm in Robert Askins’ darkly delightful play really inspires goose bumps as he unleashes a reign of terror…But he’s also flat-out hilarious, spewing forth acid comedy that will turn those goose bumps into guffaws.” —The New York Times.

“Furiously funny…Askins’ most impressive talent is his ability to make us laugh while juggling those big themes that make life so terrifying: death, depression, alcoholism, sexual guilt, emotional repression, religious hypocrisy and the eternal battle between your good puppet and your bad puppet.” —Variety.

“A scabrously funny scenario that steadily darkens into suspense and Grand Guignol horror, this fiery clash of the id, ego and superego is also an audacious commentary on the uses of faith, both to comfort and control us.” —The Hollywood Reporter.

“I don’t know which I want to do more: Sing Hallelujah—or wash its dirty little mouth out with soap. …Clearly a singular vision is at work here, with playwright Robert Askins venturing successfully into territory—satire—rich with potholes.” —Deadline.

“HAND TO GOD is so ridiculously raunchy, irreverent and funny it’s bound to leave you sore from laughing. Ah, hurts so good.” —New York Daily News.

9th Annual LaBute New Theater Festival
July 8-31, 2022
A Celebrated month-long festival of world premiere one-act plays.

*Member Actors’ Equity Association

Click Here to download the order form! 

West End Players Guild Announces 110th Season to Start in September

West End Players Guild Announces 110th Season to Start in September

Okay, let’s try this one again.  The Lost Year is ending and the season that never happened is gone for good, but now our darkened theatre is getting ready to light up once again.  Plan to join us in September for opening night of our 110th season of Big Theatre in a Small Space, with another exciting schedule of plays never or rarely seen in St. Louis.  

            September 17-26, 2021:  What if you could go back in time and change the one moment that reshaped your life forever?  What if you could see a lost love of 40 years ago just one more time, to learn how her life turned out?  Would you?  Steven Dietz’s Bloomsday, a bittersweet tale of love won and lost on the Emerald Isle, poses the questions.  The answers are for you to discover.  Jessa Knust makes her WEPG directing debut.   

            December 10-19, 2021:  Shirley Lauro’s A Piece of My Heart is, according to one reviewer, “six women telling a story you are not sure you want to hear.”  Four young military nurses, a Red Cross worker and a USO singer fly off to the Vietnam war, full of hope and driven by their desire to serve.  But the life they live there breaks their hearts and, for some, their lives.  Yes, it’s a story you may not want to hear, but it’s also one you’ll never forget.  Dani Mann directs.

            February 11-20, 2022:  In an alternate universe much like our own, in a budget motel room in a snowy part of the country called New Hampshire, the first woman to make a serious run at a major party’s presidential nomination is teetering on the brink of elimination from a race that hasn’t even really started yet; and her husband, himself an ex-president, isn’t helping much.  The play is Hillary and Clinton, Lucas Hnath’s take on what might have happened in that motel room.  Is Hnath’s tale history or fantasy?  We can’t say for sure, but we can promise a show that is smart, funny and full of characters you just might recognize.  Tim Naegelin directs his first WEPG production. 

            April 29-May 8, 2022:  We end our season where it began – in Ireland.  But Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s The Lonesome West is no warm-hearted Irish love story.  This dark, dark comedy is the tale of Coleman and Valene, two brothers who can barely keep from killing each other.  McDonagh makes you laugh and laugh at things that really shouldn’t be laughed about.  But go ahead and laugh out loud.  We won’t tell.  Robert Ashton returns to WEPG to direct.   

            Season tickets for the upcoming season go on sale in July online at WestEndPlayers.org/tickets. Individual show tickets will go on sale in August.  All shows are at the theatre in the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Boulevard in the Central West End.  Watch for further announcements and check for more information, including public health protocols to be observed at the performances (when they are finalized), at WestEndPlayers.org. 

