Entertainment Details

THE RIVERFRONT TIMES 

Dennis Brown and Deanna Jent suss out local theater

Article Published Mar 29, 2006

Who / What:

Visit to a Small Planet In his playbill biography, director Wayne Mackenberg tells us he's glad to be involved with a play that hasn't been "done to death." Amen to that. Gore Vidal's rarely staged debut comedy, written long before he became a national wag, recalls a time when the American theater was a venue for commenting on issues of the day. Written at the height of the Cold War, the plot concerns Kreton (portrayed with mischievous charm by J. Peter O'Conner), an alien who arrives in Virginia on a UFO expecting to aid Robert E. Lee in the Civil War and instead finds himself "wallowing in the twentieth century." This inaugural community-theater production is a little on the rough side, but it's fun to hear Vidal's early stabs at satire. Performed by Over Due Theatre Company through April 2 at the Olivette Community Center, 9723 Grandview Drive, Olivette. Tickets are $10 ($8 for students and seniors). Call 314-210-2959.
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