Broadway musicals, revue taking spotlight

• "BREAST DIALOGUES," a fund-raiser for groups battling breast cancer, including the Susan B. Koman Foundation, is scheduled at 5 p.m. today only at the Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 South), in collaboration with Pygmalion Productions and two other local organizations.

While the title is a spin on Eve Ensler's controversial "Vagina Monologues," Pygmalion's Nancy Jo Roth promises that "Breast Dialogues" has "none of the anger and ugliness. Most of it is funny and some parts are moving but never disgusting."

Several local women will give very personal accounts exploring breast feeding and ornamentation, breast reductions and implants, and other elements delivered through poetry, prose, haiku and stand-up comedy.

Admission is $10 per person or $25 for three. Tickets can be purchased online at the www.swerveutah.com Web site. (Note: This is a lesbian-oriented Web site that may contain potentially offensive images.) There may also be some tickets available at the door on Sunday.

• "THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ABRIDGED," an irreverent parody of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets performed by a cast of only three, is being staged by the Actors' Repertory Theatre Ensemble from Thursday through Sept. 16 at Provo's historic Castle Amphitheater, 1300 E. Center (behind the Utah State Hospital).

Directed by Laurie Harrop-Purser, the cast includes Ryan Templeton, Amanda Clayton and Phillip Clayton.

Tickets are $9 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and students and $5 for children. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and performances begin at 8 p.m. Patrons are cautioned to dress for the weather and bring their own blankets or pillows for more comfortable seating. Mosquito repellent is also recommended (372-6141 for reservations or group rates).

• "THE MOOR LARK," a new drama by Jan Henson Dow of Bluffton, S.C., is the third and final script to have a staged reading in this season's New American Playwrights Project at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City.

Directed by Charles Metten, director of the play development series, it will be performed on Thursday and Friday at 10:15 a.m. in Southern Utah University's Auditorium Theatre. Admission is $5.

Following each of this week's two readings there will be an open forum with the playwright, director and actors and the audience. Some feedback may be incorporated into revisions of the script.

All three of this year's scripts will have their final readings on Aug. 30-Sept. 1.

"The Moor Lark" is set in the isolated village of Haworth, Great Britain, where the Bronte sisters — Charlotte, Emily and Anne — are gaining fame as novelists and poets. Meanwhile their brother, Branwell, turns to alcohol and opium due to his jealousy over his sisters' fame and to numb the feeling that he has squandered his own talents as poet and artist. An unexpected visitor forces the sibling rivalry into the open.

• THE CHILDREN'S THEATRE OF SALT LAKE'S recent production of "Curious George" is being revived for several public performances for children's groups (at least 15 persons or more per group). Performances will be Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10:30 a.m. through Sept. 15 by reservation only at the theater, 638 S. State. Tickets are $4.50 per person, payable one week in advance (532-6000).

The theater has issued a warning that "small children who see this production tend to behave like Curious George for approximately 10 days following the show."

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E-mail: ivan@desnews.com