Island City Stage is on fire with a shocking new play, and a coming-of-age drama explores the American Dream. Plus, TEDx Boca Raton, Jamie Kennedy and more in your week ahead.
THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “Armature”
Where: Island City Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $35
Contact: 954/928-9800, islandcitystage.org
Playwright Andrew Kramer’s timely world premiere is set largely in the gay bar of the title, but it also takes place at the intersection of sex, politics and racism. A bushy-tailed pop-culture blogger, chasing a scandal, finds himself involved in a potentially larger one when he meets a mysterious stranger at the sordid Armature Bar. Their stories collide with that of a striving African-American political candidate, Blythe Ames, whose connections to a certain social-justice movement threaten the safety of herself and her family. In “Armature,” the fire surrounding these characters is both literal and metaphoric; for an adventurous night at the theater, I wouldn’t pass this up. It runs through Feb. 27.
FRIDAY
What: Opening day of “Simone Leigh: Trophallaxis”
Where: Perez Art Museum, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cost: $12-$16
Contact: 305/375-3000, pamm.org
The title of artist Simone Leigh’s striking and epic sculpture “Trophallaxis” has its origins in entomology: It refers to the science of adult social insects as they transfer their own individual nourishment to the collective larvae, thus extending their labor for the communal good. But Leigh’s ceiling-mounted work, which consists of black terracotta and porcelain forms shaped like ripe fruit or nippled breasts, and a zigzag of protruding car antennae, has more on its mind than insect customs. It’s also a meditation on the female body, particular that of women of color, and its relation to commercial beauty standards, physical and mental health, reproduction and more. Leigh worked on “Trophallaxis” from 2008 to 2017, and the Perez purchased the completed piece in 2018. The exhibition runs through Feb. 12.
What: Opening night of “Potato Dreams of America”
Where: Lake Worth Playhouse, 709 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach
When: 6 p.m.
Cost: $9
Contact: 561/296-9382, lakeworthplayhouse.org
An immigrant’s story of the American Dream, this autobiographical dramedy from writer-director Wes Hurley is told with a singular wit and visual invention. Potato is a gay boy growing up in the collapsing USSR during the years of Perestroika, his only companion his mail-order bride mother. Both dream of crashing through the iron curtain and escaping to the mythic America of the pirated movies they clandestinely screen at home—a place of tinsel and glamour, where democracy flourishes and everybody ends up happy. Set during multiple formative periods in Potato’s life, Hurley’s movie packs a great deal of surprises and insights in its 95 minutes.
SATURDAY
What: TEDx Boca Raton
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 6 to 10:30 p.m.
Cost: $60
Contact: tedxbocaraton.com
In true TEDx fashion, the theme of this year’s return of the beloved local variant (the only variants we enjoy these days) of the enlightening speakers’ brand is “Defining Moments.” Thirteen guest speakers will center their talks on such a moment in their lives: a pivotal action, often an inspirational one, which set them on a new course. A diverse cross-section of creatives will share the outdoor amphitheater stage, including four-time Olympian Chaunte Lowe, nuclear engineer Dr. Leslie Dewan, musician Vanessa Simpson and environmental anthropologist Dr. Kenny Broad. Visit the event’s website for complete details and COVID attendance policies.
MONDAY, JAN. 31
What: Jamie Kennedy
Where: Tin Roof, 8 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach
When: 8:30 p.m.
Cost: $20
Contact: 561/265-5310, tinroofdelraybeach.com
Prolific character actor Jamie Kennedy has dozens of credits in film and television, but like most of my generation, I remember him most fondly as Randy Meeks, the smart-alecky horror-movie cinephile of Wes Craven’s “Scream” franchise, and the character whom my high-school self most wanted to be in those movies. Though he’s appeared in a bevy of horror and science-fiction projects, it wasn’t until the top-rated hidden-camera series “The Jamie Kennedy Experiment,” in the early 2000s, that he was able to fully unleash his comic id, creating at least eight different characters, Sasha Baron Cohen-style, including the white rapper Brad Gluckman, whom Kennedy went on to portray in a feature film. The good news for us: Kennedy is as gifted a comedian on the standup stage as he is in front of cameras; for the modestly sized Tin Roof, he’s an awfully big “get.”
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