Theater

During a 33-year tenure as artistic director of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Steven Woolf helped boost the theater's national reputation.

Playwright Nancy Bell set her radio play about a fascist regime in an alternate reality, but she took inspiration from recent American history. "SHE" tells the story of an unnamed fascist leader determined to stay on the airwaves as rebels threaten the radio station she controls.

Many critics of the white-dominated theater canon in the U.S. point to the intense focus on Shakespeare as a force that holds back artists of color. St. Louis Shakespeare Festival's production of "King Lear" features a predominately Black cast — and makes room for new interpretations of a revered playwright.

The Muny will abandon plans to limit capacity when it reopens its doors to audiences in July. That means up to 11,000 people may be in attendance each night and the theater could avoid the multimillion-dollar budget deficit its leaders had forecast.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis returns to in-person, indoor performances with "Mlima's Tale," an intense play about the black-market ivory trade by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage. But director Ali Shariff said the story's implications go far beyond the treatment of elephants.

The Muny will return this summer with a five-show season that starts July 26. But there will be changes for theatergoers, including limited capacity in the venue and socially distanced seating.

Officials in St. Louis and St. Louis County relaxed capacity limits on live venues this week, but social distancing requirements mean that many venues are unable to safely accommodate any more people.

Muny managing director Kwofe Coleman, a 22-year veteran of the Forest Park theater, will take the helm when current President and CEO Dennis Reagan retires at the end of the year. Coleman will join the short list of Black professionals at the helm of large performing arts organizations in St. Louis.

Performing arts organizations in St. Louis are finding different answers to the question of how to stage in-person shows safely during the coronavirus pandemic. As spring weather makes outdoor performances more feasible, event producers make indoor spaces safer, and more people receive the COVID-19 vaccine, more organizations are deciding that the show will once again go on.

St. Louis Shakespeare Festival eyes a June 2 return to Forest Park for its first production of "King Lear," after canceling its 2020 show because of the coronavirus. The cast is composed entirely of artists of color.