There was plenty to celebrate when Israel Horovitz turned 70 last year.

He has written more than 70 plays (“Maybe four of which, if they never get performed again that would be all right with me,” he says). One of the 70, an early work called Line, has been playing continuously off-Broadway for 37 years, the longest running show in New York. Not only have his plays been translated in over 30 languages, Horovitz is the most-produced American playwright ever in France.

So the theater community got together and created 70/70 Horovitz Project, in which all of his plays would be read or performed during his milestone year — a time period that has recently been extended. Tonight, Florida Stage opens its contribution to the project, Horovitz’s recent Sins of the Mother, directed by the playwright himself.

Like many of Horovitz’s scripts, it takes place in his adopted town of Gloucester, Mass., where he founded Gloucester Stage. Sins of the Mother concerns five men in that small economically ravaged town and a violent secret they harbor.

As Horovitz explains: “I wanted to write about men who went over to Vietnam and came back to find the world had changed. When they went over, there was a fishing industry in Gloucester. When they returned, it was gone. And many of them returned damaged and maimed, with drug habits.”

Sins of the Mother was originally only one act long, paired with another play by his friend and colleague, Terrence McNally. But Horovitz was encouraged to expand his half of the bill into a full-length play, an impulse to which he is glad he succumbed.

“Some one-act plays should remain one-act plays,” he says firmly. “I thought I had written a self-contained one-act play with a violent, melodramatic ending. But I thought about it, saw how it could be extended, got excited by the idea of grown twins played by the same actor, one of them returning to the community that he had moved away from years ago.”
That is about all you should know about Sins of the Mother, other than that its Southeastern premiere continues in Manalapan through March 7.

Slow Burn’s fast start: These are hard economic times to run a theater, let alone start a new one. Yet Matthew Korinko and Patrick Fitzwater, two transplants from St. Louis, are launching Slow Burn Theatre Company, dedicated to producing lesser known “daring, contemporary and intelligent works of musical theater.” Presumably this is not the place to go for the umpteenth revival of Camelot.

As to the rough financial times, Korinko is undaunted. “You can come up with excuses at any point in time for not giving it a shot. We just looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s just do it,’ instead of falling back on excuses not to.”

Slow Burn opens on Feb. 18 with Bat Boy: The Musical, the quirky cult show based on the character popularized in the pages of the Weekly World News tabloid. It runs through March 7, at West Boca High School’s auditorium, former home of New Vista Theatre Company. Next up for the group is Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, beginning April 29. Call (954) 323-7884 for tickets.

One singular Dreyfoos sensation: Keep an eye on Larry, the assistant to nosy director Zach in the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Chorus Line, when it struts its stuff at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach beginning Tuesday. The character is performed by Jupiter native Michael Scirrotto, a 2001 grad of Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Scirrotto was last seen locally in the ensemble of Evita at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.

The Chorus Line tour, based on the Tony-nominated Broadway revival, plays through Feb. 7. Call (561) 832-7469 for tickets.
Take that, Adolf: Local performer Frannie Sheridan has a new one-woman show with the attention-getting title, A Celebration of Life . . . Dancing on Hilter’s Grave. It premieres Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, at the Beifield Auditorium of the Jewish Community Center in Boca Raton. Sheridan, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, tells the humor-laced tale of being raised as a Catholic, then later reclaiming her Jewish identity. Call (561) 852-3241 for tickets.

RECENTLY REVIEWED

COPENHAGEN: Through Sunday at Palm Beach Dramaworks. Michael Frayn’s talky drama about a brief, mysterious meeting between two nuclear physicists, a meeting that may have changed the course of World War II. “It is the kind of theatrical challenge that only Palm Beach Dramaworks would take on, rewarding audiences willing to lean in and listen hard.” — Hap Erstein. 322 Banyan Blvd., West Palm Beach. Call: (561) 514-4042.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES: Through Sunday at Maltz Jupiter Theatre. The show centers on a gay club owner in St. Tropez and his temperamental partner and star. The owner’s son comes home, announces he is engaged and wants his family to meet his fiancée’s parents. The catch: Her father is head of an anti-gay political party. “True, Martino cannot solve the show’s finale, which has always been a mess. But in all other regards he delivers exactly what we could all use about now, a big, splashy slice of escapism.” — Hap Erstein. 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter. Call: (561) 575-2223.

CHEMICAL IMBALANCE: Through Feb. 7 at Caldwell Theatre Co. A spoof of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “Presumably Cholerton had in mind an evening of mindless fluff, something reminiscent of Charles Ludlam’s bygone Ridiculous Theatrical Company. That turns out to be a deceptively tall order, and the results at the Caldwell are simply embarrassing.” — Hap Erstein. 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Call: (561) 241-7432.

NOT REVIEWED

THE GIN GAME: Through Saturday at the Burt Reynolds Institute & Museum. Hot off his recent success as John Barrymore, Burt Reynolds returns to the stage, this time as the director of D.L. Coburn’s renowned play. The Gin Game, winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama, will be the third production produced by the newly formed Burt Reynolds’ Under-the-Bridge Players. Tickets: $12-$25. 100 N. U.S. 1, Jupiter. Call: (561) 743-9962.

SWING: Through Feb. 7 at the Lake Worth Playhouse. A song and dance show celebrating the swing era. 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth. Tickets: $25-$29. Call: (561) 586-6410.

A… MY NAME WILL ALWAYS BE ALICE: Today through Feb. 14, The Delray Beach Playhouse, Delray Beach. A musical revue featuring a variety of sketches, scenes and songs that celebrate women. 950 N.W. 9th St. in Lake Ida Park. Tickets: $25. Call: (561) 272-1281, Ext. 4.

SINS OF THE MOTHER: Through March 7, Florida Stage, Manalapan. Legendary playwright Israel Horovitz spins a haunting mystery exposing the tragic truths that bind the families of a small New England fishing town together as a closely held secret threatens to tear the town apart. An explosive new drama about revenge and forgiveness. Plaza del Mar, 262 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan. Tickets: $38. (561) 585-3433.

SINS OF THE MOTHER, Florida Stage, 262 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan. Tonight through March 7. Tickets: $45-$48. Call: (561) 585-3433 or (800)-514-3837.