This comic melodrama evokes the 1960's movie thrillers that featured such aging cinematic icons as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner and Susan Hayward. Faded pop singer, Angela Arden (played by a man in drag), is trapped in a corrosive marriage to film producer, Sol Sussman. In her attempt to find happiness with her younger lover, an out of work TV star, Angela murders her husband with the aid of a poisoned suppository. In a plot that reflects both Greek tragedy as well as Hollywood folklore, Angela's resentful daughter, Edith, convinces Angela's emotionally disturbed son, Lance, to avenge their father's death by killing their mother. Lance, demanding proof of Angela's crime, slips some LSD into her after-dinner coffee, triggering a wild acid trip that exposes all of Angela's dark secrets.

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde dramatizes the scandalous sex trials that destroyed Oscar Wilde's flamboyant career as an artist. The play is based on the transcripts of the three trials that resulted in Wilde's conviction, as well as statements made by Wilde before, during, and after the trials. The characters range from Wilde himself to important figures of the time, including Queen Victoria and George Bernard Shaw. This tragic play uses humor to illuminate the consequences of transgressing social mores and explores the universal issues of art, sexuality, and censorship.

PEN v. SWORD: AN EVENING ON THE FRINGE is a celebration of local theatre with each act featuring a company's contribution to the iowa Fringe Festival. In act one, Rage Theatrics will present “Your Swash Is Unbuckled: Three Pirate Plays by Jeff Goode.” These three short plays combine tongue-in-cheek wordplay with swashbuckling daring-don’ts in stories revolving around pirates, maidens, and rascals of all shapes and sizes. Act two is Dreamwell Theatre’s presentation of the one-act play “Typing Lear” by local playwright Greg Aldrich. “Typing Lear” is a fast-paced, satirical comic adventure revolving around three office employees forced by their boss to type Shakespeare's King Lear to save their jobs.

Rage Theatrics is an Iowa City-based action theatre company that has been presenting stage combat performances, workshops, and demonstrations for over eight years (previously under the name “Shattock Schoole of Defence”). Rage’s most recent local production was “LOVE & RAGE,” an evening of eight scenes featuring a variety of stage combat styles performed at Space Place Theatre in January of 2007. For more information about Rage Theatrics visit www.ragetheatrics.com

From The Los Angeles Times: "Artie Van Why's recounting of his experience . . . is admirable in its dedication to chronicling the terrorist attacks firsthand. [His] recollections of the attacks and their aftermath are harrowing, marked by an eyewitness perspective that has the sober authenticity of diary entries. This recounting of what one American encountered on Sept. 11... commands unalloyed admiration for its dedication to chronicling the terrorist attacks from firsthand experience."

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Kimberly Akimbo begins on Kimberly's sixteenth birthday, but no one is celebrating. Because of a rare illness, Kimberly's body has aged four times the rate it should; sixteen years is the average life expectancy for people living with her disease. The post-menopausal teenager is forced to deal with her impending death, her parent's denial and a blossoming romance with another outcast at her high school. This comedic coming-of-age story is about living fully despite the odds.