St Louis Film Critics Association Announce 2022 Awards Nominations

St Louis Film Critics Association Announce 2022 Awards Nominations

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ leads with 11 nominations, followed by ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ with 10; ‘Women Talking’ and ‘The Fabelmans’ earn 8 each

Special Merit recognition to Jafar Panahi, Ashley Judd and David Bowie

The St. Louis Film Critics Association have announced nominations for its annual awards, to be presented on Dec. 18.

In addition to determining nominations in 23 categories, the regional critics’ group recognized three people for special merit: imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whistleblower actress Ashley Judd and posthumously, influential musician-actor David Bowie.

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy about two lifelong friends at an impasse, was nominated for film, director, actor, supporting actor and actress, ensemble cast, original screenplay, cinematography, editing, music score and production design.

The multiverse mind-bender, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” garnered nominations for film, directors, actress, supporting actor, ensemble, original screenplay, editing, visual effects, comedy, and action film.

Two dramas, “Women Talking” and “The Fabelmans,” were recognized with eight nominations apiece, while the “Elvis” biopic had seven, and sequels “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” earned six.

See below for a complete list of nominations.

Regarding the Special Merit nods, SLFCA President Jim Tudor said the group wanted to recognize filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was sentenced to six years in prison by the Iranian government for inquiring about the arrests of his fellow filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad.

The international film community has denounced his imprisonment as unjust. His latest work, “No Bears,” was shown at the Venice Film Festival and New York Film Festival this fall.

The SLFCA statements on the three Special Merits:

Jafar Panahi

“In recognition of the courage of imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi and all those film professionals confronting political oppression in the pursuit of free speech, human rights, and artistic expression.”

Ashley Judd

“We recognize Ashley Judd for the bravery and courage she demonstrated in portraying herself in ‘She Said.’”

David Bowie

“After nominating the experimental documentary “Moonage Daydream,” we want to also honor the expansive and continuing cinematic presence of singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie, whose life and music continues to permeate and enrich the cinema landscape.”

Founded in 2004, the St. Louis Film Critics Association is a nonprofit organization of professional film reviewers who regularly publish current and timely film criticism, support local productions and festivals, and enhance public education, awareness, and appreciation of films. Vetted members are affiliated with qualifying media outlets in the St. Louis metropolitan region.

For the awards, eligible films are those that opened in the greater St. Louis area or had an online premiere during the 2022 calendar year – including those film that were given awards-qualifying runs in 2021 but were not available to all SLFCA members until 2022. Films slated for release in early in 2023 are also eligible if a press screening, DVD screener, or screening link was provided to all SLFCA members.

For more information, visit the site: www.stlfilmcritics.com

The complete list of nominations are as follows:

She Said

BEST FILM

The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
She Said
Women Talking

BEST DIRECTOR

The Daniels (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert) – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Baz Luhrmann – Elvis
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Sarah Polley – Women Talking
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans

BEST ACTOR

Austin Butler – Elvis
Daniel Craig – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Paul Mescal – Aftersun

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett – Tár
Danielle Deadwyler – Till
Mia Goth – Pearl
Emma Thompson – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Andre Braugher – She Said
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Ben Whishaw – Women Talking

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
Claire Foy – Women Talking

Janelle Monae – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Carey Mulligan – She Said

Glass Onion

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Women Talking

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rian Johnson; based on characters created by him

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro and Patrick McHale; Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins (story); based on the novel by Carlo Collodi

She Said – Rebecca Lenkiewicz; based on the book She Said by Jodi Cantor and Megan Twohey, and on the New York Times investigation by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey, and Rebecca Corbett

White Noise – Noah Baumbach; based on the novel by Don DeLillo

Women Talking – Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews; based on the novel by Miriam Toews

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh
Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook and Gong Seo-kyeong
Everything Everywhere All at Once – The Daniels (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
The Fabelmans – Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
The Menu – Seth Reiss & Will Tracy
Tár – Todd Field

The Menu


BEST EDITING

The Banshees of Inisherin – Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Elvis – Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa
Everywhere Everywhere All at Once – Paul Rogers
Tár – Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick – Eddie Hamilton

