Weekend spotlight: Museums for free; whole lotta theater

Let’s remember that Saturday is Free Museum Day in St. Petersburg. Eight of the city’s museums are waiving the entrance fees for Pinellas County residents. Certain conditions apply – some facilities required advance free tickets for timed entry, for example. Many insist you bring a valid ID showing proof of residence.

This Catalyst story includes all the details, and all the links for getting hold of those advance tickets.

Participating are the Dali Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg Museum of History, the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, the Museum of Motherhood and the (recently re-opened) Florida Holocaust Museum.

In LAB’s “Goddess of the Hunt”: David Warner, left, Charles Byrd, Larry Corwin, Zach “Hippie” Griswold and Samantha Martí-Parisi. Photo provided.

On theater stages

We’ve got what surely must be a record number of professional theater productions this weekend, in both St. Pete and Tampa. How about “an embarrassment of riches”?

Fat Pig. Neil LaBute’s brutally dark comedy about a man whose friends “don’t approve” of his dating a plus-sized woman opens tonight at The Studio@620. It’s from Dead Canary productions, who brought us the gritty Venus in Fur last spring. Info and tickets are at this link. Director Stephen Riordan guests on Friday’s edition of our Arts Alive! podcast.

Beach Theatre Play Festival. Three staged readings of new works by local playwrights at the recently-refurbished movie house: Romeo, Romeo by Alaina Rahaim Miller (Friday, 7 p.m.); Bionic by Jenna Jane (Saturday, 2 p.m.); Florida Man: The Musical by Bill Leavengood and Constantine Grame (Sunday, 2 p.m.). All details and tickets are at this link.

Goddess of the Hunt. The treachery of social media plays a major role in this new mystery/farce from Fable playwright Doug DeVita, opening tonight at LAB Theatre Project. It’s a world premiere, in keeping with LAB’s manifesto, and director Owen Robertson describes it as “wicked, witty, and wonderfully theatrical.” Find info and tickets here.

The Good Peaches. With performances Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., at the Mahaffey Theater, it’s a massive inter-community collaboration between American Stage, projectALCHEMY and The Florida Orchestra. Read all about it in our story (there’s a ticket link in there, too).

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors. The hit Off-Broadway farce begins a five-week residency at the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre tonight. It’s directed by playwright Gordon Greenberg – he’ll give you the details in our story, which also includes a link for showtimes and tickets.

Ada and the Engine. Kayla Witoshynsky (profiled in our story) plays 19^th Century mathematician Ada Byron Lovelace in Powerstories Theatre’s production of Lauren Gunderson’s history-based drama. Ada is entering its final weekend.

Tell Me on a Sunday. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical was a hit right out of the gate at freeFall Theatre. Julia Rifino (profiled here) is onstage for the entire 70 minutes, with three mostly-mute male dancers helping her tell the story of a young woman navigating life and love. It continues through Oct. 5.

Concerts

Combining jazz with Hindustani music and traditional Kathak dance, Temporal Tal Collective is a unique stage experience, onstage tonight at the Palladium Theater. Go behind the curtain in our story (tickets are available there, too).

Friday brings Bryan J. Hughes and the Crew, St. Pete’s favorite jazz-with-vocals band, to the Palladium Side Door Cabaret. Percussionist extraordinaire Gumbi Ortiz joins the group for The Latin Side of Jazz. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are at this link.

Country singer (and hit songwriter) Hardy brings his “Jim Bob Tour” to the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Friday. Tickets.

Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall: Comedian Tom Segura, a frequent collaborator with fellow standup and pal Bert Kreischer, in a solo show. Tickets.

Puerto Rican singer and rapper Anuel AA plays Benchmark Arena Sunday, on his “Real Hasta La Muerte 2 Tour.” Tickets.

Comedian Jimmy O. Yang’s Sunday show is at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center has been “postponed.”

Tuesday (Sept. 23)

The Florida Orchestra has a string quartet concert Tuesday 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Dali Museum, featuring works specially curated for “exploring the intersections of sound and the artistic legacy of Salvador Dalí.” Find tickets at this link.

Tuesday brings writer Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat Pray Love) to the Tampa Theatre for a talk on her new memoir, All the Way to the River. Tickets (available here) include a signed hardcover copy of the book.

Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section. 

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