by SOPHIE KERMAN Despite its being a world premiere, the Illusion Theater’s latest production is strangely undersold. On its website and in press materials, What’s the Word For is presented as the story of inter-generational support between a middle-aged man and an older woman who somehow bond over crossword puzzles. This doesn’t necessarily come across as a play…
by SOPHIE KERMAN All laughter is both highly personal and intensely social. We don’t laugh much when we’re alone, but the experience of shared laughter can bring a roomful of people together. Mary à la carte, which has just opened at the New Century Theatre after previous runs at the Bryant Lake Bowl, finds this common bond in…
by SOPHIE KERMAN It’s hard to stage a play based on a story the entire audience already knows; when the story is about Jesus, this is doubly true. Very few people have neutral reactions to the story of the crucifixion, but – whether positive or negative – each person’s associations to it are highly individual.…
by SOPHIE KERMAN In 1925, when Noël Coward wrote Hay Fever, going to the theater could be thought of as the pre-TV equivalent of staying in and watching Netflix. And just like a good night of TV, the theater has the potential to offer something for everyone – suspenseful drama, for those who want to…
by SOPHIE KERMAN For those of you with Mexican heritage – or for those of you who, like me, are ashamed of knowing so little about the Twin Cities’ sizable Mexican population – the Mixed Blood Theatre has brought an expanded production of Joe Minjares‘s Minnecanos to the Parkway Theater in South Minneapolis. Minnecanos has, in fact,…
by STEPHANIE KWONG Let me start off by stating that last night was my first time at the Illusion Theater. The Illusion Theater is quite nice and is a great place to see a show. Located in the Hennepin Center for the Arts, adjacent to the new Cowles Center, the building is historic and grand on…
by SOPHIE KERMAN A short story by Jorge Luis Borges is like a strange, otherworldly onion: it looks finite and compact, as throwable as a baseball, but the moment you start to peel away the outer layers, you discover that there is more to it than you thought there was, and the flavor just gets…
by SOPHIE KERMAN There is a thin line between satire and mockery, and when it comes to racial or regional stereotypes, that line can get uncomfortably thin. T Bone N Weasel, an “underdog comedy” that tries to tackle issues such as racism and social class through the voyage of two ex-cons in South Carolina, steps a…
by ANNA ROSENSWEIG Although Conor McPherson’s The Birds shares a title with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film, this new play, currently in its American premiere at the Guthrie Theater’s Dowling Studio, is not a stage adaptation of the film. The two works do share the same source material; both take Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 short story…
by ANNA ROSENSWEIG Conceived by Open Eye Figure Theatre’s co-founder Michael Sommers, this new marionette play, A Sorcerer’s Apprentice, is an adaptation of Goethe’s 1797 poem Der Zauberlehling. Most viewers, however, will be more familiar with the version featured in Disney’s Fantasia (1940). Remember the famous scene with Mickey Mouse and the brooms? Sommers’ version…
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