Staging a Coup

Do you smell that?

It may be only February, but spring is in the air, and wafting on its breezes is the fragrance of rebirth, the churning scent of upheaval. For the next several months, local theater companies are offering up edgy, contemporary, avant-garde, and even experimental works indicative of a theater scene ready to shed its skin and start fresh.

A flying leap: Nevada Repertory Company

No stranger to experimentation, the University of Nevada, Reno's Nevada Repertory Company kicks off its spring season on March 1 with Susan Pfeffer's I Am the Pilot in Command. Pfeffer, who will also direct, will guide students through an improvisational process to arrive collaboratively at what will become the final piece, a combination of dance and theater that explores the many feelings of flight.

In mid-April, Nevada Rep presents a comedic theater piece with contemporary themes, The Hot I Baltimore by Lanford Wilson. Set at the run-down Hotel Baltimore, with the burned-out “e” on its neon sign, the play shows how a cast of bizarre characters that call the hotel their home cope with the prospect of its being condemned. Nevada Rep has received a grant from the city of Reno for set design, and will use it to build an extraordinary, art deco hotel set in its proscenium theater.

UNR will also present a student dance concert in March, and the Spring Dance Festival featuring guest artists Jazz Dance Chicago in early May

Tickets and information: UNR.edu/nevadarep.

Reno Little Theater's next show is the first of RLT's new three-show Fringe Series, which board member and publicity chair Nancy Podewils explains will feature “original and edgier plays” and local playwrights, in an effort to entice a slightly younger, newer audience.

First up is Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, about three people trapped in a windowless living room in hell who must work out how they're going to live together for eternity. Next, in March, comes The Birdmen, an original play by local actor/artist Wolf Price, a quirky piece about people surviving on an island in middle of Bermuda Triangle by telling each other stories. Finally, in May, comes a trilogy, Performance Anxiety, a collection of a three vignettes that depict life in The Theater.

In April, RLT presents what one New York Times critic called “the funniest show written in my lifetime,” Noises Off. This behind-the-scenes, play-within-a-play farce about the pratfalls of a theater company is directed by Doug Mischler.

On May 31, RLT opens Moliere's French farce, Tartuffe, a mistaken-identity tale about an imposter who worms his way into a family's good graces.

RLT will present two shows for Artown. The first, in early July, is a children's play, Still Life for Iris, a fantastical adventure about a young girl searching for home. In mid-July comes Thornton Wilder's Our Town, a classic middle-American small town story, which director Kira Temple will give a slightly modern set and presentation.

Tickets and information: RenoLittleTheater.org.

As live theater itself comes under the microscope this spring, TheatreWorks of Northern Nevada throws its hat in the ring with Circle Mirror Transformations at Goodluck Macbeth's Midtown theater space. It's the story of an eclectic band of drama class students who, in the manner of Waiting for Guffman, lovably take themselves, and their “craft,” way, way too seriously.

In April, at the Laxalt Auditorium, TWNN presents The Giver, based on the Newbery Medal-winning young adult novel about a young boy living in a utopian society. Auditions for this show, for ages 7+, take place Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the TheatreWorks office in Sparks. Call 240-6970 for details.

In May comes Cinders, an original piece by Sandra Neace, whose The Medea Project she recently directed herself at Brüka Theatre and took to New York's International Fringe Festival. Cinders is a modern-day retelling of Cinderella about a bullied, overweight girl.

For Artown, TWNN offers up Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, complete with sound effects and big props. You'll be able to catch this one at Laxalt, as well as a few other locations around town. See the website for details.

Tickets and information: TWNN.org.

Following TWNN's Circle Mirror Transformations, GLM opens its theater season on March 14 with the musical The Last Five Years, the story of a relationship as told by the man (chronologically) and the woman (in reverse) involved.

In late April comes Ibsen's Ghost, a heavy, dark, period drama about a woman who's devoted her life to a dying husband, only to learn that his philandering ways have created a tangle of family.

