Theatre Conspiracy

Bill Taylor and Theatre Conspiracy are bringing Fringe Fort Myers back May 28th through the 31st. Rather than select performers through an open lottery, this year Theatre Conspiracy is curating a small selection of national and international touring artists. But the festival is holding one slot open for a local artist or performance group.

In collaboration with Theatre Conspiracy, the Laboratory Theater of Florida’s 17th season continues with performances beginning next week of August Wilson’s realist drama “Two Trains Running.” We’ll explore the production and the play’s broader themes of racial and economic injustice, memory, history and reckoning in a conversation with director Sonya McCarter and assistant director Shontae White.

Between 1982 and 2005, August Wilson wrote ten plays that are now known as his Century Cycle series. Before leaving the Alliance for the Arts, Bill Taylor and Theatre Conspiracy produced six of these plays. Now, they’re collaborating with the Laboratory Theater of Florida for a seventh.

Adam Szymkowicz’s “Clown Bar Christmas” spoofs conventional Christmas stories, shows and songs. Hallmark is among the franchises lampooned, with a clown named Petunia serving as the mistress of mischief on a Christmas tree farm.

A character in a Hallmark Christmas movie says forlornly that people having a good time stresses her. Actor Madelaine Weymouth goes one better. "‘Clown Bar Christmas’ is making fun of those stories we've heard over and over while also really embracing the fact that people really do love this time of year. But there's no reason why we can't have a laugh at the same time. Not everything has to be super serious.”

This week, three shows open, two close, 12 continue their runs and there are two limited engagements at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.

Bruce Costella brings a limited engagement of his one-man show “MUTTNIK” at the Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium November 7 – 9. The performance tells the story of Laika, stray dog from the streets of Moscow, who was chosen by Soviet scientists to become the first living animal to orbit the Earth aboard the Sputnik 2 in 1957.

It’s not easy getting over the loss of a spouse. Just ask Broadway Palm bartender Wayne Keller. He’s written an entire play built around that theme. It’s called 'Sharing the Same Umbrella.'

This week, one show opens, two shows close and six shows continue their runs at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.

This week, two shows close, eight continue their runs and there are six limited engagements at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.