{"id":87094,"date":"2025-10-01T08:58:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T15:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=87094"},"modified":"2025-10-01T09:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:01:11","slug":"theater-news-theatrical-happenings-as-october-begins-including-plays-poetry-and-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/theater-news-theatrical-happenings-as-october-begins-including-plays-poetry-and-dance","title":{"rendered":"Theater news: Theatrical happenings as October begins \u2014 including plays, poetry and dance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or sign up<\/a> for our Eat See Do newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As October begins in relative coolness before the intensity of Halloween, here are some equally cool local theater happenings to celebrate its first weekend, ranging from plays to poetry to dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two play productions are continuing this weekend. The chilling \u201cDr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde<\/a>\u201d at Long Beach Playhouse<\/b>, 5021 E. Anaheim St., dramatizes how good and evil alarmingly coexist in the same person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From left: Rory Cowan, Alizon Morea, Carly Tilson-Lumetta and Taylor Popoola in “Predictor” at The Garage Theatre. Photo by Diana Kaufmann.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And in its final weekend, \u201cPredictor<\/a>\u201d at The Garage Theatre<\/b>, 251 E. 7th St., tells in a rather psychedelic way about the forgotten woman who invented home pregnancy tests in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For showtimes and tickets, visit <\/i>LBPlayhouse.org<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>TheGarageTheatre.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For something completely different in theaters, two options involving poetry, dance and art are happening this weekend only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Beach Shakespeare Company<\/b>\u2019s third annual poetry weekend features spoken word, music and movement performances that \u201cpromise to be as daring as they are reverent,\u201d according to the Bixby Knolls-based theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Festivities begin Friday, Oct. 3, at 6:30 p.m. as participants can stroll through Bixby Knolls to encounter \u201cPoets on the Street\u201d who type poems on demand for whatever you\u2019d like to pay them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Audiences can then head to the company\u2019s Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave., at 7:30 p.m. for \u201cThe Playful Stage,\u201d a pay-what-you-can improv performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, Oct. 5, local poets will read their work at 2 p.m., followed at 8 p.m. by \u201cBlack Mosaic\u201d \u2014 a celebration of Black history and culture curated by Dr. Melanie Curtis Andrews, cofounder and artistic director of the Inner City Shakespeare Ensemble<\/a>, featuring spoken word, music and dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being steeped in verse, you can try it out yourself during the theater\u2019s open-mic poetry on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2 p.m. And then settle back in that night at 8 p.m. to see the play \u201cThe Life and Undeath of Lucy Westenra,\u201d a gothic retelling of \u201cDracula\u201d by Cara Sanchez and directed by Linda Ravenswood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a festival that asks audiences to consider how Shakespeare\u2019s influence persists \u2014 not as a relic, but as a living spark,\u201d Long Beach Shakespeare Company says of its poetry weekend. \u201cWhether through verse tapped out on a typewriter, a dance tracing the arc of resilience or a play that reimagines Dracula\u2019s hauntings, the work here is united by one throughline: art speaks across time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tickets and information, visit <\/i>LBShakespeare.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center<\/b>, 6200 E. Atherton St., dance troupe Noche Flamenca is performing \u201cSearching for Goya\u201d on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Soledad Barrio of dance troupe Noche Flamenca, set to perform “Searching for Goya” at the Carpenter Center on Saturday, Oct. 4. Photo by Andres D’Elia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by the work of Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, and with live music and vocals, \u201cSearching for Goya\u201d explores political upheaval, injustice and human contradiction through contemporary flamenco dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNoche Flamenca fuses theatricality with raw emotion in a performance as striking as Goya\u2019s art,\u201d says the Carpenter Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tickets and information, visit <\/i>CarpenterArts.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any or all of the above sound like treats to begin October!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether you’re in the mood for something spooky or a high-energy interpretation of Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, there are some amazing shows on tap this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":87096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-87094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87094"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87100,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87094\/revisions\/87100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87094"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=87094"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=87094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}