For its fifth season, Max & Louie Productions will mount a disturbing comedy and a brand-new theater piece.
“The Killing of Sister George“, by Frank Marcus, runs July 10-26 in the Wool Studio Theatre at the JCC’s Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. A shocking piece when it debuted in 1965, “Sister George” deals with a lesbian actress who’s about to be “killed off” on the soap opera where she’s played a warm-hearted nurse for years. The play looks at sexual identity and power in London in the 1960s, a locus of rapid social change.
Lavonne Byers will star. Last Monday, she won the 2015 St. Louis Theater Circle award for outstanding actress in a musical for her performance as the Emcee in “Cabaret” at Stray Dog Theatre. “The Killing of Sister George” will be directed by Brooke Edwards, who directed Max & Louie’s production of “Quills” last year.
Ken Page – Broadway veteran, cabaret artist and familiar face at the Muny – is author and director of the second show, “Sublime Intimacy“. It deals with four people who love, to quote W. B. Yeats’ famous line, both “the dancer and the dance”. This is not a debut effort; Page also wrote and directed “Cafe Chanson“, a play with music that Upstream Theater staged in 2013.
The choreographer will be announced later. “Sublime Intimacy” will run Dec. 3-20 at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 North Grand Boulevard.
Stellie Siteman, artistic director of Max & Louie, said that she believes “a classic piece of theater, ‘Sister George’ will brilliantly complement an all-new work by one of St. Louis’s most-watched artists.”
Tickets to each show are $35 general admission, with $5 discounts for students and older adults. Tickets for “Sister George” go on sale April 15 at the website and by phone at 1-800-838-3006.