A chilling play, a call for entries and an honor

It has been a Martin McDonagh-rich season in South Florida so far, beginning with GableStage's bloody wonderful Carbonell Award-nominated The Lieutenant of Inishmore, followed by Naked Stage's beautifully acted study of spiteful brothers in The Lonesome West.  GableStage won several Carbonells last year for its terrific production of McDonagh's The Pillowman, and if you missed that one, you have another chance to see the play.

The theater department at Broward Community College is tackling McDonagh's shocking script about the interrogation of a writer in a totalitarian state, a writer whose chilling stories about children are being replicated in real life.  The Pillowman begins performances Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Fine Arts Theatre in Bldg. 6 of the main campus, 3501 SW Davie Rd. in Davie. It runs through March 22, with shows at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday matinees.  Tickets are $10 ($5 if you attend or work at BCC).  Call 954-201-6884 for info.

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  The sixth annual Lavender Footlights Festival is happening May 31 and June 1 at Miami's Museum of Science & Planetarium.  But the deadline for submitting scripts for the play-reading event is much sooner: March 24.  Plays (no musicals or screenplays) must have themes of interest to the gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender community.  Submissions need to have a cover letter with return address, contact information and a statement that the play hasn't been produced in Florida; a copy of the script and a one-page synopsis if the play is full length. Mail submissions to festival artistic director Ryan Capiro (that's Ryan at left), Lavendar Footlights Festival, PO Box 942107, Miami, FL 33194-2107.  You can also submit via Email.

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Good news for Erik Liberman, the Miami-raised actor and New World School of the Arts grad who played Charley in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along at Virginia's Signature Theatre last season.  All three leads in the show -- Erik (at left), Tracy Lynn Olivera and Will Gartshore -- have been nominated for the Helen Hayes Award, the Washington D.C. area's version of South Florida's Carbonells.  Erik is up for outstanding supporting actor in a resident musical for his performance as Charley Kringas.  He'll find out whether he's the Hayes winner during the ceremony April 28.