The Ghost of Guilt

One of the most compelling elements of a great ghost story is a character’s guilty conscience, leading the audience to question whether it is a ghost or regrets doing the haunting. Playwright Naomi Iizuka’s Language of Angels, a kind of ghost story set in working-class North Carolina where a girl went missing, explores this tension in a structure that combines Japanese drama with an Appalachian setting. The girl’s disappearance hovers over the characters, one of whom was responsible for her fate, as the community gathers to sort out what happened, what the loss means and how to face the subsequent guilt. Theatre Three brings the 2000 ghost story to life in a Jeffrey Schmidt-directed performance that opens this weekend. Previews are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The official opening is 7:30 p.m. Monday, and regularly scheduled performances, beginning May 19 and continuing through June 5, are 7:30 Thursdays, 8 Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays at Theatre Three, 2800 Routh St., Suite 168. Tickets ($20 to $30) and more information are available at 214-871-3300 or theatre3dallas.com.

Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sun., May 8, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m.; Mon., May 9, 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Starts: May 6. Continues through June 5, 2011