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Arts & Entertainment

Citilites Comes West With 'Almost, Maine'

Theater Company Launches Season at Foundry

Citilites Theatre, a St. Louis theater company that emphasizes newer productions, has opened a branch office in St. Charles.

Citilites West will stage its first production, the bittersweet love story Almost, Maine, this week at the Foundry Art Centre, 520 N. Main Center, St. Charles. Show times are 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 24-26, and 7 p.m. Sunday, March 27.

Citilites was formed in 1993 in the Central West End by Matt and Mary Caulley with help from  from artistic directors Michael Brightman and G.P. Hunsaker. The company ran for three seasons and closed in 1996. It was revived recently with Hunsaker as artistic director, Brightman returns as artistic associate and Seth Ward Pyatt as managing director.

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"We're currently in the middle of our first show of the second season," said Hunsaker. That first show, Southern Baptist Sissies, is now playing at Citilites' home stage, the Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle Ave., St. Louis.

Now, the company is expanding to the west. The link for the project was Marsha Parker, a professor in the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Lindenwood University.

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"Citilites had wanted a presence on this side of the river," said Laura Helling, the Foundry director. "Marsha Parker was involved with them and she approached me about establishing a Citilites West. We met with G.P. Hunsaker and decided to start this year."

"This is our first show at the Foundry," Hunsaker said. "We hope to do two shows there." The second show for this inaugural season will be the musical comedy The Andrews Brothers, set for Oct. 20-23.

"It's nice to have a St. Louis group coming here," Helling said. "We're trying to bridge that gap -- the river. We're just 20-25 minutes from downtown. This will help us have a presence here and downtown."

Citilites' goal is to perform shows that are less than 15 years old (except for musicals) that have not been produced in the St. Louis area within the last five years.

"We tend to do more edgy, adult theater," Hunsaker said. "For St. Charles, we're still finding our voice. Our performances there will be more family friendly -- not as far out on a limb."

"Citilites has a broad, diverse repertoire of what they offer," Helling said. "They're more cutting edge in St. Louis. The shows they do here will all be family friendly."

Written by John Cariani, Almost, Maine opened off-Broadway in 2005.

"It's charming, touching, very whimsical," said Phillip Allen, the show's director. "It features nine short stories and all the characters are interconnected."

Six cast members play 19 characters in a show featuring mistaken identities and couples dealing with the challenges of being in love. "Love can be bittersweet," Allen said. "The bitter makes the sweet worth having."

"Almost, Maine is a delightful show, similar to The Fantasticks," Helling said. "It's a nice, warm comedy with dramatic things going on."

The cast includes Betsy Bowman, Benton Guinness, Tom Lehmann, J.T. Mosley, Sabra Sellers and Tasha Zebroswki.

Tickets for Almost, Maine cost $15 for Foundry members, $18 for seniors and students, and $20 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased at the Foundry or online at www.brownpapertickets.com.

For more information visit www.foundryartcentre.org or www.citilitestheatre.com.

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