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Banshees of Inisherin – Ben Davis
The Batman – Greig Fraser
Nope – Hoyte Van Hoytema
Top Gun: Maverick – Claudio Miranda
Women Talking – Luck Montpellier

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Avatar: The Way of Water – Dylan Cole and Ben Procter
The Banshees of Inisherin – Mark Tinldesley
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Hannah Beachler
Elvis – Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rick Heinrichs

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ruth E. Carter
Elvis – Catherine Martin
The Fabelmans – Mark Bridges
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – Jenny Beavan
The Woman King – Gersha Phillips

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Avatar: The Way of Water – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett

Everything Everywhere All at Once – Zak Stoltz (Visual Effects Supervisor); Ethan Feldbau and Benjamin Brewer (Visual Effects Lead Artists); Jeff Desom (Visual Effects Artist)

Nope – Guillaume Rocheron (Visual Effects Supervisor); Jeremy Robert (Visual Effets Supervisor); Sreejith Venugopalan (DFX Supervisor); Scott R. Risher (Special Effects Coordinator)

RRR – V. Srinivas Mohan (VFX Supervisor)

Top Gun: Maverick – Ryan Tudhope (Visual Effects Supevisor); Scott R. Fisher (Special Effects Coordinator); Seth Hill (Visual Effects Supervisor) Bryan Litton (Visual Effects Supervisor)

Babylon

BEST MUSIC SCORE

Babylon – Justin Hurwitz
The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell
The Batman – Michael Giacchino
The Fabelmans – John Williams
Women Talking – Hildur Guðnadóttir

BEST SOUNDTRACK

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Moonage Daydream
Top Gun: Maverick
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

BEST ACTION FILM

Avatar: The Way of Water
Everything Everywhere All at Once
RRR
Top Gun: Maverick
The Woman King

BEST COMEDY FILM

Everything Everywhere All at Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Jackass Forever
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

BEST HORROR FILM

Men
Nope
Pearl
Scream
X

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Turning Red
Wendell and Wild

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
Good Night Oppy
Moonage Daydream
Sr.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

All Quiet on the Western Front
Close
Decision to Leave
Happening
RRR

BEST SCENE

The Fabelmans – Sam meets one of his idols on the studio lot.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – Marcel on 60 Minutes.
Nope – A tragic day on the set of Gordy’s Home.
RRR – Piggyback prison escape.
Tár – Lydia bullies a Julliard student.
Top Gun: Maverick – Iceman visits with Maverick.

RRR

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Is Powerful Story of Fractured Bonds

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Is Powerful Story of Fractured Bonds

By Alex McPherson

A tragicomedy that packs a massive emotional wallop, writer-director Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” is a near-perfect film, balancing its blisteringly entertaining dialogue with sobering pathos. As someone who considers “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” to be one of my favorite films of all time, McDonagh’s latest effort certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Set on an idyllic island off the west coast of Ireland in 1923 — shielded from the nearby civil war, yet remaining its own microcosm of turmoil and pettiness —  “The Banshees of Inisherin” follows Pádraic (Colin Farrell), an contented, amiable dairy farmer who makes up for his lack of sophistication with kindness. Living in a cottage with his loving sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and his beloved donkey Jenny, Pádraic is comfortable with his banal existence. Until, one day, there is a disturbance in the force.

Pádraic usually jaunts off to the local pub mid afternoon with his aging pal, Colm (Brendan Gleeson), but on this day in April when Pádraic stops by to meet Colm at his house, he’s completely ignored. In fact, Colm wants absolutely nothing to do with Pádraic anymore, declaring him, bluntly, to be too boring and dull to be worth hanging out with. Colm, suffering from “despair,” wants to leave a mark on the world through composing music, and is prepared to cut out anything that could possibly hold him back. Pádraic is utterly distraught, unwilling to accept Colm’s decision — which sets the stage for a typically McDonagh-esque comedy of errors, steeped with brutality, both physical and verbal, and leaving a tangibly potent impact.