Actors, take note:  Auditions for A Piece of My Heart, Hillary and Clinton and The Lonesome West will be held July 17 (Bloomsday, originally scheduled to be presented in April, 2020, has already been cast).  More information and audition sides will be posted at WestEndPlayers.org/auditions in June. 

“Silent Sky” Photo by John Lamb

            West End Players Guild is the region’s oldest continuously-operated theatre company, presenting “big theatre in a small space” since 1911. 

The Fox Resumes Guided Tours

The Fox Resumes Guided Tours

The Fabulous Fox Theatre has announced the return of guided tours of the historic landmark. Limited tours of the Fabulous Fox will resume on Saturday, June 5, 2021. Tours will be conducted on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and include a presentation on the Wurlitzer organ.

Tour tickets are $10 each and advance purchase is required at Metrotix.com or by calling MetroTix at 314-534-1111. Tickets will be delivered to guests’ mobile devices or emailed for print at home.  The Fox Box office is currently closed and tickets will not be available for purchase on the day of the tour. Ticket sales will close at 5 p.m. the Friday prior to each Saturday tour. 

In order to assure the safety of our guests and guides the following protocols will be followed: 

·         All guests are required to wear masks and will have their temperature taken with no-touch devices before entering the theatre. 

·         Fox tour guides and personnel will wear masks and will have their temperature taken when they check in for duty. 

·         Social distancing will be practiced and monitored during the entire tour experience.  Each tour’s capacity is limited to 20 guests.

·         The theatre will be thoroughly cleaned with emphasis on high touch areas prior to each tour.

·         Hand sanitizing stations are available throughout the theatre.

Tour guests should visit FabulousFox.com throughout the summer for possible updates to the tour schedule and safety protocols.

Tesseract Theatre Company Returns with ‘Feast’ on June 11

Tesseract Theatre Company Returns with ‘Feast’ on June 11

The Tesseract Theatre Company is returning to the stage at the .Zack Theatre with new play “Feast” by Megan Gogerty. The St. Louis premiere of Feast will star Donna Parrone and be directed by Shane Signorino. The production will be live and run June 11 – 27, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 4 pm.

A brave new work, navigating the intersection of politics and myth. Highly theatrical and timely, this dinner party is both thrillingly ancient and fiercely present. This is an immersive, visceral theatre experience where mythology crashes into pop culture. Feast reimagines an ancient myth as a cautionary tale against the rising forces of authoritarianism.

The .Zack Theatre is located at 3224 Locust Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103.

There will be group seating as well as social distanced seating available in the space. There will be a limited number of tickets on sale for each performance. As of now, audience members will be asked to wear masks in the space for the duration of the performance for the safety and comfort of all other audience members.

Tickets are available at MetroTix.com. $20 for general audience and $15 for students.

Questions can be sent to Tesseract Theatre at [email protected]

The Muny Revises Season, Announces Reduced Capacity

The Muny Revises Season, Announces Reduced Capacity

By Lynn Venhaus
The show will go on this summer at The Muny – but the 103rd season will start later and be shorter because of the coronavirus pandemic challenges.

After meeting with St. Louis public health officials, The Muny leadership modified plans for a 2021 season of seven shows to five, moved two musicals to next year and pushed back the opening production to July 26.

The Muny’s internal COVID-19 Compliance Task Force, which includes infectious disease experts, developed a plan for attendees, including reducing capacity to 60% to meet the recently updated social distancing guidelines from the city of St. Louis.

With a later start date, The Muny and the city hope the health landscape will continue to improve, providing patrons more comfort and certainty when heading to the theatre.

“The City of St. Louis Department of Health has partnered with The Muny to bring you a safe and enjoyable experience this summer,” said Dr. Fredrick Echols, acting director of health. “By establishing COVID-19 guidelines and collaborating through the planning process, we feel The Muny is well positioned to welcome theater-goers back safely, allowing many who depend on these summertime jobs to provide for their families.”

