From busy dogs to to a classic ‘Cat,’ September is a month filled with theater. Here’s a quick look at 10 options for theaterlovers around the region.
1. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: The Hideaway Performing Arts Center in Eustis presents Tennnessee Williams’ classic Southern drama about repression, sexual desire and facing one’s mortality. Sept. 19-Oct. 5, tickets at hideawaypac.com.
2. Go, Dog. Go! • Ve Perro ¡Ve!: This 60-minute high-energy romp through canine capers is designed for young theatergoers. Told billingually in English and Spanish, but mostly through physical storytelling, the show is easy to understand for everyone. This musical adaptation, presented at Orlando Family Stage, is adapted from P.D. Eastman’s classic 1961 children’s book. Through Oct. 5, orlandofamilystage.com.
Ava Bartolomucci (from left), Isabelle Kim, assistant choreographer Brooke Bates and choreographer Robin Gerchman rehearse for the Annie Russell Theatre production of “Iphigenia in Aulis,” opening Sept. 25 at Rollins College in Winter Park. (Courtesy Allison Stewart via Rollins College)
3. Iphigenia in Aulis: “I think few people know Greek tragedies were really musicals, and I’m so excited for audiences to hear this ancient story of Iphigenia’s sacrifice through our newly commissioned, haunting score by Kylee Grace Carter,” says Marianne DiQuattro, director of the production at Rollins College’s Annie Russell Theatre. “We are weaving together song, dance and myth and putting it in a beachy, Mediterranean setting. This beach day at Aulis starts out sunny, but just on the horizon the dark clouds of war must be confronted.” If you don’t remember your ancient Greek theater, the plot finds General Agamemnon ordering Iphigenia to kill her daughter to appease the gods and win a war. But the gods may have ideas of their own. Sept. 25-28, rollins.edu/annie.
4. The Jury Experience. The interactive drama from Fever returns to the Ritz Theater in Sanford. In this courtroom experience, audience members vote on their phones to determine the direction of a court case and serve as the ultimate jury. Will you find the defendent guilty or not? And why? Sept. 21 (followed by a Nov. 6 performance), ritztheatersanford.info.
Cast members rehearse for Encore Performing Arts’ upcoming production of “La Cage aux Folles.” (Courtesy Encore Performing Arts)
5. La Cage aux Folles: Encore Performing Arts returns to Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts with this boisterous and heartfelt musical featuring Jerry Herman hits such as “I Am What I Am” and “The Best of Times.” Georges and Albin own a drag club, but their lives are upended when their son brings home his fiancee — daughter of a conservative politician. If the story sounds familiar, you’ve probably seen the film adaptation, a little movie called “The Birdcage.” Sept. 19-21, drphillipscenter.org.
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6. Lost in Chester: Over in Winter Park, Breakthrough Theatre Company presents this play by Kym Fraher that also hearkens back to the ancient Greeks. In the contempory story — inspired by “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey,” five teens are lost in the fictional town of Chester after a soccer match. Together, they have to learn to rely on each other while trying to navigate the townspeople, each other and themselves to find their way back to the waiting bus. Sept. 26-Oct. 6, breakthroughtheatre.com.
7. Me & Jezebel: What if screen legend Bette Davis showed up at your house … and wouldn’t leave? That’s the premise of “Me & Jezebel,” a lighthearted comedy onstage at the Sonnentag Theatre at the IceHouse in Mount Dora. The production reunites Stephanie Williams and Whitney Goin, who played opposeite each other in the theater’s “The Odd Couple: Female Version” last season; Williams is the harried house, and Goin is the houseguest from hell. Through Oct. 5, icehousetheatre.com.
Faviana Vasquez, who plays Belmira in Marisela Treviño Orta’s play “The River Bride,” rehearses for the upcoming Theatre UCF production. (Courtesy Theatre UCF)
8. Play-in-a-Day: Orlando’s annual night of nearly spontaneous plays returns. Teams of writers, directors and actors spend 24 hours devising short plays from blank page to curtains up, presented in one evening of creativity. “Play-In-A-Day is about trusting your instincts, embracing the chaos, and collaborating under pressure,” says Sarah Fanok, executive director of Imagine Performing Arts Center at Oviedo Mall, which hosts the event. “It’s theater at its most alive.” This year’s Play-in-a-Day will raise money for the LGBTQ+ Center of Orlando. Sept. 20, imagineperformingartscenter.org.
9. The River Bride: Marisela Treviño Orta’s play, inspired by Brazilian folklore, explores the depths of life’s relationships through a tale of two sisters. Three days before one is to marry, a mysterious man arrives in the sisters’ small village and sets a chain of events in motion that allows unspoken desires to surface. Myth and reality merge to examine the choices that transform our lives in this production from Theatre UCF in east Orange County. Sept. 18-28, cah.ucf.edu.
Sweeney (Jeremy Hudson) is perhaps having second thoughts about eating a meat pie made by Mrs. Lovett (Samm Carroll), and who could blame him? “Sweeney Todd” opens at the Athens Theatre in DeLand this month. (Courtesy Mike Kitaif via Athens Theatre)
10. Sweeney Todd: The popular Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical about a London barber hellbent on revenge against the judge who wronged him and destroyed his family gets a bloody outing at the Athens Theatre in DeLand. In a case of life intersecting with art, real-life couple Jeremy Hudson and Samm Carroll star as Sweeney and his partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett. Tara Kromer directs. Sept. 19-Oct. 12, athensdeland.com.
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Find more entertainment news and reviews at orlandosentinel.com/entertainment or sign up to receive our weekly emailed Entertainment newsletter.
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