Theater

Local talent fuels ensemble comedy
There seems to be plenty of stage space for young thespians, from classroom skits to high-school plays and summer camps and programs.
What you don’t often find is a showcase for older actors -- the ones who have enough life experience to portray any character they’re playing to a “T” and are confident enough to push the portrayals to their comedic utmost.

If you have ever wanted to write, direct or star in your own stage play, now is your chance. The St. Anthony Community Theater will be hosting its first ever PlayFest, where they are inviting teams of two to five people to write and stage a one-act play within 48 hours.
There will be rules each team must follow when writing the play, which will be given to the teams at an organizational meeting, held on Thursday, Jan. 30 at the St. Anthony Village High School auditorium at 7 p.m. Teams will then have 48 hours to write short, one-act plays, which they will perform on stage, starting at 7 p.m.

For most people, the name Andrew Lloyd Webber is associated with Broadway hits such as  “Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats“.  However, among Webber ‘s plays is a lesser -known, beautifully haunting musical called  “Whistle Down the Wind,” and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in North St. Paul is currently presenting it.

The original zombie, back to undead

If you can’t handle an onslaught of zombies -- a zombie from the left, a zombie from the right, a zombie from behind and a zombie head on -- you may want to stay at home, rather than go to the Historic Mounds Theatre’s production of “Night of the Living Dead” on Halloween weekend.
Scares, gore and a sense of claustrophobia are what Derek Dirlam and Sal Niteo are hoping will pull you into their immersive, live production of the classic 1968 zombie horror flick.