During the summer, the Muny employs 800 part-time workers in addition to its 35 full-time staff members.

The revised five-show schedule includes “Smokey Joe’s Café,” July 26 – Aug. 1; “The Sound of Music,” Aug. 3-9; “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” Aug. 12-18; “On Your Feet,” Aug. 21-27; and “Chicago,” Aug. 30-Sept. 5.

Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s “Mary Poppins” and “Sweeney Todd” will move to the 2022 season.

The Muny is the nation’s largest and oldest outdoor musical theatre and seats about 11,000. As one of the premier institutions in musical theatre, they usually produce seven musicals each year and welcome more than 350,000 theatregoers over a nine-week season.

Last year, for the first time in 102 years, The Muny stage remained empty because of the public health crisis, with plans moved to this summer, if conditions allowed.

Recently, new Centers for Disease Control guidelines for fully vaccinated people and eased public health restrictions in Illinois and Missouri were announced. To comply with the city, the Muny has established guidelines on social distancing, face coverings, staff health screenings and other mitigation efforts.

Managing Director Kwofe Coleman said it was a well-thought-out decision. As they did last year, they had evaluated every aspect of its operation in relation to their audience, staff, cast, crew and community, with health and safety foremost in everyone’s minds.

“From city leadership to the hundreds who bring theatre to life on our stage each summer, a remarkable sense of collaboration among everyone involved has made it possible for us to safely welcome this community back to its theatre this summer,” Coleman said. “It will be a remarkable moment of hope and relief to see the audience gather and the lights go on. We’ve missed that.”

Fully vaccinated patrons will not be required to wear masks at The Muny. Patrons who are not yet fully vaccinated are strongly encouraged to wear masks on campus, unless actively eating or drinking.

For this season, social distancing will be required in all areas of the theatre. Patrons will be ticketed in groups of six or less with a minimum distance of 3 feet between parties in all directions (right, left, front and behind).

For the safety of patrons and employees, the event staff will wear masks. In addition, all full-time employees and event staff will be subject to daily health screenings before entering The Muny campus.

Concession stands, kiosks and other retail transactions made on The Muny campus will be cashless and only offer credit, debit or Muny gift card payment options.

Muny President and CEO Denny Reagan said he and the entire Muny family was thrilled to share their plans for the return of live theatre to Forest Park.

“To say we’ve missed our in-person audiences would be a vast understatement. We are overjoyed to welcome St. Louis back to its summer home for musical theatre and ready for many magical nights ahead,” he said.

The return is welcomed by a large contingent of collaborators, said Muny Artistic Director and Executive Producer Mike Isaacson.

“For every actor, designer, painter, musician, choreographer — well, everyone who creates at The Muny, the unprecedented past 16 months have been arduous. Knowing we’re returning to do what we do and be who we are is electrifying,” Isaacson said.

The casts and creative teams will be announced in a few weeks, Coleman said.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, who said her first job at age 16 was as an usher at the Muny, said she welcomed the return to Forest Park after last season’s cancellation.

“I look forward to this cultural icon bringing people back from all over into Forest Park, and hope everyone who visits takes the necessary precautions to protect the health and safety of fellow Muny patrons, performers and workers,” Jones said.

To allow a continuous stream of physically distanced patrons to pass through security checkpoints without the delays typically associated with bag checks and handheld metal detection devices, or wands, the Muny campus has deployed new state-of-the-art metal detection scanners.

For patron convenience, hand sanitizer dispensers will be widely available throughout the Muny campus.

The current season ticket holders for the 2021 season will be contacted personally with detailed information regarding updated seating options.

New subscriptions for the 2021 five-show package will begin June 21, with single tickets becoming available July 5.

Previously, in mid-March, season tickets went on sale for the 103rd season, planning to start weeks later than usual, on July 5 and run through Sept. 5.

