Sun Mee Chomet News

Park Square Theatre opens its 2019-2020 Theatre Season on the Andy Boss Trust Stage with the area premiere of Aubergine (SEPT 20 a?" OCT 20, 2019) by Julia Cho, author of The Language Archive. Aubergine will be directed by Park Square's Artistic Director Flordelino Lagundino a?" his Park Square directing debut.

This holiday season, the Jungle Theater presents THE WICKHAMS: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY, a companion to last year's wildly popular Miss Bennet - both continuations of Jane Austen's beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice. Starring Angela Timberman as the adored housekeeper Mrs. Reynolds, the play's action takes place in the cozy warmth of the Pemberley kitchen where the servants are bustling with holiday preparations. Directed by Christina Baldwin, this co-commission, co-world premiere (with Chicago's Northlight Theater and the Bay Area's Marin Theatre Company) runs December 1-30 at the Lyn-Lake neighborhood theater, located at 2951 Lyndale Ave. S. in Minneapolis. 

In keeping with their tradition of honoring the ancestors and artistic leaders of past generations, Penumbra Theatre is opening this season by revisiting Ntozake Shange's groundbreaking iconoclastic work, for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, which won an Obie in 1976 for its Broadway run, which I saw. Let's pause to note that it was the first Broadway show written by a Black woman since Lorraine Hansberry's RAISIN IN THE SUN in 1959.

The McKnight Theater Artist Fellowships at the Playwrights' Center recognize Minnesota theater artists other than playwrights whose work demonstrates exceptional artistic merit. The fellowship provides a $25,000 award as well as access to $7,000 in development funds. Selection is based on a commitment to theater arts, evidence of professional achievement and a sustained level of excellence in the applicant's work.

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.

My 280-character (or less) review of Theater Mu and Mixed Blood Theatre's first ever collaboration: 'Friends, run don't walk to see #twomilehollow (co-production from @theatermu and @mixed_blood). I can't decide whom I love most in this cast of comic geniuses! But behind all the wackiness and humor is some seriously smart commentary on race and class in America.' If you don't have time to continue reading this post, that pretty much tells you what you need to know. Or stick with me as I expand on this tweet by a few hundred more words. Either way, if you like your theater smart, funny, relevant, and painfully true, TWO MILE HOLLOW is not to be missed.

The 2017-18 Ruth Easton New Play Series at the Playwrights' Center continues March 5 and 6 with Core Writer Meg Miroshnik's new play 'Quiver.' The readings begin at 7 p.m. at the Playwrights' Center, located at 2301 E. Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. They are free, but reservations are recommended and can be made at pwcenter.org.

Actress Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was incredibly prolific, appearing in silent movies, 'talkies,' television, plays and vaudeville. She was also stifled by a close-minded industry which largely limited the Chinese American actress to stereotyped roles, and the Hays code which kept her out of romantic leads.

Actress Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was incredibly prolific, appearing in silent movies, 'talkies,' television, plays and vaudeville. She was also stifled by a close-minded industry which largely limited the Chinese American actress to stereotyped roles, and the Hays code which kept her out of romantic leads.

Writing a sequel to one of the most beloved novels in English literature is a daunting and risky task. Audiences have such attachment to the original, and it could go wrong in so many ways. But playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margo Melcon have gotten it so, so right in their theatrical sequel to Jane Austen's novel PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. In a sparkling new production at Jungle Theater, MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY is very reminiscent of Jane Austen, but also fresh and modern and new. It's a witty, smart, utterly charming new play that celebrates not just literal sisterhood, but women working together and supporting each other, both onstage and behind the scenes. I can think of nothing we need more at this moment in time.

Swedish playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri's* work makes its area debut with Pillsbury House Theatre's excellent production of the odd and oddly titled ALMOST EQUAL TO . But odd in a good way, odd in that it's uniquely structured and covers many topics and doesn't always entirely make sense. In fact pre- and mid-show announcements break the fourth wall a bit and tell us what to expect (or not). According to the program, the play 'is a commentary on the constraints and effects of living within a capitalist economic system.' A mix of economics, sociology, and family drama, ALMOST EQUAL TO will leave you questioning the very meaning of money. In a world with vast inequalities of wealth, that's a worthy thing to think about in a play that's also engaging and entertaining.

Penumbra Theatre's Summer Institute is a leadership development program that trains teenagers to use their passion for the arts to promote social justice and equity. Across the Twin Cities, students are positively impacting their communities by standing up, speaking out, and moving those who listen with the power of performance.

The Playwrights' Center is excited to announce the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission recipient, 2017-18 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting, 2017-18 McKnight Theater Artist Fellows, 2017-2020 Core Writers and 2017-18 Core Apprentices.

Another smart and funny new play fresh from a successful Off-Broadway run has landed in Minneapolis. In addition to Josh Tobiessen's hilarious and heart-breaking LONE STAR SPIRITS at the Jungle Theater, we also have Qui Nguyen's ambitious and genre-blending VIETGONE at Mixed Blood Theatre. The playwright tells the story of his parents meeting a Vietnamese refugee camp in 1975 Arkansas in an inventive and totally unique style. VIETGONE is part rap musical, part romantic comedy, part bawdy sex comedy, part war story, and all engrossing. It's in-your-face and squirm-inducing, but is utterly effective in communicating the refugee experience and making at least this audience member rethink their views on the Vietnam War and American involvement.

Mixed Blood Theatre is proud to announce the final show in its 2016/2017 Season, Vietgone. In Vietgone, award winning pioneer of "geek theater" Qui Nguyen brilliantly chronicles the love story of his parents meeting in an Arkansas refugee center after fleeing Vietnam during the fall of Saigon in 1975. The playwright's journey to understand his parents' immigrant love story in the wake of war and loss is marked by wit, unrepeatable curses, and a comic book sensibility that ultimately packs an unexpected emotional punch. It's is a buddy story, a proto-feminist tale, an all-American romance, and a motorcycle road trip adventure that 40 years later revisits how we think about the heroes and victims of the Vietnam War.

We've heard a lot about KING LEAR's two lead actors but now it's time for the women -- at least one of them. Sun Mee Chomet takes on Regan in this production at the Guthrie Theater and relishes her character's evil ways.

'Disciplined' may seem an odd word to apply to a production of KING LEAR, a tragedy that is about personal and societal dissolution into madness, both individually and at large. But the current mounting in Minneapolis earns that moniker, both in actorly control and design restraint. The result is a masterful rendering that eschews excess but allows the human relationships to be bared and centered.

This pre-eminent children's theatre company is one of the wellsprings of new plays for young audiences, and has twice commissioned playwright Naomi Iizuka in that effort. This time, Iizuka has woven together aspects of seven different Japanese folktales to create THE LAST FIREFLY, the tale of a boy in search of his absent father.

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is unveiling the world premiere of The Last Firefly, written by Naomi Iizuka and directed by CTC's Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius, beginning September 27. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) will unveil the world premiere of The Last Firefly, written by Naomi Iizuka and directed by CTC's Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius beginning September 27.