So Emotional

9/30-10/4
In one of the more ambitious multimedia mergers in recent memory, Elicit fuses seemingly disparate disciplines to illustrate the inner workings of one woman’s brain. Each of the production’s 11 scenes represents an individual idea or emotion, and though the separate sections don’t follow a cause-and-effect format, they all address a unifying theme: the complexity of female characters throughout history. A one-hour production couldn’t do justice to this thesis-sized topic, so New Orleans-based director Eddy Villalta enlisted area artists to help him realize his impressionistic vision. James Woodfill’s kinetic sculptures, Peregrine Honig’s elaborate costumes and makeup artist Sarah Thompson’s contributions all illuminate the dichotomous nature of the central character. Video installations either complement the choreography (when dancers interact with the images) or take center stage. Elicit‘s dense dream worlds provide surreal settings for the dancers’ abstract interpretations of lust, anxiety and death.

Villalta, a Costa Rica native with two decades of professional dance experience, directed last fall’s Sextet at the Fahrenheit. Two members of that cast return for Elicit, which starts at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Fahrenheit Gallery (1717 West Ninth Street) and runs through Monday, October 4. Tickets are $10; call 816-474-5477. — Andrew Miller

Child’s Play
Jekyll and Hyde invade the Coterie.

10/5-10/31
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde opens the 26th season of the Coterie Theatre (2450 Grand) at 10 a.m. Tuesday. This Pauline Flannery adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic was a hit at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival, giving a fresh tweak to what Coterie Artistic Director Jeff Church calls “the ultimate character study of inner conflict.” Whereas most productions usually cast one actor to play the mad genius and his grog-induced alter ego, Church has cast two: Walter Coppage and Scott Cordes. “It’s becoming something of a tradition in the fall to do an atmospheric classic around Halloween,” Church says. “We can’t wait to produce it.” The show runs through Halloween night; tickets start at $8. Call 816-474-6552. — Steve Walker