Angela Timberman News

Women making comedy can be a radical act. The best moments of SOMETIMES THERE'S WINE at Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul are truly funny and border on radical, by offering glimpses of how real women sometimes talk to each other when no one else is listening. For theatergoers who never have access to such moments, it may be revelatory or discomfiting or embarrassing; but it will likely make others laugh in identification, as it did during the final preview I saw.

Woods comma Elle descended upon the cultural scene wrapped up as Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 film "Legally Blonde." "Legally Blonde 2" followed shortly after. Bloomington's Artistry  Theater at the Bloomington Center for the Arts opened the Broadway version of the film based on the musical's New York 2007 debut, after which the musical was christened with a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The music and lyrics by composed by Neil Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe, Heather Hach delivered a clever book for the production. In the film and the musical, Elle Woods wins the audiences' hearts with her unabashed love of anything pink and plucky confidence that overflows throughout the story.

Park Square Theatre announces the return of renowned Twin Cities comedy duo, Shanan Custer and Carolyn Pool, to the Andy Boss Stage to open the 2018-2019 theatre season with a new production of Sometimes There's Wine (Sept 14 - Oct 14, 2018). The follow-up to 2 Sugars, Room for Cream, which was featured in the debut season of the Boss Stage in 2014, is written and performed by Custer and Pool who are both Park Square audience favorites. Both were featured in CALENDAR GIRLS and Pool opened last season on the Boss Stage in HENRY & ALICE: INTO THE WILD. Angela Timberman, featured in the 2016 production of THE REALISTIC JONESES by Will Eno, makes her Park Square directing debut.

The votes have been counted... Check out the fill list of winners for the 2017 BWW Regional Awards!

The Playwrights' Center's annual PlayLabs new play festival runs Monday, October 23, through Sunday, October 29, 2017. The featured playwrights are Jason Gray Platt ('Take Care'), Jen Silverman ('In the Time of the Volcano') and Alice Tuan ('A Humbling in St. Paul'), all Core Writers at the Center.

Of the three shows currently running at the Guthrie, THE ROYAL FAMILY is definitely the lightweight, longer on comedy and razzle-dazzle production values than on importance. (The other two shows are KING LEAR and PROMISE LAND, a barebones physical theater take on the Hansel and Gretel tale retold as an immigrant story.) Loosely based on the Barrymore acting clan, THE ROYAL FAMILY follows three generations of a prominent and wealthy family of performers, with particular attention to the female line.

THE REALISTIC JONESES is an odd little play. But I shouldn't be surprised; the other Will Eno play I've seen (THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) by Loudmouth Collective) is exceedingly odd. But odd in the best way. THE JONESES is a little more, well, realistic, than the one-man show THOM PAIN, with an actual plot and characters in conversation with each other. But I still don't understand everything that happened, and sometimes characters say things that don't make sense, and there's no resolution to the problems the characters are facing. But that's OK. I like theater that doesn't tie things up in a neat bow in the end, that's a little unexpected and even jarring. I'm happy to spend 90 minutes or so in this odd and sometimes uncomfortable world populated by odd and sometimes unlikeable people, beautifully brought to life by this fantastic four-person cast.

Park Square continues its 42nd season on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage with the area premiere of Will Eno's captivating comic drama The Realistic Joneses. Upon his debut on the national scene with his Off-Broadway smash and Pulitzer Prize-finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing), The New York Times proclaimed Eno "a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation." In the decade since, Eno has become one of America's most daring and influential playwrights.

Park Square continues its 42nd season on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage with the area premiere of Will Eno's captivating comic drama The Realistic Joneses. Upon his debut on the national scene with his Off-Broadway smash and Pulitzer Prize-finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing), The New York Times proclaimed Eno "a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation." In the decade since, Eno has become one of America's most daring and influential playwrights.

Park Square continues its 2016-2017 season with the area premiere of Stephen Karam's celebrated and searing drama, SONS OF THE PROPHET.

Park Square continues its 2016-2017 season with the area premiere of Stephen Karam's celebrated and searing drama, SONS OF THE PROPHET.

Annapurna is the tenth highest mountain in the world, named after the Hindu Goddess of nourishment. In the new play by Sharr White, Ulysses writes an epic poem about his ex-wife Emma in which he uses climbing Annapurna as an analogy for their long, complicated, fractured relationship. The revelation of the poem comes at the end of 90 minutes of taut, natural, funny, heart-breaking, real, beautiful dialogue between these two layered and well-defined characters. And you couldn't ask for two better actors than Angela Timberman and Terry Hempleman to play Emma and Ulysses. Everything about the Jungle's production of ANNAPURNA, from the set to the acting to the music to the direction to the costumes (or lack thereof), is gorgeous in a starkly realistic yet poetic kind of way.

