Opening This Week
Silence
The inimitable Johnny Stallings presents a one-man show that isn't King Lear or Hamlet. On the contrary, Silence "explores the noise inside our heads and what happens when it falls silent." Brooklyn Bay, 1825 SE Franklin, Bay K, 241-9765, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 7 pm, through Sept. 25, $15
The Hyacinth Macaw
defunkt theatre presents Part 2 in its ongoing effort to produce all four installments of Mac Wellman's deliriously weird Crowtet series. Directed by Ben Plont. Back Door, 4321 SE Hawthorne, 481-2960, Opens Fri, runs Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 4 pm, through Oct. 22, $8-15, opening weekend is FREE
The Living Tarot
Put on by the Oracle Theatre Performance Troupe, this show involves audience members asking questions of an oracle, which will then prompt Tarot Card archetypes (The Fool, The High Priestess, etc.) to come to life and dance and move in an orgy of ritualistic theater. ***DOOP! DOOP! DOOP! BURNING MAN ALERT! BURNING MAN ALERT! DOOP! DOOP! DOOP!*** Brody Theater, 1904 NW 27th Ave, 224-0688, Sept.15-18, 22-25, 29-Oct. 1 @ 8 pm, $10
One Week Only
Sowelu Fundraiser
One of our finest actresses, Lorraine Bahr, is leaving her post as Sowelu's Associate Artistic Director, but the company is trudging on. Tonight catch preview scenes from their upcoming season, song stylings from Nan Gatchel and Jinete, and a celebration of Bahr's work with Sowelu. Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne, 230-2090, Sept. 20-21 @ 7 & 9 pm, $25 and up
Closing This Week
D.O.A.: A Primer for the Afterlife
D.O.A. begins in a holding chamber of sorts, immediately after the deaths of five unrelated characters: a high-society maven, a motivational speaker, a yoga instructor, a 16-year-old wallflower, and a mathematics professor. Through wacky musical numbers, "hallucinations," and intermittent dramatics scenes, the characters' lives, deaths, and personality traits are revealed. Tribe Theatre, 403 NW 5th, 227-3976, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, through Sept. 17, $10-12, Thursdays pay-what-you-can
Current Runs
Dreampuffs of Lorna
Allegedly selected from over 300 submissions, Stark Raving's season opener is Jennifer Haley's provocative comedy about "women, sex, war, and, of course, anthropomorphization." Coho Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh, 232-7072, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 7 pm, through Oct. 8, $10-20
Enchanted April
ART opens its 2005/2006 season with Matthew Barber's stage adaptation of Elizabeth von Arnim's classic novel. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1516 SW Alder St, 241-1278, Tues-Thurs, Sun 7 pm, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through Oct. 16, $15-40
The Flu Season
The mise en scene in Will Eno's more-meta-than-thou comedy is a psychiatric hospital, staffed by a deranged doctor and nurse. The patients are a pair known only as "Man" and "Woman," who fall in and out of love. Commenting on the action, and manifesting the play's latent self-awareness are two characters introduced as Prologue and Epilogue. As Prologue, Todd Van Voris' larger-than-life musings fill the stage with a heartbreakingly misplaced optimism. Meanwhile, Darius Pierce's vitriolic Epilogue channels Eno himself, a reminder that what we're watching has all been written by an anxious man sitting alone in a room trying to find the right words. AH Theatre Vertigo at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont, 306-0870, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, through Sept 24, $15
Current Runs
On the Edge
For one night only, the aerial dance company Pendulum brings in, fittingly enough, aerial dancers from 'round the globe, including England's Nicky Pearson, Montreal's Marianne Darcis, and the Chicago duo known simply as "Andrew and Erika." French American International School, 8500 NW Johnson, www.pendulumdancetheatre.org, Sun 7 pm, $18
