Spring Arts - Theater: Ushering in promising shows

The lights already are up on a number of notable shows during the theater season's second half - Body Awareness at the Wilma, the Philadelphia Theatre Company's Scottsboro Boys across the street, The Mousetrap at the Walnut, Clybourne Park at the Arden and InterAct's Microcrisis are among them - and they herald a busy season's finish for the region's 51 professional theater companies.

Productions include a heady mix of main-stage world premieres by established locally based playwrights, established shows that bear restaging, and plenty of curiosities thrown in. As usual, we can't vouch for most of these because they're not yet running, but they whet our appetite for a promising season finale.

- Howard Shapiro,
Inquirer theater critic

Spring Arts - Theater:

Proof (Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio, Jan. 17-Feb. 5) David Auburn's play is about a mathematically talented father and daughter, and about legacy and madness. (215-574-3550 or www.walnutstreettheatre.org) 

Time Stands Still (Delaware Theatre Company, Jan. 18-Feb. 5; Act II Playhouse, Feb. 14-March 11) Two journalists - a couple inured to covering war - cope with an unconventional life when they're back home. (Delaware Theatre: 302-594-1100 or delawaretheatre.org; Act II Playhouse: 215-654-0200 or www.act2playhouse.org)

A Raw Space (Bristol Riverside Theatre, Jan. 31-Feb. 19) This world premiere by Jon Marans (Old Wicked Songs) involves two couples caught in the intrigue of a design competition. (215-785-0100 or www.brtstage.org)

Of Mice and Men (People's Light & Theatre Company, Feb. 15-March 25) The stage version of John Steinbeck's classic tale of migrant workers with a dream was written by Steinbeck, with help. (610-644-3500 or www.peopleslight.org)

God of Carnage (Walnut Street Theatre, March 13-April 29) The Walnut puts its spin on this hit Broadway show about two sets of Manhattan parents, their kids, and the notion of civility. (215-574-3550 or www.walnutstreettheatre.org)

Fela! (Academy of Music, March 20-25) The high-energy, infectious Broadway show about the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Nigeria's king of Afropop, will remind Philadelphians of something closer to home - MOVE: He was a music star with many wives, and ran a closed compound that was attacked by police.(215-893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org/broadway)