Mother Courage and Her Children at Pangea World Theater

Photo provided by Pangea World Theater

Mother Courage and Her Children at Pangea World Theater

When: March 15 - 31, 2019
At: The Lab Theater
Running Time: 3 hours, fifteen minutes

About:
"Pangea World Theater’s take on Brecht’s classic, Mother Courage, is a scathing critique of profiteering through war and misfortune. As relevant today as when it was written, Mother Courage follows a woman determined to make her living from war at any cost. Over the course of the play, she loses all three of her children to the very war from which she tried to profit."

What We Thought:
Considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, Mother Courage and Her Children was written by Bertolt Brecht in 1939 in response to the rise of fascism in Europe, but set in 1624 to 1636 during the Thirty Years' War. Mother Courage is hailed as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. Although productions are fairly rare in American theater, some of the most well-regarded contemporary playwrights have adapted the play, including Ntozake Shange, Hanif Kureishi, David Hare, Lee Hall, and Tony Kushner. Pangea's production uses the 1972 adaptation by acclaimed translator Ralph Manheim.

She Persists: The Great Divide III at Pillsbury House + Theatre

You should go and see She Persists: The Great Divide III at Pillsbury House + Theatre.

When: March 13-24
At: Pillsbury House + Theatre
Running Time: 70 minutes, no intermish

From "I Voted" by Aamera Siddiqui
© 2019 George Byron Griffiths

About:
"She Persists is a fresh take on the conversation that began with the popular 2017 production, The Great Divide: Plays for a Broken Nation and continued with 2018’s The Great Divide: Plays on the Politics of Truth. Featuring an all-woman cast, production team and playwright cohort, She Persists: The Great Divide III is a powerful, intersectional look at the place where womanhood and politics collide."

What We Thought:
These plays are short, but they each pack a punch. "I Voted" by Aamera Siddiqui shows us a far-too-easy to imagine near-future in which voting rights are more like privileges, particularly for people of color. Casey Llewellyn's "The Team" introduces campaign staffers for a presidential campaign who question the commitment of their candidate to making real change.

Behind the Scenes: Props at 84 Charing Cross Road

Last weekend, we crossed the river to beautiful Hudson to see 84 Charing Cross Road at the Phipps Center for the Arts, which runs through February 3rd.  Helene Hanff's charming book about her epistolary exchange with a London bookseller is one of our favorites and we were excited to see it on stage.

Confession: As a librarian, former bookstore employee and all around fan of books, I've always cast a pretty critical eye at the books that are used as props in theater. And I get it! Sometimes you just have to fill a bookshelf on set with Readers' Digest Condensed books.

February Is Filled With Theater Love

So much theater to love, so little time!

February is completely packed with amazing new shows. Spend your Valentine's Day (and month!) at the theater with a few shows we are especially looking forward to right now.

2018 - Looking Back at the Year in Theater

2018 was another amazing year in Minnesota theater. After voting for the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers Awards (4th annual!), we still had a bit to say about what we loved this year.

Favorite Way to Binge Theater: The Festival 
Between our beloved Twin Cities Horror Festival, Great River Shakespeare Festival, American Players Theatre AND Mixed Blood's Prescient Harbingers festival, power theater-attending is our new favorite sport. Especially the hosts of these festivals are so welcoming and provide lovely venues and hospitality.

Favorite Way to Visit New Places: Site-Specific Theater
This year alone we saw High Fidelity at the Electric Fetus, Thomas Tallis in a church, Trojan Women at a taproom, Our House: A Capitol Play Project at the State Capitol AND The Haunting of Hill House AT. THE. HILL. HOUSE. Like you can get any better than that? Every one was beautifully produced in a setting that made the work even more meaningful and compelling.

Dread the Halls by Oncoming Productions at Off-Leash Art Box

Please note that this show runs from December 14-16 ONLY so we are going to make this fast, short and sweet!

Love horror? Love theater? Love Christmas stories with a twist? Get yourself to the Off-Leash Art Box in Minneapolis to Dread the Halls: A Gathering of Holiday Horror.

Presented by Oncoming Productions, Dread the Halls features four short holiday-themed vignettes interspersed with music by The Champagne Drops. Anyone who loves the Twin Cities Horror Festival (and you SHOULD--how many times do we have to tell you?) needs to catch this show.

Dread the Halls starts with Rogues Gallery Arts's "Naughty or Nice," a short piece about siblings surviving the zombie apocalypse. You may note overtones of Dawn of the Dead and The Ref. Written by Duck Washington and directed by Jena Young, "Naughty or Nice" manages to create strong characters and believable, touching familial relationships in a very short play. Lovely acting by Brynn Berryhill and Eric Thompson as Constance and Gabe add even more depth and emotion. I love the skilled way Washington sketches the setting with a radio voice-over and the lighting (by Julia Carlis) beautifully evokes the mood.

Between each segment, the lovely duo The Champagne Drops (Leslie Vincent and Emily Dussault) accompanied by Erik Ostrom (on a variety of instruments) add their distinctive blended voices to haunting original numbers as well as putting a dark twist on holiday classics. You'll never hear "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" the same way again. Also, they need to put out a Halloween album like now please.  

"777: A Very Crowley Christmas", is a Ghoulish Delights production created and performed by Tim Uren (also of the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society--a podcast you should definitely be listening to). Uren takes us through the complex history of Aleister Crowley and the concept of Anti-Christmas. His approach reminded us of his fellow Twin Cities Horror Festival alum Reverend Matt's Monster Science. That is, until Uren's tale ends with a mysterious, startling twist. 

Erin Sheppard Presents is up next with "Searching for Santa (You Better Watch Out)" which tells the story of a man (Joe Bozic) who heads to the North Pole in search of Santa Claus. He does not find Santa (spoiler!) but what he does find there is delightfully dark, creepy and funny. Written by Joe Bozic and choreographed by Erin Sheppard, this twisted holiday tale features Sheppard's signature fantastic blend of athletic, energetic dance and perfect contemporary song choice. We love that Sheppard's dancers are also compelling actors (Erin Sheppard, Regan K. Saunders, Jessica Chad) as well as dancers. And the costumes are spot-on--particularly Sheppard's first costume, which is hilarious. As we always say when we see her work: Yay, more Erin Sheppard Presents PLEASE.

The last play of the evening is Oncoming Productions's fantastic "Holiday Spirits," written by Sean Dillon and directed by Victoria Pyan. Simultaneously funny and genuinely spooky, "Holiday Spirits" tells the story of Jackson (Sean Dillon) and Tim (Rob Ward) who, upon moving into their new (old) house, find a bottle of cognac which gives them some very unexpected effects. To say more would spoil the magical surprise of where the story goes, but suffice it to say that we'd love to see much more of these characters and their story. Hilarious and chilling and a perfect way to end a winter's evening. 

Go! Quick! Follow and support these amazing theater companies! Happy Holidays! BYE!

Black Nativity (2018) at Penumbra Theatre

Always a great way to start the holiday season off on the right note, Black Nativity is back at Penumbra Theatre, running through December 23.

This perennial favorite tells the story of the birth of Christ through music and dance, with many familiar faces and voices.