Summertime Stages Come Alive

Summer always has its own theatrical glow. While mainstream theater catches its breath before rebooting for the fall, you can count on a diverse array of special attractions to arise for the care and feeding of unsated stage-goers. Here are a quartet of those opportunities that both begin and end in a basement.

When Worlds Collide

Since his first appearance in 1902, J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" has been the source of more reinterpretations than you can shake a hook at. One of the more singular variations on the story of the boy who wouldn't grow up was first seen last year at New Conservatory Theatre Center, to where it now returns for an encore run. In "Pansy" (June 19-28), a young gay man finds a box of mementoes in his basement, left behind by a gay man of the 1990s who never had the chance to grow up.

Evan Johnson plays Michael, whose discovery of old videotapes, audiocassettes, party fliers, and other keepsakes leads him on a journey into the life and times of a club kid named Peter Pansy, whose life was cut short by AIDS. Written by Johnson in collaboration with director Ben Randle, the production incorporates physical theater, video, shadow imagery, and what is called performance-art nightclub aesthetics.

"Pansy" was developed through NCTC's Emerging Artists Program, and a tour is planned following this run. Following each performance there will be a talkback with local queer luminaries designed to spotlight the community's lineage. Ticket info at nctcsf.org.

First Friend to the First Lady

In "Hick: A Love Story," Terry Baum takes on the role of journalist Lorena Hickok, whose intimate relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt is explored through their letters.

A pioneering journalist and a pioneering first lady were such avid correspondents that more than 3,000 letters between them were finally revealed in 1978 even while hundreds more were known to have been destroyed for a certain lack of discretion. "Hick: A Love Story" (July 10-27) builds its portrait of Lorena Hickok and her multi-decade relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt from these intimate exchanges that suggest a physical as well as an emotional bond.

Terry Baum, who co-authored the script with Pat Bond, plays Hickok, who fought her way into the male-dominated newsrooms of the 1920s and became an unmistakable presence with her tough-talking, hard-drinking, cigar-smoking, flannel-wearing 200-lb. self. Assigned by the AP to cover Eleanor Roosevelt during her husband's first presidential campaign, Hick and ER, as they called each other, began a friendship that included Hick's own sleeping quarters adjacent to ER's White House bedroom, a coaching role encouraging ER to be an activist first lady, and, later in life, living in a cottage built for her at the Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park.

Baum will take on the persona of Hick, while Paula Barish will read verbatim from Mrs. Roosevelt's letters. Carolyn Myers, who often performs with Baum as the Crackpot Crones, is directing Hick at the Eureka Theatre in association with Theatre Rhino. All tickets are free, but reservations are a must: Call (800) 838-3006, or go to crackpotcrones.com.

Forbidden Feinstein's

While Feinstein's at the Nikko has presented dozens of performers with Broadway credentials, it will turn over most of its July schedule to an actual stage show. "Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking!" (July 10-27) is the 18th edition of satirical rewrites of popular showtunes that poke both light and barbed fun at the current state of the Broadway musical. (Already, in New York, "Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging" has added yet another title to the canon).

Created in 1982 by Gerald Alessandrini, who provides the alternative lyrics without yet getting sued by the original songwriters, the show takes its shots at current musicals ("The Book of Mormon," "Once") and old faves ("Cabaret," "Les Miserables"). Stage personalities such as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Matthew Broderick, Patti LuPone, and Mandy Patinkin also come under the satirical gun. And it's hard to imagine that "Forbidden Broadway" perennials Carol Channing and Liza Minnelli won't show up at some point.

Longtime producer John Freedson has said the touring editions over the years have tried to keep the material more broad-based than the New York editions, where audiences can be savvier to current news and attractions on the rialto. "We're very careful to make it so it's not too insidery," he said. "It's very important that people wherever they are won't leave the show scratching their heads." Tickets are available through hotelnikkosf.com/feinsteins.aspx.

Back in the Basement

In her coffee-table book "My Passion for Design," Barbra Streisand described a little village of quaint shops filled with her bric-a-brac that was constructed in the basement of a building on her estate. Playwright Jonathan Tolins ("Twilight of the Golds") imagined what it would be like if a down-on-his luck actor was hired to run this unpopulated village, and share with us the character's encounters with Streisand, his Streisand-obsessed brother, and her husband James Brolin in this one-man show.

"Buyer & Cellar" (Aug. 15-31) was rapturously received when it opened off-Broadway last year, not only for Tolins' unique take on celebrity, but also for Michael Urie's performance as the make-believe burgermeister. The run in New York is continuing with another actor, but fortunately for us, the SF-bound tour will star the acclaimed Urie (perhaps best-known as Marc St. James from TV's "Ugly Betty") at the Curran Theatre. Tickets are at shnsf.com.