Joshua Thomas, Aaron VanderYacht and Michelle Aubuchon in "The Rocky Horror Show"

Stray Dog Theatre has taken a smaller, younger, and even more weirdly-named company, [insert name here] Theatre Project, into its. . .kennel.

With a production of “The Rocky Horror Show” that opens July 9, [inh] takes its official spot in the Stray Dog line-up. It will also present another show during the Stray Dog’s 2009-10 season, February’s “Speech and Debate.”

In the last year or so, [inh] has staged a couple of productions at Stray Dog’s theater, the Tower Grove Abbey. Stray Dog founder and artistic director Gary Bell was impressed with [inh], with its director, Chad Owens, and with the troupe’s young, hip point of view. He and Owens decided to work together.

The new arrangement - which Bell compares, organizationally, to the relationship between the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and the Imaginary Theatre Company - gives [inh] Stray Dog’s production expertise, and gives Stray Dog a chance to reach a wider, younger audience. Bell is delighted; he thinks both troupes have a lot to gain by sharing their assets, material and otherwise.