Unwanted Advice

If you've ever glanced through various advice columns, it's not hard to feel either a twinge of sympathy (or a shot of schadenfreude) for the sad sacks that pour their hearts out to the Ann Landers and Dan Savages of the world. But in Nathanael West's novella Miss Lonelyhearts, it's the advice-giver, not the advice-seeker, who is in need of the most help. An unnamed newspaperman reluctantly takes on the guise of the titular character and dispenses pithy platitudes to his readers while he himself attempts to either salvage or destroy his soul with vengeful sex, drunken outrages and an attempted religious conversion. The theater department at Fontbonne University has adapted the work for the stage and will perform it at the university's Fine Arts Theatre (6800 Wydown Avenue). Show times are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday (March 10 through 13). Tickets are $5 for students and seniors and $10 for everyone else. For more information, call 314-889-1425.
March 10-13, 2011