Tyson Forbes

Ten Thousand Things Theater Company brings Lauren Yee’s whimsical and surreal THE HATMAKER’S WIFE to audiences in numerous locations throughout the Twin Cities.

The Guthrie Theater presents twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Tom Quaintance, who is making his hometown and Guthrie mainstage directorial debut. Quaintance has assembled an all-local ensemble to create a production that focuses on the need for love and delight despite the risks and hardships of life.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??The Trustees is pleased to present the return of TigerLion Arts' critically acclaimed outdoor walking play Nature at the Old Manse in Concord this September. Reprising the sell-out production in 2017 which welcomed nearly 2,000 over its two-week run, Nature will be presented over a three-week period beginning on Friday, September 13, 2019.  

INTO THE WOODS is new artistic director Marcela Lorca's debut directorial outing for Ten Thousand Things after the retirement of renowned artist and social change agent Michelle Hensley, the founder of the company. Seeing this Sondheim masterpiece up close and stripped of pretentiousness is a treat.

For the opening of her third season as Artistic Director at Minneapolis' spunky Jungle Theater, Sarah Rasmussen and her team commissioned a new adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN from Kate Hamill in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the novel's publication. Kate Hamill is an actor who has, of late, gained notice for her skillful adaptations of classic novels for the stage (several Austen works, Vanity Fair, etc.), to the point that she was one of the 10 most frequently produced playwrights in the US last season.

The Jungle Theater opens its 2018-19 Season with its first-ever commission: The world premiere of Kate Hamill's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. The production coincides with the 150th anniversary of the publication of Little Women, 'the groundbreaking novel that changed everything' (Little Women 150). Jungle Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen directs this beloved classic saturated with a contemporary air, running September 15-October 21 at the Lyn-Lake neighborhood theater, located at 2951 Lyndale Ave. S. in Minneapolis. 

The Jungle Theater opens its 2018-19 Season with its first-ever commission: The world premiere of Kate Hamill's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. The production coincides with the 150th anniversary of the publication of Little Women, 'the groundbreaking novel that changed everything' (Little Women 150). Jungle Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen directs this beloved classic saturated with a contemporary air, running September 15-October 21 at the Lyn-Lake neighborhood theater, located at 2951 Lyndale Ave. S. in Minneapolis. 

Michelle Hensley, retiring Artistic Director and Founder of Ten Thousand Things, is a gift. A gift to theater, a gift to Minnesota, a gift to the world. She taught us a new way to do theater, a new way to experience theater, one that considers who the audience can and should be, which is everyone. Read her book ALL THE LIGHTS ON if you want to know more about it, or go see her beautiful swan song THE GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN, which is also the first play that TTT ever did nearly 30 years ago when Michelle started it in California. We've been lucky enough to have TTT as a vital part of the #TCTheater community for 25 years, a tradition that will continue after Michelle's retirement under the leadership of new Artistic Director Marcela Lorca. One can only hope that all of the artists and audience members she's worked with and influenced in those years will continue on this tradition of inclusive, accessible, imaginative theater that is unlike anything else.

It never fails. Whenever I go to see a Ten Thousand Things show, the storytelling is so clear it's as if I'm truly seeing it for the first time, even if it's a piece I've seen one or many times before. In their signature bare bones theater style, they've cut out all the fluff from the beloved musical FIDDLER ON THE ROOF to get right to the heart of the story. Even though I've seen the show twice in recent years, I've never been so caught up in and felt so deeply the story of one man's struggle with holding to his traditions, while still loving his family as they begin to change and grow out of those traditions. The brilliant Steve Epp makes Tevye so real and human, and along with the other eight members of this terrific ensemble playing multiple characters, makes the world of Anatevka palpably real and somehow modern, despite still being anchored in time and space. Because 50 years after it was written, this story about a family of refugees fleeing persecution and violence in their beloved homeland to find safety in America is as timely as ever.

The Jungle closes its 25th Anniversary Season with the regional premiere of the latest work by Conor McPherson, lauded by The New York Times as "the finest playwright of his generation." Joel Sass will direct THE NIGHT ALIVE, his third turn with a McPherson play at the Jungle after critical and audience acclaim with Shining City (2007) and The Seafarer (2009). The Night Alive opens November 6 and will be on stage through December 20 at the Lyn-Lake neighborhood theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. So. in Minneapolis.

The Jungle closes its 25th Anniversary Season with the regional premiere of the latest work by Conor McPherson, lauded by The New York Times as "the finest playwright of his generation." Joel Sass will direct THE NIGHT ALIVE, his third turn with a McPherson play at the Jungle after critical and audience acclaim with Shining City (2007) and The Seafarer (2009). The Night Alive opens November 6 and will be on stage through December 20 at the Lyn-Lake neighborhood theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. So. in Minneapolis.