Indeed, “The Banshees of Inisherin” blends hilarity with calamity, exaggeration with resonant, relevant themes. McDonagh explores the perils of ego, mental illness, isolation, mortality, and civil conflict with panache, imbuing the film with unpredictability from start to finish. 

Colin Farrell

The cast is stellar, especially the two leads, finally reuniting after “In Bruges.” Farrell brings yet another fascinatingly flawed character to life as Pádraic experiences a loss of innocence and of self amid the increasingly chaotic proceedings. While the initial setup is played for laughs, McDonagh understands the pain that Colm’s actions wreak upon Pádraic’s well-being — every sardonic quip and blunt takedown is tinged with melancholy. Farrell, as usual, gives a masterful performance, conveying deep wells of feeling through facial expressions alone.

Pádraic’s a sympathetic protagonist, despite his refusal to leave Colm alone. He wants to live a “simple” life and finds joy in the little things, like relaxing at the pub (essentially the town hall), and caring for Jenny. Colm’s actions, however, send him spiraling further and further from the person he thought he was, inching ever-closer to the despair that grips Colm’s soul, as tensions continue to escalate.

Colm’s motivations, despite his stubbornness, remain understandable. Gleeson, with a weathered visage and stern demeanor, lends sorrow to the character. Colm is experiencing an existential crisis, making a last-minute scramble to leave behind a legacy and become one of the greats, like Mozart (even though Pádraic’s never heard of him). His seemingly small actions have profound effects throughout the community, and his harsh decisions are rooted in self-loathing and misplaced pride.

This being a McDonagh joint, supporting players are given plenty of depth. Condon is superb as Pádraic’s sister, Siobhan, the wisest in the village who recognizes Colm’s absurd behavior, and struggles to rescue her brother from sinking to his lows. Wry, intelligent, and underestimated, Siobhan has a fantastic arc over the course of the film, and features in some of its most stirring sequences. Barry Keoghan is incredible as a foul-mouthed young man named Dominic — offbeat, enduring an abusive household with his sadistic policeman father, Peadar (Gary Lydon), yet searching for meaning, purpose, and belonging. Sheila Flitton is fittingly creepy as Mrs. McCormick, embodying a wiry old “banshee” who might, or might not, have some supernatural pull over the island — foretelling doom with a smirk. Who knows, maybe she just likes toying with people?

Colin Farrell, Kelly Condon

Oh, did I forget to mention that this film is funny? McDonagh’s screenplay keeps viewers on their toes, mixing earnest and sardonic, even cartoonish dialogue to thrilling effect. Particularly amusing is how wildly out-of-hand the whole situation gets. “The Banshees of Inisherin” walks a thin narrative tightrope — with over-the-top plot developments that segue into violence, tragedy, and reflection — but through it all, McDonagh ensures we’re in good hands.

The story and performances are the film’s main appeal, but “The Banshees of Inisherin” also shines stylistically. Ben Davis’ vibrant, lush cinematography captures the beauty of this fictional town, but paints a wryly misleading picture, as does Carter Burwell’s wistful score. The camera often frames Pádraic separated from Colm through doors and windows, highlighting the metaphorical chasm between them. Outside, the rolling green hills and bright sun belie an isolation that permeates the island’s residents.

For while a war rages across the mainland — neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend — a different, albeit not so different conflict ensues on Inisherin, between two friends questioning what’s truly important in life. “The Banshees of Inisherin” is, quite simply, unmissable, although viewers should be aware that it isn’t a traditional comedy in any sense of the word. It’s quite a wrenching ride at times, but one of 2022’s best.