But because of the ongoing pandemic and public health restrictions, the Muny management said they would officially make an announcement in May: “A final decision regarding the status of the 2021 season will be made in late spring based on the current health landscape, best practices and all available information.”

The five shows scheduled were top vote-getters from the 101st season survey in 2019.

Two shows are Muny premieres – “Smokey Joe’s Café,” Broadway’s longest running musical revue, which will be set in St. Louis’ historic Gaslight Square, and “On Your Feet!”, the Gloria Estefan musical, which is also the Midwestern regional premiere.

Kander and Ebb’s six-time Tony Award-winning “Chicago” was last seen in 2012. The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “The Sound of Music” returns after 11 years for its 11th run. The Golden Age Muny favorite, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” will make its sixth appearance, not since 2011.

“It’s a good mix,” Coleman said. “We pick shows that we hope people are going to enjoy. The main thing is that people are coming back to the Muny and we get to be a community again. It will be an exciting moment.”

Without live shows last summer, the Muny pivoted with virtual programming, producing a free five-episode series, “The Muny 2020 Summer Variety Hour Live!” and airing Muny Magic concerts presented at The Sheldon in the off-season.

With viewers from 22 countries, the total estimated attendance for the free 10-show summer season was 189,582. This number represented a record-breaking first in The Muny’s live-streaming history, and is an aggregated estimate based on YouTube analytics.

The activities at #1 Muny Drive have continued. The stage is being installed and construction is on track.

Because the aging 11.5-acre campus needs upkeep and maintenance, The Muny is currently undergoing a multi-year major renovation project that was announced in October 2018.  Phase 3 started in September, focused on backstage support spaces.

The new Emerson Artists’ Building will house dressing rooms, the wig shop, hair and makeup departments and wardrobe. Renovations are planned for the costume shop, production and general offices, rehearsal space, craft and scenic room, painter and carpenter areas, and the sewer and plumbing infrastructure. The capital campaign has raised $85 million so far.

Coleman, who started at The Muny as a seasonal employee when he was 16, was announced recently as the theatre’s next president and CEO, succeeding Denny Reagan, who is retiring after 53 years. He begins the new position on Jan. 1, 2022.

Their mission, continued since establishing a home in Forest Park as the Municipal Opera in 1918, is to be accessible to all.

Tickets can be purchased online at muny.org or by phone by calling (314) 361-1900. Currently, the box office in Forest Park is closed for walk-up service. However, the box office is available via phone for internet and phone sales. 

All Muny Patron Policies and Sanitation Guidelines are available on The Muny website. Policies will also be communicated in preshow emails to patrons. Campus signage will be located at entrances and throughout public spaces to encourage proper physical distancing, hand sanitation, face covering policies and safety guidelines.

To stay connected virtually and to receive the latest updates, you can sign up for Muny emails or follow The Muny on their social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

The Rep Returns to Live Theatre with ‘Mlima’s Tale’

The Rep Returns to Live Theatre with ‘Mlima’s Tale’

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) is excited to bring an extraordinary production with a cast and crew from around the globe to St. Louis in the organization’s return to live theatre with ‘Mlima’s Tale,’ a moving, lyrical journey through the dark world of the international ivory trade from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. 

Performances of ‘Mlima’s Tale’ begin at COCA’s Berges Theatre onMay 28. The show runsMay 28 to July 11, times can be found here. Tickets begin at $20.50. 

‘Mlima’s Tale’ tells the story of a majestic and powerful African elephant murdered for his tusks. From beyond the veil of death, Mlima’s spirit follows the path of his tusks on a captivating and haunting journey through the dark world of the international ivory trade.

“As artists we are often tasked with examining our shared human experiences to help others imagine, dream and heal during a time of global crisis,” said Director Shariffa Ali. “Directing ‘Mlima’s Tale’ allowed me to dig deep into my own personal history, where as a child I would listen to the stories of my grandmother and the village elders of Nandi Hills, Kenya, planting the seed of storytelling in my soul. This cast and crew – from all over the world – has created a production that brings to life the bold majestic gestures and expressive faces of my motherland and beyond, as it so aptly exposes the social issues that come with the greed of human desire in our global economy.”

