Weird in St. Pete at American Stage

ST PETERSBURG — In its most recent installation in the Beyond the Stage series, American Stage collaborated with FloridaRAMA (formerly known as Fairgrounds St. Pete) for a highly entertaining history lesson on famous characters in the story of St. Petersburg, Florida.

FloridaRAMA is a unique, immersive art experience in the city's warehouse arts district that makes for a good night out on its own, but the walking theater tour provided an even better way to enjoy the space.

Written by Helen R. Murray, American Stage's producing artistic director, Weird in St. Pete wove a number of notable Sunshine City characters and lore to make for the most entertaining bit of education I can recall in quite some time.

Edward Leonard stole the show as Old Bill, a shackled ghost that injected some hard truths into the history lesson, while Dylan Barlowe gave a memorable turn as beat poet/novelist Jack Kerouac, who spent his last years in St. Pete.

Jonathan O'Brien and Sarah Beth Saho did a great job as our postal worker guides, and Stephen Riordan was wonderful as Peter Demens, the Russian immigrant who named the city after his beloved home.

Culver Casson was delightful as Mary Reeser, the St. Pete woman who was thought to have spontaneously combusted in 1951. Mackenzie Aaryn gave a fun performance as Cora, the monkey wife of Cornelius, the infamous "mystery monkey of Tampa Bay."

The biggest compliment I can pay to Murray is that Weird in St. Pete was the most St. Pete thing I've ever seen, perfectly weird for a city that prides itself on its delightfully offbeat nature.