by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Guthrie Theater’s new artistic director Joseph Haj could not have chosen a more timely and relevant play to open his first season than Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, now through October 25 (recently extended) on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. As he states in the program’s introduction, “There is a timeliness to…
Becoming Dr. Ruth: In Life and Sex, You’ve Got to Finish By Rebecca Halat and Adam M. Schenck The Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company’s production of Becoming Dr. Ruth traces the story of the internationally-known sex therapist Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer from her youth in Nazi Germany to how we know her today. Youthful actress…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: As the sun begins to set on summer in Minneapolis, there is one last outdoor show you should make time for—Mixed Precipitation’s Escape From Alcina’s Island: A Picnic Operetta. In its 7th year, Mixed Precipitation has started a wonderful tradition of bringing good, local food and opera together. The play this year is…
By LIZ BYRON. It’s pretty simple: if the thought of pirates mixing in singing and dancing with their swashbuckling doesn’t sound awesome to you, then… well, first of all, I think you’re crazy. But second of all, you should probably stay clear of the Ordway between now and August 16, because their production of The…
by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE The Matchmaker, now on Park Square Theatre’s Andy Boss Thrust Stage, is writer and playwright Thornton Wilder’s (Our Town) satirical and humorous take on class differences, new wealth, love and the importance of having adventures. This is the play that was later turned into the iconic Tony-award winning musical, Hello Dolly!, starring Carole Channing and the 1969…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: It’s safe to assume that most people don’t think about horror festivals, and creepy-themed plays during the warm summer nights of July, but Gadfly Theatre Productions is hoping you might be up for just that. Their annual one-act Final Frontier Festival has a spooky theme this year. They’ve gathered six one act…
BY TAMAR NEUMANN: During the post-play discussion for Juno and the Paycock, the Guthrie Theater’s latest production, Jo Holcomb, dramaturg, stated that this play was in Joseph Dowling’s DNA. As I thought about everything I could say about this production I kept circling back to Holcomb’s statement. My written words cannot find a better way to…
by Adam M. Schenck Our lives have seasons, and the Bard himself tells us that “All the world’s a stage.” And as Aristotle teaches us in his Poetics, catharsis is the purgation of our emotions via the experience of tragedy. That’s three big concepts, but I want to answer a simple question: What is the…
by Adam M. Schenck Part of growing up in our country as a late adolescent is reading what is called classic American literature. The teacher tells the sixth- through ninth-graders, “This is important! This matters!” But children at that age do not have a reference for what is important. Like you perhaps, my first interaction…
[Trigger warning: sexual abuse, rape] by Rebecca Halat The Illusion Theater’s production of Lee Blessing’s For the Loyal explores truth, consequences, and obligations. The narrative is based on the real-life events of the Penn State-Jerry Sandusky child rape scandal, but avoids falling into the trap of simply re-telling that narrative. The play begins by exploring…
