Lou is in a bad way. He has spent his life restoring old things to useful life, but now he’s confronting a problem he can’t repair on his own. His kidneys are failing, and he is in desperate need of a transplant.
The obvious donor is his daughter, Raina. But Raina has issues of her own — mainly with the fact that Lou was routinely unfaithful to her mother, and she blames him for her mother’s early death.
So begins “Under the Skin,” the dark comedy by Michael Hollinger that the American Theatre Company will present beginning this weekend.
While much of the action takes place in a hospital room, playwright Hollinger said in a 2016 interview for the Everyman Theatre in Baltimore that the play is really about “family issues — relations between parents and children, betrayals, secrets, addiction, affairs, estrangements, etc., (told) through the high-stakes lens of organ transplantation.”
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Lori Bryant directs the production, which stars Don Miller as Lou, Emily Peterson as Raina and featuring Quentin Marcellis and Oti-Lisa Brown in multiple roles.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, May 3-4 and 10-11; 2 p.m. Sunday, May 5 and 12, at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St. A talkback session, featuring the cast and local health experts dealing with kidney disease, organ donation and transplants will follow the May 5 performance.
Tickets are $25-$35. 918-596-7111, tulsapac.com.
‘Once on This Island’
A musical that combines the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” with the drama of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet,” “Once on This Island” is the story of a young woman who crosses all manner of the social and cultural boundaries to save the life and win the love of the young man who has captured her heart.
Theatre Tulsa will present this Tony Award-winning musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens with performances at 8 p.m. Friday, April 26 and May 3; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 27 and May 4; 2 p.m. Sunday, April 28 and May 5, at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St.
Nicole Billups stars as Ti Moune, with Knox Blakely as Daniel, Kolbi Jordan as Asaka, Patricia Pineda as Agwe, Anna Joie as Erzulie and Jennifer Obené as Papa Ge.
Tickets are $29.25-$47.50. 918-596-7111, tulsapac.com.
‘Recipes for Life’
New York City artist June Kosloff will begin her tenure as artist in residence at Positive Space Tulsa when the gallery opens her exhibit “Recipes for Life: The Lucky Bubby Cookbook,” with an artist’s reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the gallery, 1324 E. Third St.
Kosloff began during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore the medium and culture of wheatpasting, an urban street art form that uses the basic mixture of flour and water as a fixative to post images that through the years have ranged from commercial posters to socially conscious art.
Kosloff’s work combines images of characters inspired by her family with positive, uplifting texts to create work that has an immediacy that gives a universal quality to personal events.
Kosloff will conduct a wheatpasting workshop beginning at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4, to introduce participants to the history of wheatpasting, the techniques involved and how to create artwork for a community wall.
The exhibit continues through May 25. For more information: positivespacetulsa.org.
First Friday Art Crawl
The Tulsa Arts District’s First Friday Art Crawl will include the opening of what has become one of the most anticipated local art shows each year: the 5x5 Show and Sale at the Tulsa Artists’ Coalition Gallery, 9 E. Reconciliation Way.
The show features local artists’ small-scale works, all of which must be no larger than 5 inches in any dimension. The majority of the works are usually paintings that have been created on special 5-inch by 5-inch canvases, although some 3D works are often part of the show.
All pieces are priced at $55 each.
The show will open to the public at 5:55 p.m. Friday, May 3, at the gallery. tacgallery.org.
Germanfest
The German-American Society of Tulsa will host its 20th annual Germanfest Friday through Sunday, May 3-5, at the GAST Event Center, 2301 E. 15th St.
Patrons can enjoy authentic German food such as schnitzel, bratwurst, and apple strudel, shop for unique imported German merchandise and foodstuffs, and dance along to the live music. A special series of activities and entertainment for youngsters will also be available.
Hours for the event are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, May 3-4, and 11 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 5. gastulsa.org.
Organist concert
The Tulsa chapter of the American Guild of Organists will present Colin MacKnight in concert, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, at First Methodist Church, 1115 S. Boulder Ave. The concert is free and open to the public.
MacKnight, currently the director of music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, has earned numerous awards and won several major competitions in his career. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in organ performance at The Juilliard School and performed as a soloist throughout the United States.
He is currently working on an effort to perform J.S. Bach’s complete works for organ — which total more than 600 individual pieces — in 2025, to mark the 275 anniversary of Bach’s death.
MacKnight’s Tulsa concert, which will feature music by Bach as well as works by Reger, Elgar and Vierne, is free and open to the public.