“The Banshees of Inisherin” is a 2022 comedy-drama written and directed by Martin McDonagh starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan. It’s rated R for language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity, and the run time is 1 hour, 49 minutes. It is in local theaters Nov. 4. Alex’s Grade: A+  

Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell

Doc on Opioids Crisis, Blanchett, Farrell Win at Venice Film Fest

Doc on Opioids Crisis, Blanchett, Farrell Win at Venice Film Fest

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

COMPETITION
Golden Lion for Best Film: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras
Grand Jury Prize: “Saint Omer,” Alice Diop
Silver Lion for Best Director: “Bones and All,” Luca Guadagnino
Special Jury Prize: “No Bears,” Jafar Panahi
Best Screenplay: “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Martin McDonagh
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: “Tár,” Cate Blanchett
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Colin Farrell
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: “Bones and All,” Taylor Russell

HORIZONS
Best Film: “World War III,” Houman Seyyedi
Best Director: “Vera,” Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel
Special Jury Prize: “Bread and Salt,” Damian Kocur
Best Actress: “Vera,” Vera Gemma
Best Actor: “World War III,” Mohsen Tanabandeh
Best Screenplay: “Blanquita,” Fernando Guzzoni
Best Short Film: “Snow in September,” Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

Cate Blanchett as Tar

LION OF THE FUTURE
Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Feature: “Saint Omer,” Alice Diop

HORIZONS EXTRA
Audience Award: “Nezouh,” Soudade Kaadan

VENICE CLASSICS
Best Documentary of Cinema: “Fragments of Paradise,” K.D. Davison
Best Restored Film: “Branded to Kill,” Seijun Suzuki

VENICE IMMERSIVE
Best Immersive Experience: “The Man Who Couldn’t Leave,” Chen Singing
Grand Jury Prize: “From the Main Square,” Pedro Harres
Special Jury Prize: “Eggscape,” German Heller

VENICE DAYS (announced earlier)
Cinema of the Future Award: “The Maiden,” Graham Foy
Director’s Award: “Wolf and Dog,” Cláudia Varejão
People’s Choice Award: “Blue Jean,” Georgia Oakley

CRITICS’ WEEK (announced earlier)
Grand Prize: “Eismayer,” David Wagner
Special Mention: “Anhell69,” Theo Montoya
Audience Award: “Margini,” Niccolò Falsetti
Verona Film Club Award: “Anhell69,” Theo Montoya
Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution: “Anhell69,” Theo Montoya
Best Short Film: “Puiet,” Lorenzo Fabbro and Bronte Stahl
Best Director (Short Film): “Albertine Where Are You?,” Maria Guidone
Best Technical Contribution (Short Film): “Reginetta,” Federico Russotto

Push Comes to Shove in WEPG’s ‘The Lonesome West’ Acting Showcase

Push Comes to Shove in WEPG’s ‘The Lonesome West’ Acting Showcase

By Lynn Venhaus

Two oil-and-water grown brothers, Valene and Coleman Connor, constantly bicker and fight like two Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Robots – but real physical and psychological damage takes place in “The Lonesome West.”

That’s a calling card of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, whose works, often involving dysfunction, are mostly bleak, dark, and if a pitch-black comedy, outrageously funny.

Such is the case in West End Players Guild’s hardscrabble production, running through May 8, of McDonagh’s 1997 play, part of his Connemara trilogy (Tony winner “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” and “A Skull in Connemara” being the others). It was Tony nominated for Best Play in 1999, when it transferred to Broadway.

The middle-aged brothers escalate violence over the most mundane things – such as bags of Taytos’ ‘crisps’ (chips). Think “The Odd Couple,” only more gruesome and foul-mouthed.

While McDonagh’s contemporary play is not as well-constructed as Sam Shepard’s “True West” about two battling brothers that at times, resembles a Looney Tunes’ roadrunner and coyote cartoon, the material is suitable for an acting showcase.

And WEPG rises to the challenges, with strong production values and outstanding performances.

It’s just that hurling insults gets tedious, and the story has no where to go after two and a half hours.

The amount of physicality required of Jeff Kargus as Valene and Jason Meyers as Coleman is enormous, and they are ferocious onstage, with a toughness and single-mindedness that is stunning.

Their agility in movement is matched by their full immersion into the Irish dialect, which is superb all throughout the two-act drama-comedy.

The remarkable dexterity Kargus and Meyers display as these difficult characters indicates much dedication to getting all aspects right. One must note the superb work of fight director and weapons supervisor Michael Monsey for his intense choreography.