Tintypes runs from late June through July. This turn-of-the-century musical revue is set during the heyday of America's industrialization. In a series of character sketches told exclusively through music, the show's Americana pieces paint an interesting portrait of American life.

GLM stays sketchy this spring with several community events, including Tuesday's Artemisia Movie House; Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School, a life-drawing event; and twice-a-month gatherings of local improv group The Jesters League. See GLM's calendar for details. GLM's children's theater program, the Spotlight Academy for Young Actors, offers its spring musical showcase the first weekend of March.

Tickets and information: GoodLuckMacbeth.org.

Sandra Neace is busy. Fresh off The Medea Project, her Cinders takes the TWNN stage, and in March, she's directing John Patrick Shanley's Tony and Pulitzer-winning Doubt, a Parable for Brüka. This provocative drama set in a 1960s Catholic church explores the mysterious relationship between a priest and a young boy.

Also in mid-March, Brüka Theatre for Children presents Snow White to area schools and free to the public at McKinley Arts Center.

Six Women With Brain Death, or Expiring Minds Want to Know, running April through May, is a sketch musical comedy with a female, satirical take on pop culture. Singer Cami Thompson leads the cast, and will lead a vocal workshop as part of Brüka's Artist in the House series.

In its first collaboration with Sierra Nevada Ballet, on March 24, Brüka debuts an original dance/theater piece by Ananda Bena Weber, who will also conduct an Artist in the House master workshop.

Continuing its “20Twenty Vision” season to celebrate its 20th year, Brüka revisits Shirley Valentine, a one-woman show starring Producing Director Mary Bennett about a woman so bored with her life she talks to the walls—until she gets a chance to take a trip and discover herself in the process.

For Artown comes Art, a Tony Award-winner written by Yasmina Reza and directed by Tony DeGeiso; it's a clever, comedic story about three men arguing over the value of a painting.

Brüka's post-show, late-night TV show series returns at end of March with The Honeymooners and Three's Company. Also returning is the successful kids' workshop series, in which kids ages 8-18 will adapt The Pied Piper, under the tutelage of Brüka artists, and perform it live. And for kids under 18 interested in full apprenticeships or scholarships, both are available. Sign up or learn more on Brüka's website.

Tickets and information: Bruka.org.

Truckee Meadows Community College rocks it in April with The Who's Tommy, a tragic rock opera about a boy left catatonic from the shock of his father's murder of his mother. Narrated through such Who classics as “Pinball Wizard, “Tommy, Can You Hear Me?” and “We're Not Gonna Take It,” the story follows Tommy into adulthood as he becomes a pinball champion and international star. TMCC is exploring the world of video backgrounds and light projections for this one.

Also on the TMCC performing arts schedule are two band concerts at Reno High on March 4 and May 7, and a Glee-style choir concert on May 8.

Tickets and information: PerformingArts.TMCC.edu.

WNMTC presents Lionel Bart's Tony Award-winning Oliver! in May at the Carson City Community Center. This musical retelling of Charles Dickens' book follows a boy's escape from a London orphanage and search for adventure and a loving home. The show is complete with dance numbers and such memorable tunes as “Pick-a-pocket,” “Consider Yourself,” and “As Long As He Needs Me,” performed by a 50-member cast and a professional orchestra.

Tickets and information: WNMTC.com.

Louise Maske's underwear keeps falling down in public and her husband, Theo, is mortified. That's the premise behind Steve Martin's Off-Broadway farce, The Underpants, presented by Proscenium Players, Inc. in late March in the BAC's Macy Harris Jesse Theater.

From underpants to Pooh—sorry, couldn't resist—Wild Horse Children's Theater Company takes us into The Hundred-Acre Wood for some adventures in Winnie the Pooh, Jr. at BAC's performance hall in April.

BAC's Diving Into the Arts program returns this summer. This performing and visual arts camp for youth will involve participants in a nine-week series of activities that culminate in a musical to be performed in August.

Tickets and Information: BreweryArts.org