Local Plays Take Center Stage

St. Louis has long showcased grand and extravagant theatrical productions at favorite venues, such as The Fabulous Fox and Peabody Opera House. It's worth noting that our town is also home to an assortment of top-notch smaller stage performances that highlight talented actors, writers, and producers, many of whom are locals. One Last Job by local playwright Patrick Conroy is presented at McGurk’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Soulard. It's an intense story involving a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Irish Revolution and centers on an encounter between a young British soldier and a recently retired IRA operative. Their lives and the lives of their families become entwined around myriad thoughts and actions not entirely of their choosing. Another play to see is Intimate Apparel at the Jewish Community Center. Touching and poignant, the story is set in 1905 New York and centers around Esther, a black seamstress who lives in a boarding house and sews intimate apparel for clients ranging from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. Esther begins to receive love letters from a Caribbean man who is working on the Panama Canal, but her heart lies with the Hasidic shopkeeper who sells cloth. His affection is likewise with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both. The famous literary classic To Kill a Mockingbird is performed live at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. The Rep also presents Constellations, Nick Payne’s play centering on one relationship with many possibilities. Roland and Marianne meet at a party, only to see their paths lead toward different outcomes — some joyous, some tragic — but all with wit and wonder for love and for life. Check out the Marcelle Theater in Grand Center, where There's An Alien In My Soup is on stage -- a unique one-man play about UFOs with stories drawn from actual military personnel who gave up their anonymity and risked threats for testifying against security oaths. Learn what happened when “They” came to earth. Purchase tickets for these and other plays and see for yourself why audiences applaud St. Louis as a vibrant center for theater.