Frederick Douglass Now at Penumbra Theatre

This weekend only: Roger Guenveur Smith performs Frederick Douglass Now, which he also wrote, with an intensity sustained through the full eighty-some minutes of the piece.

It's hard to describe a work of art that leaves one speechless, so let's start with the Penumbra website's description of the show:

ALL the Theater Love - Can't Wait for These Winter 2018 Shows!

Friends, February 2018 is rich in amazing theater. Once you've recovered from that big sports game that is allegedly here sometime soon, go support one of our fantastic theaters! YEAH! Um, skol?

Here are a few of the over 31 (!) shows that are opening around February for which we are the most excited. Here's why you should put them on your list as well.

The Last Five Years at Artistry

The Last Five Years seems like an odd fit for Artistry (now onstage through February 11), which presents a lot of large-scale musicals like The Music Man, Follies, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. 

Jason Robert Brown's two-person musical doesn't exactly fit that pattern, though it fits well into the theater's smaller black box space.

Looking Back at 2017: A Random List of Theater Bests

2017 may have been a decidedly lousy year in the world, but the theater was still pretty good.

SO many programs.

I saw 119 shows in 2017, which includes:
- 14 Twin Cities Horror Fest shows
- 10 Minnesota Fringe shows,
- 9 out of town shows (Chicago and Spring Green)
- 7 operas
- 4 shows I liked so much I saw them twice
- 2 podcast tapings
- 1 Hamilton
AND ...
- 0 shows that I left at intermission! Go theater!