"The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki" by Full Circle Theater at Park Square Theatre's Andy Boss Stage

Full Circle Theater doesn't exclusively do new work, but they do a lot of new work, supporting local playwrights. Their latest is #TCTheater artist Oogie_Push's lovely new autobiographical play The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki. In it, she and four other actors play herself as she tells the story of her life, from childhood to the present, all connected by the theme of water. Less a straight-forward narrative story and more a collection of interrelated stories, experiences, and revelations, it feels like an epic journey that comes full circle (pardon the pun) from past to present, from water to water, to finding self and home. It's heart-warming, inspiring, and thought-provoking, as it deals with themes of grief, environmental disaster, and this country's horrific treatment of indigenous people. But the overall feeling is one of hope, community, and connection, and it might make you regard water a little differently. Join the adventure in Park Square's intimate basement thrust stage, Wednesdays through Sundays until November 24.

"Passage" by Exposed Brick Theatre and Pillsbury House + Theatre

Two theater companies are joining forces to bring us Passage by Christopher Chen, loosely based on the 1924 novel A Passage to India. The central question is: is it possible for two people to be friends when one is a citizen of a colonized country and the other is one of the colonizers? Colonization has been a part of world history for hundreds, even thousands, of years, but awareness and discussion of its injustices has never been at a higher level. This play puts a human face on the sometimes abstract issue, and places the audience squarely in the shoes of both the colonized and the colonizers. For more on how this collaboration between Exposed Brick Theatre and Pillsbury House + Theatre came to be, listen to episode 2.3 of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers' podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat, in which my blogger friends from Minnesota Theater Love and I interview the co-directors of this piece, longtime friends and synchronized swimming teammates Signe V. Harriday (Pillsbury House's Artistic Director) and Suzy Messerole (co-Artistic Director of Exposed Brick). Then get your tickets and head to "the jewel of South Minneapolis" to see this thought-provoking and engaging play.

"LOCH MESS! The World's Largest Freshwater Musical" by Open Eye Theatre at the Bakken Museum

As Open Eye Theatre's Artistic Director Joel Sass said, the best thing to come out of the pandemic is their tradition of annual original musicals performed outdoors at the Bakken Museum's lovely green rooftop overlooking Bde Maka Ska. Well, one of the best things anyway (personally, it was my newfound love of Minnesota State Parks). In the summer of 2021, when we weren't quite ready to go back into the theater yet, there was a plethora of outdoor #TCTheater. One of the best was Open Eye's sweet, silly, and very Minnesotan musical LOG JAM! A Paul Bunyan Musical Spectacular. It was so successful and popular, they followed it up with HAIR BALL! A Bigfoot Musical Adventure in 2022. This year brings us LOCH MESS! The World's Largest Freshwater Musical (are you sensing a theme?). With book, music, and lyrics by Josef Evans and direction by Mr. Sass, this delightful and hopefully never-ending series of musicals is fun, silly, clever, and heart-warming. The 85-minute show happens at 7pm Thursdays through Sundays until July 16, and should definitely be added to your summer traditions.

"Sweat" at the Guthrie Theater

Three years ago, the Guthrie premiered the new play Floyd's (which had its Broadway premiere as Clyde's earlier this past season) by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage, a companion piece to one of her Pulitzer Prize winners, Sweat. The Guthrie was supposed to produce that play in the summer of 2020, which of course it didn't, but good things come to those who wait. Both plays were created based on an extensive series of interviews by Lynn and Kate Whoriskey (frequent collaborator and original director of both plays) with the people of Reading, Pennsylvania. The 2010 census determined that Reading had the highest poverty rate out of all cities in America with a population over 65,000, making it a microcosm of what was happening in the greater U.S. during the recession. The first play to come out of these interviews, Sweat is a grittily real, painfully American, and beautifully human story of a group of friends whose lives are torn apart by poverty, drug abuse, racism, and violence.

"Passing Strange" at Yellow Tree Theatre

The latest offering at Yellow Tree Theatre, the little theater in the 'burbs with big bold theatrical offerings, is Passing Strange, a loosely autobiographical musical by the musician known as Stew (with help from Heidi Rodewald on the music composition). This rarely done musical (last seen in #TCTheater at Mixed Blood in 2014) is a coming of age story about a young black man from L.A. who travels to Europe in search of what he calls "the real." The narrator (played by Stew himself on Broadway) and his younger self take us on this epic journey with them, filled with the highs of love and music and the lows of grief and heartbreak, and it's a beautiful thing when he comes out the other end with a better understanding of life, love, and art.* The talented cast and creative team at Yellow Tree bring out all of the passion and poignancy of the piece, for a truly unique experience. See it in Osseo through May 8 (click here for info and tickets).

"LOG JAM! A Paul Bunyan Musical Spectacular" by Open Eye Theatre on the Bakken Museum's green rooftop

My second outdoor* theatrical production this year (and hence only the second show I've seen live in 2021) is Open Eye Theatre's delightful new original musical LOG JAM! A Paul Bunyan Musical Spectacular, performed on the beautiful green rooftop of the Bakken Museum** overlooking Bde Maka Ska. The scheduled opening night turned out to be a cold and rainy spring day, but the actual opening night one day later was a gorgeous, sunny, cool evening. In just over an hour this group of talented performers, including many familiar faces I've greatly missed seeing in the last 15 months without theater, told a sweet and silly story about Minnesota legend Paul Bunyan, and I smiled through the entire show. Fun, safe, and accessible, great for kids and grown-ups alike, LOG JAM is another exciting step in the return of our vital performing arts community (continuing through June 20).