"Peter and Alice" by Candid Theatre Company at Fallout Arts Initiative

Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland are two of the most iconic characters in children's literature. Both were inspired by real people, Peter Llewelyn Davis and Alice Liddell, who were children befriended by the authors J.M. Barrie and Lewis Carroll. One would think they'd have a lot in common, and a lot to talk about, both living their lives under the shadow of this iconic image of childhood. History tells us they actually did meet, and playwright John Logan imagines what their conversation was like in the play Peter and Alice. Reality, memories, and imagination all mix together to tell a moving story of the joy and pain of growing up. Candid Theatre Company's wonderful and intimate production of Peter and Alice is playing at Fallout Arts Initiative in South Minneapolis through March 4.

"We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!" by Candid Theater Company at the Black Forest Inn

Jacleen Olson and Shanna Eisenberg
(photo by Christopher Mogel)

I last saw Candid Theater Company in 2014 at the People's Center Theater on the U of M campus, a space that is no longer. I'm not sure why I haven't seen them in three years, but I was happy to catch their funny, relevant, and intimate production of the 1974 Italian play We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! last night. Performed in the charmingly kitschy banquet hall of the Black Forest Inn, just off their lovely outdoor patio, the play tells the story of two families who cannot pay their bills due to wage cuts and layoffs. Forty years later and in a different country than where it originated, it feels like a current problem, and a few modern references are added in the English translation (although the strictly defined gender roles remind us we're in the past). It's a funny farce of a play, one that almost makes you forget the issues behind the comedy, timely issues of fair wages, unemployment, and the rising cost of living.

"Hauptmann" by Candid Theater Company at the People's Center Theater

The kidnapping of the son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1932 was headline news across the country and caused a media sensation. Eighty years later, the "crime of the century" is still a fascinating story and a bit of an unsolved mystery. Last year the History Theatre produced a fantastic musical Baby Case about the kidnapping, investigation, and media frenzy. Playwright and screenwriter John Logan (see also the multi-Tony-winner Red) wrote a play about it from the point of view of the man accused, convicted, and executed for the crime, Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Candid Theater Company's current production presents a fascinating and compelling drama with the barest of sets and costumes and a cast full of new young talent.

The focus of Hauptmann is not Mr. and Mrs. Lindbergh, whose child was stolen and murdered, but, as the title suggests, Hauptmann himself. He tells his story directly to the audience from his prison cell where he's awaiting execution. He narrates his story from his arrest two years after the crime, through the brutal interrogations, through the trial with resources and public opinion in the Lindberghs' favor, to his almost predetermined conviction. He never wavers in his insistence of his innocence, as the real Hauptmann never did. Someone needed to pay for the "crime of the century" to put the watchful nation at ease, and Hauptmann did. The possession of some of the ransom money, which he says he got from a friend, handwriting experts who testified to the similarity between his writing and the ransom notes, and wood experts who insisted that the wood from the ladder found at the scene of the crime matched wood in his attic was enough to convict him. History is undecided about whether or not Hauptmann was guilty of the crime, but this play leaves no doubt that he was the innocent victim of circumstance and the public and law enforcement's desperate need for a conviction.

Director Justin Kirkeberg tells the story efficiently with simple costumes, minimal sets (just a cot and a few chairs), and his seven-person cast, several of whom are new to the Twin Cities theater scene, with no a weak link among them. Aaron Henry plays the title character and rarely, if ever, leaves the stage as he guides the audience through the story. His Hauptmann is a sympathetic man, an average Joe caught up in a whirlwind, but who eventually shows his anger and frustration that no one believes him. The rest of the cast all play multiple characters, from nameless police and guards to the other personalities in the story. Jonathon Dull's Lindbergh is a strong and elegant man, desperate to find answers for his wife. As Mrs. Lindbergh, Kate Zehr is the picture of a grieving mother. Kevin Fanshaw plays four different witnesses, never getting up from the witness chair but managing to create four distinct personalities in a short period of time. Matt Saxe is the cruelly efficient prosecuting attorney, relentlessly badgering Hauptmann until he gets the answers he wants. Rounding out the cast is Elohim Peña as multiple characters including the judge, with a nice array of accents.

The American public has always been obsessed with true crime stories, and the Lindbergh baby kidnapping is one of its earliest obsessions. Hauptmann shows us the other side of the story, the possibly innocent man who was sacrificed to create a satisfying end to the story. Candid Theater Company's well done production of John Logan's compelling story continues through November 23 at the People's Center Theater on the U of M's West Bank campus (discount tickets available on Goldstar).


This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"Proof" by Candid Theater Company at People's Center Theater

I like to refer to the 2001 Tony winner for best play Proof as my second* favorite math play (yes, I am a math geek in addition to being a theater geek). But of course it's not about math. Math is the language with which this very relatable story about family, identity, and mental illness is told. And even though I saw this play less than a year ago at Bloomington Civic Theatre, I welcomed the chance to spend more time with this complicated, dysfunctional, yet loving family. Candid Theater Company's production is nicely done in the intimate and sparsely decorated People's Center Theater on the U of M West Bank campus.

