'Brutally comic' play leads list of new shows

Shows ranging from the Western premiere of an edgy drama to familiar musicals are opening this week in professional and community theaters across the region.

FAT PIG, Neil LaBute's acclaimed 2004 look at obesity, opens Pygmalion Productions Theatre Company's 2006-07 season, playing from Thursday through Oct. 14, at the Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 South).

Directed by Shellie Waters, the cast includes Blake Barlow as Tom, who is sexually attracted to plus-size Helen, played by Stacey Utley-Bernhardt, with Stein Erickson as Carter, Tom's shallow co-worker, and Alexandra "Andra" Harbold as Jeannie, Tom's ex-girlfriend.

Producer Nancy Roth says "Fat Pig" is brutally comic and painfully honest. "There is nothing subtle or comfortable about a Neil LaBute play. The words 'comedy' and 'tender love' don't exactly send his name popping into your head. He specializes in looking under the rocks of human nature and exposing what he finds."

Performances will be Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., with an additional matinee on the final Saturday, Oct. 14. Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students (355-2787 or ArtTix outlets).

Following the Oct. 14 matinee (about 4:30 p.m.) there will be a free panel discussion and open forum moderated by Kathryn MacKay of Weber State University on "A Close Look at How Society Behaves Towards Imperfection." It will touch on whether or not obesity, especially in women, is the last accepted prejudice.

WEST SIDE STORY, directed by Pat Davis, is this year's musical production by the youths at Provo's Heritage School, a residential treatment center for adolescents.

Performances will be Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the school, 5600 N. Heritage School Drive.

Tickets are $8 for reserved seating or $7 for general seating, if ordered in advance. All tickets are $1 more at the door. There are discounts for groups of 10 or more (226-4601 or www.heritagetc.org/centerStage/play.aspx)

WILEY AND THE HAIRY MAN, the popular stage version of an old African-American folk tale first recorded in 1932 as part of the Federal Writers' Project during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal era, will play Friday through Oct. 28 at Park City's historic Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main.

Touching on the themes of magic — good and bad — and conjuring, the play is about a small boy who ventures into the deepest part of a Louisiana swampland with his only friend, his hound dog. Jane Talley directs.