Current Stage Shows

Aunt Dan and Lemon: Wallace Shawn's dark, provocative tale of sex, nihilism, and the seductive appeal of raw power has to do with one woman's malevolent influence on a reclusive young girl in the London of the swinging Sixties. The play is a talkathon, but an intriguing one, and there's considerable shock effect -- the sex scenes are decidedly explicit. Robert Hooker's production is first-rate, with Kala Kiminsky and Kim Ehly delivering fine work in the title roles and backed by an able ensemble. -- Ronald Mangravite Through May 15. Sol Theatre Project, 1140 NE Flagler Dr., Fort Lauderdale; 954-525-6555.

Blue/Live: Blue may have been Derek Jarman's weirdest and most wonderful film -- about 80 minutes of nothing but a blue screen, with the bells and whispers of Brian Eno's haunting score caressing words taken directly from Jarman's diaries as he fell victim to AIDS-related illnesses, losing his sight and eventually his life. Sadly Octavio Campos fails in his attempt to make a lasting tribute to the filmmaker with his live dance performance. The choreography is thin and eclectic, and the obvious show-and-tell pantomime dumbs down Jarman's tragic poetry. There is no reason to doubt Campos's sincerity in being inspired by Jarman's harrowing film, but his homage has something grotesquely parasitic about it. -- Octavio Roca May 13 through 15. FIU's Black Box Theater, 11200 SW Eighth St., West Miami-Dade; 786-399-7375.

Touch: Kyle, a likable young man, sits at the edge of the stage and talks disarmingly to the audience. Most of all he talks about Zoe -- his first high school crush, the love of his life, the stuff of dreams, now a dream lost forever. What might have been a storybook romance of a bookish boy and a wild, kooky girl who brought him out of his shell has turned to absurd tragedy. One night, barely six years into their happy marriage, Zoe went to the store and never came back. Kyle's monologue is heartbreaking, even before we learn that Zoe was raped and murdered. It is an extended aria of grief at the heart of Touch, a tender and fascinating play by Toni Press-Coffman. If the rest of the play does not quite live up to the promise of its daring first half-hour, it remains a lovely pastiche of raw feelings; of deepest, inconsolable sorrow; and of finding solace in the arms of strangers. Particularly when Bruce Linser as Kyle is alone onstage, Touchreally does touch the heart. -- Octavio Roca Through May 15. New Theatre, 4120 Laguna St., Coral Gables; 305-443-5909.