by SOPHIE KERMAN For both political and theatrical reasons, the story of gender transition is not told enough. Changing one’s gender presentation is by definition a form of theater; a dress can become a costume, and facial hair can transform a bearer of XX chromosomes into someone who is confident walking into the men’s bathroom.…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Dreamless Land is a slippery bit of theater. Characters grow up unexpectedly, the genre shifts from “realism” to dream to science fiction to spy movie, and the viewer is never quite sure whether the actors are playing different sides of the same character or different characters altogether. A glowing cube (designed by Liz…
by SOPHIE KERMAN There’s a certain mystique out there about fishing, a sense that the long wait (or desperate quest) for a fish can somehow be compared to the various ways of leading one’s life with artistry, impatience, or obsession. The idea has been exploited in various forms for centuries, from “A River Runs Through…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Want to pair a night at the theater with a tasty meal beforehand? Josh Page over at I Like Food, Food Tastes Good and I are doing the legwork for you. Check out Josh’s site for his take on Chimborazo, where the unexpected combinations of sweet and savory Ecuadorian flavors will put you…
by LIZ PANTING, guest reviewer As Yellow Fever opens, private investigator Sam Shikaze (Kurt Kwan) walks onto a dimly-lit stage in a fedora and trench coat, jazz music playing lazily in the background, and he turns to the audience and begins to narrate his life. It’s a classic hard-boiled crime drama… with a few changes…
by SOPHIE KERMAN Back before recovery programs like AA and treatment facilities like Hazelden became accepted parts of the substance abuse landscape, there were two options for addicts: desperate prayer or hopeless resignation. Relying on willpower or divine intervention, most alcoholics did not get very far for very long; it took the ingenuity and entrepreneurial…
by EMILY MEISLER, guest reviewer …This is a practise As full of labor as a wise man’s art, For folly that he wisely shows is fit. But wise men, folly-fall’n, quite taint their wit. -Viola, Twelfth Night In Act III of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare offers a warning to any potential fools in the audience. Substitute “fool”…
by MICHAEL J. OPPERMAN The bones of the story will be familiar to anyone who has taken a survey course in English literature. Hamlet, the heir to the throne of Denmark sees the ghost of his father who demands that his son avenge his death. The tricky thing is that, according to this ghost, the…
by LIZ PANTING, guest reviewer Are you ever at the theatre and feel bored before the curtain goes up? Do you find yourself thinking all plays are starting to look the same? Go see a PuppetLab show at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. Something in it will take you off…
by LIZ PANTING, guest reviewer Girl Shorts is a festival of short plays all written by women playwrights, focusing on female characters. Each night of the festival, which runs from February 23-March 3, features 5 one-act plays, and certain evenings also feature live music after the show by Missing Peace, Lingua Luna, and Courtney McLean of the…
Aisle Say - Twin Cities 