Furry Tails With a Twist by Jennifer Hickok DeFratis (A Regional Premiere)
Performances are at The Shedd Stage in the Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave., Columbus, OH 43215
A two-actor tour de force filled with charm and energetic humor. Creative storytelling drives the action and the actors, and the audience partners in the tales. Follow the adventures of Sam and Alex, two bumbling actors trying desperately to present a few of the world's most beloved fairy tales. Unfortunately, their script becomes seriously scrambled and they perform "Goldisocks and the Three Wolves," "The Three Billy Trolls Gruff," and "The Three Little Bears," who end up battling the Big Bad Billy Goat to delay the decimation of their domiciles. In addition to entertaining with humor, slapstick and charm, Sam and Alex also guide the audience through the creative world of story structure, writing vocabulary and theatrical staging. It takes the whole audience to set the stories straight for Sam and Alex. In the end, both the actors and the audience have learned creative tale telling through these furry tails … er … fairy tales.
Performances July 9 – 11 and July 16 – 18
Sanctuary City is a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok abount two teenage immigrants, B and G, in post 9/11 Neward, NJ, who navigate their friendship and the precarioussness of their lives as undocumented residents in America. The story follows their bond as they face the threat of deportation, culminating in a pact to marry for legal status, which tests their relationship as they grow into young adults and confront the harsh realities of their situation. The play explores themes of love, belonging, sacrifice, and the meaning of "home" through a non-linear, time-fracturing structure.
Performances 08/13/26-08/16/26 and 08/19/26-08/22/26
In 1976 Andy Warhol, having re-invented himself as the portrait painter of the rich and famous, travels to Tehran commissioned to take polaroids of the Shah's wife. Amidst taking in the Crown Jewels and ordering room service caviar, Warhol encounters a young revolutionary who throws his plans into turmoil and opens the pop icon's eyes to a world beyond himself. A fictionalized portrait of the artist's famed visit to Iran that leaves you asking, "Who was the artist and who was the revolutionary?"
Performances 09/10/26-09/13/26 and 09/16/26-09/19/26
In the vein of "And Then There Were None", "Clue" and "Murder by Death", "The Vultures" puts a modern, comedic, gay spin on the haunted house/ mystery genre. On the 20th anniversary of the death of publishing magnate Simon West his six remaining relatives gather for the reading of his will, the mysterious housekeeper declares, "The relatives are swooping in like a wake of vultures ready to pick the carcass clean." When the will is read, Hunter West is named as the sole heir, on the condition that he doesn't suffer from an insanity curse that has plagued the family. As the night progresses and a storm rages, Hunter's sanity comes into question and one of the group goes missing. Who is the murderer? Who will ultimately inherit the fortune? Will it be the charming realtor, the handsome male model, the dimwitted nail technician, the bitter old woman, the gay hair stylist, the mild-mannered accountant or perhaps maybe the mysterious housekeeper?
Performances 10/22/26-10/24/26 and 10/28/26-10/31/26 and 11/01/26