A Very Theatrical Thursday with ‘Strength & Grace,’ ‘Sharon’s Grave,’ and ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ (7/16/15)

Alan Obuzor goes heels-over-head for Alexandra Tiso in “Strength & Grace.” Photo: Katie Ging

1) Texture Contemporary Ballet is a five-year-old company founded by Alan Obuzor, formerly a dancer with Pittsburgh Ballet and an experienced, though still quite young, choreographer. He and associate artistic director Kelsey Bartman have assembled a troupe of rising young dancers who all are versed in both classical and cutting-edge ballet. And in a four-day run at the New Hazlett Theater, the Texture team presents a sampling of its repertoire under the title Strength & Grace. There are new pieces by company members, “athleticism and elegance” are promised, and a special Saturday performance for children offers a condensed version of the full show. Opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. Runs through Sunday. 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. (MV)

2) The “I” is for “Irish.” PICT Classic Theatre was originally named Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, and the company still schedules intriguing plays from Ireland that are steeped in that country’s lore but seldom seen in the U.S. Next up is Sharon’s Grave, a macabre tragicomedy for which playwright John B. Keane was evidently channeling his inner banshee. Set in a rural seacoast area, Sharon’s Grave features a death watch, a wake, a feud over the dead man’s land, and a haunting. The villain pursuing the land grab is grotesquely unhinged: picture Voldemort without the emotional stability. The spirited daughter of the deceased insists on inhabiting the premises, while her brother is inhabited by spirits from Celtic mythology.  Opening preview is tonight at 8 p.m. Continues through Aug. 1. In the Henry Heymann Theatre at the Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland. (MV)

3) Stage 62, a top-notch community theater group, performs unusual musicals that are tricky to pull off. In recent years the company has scored big with Avenue Q, which requires mastery of puppets, and Side Show, wherein the female leads play Siamese twins joined at the hip. Now Stage 62 takes on The Drowsy Chaperone. This 2006 winner of five Tony Awards, by Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison, Bob Martin, and Don McKellar, is both a parody of old musicals and a tribute to them, written as a play within a play. The central character is a shy fellow who sits at home alone listening to vintage recordings of Broadway tunes from the 1920s. When he puts his favorite onto the turntable—the soundtrack of an exuberantly hokey fictional show called, well, The Drowsy Chaperone—the cast members magically appear and start performing the show. Opens tonight at 8 p.m. Ends July 26. At the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Ave., Carnegie. (MV)

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