Kargus, never better, has long passages of dialogue to deliver as the more sympathetic and dutiful brother, as Meyers’s Coleman is maniacal, likely a psychopath, has shot his father and will likely kill again – and no one would be surprised if Valene was his target.

Shades of Cain and Abel, and that is not a joke. Both are examples of arrested development, but Connor is a one-note character compared to Valene. As the hot-head, Meyers outbursts of rage quickly build in a matter of seconds, but he is not always convincing in depicting menace. He’s downright cruel about his brother’s religious figurines – and you’ll find out about the dog soon enough.

Valene isn’t entirely innocent, for they have antagonized and done horrible things to each other over the years. Kargus does a fine job conveying his character’s peculiarities perfectly, including a fascination with the old ABC western “Alias Smith and Jones,” which ran for three seasons from 1971-73, patterned after the wildly popular film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Apparently, it made a huge impact on Valene as a youth (or maybe home video).

The reason it is brought up in conversation is part of a bigger discussion on suicide, and whether the individual goes to heaven or hell. The Catholic Church believes those who kill themselves do not ascend to heaven, although there is some debate.

When a rash of suicides in the small town take place, people talk. Which leads to the old TV show discussion, because actor Peter Duel, 31, died of a self-inflicted gunshot after the first season.

That’s only one of the stream-of-conscience discussions in the shabby abode where the brothers live in the rural town of Leenane, in County Galway, where there is a shocking underbelly of mayhem and far too many strange-circumstances fatalities.

Scenic designer Brad Slavik has fashioned a very specific kitchen-living room combo with splendid detail while Frank Goudsmit’s props establish how the brothers live in an old farmhouse.

Tony Anselmo’s lighting design reflects the different moods and a more unsettling nighttime, while Jenn Ciaverella manages a sharp sound design – the Chieftains’s folk music is a good choice to play before the show and during intermission.

Under Robert Ashton’s fluid direction, the ensemble works together well, with Ted Drury as the hapless local priest Father Welsh and Hannah Geisz as Girleen Kelleher. Their comic timing is crisp, as is their ability to not break character, no matter how daffy or audacious the dialogue sounds.

Drury’s booze-swilling, advice-giving priest is hell-bent on saving the brothers’ relationship, but realizes it’s hopeless, and his despair is palpable.

Ashton has included a handy reference sheet to explain some of the Irish terms, such as poteen – meaning moonshine. You’ll see the men drinking copious amounts of the hooch, which is made from potatoes.

McDonagh, an Oscar nominee for writing “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” doesn’t seem to have an endgame here, which is frustrating, but at least what WEPG does with it is impressive.

Photos by John Lamb

West End Players Guild presents Martin McDonagh’s “The Lonesome West” from April 29 through May 8 at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union in the Central West End. For more information or tickets, visit westendplayers.org

The West End Players Guild is employing touchless ticketing, socially-distanced seating and indoor masking of all patrons, front of house staff and volunteers.

West End Players Guild Wraps ’21-22 Season with ‘The Lonesome West’

West End Players Guild Wraps ’21-22 Season with ‘The Lonesome West’

West End Players Guild closes out its 110th season with Martin McDonagh’s The Lonesome West, a four-time Tony Award nominee on Broadway (including Best Play of 1999).  The show opens Friday, April 29 and runs through Sunday, May 8 in the theatre at the Union Avenue Christian Church in the Central West End.  

Set in Leenane, County Galway, in western Ireland, this darkest of dark comedies offers multiple murders and suicides, periodic drunken rages and fistfights, a couple of knife attacks, random acts of sacrilege and oodles of despair.  Like the two other plays in McDonagh’s Leenane Trilogy, it would be a rather sad story if it wasn’t so outrageously funny. 

The story revolves around brothers Valene and Coleman Connor who, as the play begins, have just buried their father, recently deceased as the result of a shooting accident.  Valene and Coleman are a middle-aged and embittered pair.  They have nowhere to go in their lives and are in no hurry to get there.  Neither brother is especially saddened by the death of their father.  Each seems animated instead by his all-consuming hatred of the other.  They spend their days and nights brawling over the most trivial and mundane of slights, both real and imagined, much to the dismay of their parish priest, Father Welsh.  Welsh fears (not unreasonably) that the brothers are headed for a violent end, and is on a mission to salvage their relationship at any cost.