No one does musicals like Ten Thousand Things does musicals. And even though it defies everything we know about musical theater, after seeing a TTT musical I think that maybe that's the way musicals should always be done. The music, like everything else about the show, is stripped down to the very basics, extraneous layers removed to reveal the very heart of the matter. A one-man orchestra provides the minimal accompaniment, and the small cast imperceptibly transitions from speaking to singing, so that you can't even tell where songs end and begin, it's just all one seamless story. And above all else, Artistic Director Michelle Hensley and all of the artists at Ten Thousand Things are storytellers. Whether it's Shakespeare or a classic American musical, they share the story in a pure and unadorned way so that all of their audiences, whether prisoners or seasoned theater-goers, can hear it and see themselves in it. One such masterpiece is their latest musical venture, THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, a reprise of their very first musical venture 15 years ago. It's lovely, spirited, sweet, funny, moving, heart-warming, and real.

I went for a walk today. The sky through the trees caught my eye. The sound of music floated in and out between the calling of the birds, and the smell of the late summer prairie was all around me. I followed Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau through their lives, studies, and friendship. I thought about nature not as something to be visited occasionally, but as something we live in the midst of daily, whether we're aware of it or not. Sometimes her voice is obscured by the busyness of modern life, but she's always there if we take the time and listen hard enough. TigerLion Arts' outdoor walking play, NATURE, is more than just theater, it's an experience. The story of the life of writers, philosophers, scholars, and friends Emerson and Thoreau includes one very important character, nature, as experienced through the beautiful grounds of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

The Jungle Theater presents the regional premiere of DETROIT, playwright Lisa D'Amour's award-winning dissection of what it means to be middle class in this era of economic uncertainty. Detroit takes place in a first-ring suburb outside a mid-sized American city where Ben (John Middleton) and Mary (Angie Timberman) fire up the grill to welcome the couple (Anna Sundberg and Tyson Forbes) who've moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control shattering the fragile hold that newly unemployed Ben and burgeoning alcoholic Mary have on their way of life - with unexpected comic consequences. The play opens April 11 and runs through May 25 at the Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Av. S. in Minneapolis.

This summer, TigerLion Arts (TLA) has its paws in two shows to be produced as part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, tonight, August 1 - 11, 2013. THE COSMIC EQUATION = 2 Wives + 2 Husbands ÷ Adventure! is a collaboration with Adventurer Press in which two smart Wives escape from their two ignorant Husbands in search of adventure. What if I'm Dead?, produced by TigerLion Arts, is a highly physical solo show in which Red Nose Clown Bartholomew (New York comedian Alan Fessenden) stages his own funeral.

This summer, TigerLion Arts (TLA) has its paws in two shows to be produced as part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, August 1 - 11, 2013. THE COSMIC EQUATION = 2 Wives + 2 Husbands ÷ Adventure! is a collaboration with Adventurer Press in which two smart Wives escape from their two ignorant Husbands in search of adventure. What if I'm Dead?, produced by TigerLion Arts, is a highly physical solo show in which Red Nose Clown Bartholomew (New York comedian Alan Fessenden) stages his own funeral.

Saturday, May 18, marks the closing of the daring and original world premiere play Nice Fish-written by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins, dedicated to Nataasha van Kampen and James Hillman.

Tonight marks the opening of the world premiere of Nice Fish, a play by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins, dedicated to Nataasha van Kampen and James Hillman. Get a first look at Rylance and the cast in action below!

Two-time Tony Award winner Mark Rylance and the cast of Nice Fish recently ventured out onto Minnesota's Silver Lake for an ice fishing expedition, a detour into a first-hand experience of the frozen north.

The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for its world premiere of Nice Fish by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins, dedicated to Nataasha van Kampen and James Hillman. The production will be directed by Rylance and Claire van Kampen (who also contributes original music) and will feature Rylance as Ron as well as actors Jim Lichtscheidl (Guthrie: Arms and the Man, The 39 Steps) as Eric, Emily Swallow (Guthrie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Television: the upcoming TNT series "Monday Mornings") as Flo and Chris Carlson (Guthrie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, God of Carnage) as Wayne in a humorous and mythic story based on Jenkins' prose poetry and taking place on the frozen waters of the Upper Midwest on the last day of ice fishing season. Nice Fish also features Bob Davis (Guthrie: Tales from Hollywood, Arsenic and Old Lace) as DNR Officer and Tyson Forbes (Guthrie: Peer Gynt, 1776) as Wainwright.