Later Stages of Life

Things are hopping at the Wings, the retirement home for old actresses. The charitable trust that maintains the home has arranged a fundraising performance by young actors to benefit the home, and it turns out most of the retired actresses do pro bono work as critics. There's also a bit of a kerfluffle between longtime resident May Davenport and newcomer Lotta Bainbridge. May regarded Lotta as her chief rival for many years, and she's not going change her ways now. There's also a nosy reporter, Zelda, wandering about the home, certain that the Wings must be a hotbed of drama worth writing about; she's correct, but that doesn't mean she should do it. Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings has its share of frothy dialogue, but it also promulgates what was, at the time of its writing (1960), a somewhat radical idea: that "old age needn't be nearly so dreary and sad as it's supposed to be," as Coward put it. Act Inc has lined up a murderer's row of actresses to bring Waiting in the Wings to life at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday (June 19 through 21, and July 3 through 5) at Fontbonne University's Fine Arts Theatre (6800 Wydown Road; 314-725-9108 or www.actinc.biz). Tickets are $18 to $20.
Every other Friday-Sunday. Starts: June 19. Continues through July 5, 2009