Annie Enneking News

2015 was my 5th full year as a Twin Cities Theater Blogger, and I saw a record high 200+ shows. When I look at those numbers, or at my busy schedule, I sometimes think, why do I do this? Why do I devote all of my free time to this part-time job for which I don't get paid? And then I see a show that reminds me why I do this. That reminds me why I started going to theater, why I started writing about theater, why I think theater (and specifically music-theater) is the most beautiful and powerful art form we have. LULLABY is one such show. This new original play-with-music is everything I want music-theater to be: funny, smart, relevant, relatable, moving, poignant, with awesome songs and a brilliant cast and creative team pouring their heart and souls into the work. This is the first of 20 new works of 'theater musically' that Theater Latte Da has committed to developing by 2020 in a project they're calling 'Next 20/20.*' It's an exciting thing to create the future of music-theater, and LULLABY has set the bar high for this project.

Annie Enneking is an actor, singer and fight choreographer who plays Thea in new work, LULLABY, the world premiere in Theater Latte Da's new work initiative, NEXT 20/20. She tells a little about her part in this show and her future plans in this 6 Questions & a Plug.

The word octoroon is defined as 'a person of one-eight black ancestry.' THE OCTOROON is a 19th Century play by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault about which Wikipedia says, 'among antebellum melodramas, it was considered second only in popularity to Uncle Tom's Cabin.' AN OCTOROON is a new play by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who adapted the play and added himself as a character, writing the play and playing all the while male parts in white face, with the original playwright and his assistant playing roles in redface and blackface, while a rabbit seems to pull the strings behind the scenes. Got all that? Believe me, it's a lot to take in, and the play says some pretty profound things about race and racism in the past and present. But despite being a little perplexing and intentionally offensive (in a way that's not really offensive because it's satire), the whole thing is kinda brilliant in a crazy sort of way.

AN OCTOROON, which the New York Times proclaimed to be "this decade's most eloquent theatrical statement on race in America today," is a shrewdly awkward riff on The Octoroon, a 19th-century melodrama about illicit interracial love. A funny, disturbing, whirlwind of a play, AN OCTOROON riffs on the antebellum South as well as our present-day American selves, delves into the complexity of American identities and their unresolvable connection to our legacy of slavery and genocide, and perpetrates a full-blooded investigation of race and cultural politics. At the same time it is so theatrically mind-bending, funny, energetic, and demented, that it's impossible to look away.

AN OCTOROON, which the New York Times proclaimed to be "this decade's most eloquent theatrical statement on race in America today," is a shrewdly awkward riff on The Octoroon, a 19th-century melodrama about illicit interracial love. A funny, disturbing, whirlwind of a play, AN OCTOROON riffs on the antebellum South as well as our present-day American selves, delves into the complexity of American identities and their unresolvable connection to our legacy of slavery and genocide, and perpetrates a full-blooded investigation of race and cultural politics. At the same time it is so theatrically mind-bending, funny, energetic, and demented, that it's impossible to look away.

With their sixth production in the three-year life of the company, Dark & Stormy once again delivers a short, intense, well-acted and directed play in an unconventional space. But EXTREMITIES has none of the dark humor that could be found in some of their past shows. It's all violence and drama and complex moral questions. This 1982 Broadway play turned 1986 movie starring Farrah Fawcett explores the weighty themes of sexual violence, power, and justice. There's no clear winner in this story, no obvious right and wrong, just a lot of grey area, where most of us live. Each of these four characters, beautifully portrayed by this excellent cast, is at times sympathetic and at times infuriating in their words and choices. More than 30 years after it was written, EXTREMITIES is as relevant and topical as ever.

Dark & Stormy Productions today announces the producers, venue, and partners for its upcoming production of Extremities by William Mastrosimone. Previously, Dark & Stormy has presented Outside Providence by Edward Allan Baker, Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, The Receptionist by Adam Bock, The Drunken City by Adam Bock, and The Hothouse by Harold Pinter. Extremities will be the first production of Dark & Stormy's 2015 season.

