THEATER - JUNE 19, 2002

Current, upcoming shows

Tom McCartan and Rachel Roberts star in Summer Circle's production of "Blind Date," which opens at 8 p.m. Wednesday and continues through Sunday. This is the last of Summer Circle’s three-week offerings. It’s in the MSU Auditorium courtyard at the southeast corner of Farm Lane and Auditorium Road. Bring a blanket or a lawn chair and bug repellent.

June 19-23: “The Nerd,” by Larry Shue; directed by Mary Matzke. LCC Turner House Festival at the Outdoor Amphitheatre on LCC’s downtown campus. About an architect in Indiana and his unexpected houseguest with no social sense who doesn’t leave. Appropriate for most ages.

June 19-22: “Blind Date,” by Horton Foote; directed by Marcus Olson. MSU Summer Circle Theatre. Set in a small Texas town in 1929, this one-act explores what can happen when adults get mixed up in trying to play the matching game with the younger generation. Shown with the one-act “Laundry and Bourbon,” (directed by Olson), also set in a small town in Texas. Set in the early 1970s, three 30-ish Texas women fold laundry, drink plenty of bourbon, gossip, reminisce, banter, exchange insults and generally reveal much about the open secrets‚ of small-town life.

June 27-30 and July 4-7: “It’s Me, It’s Me, It’s Francis Scott Key,” by John Baldwin and Bill Penn. Riverwalk Theatre, 228 Museum Drive (next to Impression 5 Science Center). See the War of 1812 fought in song and dance, meet a man determined to be a patriot and hear the story of how our national anthem came to be written. Shown with “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” by Stephen Vincent Benet (both one-acts directed by Baldwin). Jabez Stone sold his soul to the devil. Can he win it back with Daniel Webster as his defense attorney and a jury of American villains chosen by the devil himself?

June 27-29 and July 5-6: “Valparaiso,” by Don Delillo, directed by Jeff Croff. Produced by Icarus Falling, performed at Creole Gallery, 1218 Turner Street in Oldtown Lansing. The show is a story about a man, who through a series of mistakes finds himself on a journey halfway around the globe. Returning from his misguided trip, he becomes a celebrity and recounts his story to all who will listen. This is a story that asks, “How much will you reveal for your 15 minutes of fame?”

July 4-7 and July 11-14: “As You Like It,” by William Shakespeare; directed by Todd Heywood. Sunsets With Shakespeare at Nancy Moore Park in Meridian Township. This classic Shakespeare examines the nature of love and the human condition by looking at different kinds of love (mature love, idea of being in love with love, lust, for example). Heywood says it explores civilization and more natural living and is set in a neo-modernistic world.

July 10-14: “Hot Feet,” directed by Elzbieta Alabuszew-Kutek. Turner House Festival. LCC students perform a modern style of dance with a mix of additional influences like jazz, ballet and tap.

July 11-14 and July 18-21: “Three Tall Women,” by Edward Albee; directed by Amy Rickett. Spotlight Theatre. The life, memories, and reminiscences of a woman nearing the end of her life are examined, questioned, maybe or not accepted, but understood.

July 24-28: “The Three Musketeers,” directed by John Lennox. Turner House Festival. Classic swashbuckling story with “unparalleled swordfighting,” according to Lennox. “It will have some of the most incredible stage combat Lansing has ever seen.”

July 26-28 and Aug. 2-4: “The Best of Happily Ever After,” compiled and directed by Bob Gras. Riverwalk Theatre. The highly popular children’s fairy tale productions from Riverwalk’s last three seasons are back with the best stories from the series.

Aug. 1-4 and Aug. 8-11: “The Tempest,” by William Shakespeare; directed by Val Lea. Sunsets With Shakespeare. Set in 1611, this play explores family relationships and reconciliation.

Aug. 15-18 and Aug. 22-25: “Broken Glass,” by Arthur Miller; directed by the Spotlight Actors Workshop. Spotlight Theatre. Winner of the 1995 Laurence Olivier Award, this play is an examination of what is like to be American and Jewish in 1938.

Aug. 15-18 and Aug. 22-25: “Lonely Planet,” by Steven Dietz; directed by Ken Beachler. Riverwalk Theatre. A story for the uncertain times in which we live. It is about the need for friends to take care of each other, that perhaps what life is all about. It is a compassionate comedy written in the 1990s with the metaphor being the uncertainty of living with STDs, but after Sept. 11, the metaphor expands to living under the constant possibility of terrorist calamities.