Mlima’s Tale cast includes Kambi Gathesha as Mlima, with Ezioma Asonye, Will Mann and Joe Ngo as the ensemble. The production will be directed by Shariffa Ali, Kirven Douthit-Boyd will serve as the choreographer, You-Shin Chen (scene design), Helen Huang (costume design), Jasmine Lesane (lighting design), Avi Amon (composer and sound design), Shannon B. Sturgis (stage management), R. Christopher Maxwell (assistant stage manager) and Madison Booth as the costume assistant; with Barbara Rubin and Julie Foh serving as dialect coaches.

“We are thrilled to bring Lynn Nottage’s haunting and riveting tale of globalism to our St. Louis audience,” said Hana S. Sharif, Augustin Family Artistic Director at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. “Mlima’s Tale is an exquisite story about culture, art, beauty, economics, greed and the incredible cost of conspicuous consumption. Through Mlima’s majestic spirit’s journey tracing its tusks around the world, we come to discover the collective power and impact of our choices.

For audience and performer safety, theatre capacity will be kept at 25 percent, in line with  St. Louis County Department of Health’s COVID-19 guidelines. In addition, The Rep is adhering to its comprehensive plan to keep actors, production staff and patrons safe during the return to live theatre. ‘Mlima’s Tale’ is The Rep’s only performance from the 2020-2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tickets will be available to the general public on May 20 at repstl.org. Subscribers will have earlier access to seating and tickets. For more information, visit repstl.org.

ERA’s Album to Premiere at Release and Listening Party June 3

ERA’s Album to Premiere at Release and Listening Party June 3

ERA’s album will premiere at the Album Release and Listening Party at Off Broadway on
June 3, 2021 at 8 p.m.
Equally Represented Arts (ERA) presents “SHE”
ALBUM RELEASE & LISTENING PARTY INFORMATION
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Doors open at 7 p.m.
Radio play begins at 8 p.m.
at Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Ave, St. Louis, MO 63118

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or in advance at offbroadwaystl.com
Off Broadway will have capacity limits and employ safety precautions as outlined on their
website and social media channels.

DIGITAL ALBUM PURCHASE INFORMATION
SHE will be released as an album for digital purchase via bandcamp at eratheatre.bandcamp.com.
Album price will be $10.

ABOUT SHE
SHE controls the radio station of the fascist regime in power. SHE’s also the star of the
broadcast. Her recording studio abounds with music and oysters. But in the nearby government
camps full of misfits and would-be revolutionaries, only torture and starvation is thick on the
ground.
Tonight, however, SHE’s realm feels different. The bombs sound closer. Time moves faster. But
SHE will finish her radio show, and it will be her finest. If executing every number in the
broadcast means some people need to die, so be it; it is a small sacrifice. The citizens need her
and she will not let them down.

COLLABORATORS
Written by Nancy Bell. Music composed by Joe Taylor. Lyrics by Nancy Bell.
Director: Lucy Cashion
Stage Manager: Miranda Jagels Félix
Assistant Stage Manager & Intern: Spencer Lawton
Production Managers: Will Bonfiglio, Lucy Cashion, & Joe Taylor
Artwork: Martin Brief
Marketing: Keating
Pre-Mixing: Joe Taylor
Mixing & Mastering: David Beeman
with
Nancy Bell………………SHE
Will Bonfiglio……………Nils (the brother)
Gabe Taylor…………….Fritz (the production manager)
Alicen Moser……………GIRL (the wandering spirit of SHE as a child)
Mitch Eagles…………….Michel (the loyal one)
Joe Taylor……………….George (the music director)
Anthony Kramer………..Max (the back-up vocalist) & P.A. Voice
Additional Vocals: Taylor Tveten
Piano: Audrey Morris & Joe Taylor
Bass: Andy Hainz
Percussion: Dustin Sholtes
Saxophone & Clarinet: Matt McKeever
Violin & Guitar: Kevin Buckley
Trumpet: Ryan Torpea
Accordion: Jessica Adkins
Foley: Lucy Cashion & Joe Taylor

