BY TAMAR NEUMANN: Peter Pan has always held a magical place in our hearts since it first took the stage. I think it’s because Peter Pan, the boy, reminds us all of the innocence of childhood. Either that, or we all just wish we had the ability to fly. In any case, Peter Pan continues…
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…
Have you ever done something without knowing why? –so asks a character in If You Don’t Weaken, and it comes at a very timely moment, for the audience may just be asking themselves why this woman is making such inexplicable, illogical decisions in her life. So is the character’s friend, for that matter. After all, why…
by Adam M. Schenck Have you ever been sitting there in the audience, Live Theatre Goer, and wondered, “Why are there so few people here and so many people at home watching television?” Well, this critic has had that thought, and let me say that I can’t recall having a solid belly laugh at a…
At one point during The Illusionists: Witness the Impossible, one of the titular performers asked an audience member if he had ever wanted to be a magician. “Yes,” the man answered, and when asked why he never pursued this, he explained, “Well, I was 8.” The implications were obvious — being a magician is not…
Walking into the Southern Theater to see a retelling of a story first performed on stage over two millennia ago is a wonderful experience. The contrast of the exposed modern lighting and minimalist set pieces to the beautiful, century-old proscenium arch is a fantastic metaphor for the show itself, blending old and new. These are the Men is a…
by Rebecca Halat As a youth, Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite movies, so the child in me was very excited to be able to see the Orpheum’s production, bringing my old memories to the stage. This performance certainly matched my expectations, and I was reminded of what a pleasure it is…
By Rebecca Halat and Adam Schenck Even before the film Selma, and before President Obama’s return to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in that Alabama town, we all knew the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. Many of us even know that the heroic orator’s persona has been sanitized to quell our worries about race and…
By LIZ BYRON. Leah’s Train is officially the first play I have ever seen that included time travel without a trace of science fictioniness (real word). It’s also the first production I’ve seen that involved Jewish migrants during wartime that didn’t depress me, and one of the only times I’ve seen an actor under the age…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 