Entertainment : In Depth: ACT 1\'s \'Picnic\' on the stage; \'Just Go With It\' on the screen

The Palace will be closed to movies on Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12.

ACT I presents “Picnic” at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 13.

Sue Gates, Kyle Webb, Katie Hancock
, Trent McAtee, Mandy Peterson, Caroline Dick, Cathi Calderwood
, Jeffery Seitz
, Bunny Fritch, Rachel Kramer, and Rich Hainstock round out the talented area cast, directed by Tony Bopp and Allison Watkins.

I was recently asked if this play is the same as the 1955 movie starring Kim Novak and William Holden. Ummm….yes. I found this to be true, after a bit of research.

Originally staged on Broadway in 1953 and filmed two years later, William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic drama, “Picnic” went before the cameras a second time in 2000 as a made-for-TV movie.

And now ACT I takes a turn!

Hal Carter (Webb), a handsome drifter, shows up in a tranquil Kansas town to pay a visit to his wealthy pal, Alan Seymour (Seitz). Hal's arrival coincides with the town's upcoming Labor Day festivities, so naturally he is invited to stay. Alan soon regrets welcoming Hal into his community when the charismatic drifter falls in love with Alan's fiancée, Madge Owens (Peterson).

Meanwhile, Hal's presence awakens the dormant passion between two of the town's middle-agers -- spinsterish schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney (Calderwood) and her erstwhile beau Howard Bevans (Hainstock), and also has a disturbing effect upon Madge's mom, Flo (Dick) and kid sister, Millie (Hancock).

Tickets, $7 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, may be purchased online at www.act1.org.

FIVE DAYS ONLY

“Just Go With It” opens Sunday, March 13 and runs through Thursday, March 17 at 7 p.m. nightly, on Monday, March 14 at 2 p.m.

Rated on the almost R side of PG-13, this movie is fun for adults, but questionable for your impressionable youth. Kids-in-mind.com gives ”Just Got With It” a 7 out of 10 for sex and nudity, which is pretty high when you consider the same scale is used for R-rated movies.

After a plastic surgeon (Adam Sandler) is caught in a lie to impress a new girlfriend (Brooklyn Decker), he has his assistant (Jennifer Aniston) play along as his soon-to-be ex-wife, until she is caught in her own lie. There are more complications involving kids, a trip to Hawaii and someone posing as a German sheep-shipper.

This star-studded film also features Nicole Kidman, Nick Swardson, Dave Matthews and Kevin Nealon. “Just Go With It” runs 118 minutes.