Created and Conceived by Ryan Underbakke and Nick Ryan and based on the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, Children's Theatre Company presents 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, directed by Ryan Underbakke, running now through August 23, 2015. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Dark & Stormy Productions today announces the producers, venue, and partners for its upcoming production of Extremities by William Mastrosimone. Previously, Dark & Stormy has presented Outside Providence by Edward Allan Baker, Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, The Receptionist by Adam Bock, The Drunken City by Adam Bock, and The Hothouse by Harold Pinter. Extremities will be the first production of Dark & Stormy's 2015 season.

?The village of Farmingtown has been devoid of men for so long that when one returns from the far away and long-lasting war, the first woman he meets rushes up to him and inhales him deeply. This hilarious and oddly touching moment at the beginning of Kira Obolensky's new play FORGET ME NOT WHEN FAR AWAY sets the tone for this playful and poignant fairy tale about a soldier returning to a home he once knew. Ten Thousand Things has been on the road with the show for a few weeks, performing at correctional facilities, community centers, and other unlikely venues. As director Michelle Hensley said in her introduction of the show, the fact that this play has resonated with such diverse audiences in different ways is a credit to the skills of the playwright, who has created a world outside of time and space that somehow feels familiar and relatable to everyone. This world is brought to life in the beautifully sparse way that only Ten Thousand Things can do, with a brilliant cast of six performing in a fully lit room in a space so small that they literally trip over the audience. The fanciful story is grounded in truth and made to feel very real by the universality of the story, the charming accessibility of the language, the up-close-and-personal performances by the actors in whom you can feel every nuance of every emotion through a look in the eyes, the twinge of a facial muscle, or a subtle movement of the body. Ten Thousand Things harnesses the magic of theater in its most basic form like no other company can.

Living in exile in Los Angeles after fleeing the Nazis, Brecht rehearses The Life of Galileo with his wife Helene Weigel and two of his former lovers, Elisabeth Hauptmann, a writer, and Ruth Berlau, a director. As they work on this epic history play over the summer of 1947, the themes of Galileo resonate with Brecht's own life and the unique relationships he had with his collaborators.

The Playwrights' Center kicks off its 2014-15 Ruth Easton New Play Series in December with Core Writer Kira Obolensky's new play 'Forget Me Not When Far Away.' There will be two readings of the play: Monday, December 8 and Tuesday, December 9 at 7 p.m. at the Playwrights' Center, 2301 E. Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. The readings are free and open to the public.

No one does Shakespeare like Ten Thousand Things. They manage to boil the text down to its bare essentials, and convey the heart of the story in a way that feels fresh and modern. This season they bring their unique Shakespeare style to perhaps his most well-know play, the story of star-crossed lovers that inspired all others, Romeo and Juliet. In the typically minimalist production (since TTT performs on location at prisons, homeless shelters, and community centers, the paid public performances are also in a small, fully lit room with little in the way of sets and costumes), director Peter Rothstein and his fantastic cast of eight playing multiple characters bring this familiar story to life in a unique way.

For its 2012 season closer, the Jungle Theater presents the regional premiere of IN THE NEXT ROOM (or The Vibrator Play), one of Broadway's latest mega-hits. This 2010 Tony-nominated comedy about marriage, intimacy and electricity is directed by Sarah Rasmussen, who worked with playwright Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House, Eurydice) on the original Broadway production. Set in the Victorian era, just before corseted women shed their inhibitions, this funny, smart and provocative play concerns the early history of the vibrator, when doctors used it as a clinical device to treat women for "hysteria." In the Next Room opens November 2 and runs through December 16 at the Lyn-Lake theater at 2951 Lyndale Avenue S., in Minneapolis.

This summer Jungle Theater will stage NOISES OFF! Joel Sass will direct the Tony-nominated play by Michael Frayn, playing tonight, June 8-July 29 at the Lyn-Lake theater, 2951 Lyndale Av. S., in Minneapolis.

This summer Jungle Theater will stage NOISES OFF! Joel Sass will direct the Tony-nominated play by Michael Frayn, playing June 8-July 29 at the Lyn-Lake theater, 2951 Lyndale Av. S., in Minneapolis.

A new generation of American actors showcases its talents as the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program Class of 2012 presents O Brave New World, a pair of new plays, in the Dowling Studio, April 20 -29.