Recorded by Joe Taylor at Kid Scientist Studios & David Beeman at Native Sound Recording on
Cherokee Street, St. Louis, USA

With public support from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

About ERA
Equally Represented Arts (ERA) is an experimental theatre company based in St. Louis,
Missouri.
Theatre is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary, live art form. ERA’s mission is to use the elements
unique to theatre’s identity to expand the possibilities for what that art form can be and challenge
our community’s expectations for meaning in theatre, art, and the world. We root ourselves in the
belief that all theatre’s components are equal and that innovation stems from experimentation.
We are an ensemble company. We make our work collectively and consider all artists involved in
a project equally essential to that project. We believe that actors are creative artists. Our process
for each production is unique to that production.
For more information, please visit eratheatre.org

Arts For Life to Resume Community Theater Activities

Arts For Life to Resume Community Theater Activities

The local not-for-profit arts organization, Arts For Life, has announced that it will return to in-person judging of community theater productions beginning July 1.

With the goal of “Making a Dramatic Difference,” AFL is passionate about the healing power of the performing arts, and is proud to salute, support, and serve the theater groups in the St. Louis, MO-IL Metro East region.

AFL is dedicated to promoting public awareness of local community theatre, encouraging excellence in the arts, and acknowledging the incredible people who are part of it.

Since 1999, the annual Best Performance Awards has celebrated achievements in musical theater and youth productions. In 2015, the Theatre Mask Awards were started to honor outstanding work in plays – in both dramas and comedies.

About 25 community theater organizations are eligible to participate in AFL.

Additionally, the group is seeking volunteer judges to evaluate shows and performers for their annual awards recognizing excellence in the region. Volunteers are the “eyes and ears” of AFL, ambassadors in the community. The deadline for applications is Monday, June 7.

Judges are required to attend a meeting before they are assigned shows to score. You must be 18 years old or older and choose either musicals or plays. If interested, fill out the form here for the Theater Recognition Guild, either the TMAs or BPAs:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2021trgjudgeapp

Mandatory judges’ training meetings will be on the Zoom teleconference platform, offered at three different dates and times: Wednesday, June 23, and Sunday, June 27, both at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, June 26, at 1 p.m. The TRG chairmen will go over AFL’s policies and procedures, giving the judges the tools to be fair and conscientious.

For not-for-profit registered theater groups who want their shows to be eligible for accolades, they must fill out the paperwork eight weeks prior to opening night. Those forms are located here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2021participationforms

“Welcome back! AFL is thrilled to see our theatre groups getting ready to start putting on shows again. We are recruiting judges, scheduling training and looking forward to getting back to enjoying theatre in the St. Louis-Metro East areas,” said AFL President Mary McCreight.

“Thank you to everyone who stayed the course and who are still excited to entertain. We are ready and hope you are too. See you soon!” McCreight said.

AFL had suspended judging activities beginning in April 2020 because of the coronavirus public health emergency in Illinois and Missouri. The board of directors adopted measures to foster the protection of those who work and play in community theater until it would be safe to return.

As the CDC and local officials have recently eased restrictions and more Americans are vaccinated, the AFL board of directors, at their May 15 meeting, agreed to move forward and resume normal operations on July 1.

In mid-March 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic shutdown included closing performance venues, limiting capacity at gatherings, and protocols for social distancing and face coverings.

AFL had transitioned to virtual streamed formats for both their TMA and BPA shows honoring productions in 2019 last summer and for the recent TMAs recognizing shows produced in early 2020 and one in the fall.