The Jungle Theater continues its 2015 Season with the regional premiere of ANNAPURNA, on stage September 4-October 18. Starring Terry Hempleman and Angela Timberman in a tour-de-force duet, the breathtaking comic-drama by Sharr White is a surprising and funny exploration about the longevity of love. Joel Sass directs the award-winning play at the Jungle, 2951 Lyndale Av. S. in Minneapolis.

 Summer brings a Pulitzer Prize-winning play to the stage with Gary Gisselman making his directorial debut at the Jungle. Hilarious and heartwarming, Kaufman and Hart's YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU opens tonight, June 19 at the Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Av. S. in Minneapolis, and runs through August 9.

For some people, summer means baseball, barbecues, boating, and other outdoor activities. For me, summer means more theater (and iced mochas)! Here are a few shows I'm looking forward to this summer.

 Summer brings a Pulitzer Prize-winning play to the stage with Gary Gisselman making his directorial debut at the Jungle. Hilarious and heartwarming, Kaufman and Hart's YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU opens June 19 at the Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Av. S. in Minneapolis, and runs through August 9.

Yesterday I sat on the famous thrust stage of the Guthrie Theater and watched a bunch of soldiers, lovers, and fairies dance, sing, fly, converse, love, hate, and generally cavort around in a bare circular space. Or was it all a dream? Such is the Guthrie's latest production of perhaps Shakespeare's best loved romantic comedy, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, that after three hours of spellbinding theater, you're not quite sure if what you saw just happened, or perhaps, as Puck suggests in his epilogue, it was all just a dream. Artistic Director Joe Dowling has returned to an old favorite in his final season at the Guthrie, assembling a gorgeous and talented cast of local favorites with a few national talents thrown in. It's no wonder that he returned to this show; this MIDSUMMER is a dream of a production, with plenty of spectacle in the form of dancing, flying, singing fairies, humor in the form of typical Shakesperean hijinks, and heart in this sweet romance that ends with a neat happily ever after. Everything about it is truly a delight.

Charles Dickens' novella A CHRISTMAS CAROL has become a staple of holiday traditions. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that this classic story can currently be seen on multiple stages in the Twin Cities. The biggest of these is the Guthrie Theater; this is the 40th year that the Guthrie has produced A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I think it's safe to say this is one of their most popular shows every year, with many families incorporating it into their annual traditions. Lyric Arts is also producing the show on their Main Street Stage in Anoka. I was lucky enough to see these two different interpretations of this classic story on back-to-back nights. And while I do have a clear favorite between the two, it's really unfair to compare them too closely. Both are entertaining and creative interpretations of Charles Dickens' heartwarming story about the rich-in-money poor-in-friends businessman who learns through the visitation of four ghosts that it's better to be kind than rich.

Full disclosure: I'm a huge fan of Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion. He's the Mark Twain of our generation, and is Minnesota's best export. If A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION is one of the things that Minnesota is most known for, I am proud to be a Minnesotan. So of course, I absolutely love his new play RADIO MAN, the first he's written. I saw a reading of it early this year as part of the History Theatre's Raw Stages festival and loved it then, but this full production, now playing at the History Theatre, is so much more polished and complete, and really a thing unto itself and not just an episode of A Prairie Home Companion on stage. Yes there is the familiar music, the jingles for Powdermilk Biscuits, rhubarb pie, and ketchup, stories from Lake Wobegon, and beloved characters including Dusty and Lefty and Guy Noir. But there's also a story and a character (the host of a radio show called A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION who bears a striking resemblance to Garrison) who we get to know as he reminisces about his past and contemplates his future.

There's a reason My Fair Lady is one of the most beloved musicals of all time. Not only does it feature a bunch of wonderful songs by Lerner and Loewe that have become classics, but it's based on the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion that deals with issues of class, gender, societal expectations, and the intersection of wealth and power. It's a musical that has style and substance. The Guthrie's gorgeous new production does well by this classic. The show is perfectly cast, the familiar music sounds great, the choreography is fantastic, and the sets and costumes are luscious. This hugely entertaining show is definitely a must-see summer blockbuster musical.