Proof tells the story of a young woman named Catherine whose father, a renowned mathematician, has just died. She took care of him in the final years of his life as his mental health deteriorated. In that time he filled 100 notebooks with gibberish, or is it mathematical genius? Similar to the movie A Beautiful Mind (based on the biography of mathematician Jon Nash), he sees patterns and codes everywhere, and it's difficult to decipher the difference between madness and genius. One of his former students, Hal, comes over to the house to go through the journals to see if there's anything of value. At the same time, Catherine's sister arrives from New York and tells her she's sold the house, and wants Catherine to move to New York with her. When Hal discovers one beautiful, complicated, ground-breaking proof, Catherine says that she wrote it. No one believes her since she's had little schooling; she dropped out of college to take care of her father. It's obvious she has inherited her father's mathematical skill, but has she also inherited his mental illness? That's the question that Catherine struggles with as she tries to figure out who she is without her crazy genius father to take care of and define her life.

Kendall Anne Thompson shines in the central role of Catherine. She beautifully, deeply, and physically conveys the complex emotions of Catherine, from the joy of discovery to deep loss and despair. The more I see of Kendall the more convinced I am that she's on her way to becoming a star of the Twin Cities theater scene (see also RENT). Steven Flamm is appropriately befuddled as Catherine's mentally ill father, seen in flashbacks and hallucinations. His final descent into his illness is devastating. Rounding out the cast are Katherine Prebel as Catherine's pragmatic, over-protective, and controlling sister, and Michael Terrell Brown as young mathematician Catherine falls for.

Proof is a great play, and you don't have to be a math nerd like me to enjoy it. But if you are, you'll learn some interesting facts about prime numbers and mathematician Sophie Germain, and enjoy a few inside jokes, like the one about a song called i. Proof continues through August 24 (discount tickets available on Goldstar).


*My favorite math play is Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, which I first saw almost 20 years ago in London, and haven't seen in over 10 years. Some local theater needs to produce this play soon!

"Dogwood" by Candid Theater Company at The People's Center Theater

One of the most fun parts about being an independent theater blogger is getting to see theater by many different companies in many different venues. I've seen work by over 60 local theater companies (click here for the full list), but there are still some that I've never seen. Last weekend I saw one of these theater companies I'd never seen before (although it was founded 15 years ago) in a location I'd never been to. Candid Theater Company's new play Dogwood, written and directed by Founders Seraphina Nova and Justin M. Kirkeberg, respectively, is a dysfunctional family drama, complete with secrets, illness, affairs, arguments, dark humor, and love.

The Dogwoods are a family living in suburban Milwaukee. Dad is retired and spends most of the day in a fog watching his "programs," while Mom flutters around pretending everything is OK. Daughter Evelyn lives just down the street and has put her own life on hold to take care of her parents (or is she using them as an excuse not to live a fuller life?). Rachel and Nathaniel have moved away, and their trips home are becoming fewer and farther between. They all congregate at the family home for Dad's favorite holiday, Independence Day. Rachel brings her assistant instead of her husband, and Nat arrives without his much talked about but never seen fiance. Secrets come out and old grievances come back around as this not-so-happy family finds themselves under the same roof again. After the holiday is over, not much has changed, except perhaps a better awareness of the situation.

James Napoleon Stone, Katherine Preble, and Angela Walberg
as the Dogwood siblings

The cast does a fine job with the material and feels like a comfortable family. Angela Walberg is painfully sympathetic as the responsible daughter Evelyn, and along with James Napoleon Stone and Katherin Preble form a believable sibling trio. As the parents, David Roberts and Meri Golden are excellent, David poignantly playing the extremes of a dead-eyed stare and an anger and frustration at the situation he finds himself in, and Meri is all motherly love and concern hiding a deeper pain. And kudos to the talented Michael Terrell Brown who just joined the cast a few days before opening and seems like he's been with the group all along. This play does not have a happy ending, as there is an impression that things will only get worse, especially for Evelyn as she's left to care for her parents after her siblings leave. In the end I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to take away from the play, other than frustration that this poor girl is destined to live a lonely life caring for her aging parents while her siblings enjoy their independent lives hundreds of miles away.

The new-to-me venue is The People's Center Theater. It's a nice intimate space on the third floor of the People's Center Health Services' Cedar Riverside Clinic. The set looks like a typical lived-in Midwestern home, with blankets on the couch and tchotchkes on the shelf. At one point during a heated scene the table broke, and the cast dealt with it so well I thought it was part of the script.

Dogwood is a compelling and entertaining dark family drama. If, like me, you're unfamiliar with Candid Theater, check it out to take a chance on something new (discount tickets available on Goldstar).