The BPAs were cancelled for 2021. and the few musicals that were performed in early 2020 will be considered for the 2022 awards, along with those performed from July through December in 2021.

AFL board members have continued their focus on encouraging and promoting community theater in the region and supporting charitable programs. They will award two annual youth scholarships in June.

In recent years, AFL has initiated an Adopt-a-Student mentoring program and presented an online series on diversity and inclusion last fall.

“I am incredibly grateful to all of our constituencies – the board, judges, participating groups, audience members and donors – for their commitment to AFL and their engagement and unwavering support of our local theatre community during these uncertain times,” McCreight said.

AFL was founded in 1994 by Lucinda Guyrci dedicated to the healing power of the arts through its work with youth, the under-served and the community.

For more information, contact AFL TRG Secretary Kim Klick at [email protected] or visit the website, www.artsforlife.org

Be sure to subscribe/like to our social media: https://www.facebook.com/artsforlifestlouis, https://twitter.com/arts_for_life and YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnCSL5RPbHTrhbc0mbHcWnA

Unconventional Thriller ‘Profile’ Takes Place on Computer Screen

Unconventional Thriller ‘Profile’ Takes Place on Computer Screen

By Lynn Venhaus
An interesting concept using unique technology, “Profile” is an unconventional thriller that plays out entirely on a computer screen.

“Profile” follows an undercover British journalist (Valene Kane) in her quest to bait and expose an ISIS terrorist recruiter (Shazad Latif) through social media, while trying not to be sucked in by him and lured into becoming a militant extremist herself.

This Screenlife format was pioneered by writer-director Timur Bekmambetov, a Russian filmmaker who produced “Unfriended” and “Searching” using the same technology. He also directed “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” in 2012, which indicates he is not a typical narrative kind of guy.

Those used to more traditional storytelling may not find the format sustainable, but the fast-paced swirl of information does move the story along. The problem is not the Skype, text messages, videos or social media posts, but rather the plot itself – when a couple hard-to-swallow developments occur as it moves to its conclusion.

The film is inspired by a true story of a woman who changed her name to Anna Erelle and wrote a novel “In the Skin of a Jihadist” in 2015, which Bekmambetov and co-screenwriters Brittany Poulton and Olga Kharina adapted for this tale.

Valene Kane is mostly convincing as Amy Whittaker, an ambitious freelance TV reporter whose personal life is complicated – her insufferable shallow fiancé Matt (Morgan Watkins) wants to upgrade their living quarters and she can’t come up with her half just yet.

She pitches the idea of going undercover, posing as a young convert to Islam, to ensnare an ISIS recruiter who is trafficking war brides. The sex slavery aspect intrigues her boss Vick (Christine Adams), who will eventually offer her full-time work.

The assignment is going well but takes a turn, where Amy makes some unethical decisions – and her interaction with her TV editor isn’t realistic either.

As played by Shazad Latif, Abu Bilel Al-Britani is a charismatic soldier, and his tactics appear to be working as he professes his love for Amy, who is masquerading as Melody Nelson.

Abu Bilel isn’t his real name, either. So, who is fooling who? Are Amy’s actions for real or a set-up?

With her messy personal life, job and financial worries, she is vulnerable.

Those are questions that we won’t get satisfactory answers to in this dangerous game. Are we to believe Amy is impulsive, effectively manipulated and emotionally attached – or is it phony?

The film’s credibility is ultimately at stake.

Regarding the Screenlife gimmick, it is engaging. Shot in nine days, the film’s look is seamless, with good work by editor Andrey Shugaer and production designer Ben Smith.

The film, set in 2014, emphasizes the consequences of living out loud online and how prevalent lies and deceit are in social media. Had the plot not disintegrated in the third act, this would be even scarier than the stories we know to be true on radicalized women sucked into the risky dark side.


