Ghosts Haunt Kitchen Dog's Turn of the Screw; at Nouveau 47, A-Gays Tells a Funny Coming-Out Story.

Comments (0) By Elaine Liner Thursday, Apr 5 2012

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Matt Mrozek

Cameron Cobb and Jenny Ledel hammer home the eerie tale of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw at Kitchen Dog Theater.

Details

The Turn of the Screw continues through April 28 at Kitchen Dog Theater at The McKinney Avenue Contemporary. Call 214-953-1055. The A-Gays: Stillwater, Oklahoma continues Fridays and Saturdays through April 14 at Nouveau 47 Theatre, The Magnolia Lounge. All tickets are pay-what-you-can.

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He's on the little Nouveau 47 stage alone, but Michael seems to be everywhere at once during his show. He runs laps through the theater, leaps like a lemur between the poles at the four corners of the stage and works up such a sweat he changes T-shirts twice.

Michael's immense likability as a solo performer helps sustain interest in A-Gays during the flimsier sections of his script. Just out of college (he graduated from University of Texas at Dallas last year), Michael is a fresh but fledgling playwright still in a narcissistic public-confession mode, admitting in the play that he's working on "finding his voice." More Fierstein-like quips — Michael's best is "Modesty is for ugly people" — and fewer graphic sexual descriptions will broaden audience appeal. That overlong simulated masturbation scene? We get where it's going after the first five strokes. Less is more with that stuff, though his reference to using a wet-wipe to clean up some "santorum" after his first anal session is good for a long, hearty laugh.