The Guthrie Theater presents the perennial holiday favorite A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, adapted by Crispin Whittell and directed by Lauren Keating. A Twin Cities holiday tradition for many, this season marks the Guthrie's 45th production, making it the longest run of A Christmas Carol in regional theater history.
Briskly written and dynamically staged, this world premiere tells a complicated, true, little known story with wit and economy. From the early days of commercial airlines, stewardesses were hired based on looks, required to pass weekly weight checks, forbidden to wear glasses or marry, and fired automatically when they reached age 32. They were also not allowed to apply for the higher paying bursar jobs. Though it took decades, literally, a stewardess named Mary Pat Laffey got all that to change, persisting with a lawsuit under Equal Employment statutes that derive directly from the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Y'all, Jungle Theater's LONE STAR SPIRITS got me feeling all the feels! Hilarious and heart-breaking, it's one of the best plays I've seen this year. Brought to us by wife/husband director/playwright team Sarah Rasmussen and Josh Tobiessen, it features crisply drawn characters beautifully brought to life by a brilliant five-person cast, an incredibly detailed and realistic set, family drama, a poignant exploration of small town life, ghosts, country music, and accidental gunshots. I was laughing throughout the show and wiping away tears at the end, which is pretty much my favorite kind of play. Friends, you'd be wise to get on down to the Jungle between now and May 7 to experience this practically perfect 90 minutes of theater.
Friends, something exciting is going on at the Guthrie Theater. In the wake of (not unjustified) criticism about their lack of diversity onstage and backstage, they are currently presenting a 60-year-old play written by Alice Childress, one of the most important female African-American playwrights of the 20th Century, and directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, the first African-American woman to ever direct on a Guthrie mainstage. And I'm happy to report that TROUBLE IN MIND succeeds on so many levels. First of all, it's hilarious, engaging, and entertaining, and offers a behind the scenes look at the theater world we love so well. But more importantly, it talks about racism, sexism, classism, ageism in a smart and nuanced way that has as much resonance in today's world as it did in the 1950s NYC theater world depicted in the play. I was fortunate enough to attend on a night when there was a post-show discussion with the cast, which just made the experience that much richer. The best and most important work of theater is to start conversations about the world we live in, give voice to everyone's stories, and in doing so help us to better understand our fellow human beings. Trouble in Mind, and the conversations it will hopefully spark amongst its audience, is a fantastic example of that.
Artistic Director Michael Kahn truly proves a great director of comedy.
It's fitting that Shakespeare Theater's Artistic Director Michael Kahn has created an evening that bookends the pathetic theater critics of the 18th century with criticism in our own day. His cracker-jack, double casting results in a fun evening with star turns-and slapstick routines-galore.
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.
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.
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.
Last weekend I saw the classic play The Heiress, about Catherine, a wealthy heiress lacking in social graces with a stern father and an unexpected suitor. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the play until I had a sudden revelation the next morning - Catherine is Mad Men's Peggy. The Heiress is all about Catherine reclaiming her power, even if it comes at the expense of her own happiness.
Acclaimed playwright-screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher revisits his acting roots in the Jungle Theater's production of THE HEIRESS, portraying Dr. Austin Sloper, a role he says he's always wanted to play. Artistic Director Bain Boehlke designs and directs the celebrated stage adaptation based on one of Henry James' most memorable novels, Washington Square. The elegant costume drama, also stars Kate Guentzel in the title role of Catherine Sloper and her real-life husband John Catron as Morris Townsend, her suitor, supported by an all-star cast including Jennifer Blagen, Charity Jones, Wendy Lehr, Paris Hunter Paul and Anna Sundberg.
Acclaimed playwright-screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher revisits his acting roots in the Jungle Theater's production of THE HEIRESS, portraying Dr. Austin Sloper, a role he says he's always wanted to play. Artistic Director Bain Boehlke designs and directs the celebrated stage adaptation based on one of Henry James' most memorable novels, Washington Square. The elegant costume drama, also stars Kate Guentzel in the title role of Catherine Sloper and her real-life husband John Catron as Morris Townsend, her suitor, supported by an all-star cast including Jennifer Blagen, Charity Jones, Wendy Lehr, Paris Hunter Paul and Anna Sundberg.
Actor John Catron reveals a little insight into his Cassio in the Guthrie Theater's production of OTHELLO and a little about himself and his future work in this Q&A.
For Illusion Theater's Ninth Annual Lights Up! series, Transatlantic Love Affair, the creators of Minnesota Fringe Festival hit Red Resurrected (2011 Encore Slot Winner) and Ivey Award-winning Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2010), offers ASH LAND, a tale inspired by economic hardships past and present and scored by old American spirituals and new slide guitar compositions. Opening today, January 31, the dynamic and spirited Ash Land runs through February 22 at the downtown Minneapolis theater, located on the eighth floor of The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, 528 Hennepin Ave.
Park Square cracks the ice of winter with a wickedly funny satire inspired by Moliere's The Misanthrope. THE SCHOOL FOR LIES by David Ives (whose Venus in Fur was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012) storms the stage in a production led by Amy Rummenie, Artistic Director of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, in her Park Square directing debut.
Park Square cracks the ice of winter with a wickedly funny satire inspired by Moliere's The Misanthrope. The School for Lies by David Ives (whose Venus in Fur was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012) storms the stage in a production led by Amy Rummenie, Artistic Director of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, in her Park Square directing debut.
For Illusion Theater's Ninth Annual Lights Up! series, Transatlantic Love Affair, the creators of Minnesota Fringe Festival hit Red Resurrected (2011 Encore Slot Winner) and Ivey Award-winning Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2010), offers ASH LAND, a tale inspired by economic hardships past and present and scored by old American spirituals and new slide guitar compositions. Opening on January 31, the dynamic and spirited Ash Land runs through February 22 at the downtown Minneapolis theater, located on the eighth floor of The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, 528 Hennepin Ave.
Park Square cracks the ice of winter with a wickedly funny satire inspired by Moliere's The Misanthrope. THE SCHOOL FOR LIES by David Ives (whose Venus in Fur was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012) storms the stage in a production led by Amy Rummenie, Artistic Director of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, in her Park Square directing debut.
In today's world, we've come to expect action, excitement and big emotion, or displays of it, and it's only getting worse in the age of 'reality TV.' What the public wants, they get. And lots of it. Reality today is oversized, over spent and over wrought.
The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for its production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Guthrie Artistic DirectorJoe Dowling will helm Brian Friel's modern adaptation of the Chekhov classic. First produced at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 1998, Friel's adaptation renders the language of the play into a modern idiom and offers humor and further developed characters' roles and relationships. Uncle Vanya-a play that has not been performed on the Guthrie stage in nearly 25 years-begins performances on September 14 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.
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