by Warren Francke

* When SkullDuggery lost its lease and dropped plays from its schedule, Lilyhorn/Martin Productions was born. So the play with the unprintable title will go next month at the Bancroft Street Market. That’s Shopping and F***ing (when feeling bolder, we include the k but never the horseshoe-shaped vowel). Randall T. Stevens agreed to direct when Andrew McGreevy was producing it for SkullDuggery, and didn’t want to abandon the project. In stepped Patricia Lilyhorn, who worked often with McGreevy and proved her talent in A Thousand Clowns at the Playhouse. She lined up the 10th and Bancroft venue, east of Rosenblatt Stadium, and plans two more projects in the year ahead, including Laughing Wild, a Durang play at the Pizza Shoppe. Collective. Meanwhile, we’ll see who is willing to post the undeleted name of the play running Jan. 14-23. It’s billed as a black comedy with “nudity, violence and very explicit sex.” Warnings about sexual content aren’t unheard of, but I’m not sure I’ve seen “very explicit” promised or threatened. Stevens cast Colin Ferguson, Eric Grant-Leanna, Kirsten Kluver, Kelcivious Jones and Brian Zealand. Characters include a junkie stockbroker, a teenage male prostitute and a gangster obsessed with The Lion King. It plays Fri.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m. and Sun. at 6 p.m. * It never fails. You write about the year in theater, run out of space and start feeling guilty about all the good stuff that didn’t quite fit the concept. Not visions of sugar plums, but memorable performances dance in my head. Did I mention Rob Baker’s tremendous work in A Thousand Clowns at the Playhouse? The powerful portrayal by Mike Markey in Hot n’ Throbbin’ at the Blue Barn? Was there a better pairing than Charleen Willoughby and Ashley Spessard in Mrs. Warren’s Profession by Brigit Saint Brigit? Did anyone put together a more polished musical offering than Gordon Cantiello with the Kander-Ebb revue, The World Goes Round? How about those nights when Jerry Longe and John Beasley (not to mention Carl Brooks) were delivering smashing performances in different parts of town? Or when Audrey Fisher made it well worth the drive down to Olde Towne Bellevue to see her do Hepburn proud in The Philadelphia Story? And all those nutty gender-switched characters in Valley of the Dolls, aided and abetted by Mark Cramer’s crazy video concoctions? I can’t wait for more winners in 2011. Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com.

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