Culture

[THEATER]

Herstory in the Making

New St. Louis theater company is planning an all-women playwright festival

Written by RILEY MACK

Astartup theater organization started by a St. Louis duo is planning a festival that will feature a lineup of plays written by women.

Prism Theatre Company is taking scripts until June 1 for Spotlight On: Women Writing, Prism Festival of New Works, with hopes of starting productions in late July to August.

Founders Joy Addler and Trish Brown met in 2016 when they worked on a production together. Each came with years of experience, a passion for theater, dreams of owning their own organization and firsthand knowledge of the biases prevalent in their field.

Today, they head a company with the intent of giving everyone a fair shot in the theater world.

“The idea is to provide substantial opportunities for women and emerging artists in a safe, collaborative, open and kind environment,” Brown says. “All of these things are really important to us.”

Addler, the managing director, and Brown, the artistic director, initially hoped to debut a full season in 2020 as Prism’s introduction to the St. Louis theater crowd.

That plan was soon interrupted. Just a few months after the company was established, the pandemic hit. Instead of opening nights and curtain calls, the arts organization was forced to spend its first year attempting to survive as a company.

“It’s really given us a little bit of grit, because we have had to continually make the decision, ‘Is this mission something that we’re willing to push through for?’” Addler says.

Over and over, the answer has been “yes.”

“I think ‘perseverance’ has been the key word. That’s been the key word for every arts organization that has survived this pandemic,” Brown adds. “We’re very grateful to be able to be here and to be doing this. It’s a real gift, and we don’t take it lightly.”

While the world still has not reached the level of normalcy that they had hoped for, Addler says they “didn’t want to sit on this mission and opportunity.”

The duo determined that Prism Theatre Company’s first public event should re ect their values as an organization — thus the theme of the all-women playwright festival expected to get underway this summer.

The Prism team will decide on three to five plays, all written by women, by the end of June. They will consider any type of format, from ten-minute shorts to fulllength plays. The shows will be presented at a to-be-determined location, both in-person and with a livestream online.

Addler and Brown are hopeful that this first project will set them up for success as a theater company in St. Louis. If it works, they plan to establish the festival as an annual event, with the spotlight on a different theme each year.

To start, the two theater veterans believe that the work of women in the field has a well-deserved place at the forefront of the St. Louis theater scene.

“It always feels like such an accomplishment when a woman is promoted to a place of power in the theater world. That always feels like such a big deal,” Addler says. “It shouldn’t. Women have played such a big role in the theater industry since it started.”

“One of the big goals is to champion women’s voices from all walks of life, to shine a light on their stories and also to bring artists together to collaborate,” Brown adds.

The Prism Theatre Company may have had an untimely launch amidst a pandemic, but its founders stand firm in the belief that its mission is too important to give up. They hope that their future audiences feel the same way.

“We are so passionate about making sure that these voices are heard, respected and noticed,” Addler says.

“We’re at a point in history where we have the first vice president, who’s not just a woman, but a woman of color — and that is just amazing,” Brown says. “So we’re hoping to continue fostering all of the inclusivity going on and taking hold in our world.” n

Joy Addler, le , and Trish Brown are introducing their new theater company with a new festival. | COURTESY JOY ADDLER AND TRISH BROWN

“ It always feels like such an accomplishment when a woman is promoted to a place of power in the theater world. That always feels like such a big deal. It shouldn’t. Women have played such a big role in the theater industry since it started.”

[COMEDY]

Just for Laughs

Funny Bone comedy club is opening a St. Charles location

Written by DANIEL HILL

St. Louis’ premier comedy club is expanding out west, and it’s bringing the laughs with it.

The Funny Bone (614 Westport Plaza Drive, Maryland Heights; 314-469-6692) has been bringing comedy to St. Louisans since 1985, and now it will be bringing the fun across the river in St. Charles, to a second location expected to open this fall.

The move will make the second club a part of the Streets of St. Charles development project, built at the spot where Noah’s Ark once stood (1520 South Fifth Street, St. Charles). That project, headed up by Cullinan Properties

e Funny Bone is coming soon to St. Charles, the comedy club’s second location. | ANAISE HOUSKA

Ltd., consists of a 27-acre community featuring multifamily housing, office space, dining, hospitality, retail and, importantly for this discussion, entertainment.

“We are excited to expand the entertainment options at Streets of St. Charles with Funny Bone Comedy Club, which greatly complements the wide array of shopping and dining options,” Cullinan Properties Senior Leasing Representative Patricia Kueneke says in a statement. “Patrons will now be able to do some shopping, grab dinner and catch a show, all in one convenient, exciting location.”

The Funny Bone’s St. Charles location will be on Beale Street, between Arch Apparel and Prasino. Owner Jerry Kubach says it’s the “fun atmosphere and evening activity” in the district that initially persuaded him to open a new location there. He expects that the club will be a perfect fit, and will be welcomed by the people of St. Charles. “We will strive to bring the best up and coming talent along with familiar high-profile comics that the crowds love,” he says. “Stay tuned for the list of comics that will be performing in the fall.”

The Funny Bone is just one of several new additions to the district, which also announced that plant-based soap makery Buff City Soap has just opened its doors as well, joining several other wellregarded shops and restaurants that recently opened including Paperdolls Boutique, Sauce on the Side, Loaded Elevated Nachos and Napoli III.

For Kueneke, the new slate of openings represents a return to normalcy after an extremely difficult twelve months.

“After a tough year nationwide, it’s clear that Streets of St. Charles is thriving more than ever and remains the premier mixed-use destination for the Metro St. Louis area,” she says.

The Funny Bone’s St. Charles location is slated to open in the fall. Operations at its current location will continue as usual. For more information, visit stlouisfunnybone.com. n

9 Mile Garden Hosting Outdoor Movies

Written by JAIME LEES

Everyone’s favorite Affton gathering spot, 9 Mile Garden (9375 Gravois Road, 314-390-2806), is now hosting movies in addition to offering tasty food.

The celebrated food-truck garden will be showing movies each Saturday night until mid-October on its huge 26-foot outdoor screen.

The lineup is family friendly (though they’re not all just little-kid movies), and all films are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise posted so the whole family can enjoy without getting too sleepy.

Visitors can buy their dinner or snacks on site, bring their own blanket and snuggle up to watch a film under the stars.

And in addition to Saturday night movies, 9 Mile Garden will also be hosting a farmers’ market each Sunday this summer during their brunch hours of 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., so chances are that Afftonites will be spending entire weekends at the Gravois food-truck garden soon.

The scheduled movie lineup is below. May 1: Fabulous Mr. Fox May 8: Uncle Buck May 15: Iron Man May 22: Jaws May 29: Back to the Future June 5: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back June 12: Moana June 19: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom June 26: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl July 3: Captain America: The Winter Soldier July 10: Avatar July 17: Ocean’s Eleven July 24: Finding Nemo July 31: Batman August 7: Rocky

You can enjoy dinner and a show this summer and fall at 9 Mile Garden. | COURTESY 9 MILE GARDEN

August 14: Ready Player One August 21: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey August 28: Wreck It Ralph September 4: BumbleBee September 11: Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan September 18: The Wizard of Oz September 25: Close Encounters of the Third Kind October 2: Young Frankenstein October 9: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire October 16: Big October 23: Clue October 30: The Sixth Sense n