Robert Ashton directs the WEPG production which features Jason Meyers as Coleman Connor, Jeff Kargus as Valene Connor, Ted Drury as Father Welsh and Hannah Geisz as Girleen Kelleher, a flirtatious teenager who makes a living selling her family’s poteen (Irish potato moonshine) door-to-door.  The Connors are among her most frequent top-volume customers. 

WEPG will present The Lonesome West in seven performances at 8 p.m. Thursday (second week only), Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, April 29-May 8.  Tickets for all performances are now on sale at www.WestEndPlayers.org/tickets.

West End Players Guild this season employs touchless ticketing, socially-distanced seating and indoor masking of all patrons and front-of-house staff and volunteers.  For full details on our public health policies, please visit www.WestEndPlayers.org/covid-19-policies/.

Mark Abels photos

West End Players Guild Announces 110th Season to Start in September

West End Players Guild Announces 110th Season to Start in September

Okay, let’s try this one again.  The Lost Year is ending and the season that never happened is gone for good, but now our darkened theatre is getting ready to light up once again.  Plan to join us in September for opening night of our 110th season of Big Theatre in a Small Space, with another exciting schedule of plays never or rarely seen in St. Louis.  

            September 17-26, 2021:  What if you could go back in time and change the one moment that reshaped your life forever?  What if you could see a lost love of 40 years ago just one more time, to learn how her life turned out?  Would you?  Steven Dietz’s Bloomsday, a bittersweet tale of love won and lost on the Emerald Isle, poses the questions.  The answers are for you to discover.  Jessa Knust makes her WEPG directing debut.   

            December 10-19, 2021:  Shirley Lauro’s A Piece of My Heart is, according to one reviewer, “six women telling a story you are not sure you want to hear.”  Four young military nurses, a Red Cross worker and a USO singer fly off to the Vietnam war, full of hope and driven by their desire to serve.  But the life they live there breaks their hearts and, for some, their lives.  Yes, it’s a story you may not want to hear, but it’s also one you’ll never forget.  Dani Mann directs.

            February 11-20, 2022:  In an alternate universe much like our own, in a budget motel room in a snowy part of the country called New Hampshire, the first woman to make a serious run at a major party’s presidential nomination is teetering on the brink of elimination from a race that hasn’t even really started yet; and her husband, himself an ex-president, isn’t helping much.  The play is Hillary and Clinton, Lucas Hnath’s take on what might have happened in that motel room.  Is Hnath’s tale history or fantasy?  We can’t say for sure, but we can promise a show that is smart, funny and full of characters you just might recognize.  Tim Naegelin directs his first WEPG production. 

            April 29-May 8, 2022:  We end our season where it began – in Ireland.  But Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s The Lonesome West is no warm-hearted Irish love story.  This dark, dark comedy is the tale of Coleman and Valene, two brothers who can barely keep from killing each other.  McDonagh makes you laugh and laugh at things that really shouldn’t be laughed about.  But go ahead and laugh out loud.  We won’t tell.  Robert Ashton returns to WEPG to direct.   

            Season tickets for the upcoming season go on sale in July online at WestEndPlayers.org/tickets. Individual show tickets will go on sale in August.  All shows are at the theatre in the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Boulevard in the Central West End.  Watch for further announcements and check for more information, including public health protocols to be observed at the performances (when they are finalized), at WestEndPlayers.org. 

Actors, take note:  Auditions for A Piece of My Heart, Hillary and Clinton and The Lonesome West will be held July 17 (Bloomsday, originally scheduled to be presented in April, 2020, has already been cast).  More information and audition sides will be posted at WestEndPlayers.org/auditions in June. 

“Silent Sky” Photo by John Lamb

            West End Players Guild is the region’s oldest continuously-operated theatre company, presenting “big theatre in a small space” since 1911.