Slow Burn Theatre’s Annual Fireside Online Silent Auction will run through Sept. 9. Register at slowburntheatre.org. Pick up a bargain or two and help support Slow Burn’s mission of bringing Broadway to Fort Lauderdale.
A Black Comedy About White Trash
ArtBuzz Theatrics in coordination with Empire Stage presents Sordid Lives Sept 22-Oct 22. Del Shores’ comedy was nominated for more than 30 awards during its long run in Los Angeles, and was turned into a movie and series. When Peggy, a good Christian woman, hits her head on the sink and bleeds to death after tripping over her lover’s wooden legs in a motel room, chaos erupts in Winters, Texas. Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Dr., Ft. Lauderdale, 954-678-1496, EmpireStage.com.
All the Feelings
Island City Stage has announced its 2023-2024 season. Kicking things off with Terrance McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion!, a funny and touching dramedy. That’s followed up by Which Way to the Stage?, a playful yet profound comedy about friendship, ambition, and what happens when dreams fall just out of reach. Pulp is a heartfelt, comedic love letter to lesbian pulp fiction, while Skin Tight examines what happens to a woman in her 40s after her husband has left her for a 24-year-old. The season closes with Charles Busch’s camp classic, Die, Mommie, Die!, the story of Angela Arden, a fallen pop diva trapped in a hateful marriage. Desperate to find happiness with her younger lover, Angela gruesomely murders her husband with the aid of a poisoned suppository. Flex tickets for all five shows are only $185 or $111 for three shows. IslandCityStage.org.
Horray for Hollywood?
Michael McKeever, a Florida theatrical treasure debuts his latest play, Clark Gable Slept Here, at The Foundry, Sept. 21-Oct. 15. Hollywood's hiding a lot more in the closet than Tom Ford tuxedos, and megastar agent Jarrod Hilliard's determined to keep it that way. When the corpse of a naked male prostitute is found in his client's hotel room during the Golden Globe Awards, Hilliard and hotel manager Gage Holland are left to sweep things under the rug. Nothing's what it seems in this hilarious jet-black comedy about what it means to be a "man" in Hollywood. The Foundry continues to support local playwright’s; watch for Dan Clancy’s new musical, 108 Waverly to open soon., RonnieLarson.com.
Drama in Palm Beach
Palm Beach Drama Works has announced its 2023/2024 season, starting with Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan about four New Yorkers involved in a murder investigation. That is followed by The Messenger, a meditation on the consequences of speaking out or remaining silent for the sake of self-preservation, inspired by the life of Hungarian Holocaust survivor Georgia Gabor. The Cancellation Of Lauren Fein by Christopher Demos-Brown examines what happens to professors at a prestigious university when actions run afoul of the university’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies. Next up is Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman, and the season closes with Trying as Sarah Schorr, a 25-year-old goes to work as secretary for 81-year-old Francis Biddle, the patrician former US Attorney General. PalmBeachDramaWorks.org.
A New Gay Theater?
The Parker Playhouse may not be an officially LGBT theater, but you’d never know it by the programming. Look at what’s coming up in the next few weeks. Todrick Hall on Oct. 9, Darren Criss on Nov. 28, and The Life and Music of George Michael on Jan. 19. And that’s not even taking into account whomever Seth Rudetsky brings to town. ParkerPlayhouse.com.