“Profile” is a 2018 drama-thriller directed by Timur Bekmambetov that starts Valene Kane, Shazad Latif, Christine Adams, Morgan Watkins. It is rated R for language throughout and some disturbing images and the run time is 1 hour, 45 minutes. Opens in theatres May 14. Lynn’s Grade: B-

‘The Crime of the Century’ Shows Human Cost and Fallout of OxyContin, Fentanyl Addiction

‘The Crime of the Century’ Shows Human Cost and Fallout of OxyContin, Fentanyl Addiction

By Lynn Venhaus
Since 2000, 500,000 Americans have died of drug overdoses. Director Alex Gibney, who also wrote and narrated “The Crime of the Century,” exposes the truth in an urgent, straightforward way.

Witness one of the most devastating public health tragedies of our time. The two-part HBO Original documentary takes a sobering look at legal drug-pushing Big Pharma’s role in America’s opioid crisis.

The blame rests largely on the multi-billion pharmaceutical industry, which manufactured the crisis and earns profits from it.

Exhaustively researched, this expansive and hard-hitting documentary traces the origins and evolution of the current epidemic that is tearing families apart across the U.S.

Gibney points fingers at Purdue Pharmaceutical, the Sackler family, manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, pill mills, corrupt doctors, people on company payrolls knowing they broke laws and government officials whose political campaigns accepted huge donations from Big Pharma.

The prolific Gibney won an Oscar for the documentary “Taxi to the Dark Side” in 2008, an Emmy for “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” in 2015 and much acclaim for “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” last year’s “Totally Under Control” on the coronavirus pandemic and many other works.

He focuses on commerce and crime, interviewing whistleblowers, DEA agents, medical professionals and journalists, among a wide range of talking heads.

This documentary is presented in association with The Washington Post. Investigative reporters Sari Horwitz, Lenny Bernstein and Scott Higham share their stories.

Evidence on the over-production, reckless distribution and abuse of synthetic opiates is shown, and Gibney makes sure there is a human side to the story – interviewing grieving families, doctors going against the status quo, insiders and investigators. There are definite heroes, like Joe Rannazzisi, formerly of the DEA, and Dr. Art Van Zee, a small-town Virginia practitioner witnessing his community’s demisem and villains — Dr. Lynn Webster of Live Tree, Dr. Richard Sackler who avoided prosecution and Dr. John Kapoor, who didn’t. Rudy Guiliani was a hired gun for Purdue — one of their ‘Partners in Pain’ shills.

Part One targets corporate greed, revealing the aggressive promotion of OxyContin in 1996 from family-owned pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma and a propaganda campaign redefining pain and how we treat it.

He depicts how Purdue worked closely with the FDA to get the medicine approved for wider use, hiding the dangers and claiming it was not addictive.

The time-released OxyContin paved the way for more addictive drugs, as Part 2 shows with the losing battle on fentanyl and its synthetic derivatives. The widespread corruption isn’t surprising — but still shocks, particularly how law enforcement has been undermined (The Martino bill – look into it) and the extent to which EMTs are overwhelmed.

The deceptive marketing videos from Purdue and Insys Therapeutics are hard to stomach, as are the examples of fraud, conspiracy and malfeasance. Between 2006 and 2014, more than 100 billion doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped nationwide.

The data is astounding as we learn the details of unethical and illegal practices of bribing doctors to prescribe high doses of opioids and other leaked documents from the Department of Justice on corporate negligence.

Part 1 is 1 hour, 52 minutes and Part 2 “What’s in It for Me?” is 1 hour, 58 minutes. Every minute is riveting.

We can’t afford to look away – the human cost and fallout is too great.

“The Crime of the Century” is a two-part documentary – Part I is 1 hour, 52 minutes, and Part II is 1 hour, 58 minutes — directed by Alex Gibney. It is currently streaming on HBO Max (May 11, 12). Lynn’s Grade: A