UNCLE VANYA: VALIANTLY ACCEPTING NEXT YEAR’S AGONY • Rebel And Misfits Productions

There’s a malaise that blankets the Serebryakov family estate, and in Rebel and Misfits Productions’ second installment in its Immersive Theatre Project series, a private residence in Ladue serves as the country home in Anton Chekhov's 19th century classic. This interpretation of Uncle Vanya, adapted by artistic director, Kelly Hummert, retains the tragic weight of the everyday Chekhov's known for, but turns it in on itself, mining a great deal of humor in the process.

Serebryakov (Peter Mayer), a retired professor, and his young second wife, Yelena (Sophia Brown), are upsetting the routine of the caretakers and residents of his first wife’s estate after they decide to live there. Sonya (Francesca Ferrari), Serebryakov’s daughter from his first marriage, and his late wife’s brother, Vanya (Andrew Michael Neiman), maintain the property. Doctor Astrov (James Butz) is a regular at the house, visiting daily to check in on the aging professor. Other residents include Vanya’s mother, Mrs. Voitensky (Suzanne Greenwald), who seems to favor her son-in-law over her own, Marina (Donna Weinsting), the nanny who’s like part of the family, and Telegin, or “Waffles” (Kent Coffel), a poor neighboring landowner dependent on the family.

IN THE HEIGHTS • R-S Theatrics

Life in the New York City borough of Washington Heights is painted with spirited strokes in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical, In the Heights, and R-S Theatrics brings it to the stage in their biggest show to date. Covering a few days around a sweltering 4th of July, there’s a jackpot lottery ticket sold, a blackout, and two couples who fall for each other, while the pros and cons of remaining in a tight-knit community are weighed.

SNOW WHITE • Equally Represented Arts

ERA’s Snow White, presented as the local headliner for this year’s St. Lou Fringe Festival, showcases the unconventional whimsy that the company has become known for. Developed and adapted by ERA’s artistic director Lucy Cashion and the company’s ensemble, this new full-length play is culled from Walt Disney’s Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, the original Grimm fairy tale, and Donald Barthelme’s novel, Snow White -- a post-modern take on the tale. Along the way we meet a vengeful stepmother, a truth-dispensing mirror named Hogo, a high-minded prince, a girl with an aversion to mirrors and apples, and seven men in work jumpsuits, but in classic ERA fashion, it’s all presented with a collage of eccentric ideas and shrewd observations running alongside. The examination of identity, and the internal and external influences on identity, shine through in offbeat fragments.

THE COLOR OF AUGUST • Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble

Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble continues its "Season of Adaptation" with The Color of August, by Spanish playwright Paloma Pedrero. Written in 1988, and translated and adapted for this production by Will Bonfiglio, The Color of August explores a reunion of two artists and old friends that wavers between soft embraces and loud shouting, dependence and conflict. The play features Ellie Schwetye and Rachel Tibbetts -- actors who have been together in a few two-handers in the past, and there’s an undeniable synergy between them that complements the play. Who will portray which role is determined by a coin toss before each performance. The night I went it was “heads”, and Tibbetts played Maria, a successful artist, with Schwetye playing Laura, her inspiration.

RAGTIME • Stray Dog Theatre

Stray Dog closes out its season with an excellent production of Terrence McNally’s sweeping musical adaptation, Ragtime. Based on E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel, it places us at an intersection between the comfortable lives of suburbia, the disadvantaged lives in Harlem, and the enterprising optimism of newly-arrived immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. The painful growth of 1900's America is illustrated in Ragtime’s rousing prologue, where we are introduced to the ingredients in this uniquely American stew.

The upper-classes are represented by Mother (Kay Love), the matriarch of a well-to-do family living in New Rochelle, New York, that made their money manufacturing fireworks. Mother embraces everyone she meets with an open heart, and Love portrays her with a genteel determination, delivering a stirring ”Back to Before”. Mother’s husband, Father, in a solid performance by Phil Leveling, is a bit of a throwback -- resistant to the changing landscape of the country.