Whales of the Deep

In recent months, time has consistently come unstuck in Kansas City theaters. The lively existential comedies Kimberly Akimbo and Miss Witherspoon gave us young women who looked old, thanks to mysterious diseases or cosmic whim. Between the laughs, both plays considered serious questions about the relationship between the body’s age and the soul’s. Tonight’s world-premiere production of Green Whales at the Unicorn Theatre imagines a 38-year-old woman — a philosophy professor, naturally — who looks much younger. Playwright Lia Romeo is known for her witty view of human misery. Her book 11,002 Things to Be Miserable About, written with her brother, has been spun off into an amusing fact-of-the-day blog that’s worth bookmarking: “February 16: For every open job in the U.S. right now, six people are actively looking for work.” Romeo has reason for optimism, though. The show stars Anna Safar, a first-rate comic actress, and Vanessa Severo, named last year’s best local actress by this very paper. If you have to be lost in time, you could do much worse for companionship. The show opens at 8 p.m. at the Unicorn Theatre (3828 Main, 816-531-7529). Performances run through March 28.

Fri., March 5, 8 p.m.; Sat., March 6, 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun., March 7, 3 p.m.; Tue., March 9, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., March 10, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., March 11, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., March 12, 8 p.m.; Sat., March 13, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 14, 3 p.m.; Tue., March 16, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., March 17, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., March 18, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., March 19, 8 p.m.; Sat., March 20, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 21, 3 p.m.; Tue., March 23, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., March 24, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., March 25, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., March 26, 8 p.m.; Sat., March 27, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 28, 3 p.m., 2010