There are many benefits to living in St. Louis, among them being the number of small theater companies operating in venues throughout the city and county. This was brought home years ago by a conversation overheard before a performance at St. Louis Actors’ Studio, 360 N. Boyle.
The couple sitting behind us had recently moved to St. Louis from the East Coast and was telling the people next to them that they were seeing more theater here than they had in New York. I remember the woman saying, “It’s so much easier to get to the theater here, and the caliber of the productions is just as good.”
We returned to the Actors’ Studio Saturday night to see A Doll’s House, Part 2, which ends its 3-week run this coming weekend. Though it’s a one-act, 2-hour production, it was so riveting neither of us moved until we stood to applaud the actors.
Playwright Lucas Hnath has created a sequel to Ibsen’s well-known play, A Doll’s House, in which Nora, played here by the fantastic Julie Layton, returns home 15 years after leaving her husband, Torvald, played by the equally fantastic Michael James Reed, shown above. Others in the production are the perfectly cast Teresa Doggett and Claire Coffey.
The photo above, courtesy of St. Louis Actors’ Studio, shows Julie Layton, right, in “A Doll’s House ” 15 years ago
From the Actors’ Studio website: “In the final scene of Ibsen’s 1879 groundbreaking masterwork, Nora Helmer makes the shocking decision to leave her husband and children, and begin a life on her own. In A Doll’s House, Part 2, 15 years have passed since Nora’s exit (and since Julie Layton played Nora on this stage). Now, there’s a knock on that same door. Nora has returned. But why? And what will it mean for those she left behind.”
A Doll’s House, Part 2, final performances Thurs., Friday & Saturday, Feb 19-21 at 8 p.m., Sun. Feb. 22 at 3 p.m.
For tickets click here.
St. Louis Actors’ Studio at The Gaslight Theater, 360 N. Boyle.