"Two Gentlemen of Verona" at Jungle Theater

Welcome to Minnesota theater, Sarah Rasmussen! The Jungle's new Artistic Director begins her first full season this year (the Jungle's season runs January to December rather than September to August) and makes her directing debut this month (as AD, she previously directed the lovely In the Next Room a few years ago). Like the Guthrie's new AD Joseph Haj, Sarah makes her directing debut with an innovative and energetic Shakespeare play that originated at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. But unlike the Guthrie's Pericles, Sarah's take on Two Gentlemen of Verona features a mostly local cast, and an entirely female cast (well, except for the dog, more on him later). It's an exciting debut that promises good things to come, while maintaining the high quality of productions that the Jungle is known for.

"Il Campiello" by Ten Thousand Things at Open Book

OK.  First I need to go through my usual spiel about how Ten Thousand Things makes theater unlike anything you've ever seen.  It's as raw, immediate, up-close-and-personal, and in-your-face as theater gets.  Without the usual tricks of lighting, fancy costumes, extravagant sets, or big production numbers that you often see in theater, there's nothing to distract you from the work of the actors and the emotions of the piece (which might be why they consistently attract the top talent in the area).  There's no separation between actors and audience; depending on where you sit you might get stepped on, flirted with, talked to in an aside, or fist-bumped.  Combine this bare-bones intimate style with their mission, to bring theater to audiences that don't normally have the chance to see theater (prisons, homeless shelters, community centers, etc.), and you have something truly special.  You simply cannot call yourself a Minnesota theater fan if you've never seen a TTT production.  You have two more weekends to see this show, and if that doesn't work out, they have two more shows this season.  Go see them.

Now on to the show.  TTT Artistic Director Michelle Hensley, who directed this piece, introduced it by saying that sometimes they like to do a show that's pure fun, and that for some of their audiences, just to laugh openly and whole-heartedly is a profound act.  Il Campiello is profoundly frivolous and fun.  The 18th century Italian comedy was adapted by the brilliant Steven Epp, who played the title role in TTT's Man of La Mancha earlier this year, and whose own company The Moving Company "does theatre."  He really modernized the language of the play to great comic effect.  The characters speak like today's kids obsessed with potty humor (I don't think I've ever heard the word poop uttered so many times in 90 minutes); the language is accessible and absurd and entertaining.  The play takes place in a little square in Venice, where neighbors bicker, gossip, play games, and plan marriages.  The plot is almost secondary to the characters and their interaction with each other.  Basically, a rich man from out of town shows up to enjoy the Carnivale celebration, three marriages are arranged after a few misunderstandings, and they feast.  And by the end of the show, when one character says good-bye to the little square which is the only home she's ever known, I could almost see it - the quaint little Italian square, the twinkling stars above, soft music playing in the background.  That's the magic of what Ten Thousand Things does.  They transform the ugliest of rooms* into something else entirely, purely through collective imagination.

This nine-person cast is so much fun to watch, and they're obviously having just as much fun as the audience and enjoy playing together.  Sarah Agnew (who also displayed her comedic chops in 39 Steps at the Guthrie last year) is almost unrecognizable as the homely old toothless woman trying to marry off her daughter so that she can find a husband for herself.  Karen Wiese-Thompson is the tough mama trying to give her daughter away and protect her at the same time.  Thomasina Petrus as the "fritter-fryer" completes the trifecta of the doting mothers.  The three future brides are all delightfully different.  Elise Langer (who was also in TTT's Life's A Dream last year) is the young woman who's almost an old maid (she's 18!) and in love with the peddler, even though she continually calls him poop-turd and other similar insults.  Her young, innocent "best friend" across the square is Kimberly Richardson, with a girlish voice and pigtails, who likes the neighbor boy (the charming Brian Curtis James) but isn't quite sure she wants to be married.  The third young woman is the subject of gossip because she lives with her strange "uncle" and has a healthy self-esteem.  It was fun to see Christiana Clark**, who was so good in the very serious In the Red and Brown Water earlier this year, get the chance to be silly and light.  Nathan Keeper (also from The Moving Company, whom I saw in their production of Come Hell and High Water earlier this year) plays dual roles - the brash young peddler/groom, and the strange uncle who is very stern and ... short.  Both allow him to use his great onstage physicality in different ways.  Last but not least, Randy Reyes (suddenly Seymour!) is the gentleman who comes to town, so suave and elegant except when he's doing the strange bow/greeting that is the custom of his land.

In typical TTT style, the sound, set, and costumes are minimal, but just enough.  In addition to being reluctantly pulled into the action of the play on several occasion, Music Director Peter Vitale provides the music (including some lovely accordian) and creates an atmosphere of sound in which the story takes place.  He's a one man traveling band and sound effects man.  The costumes by Amelia Cheever manage to look both charmingly homemade and professionally appropriate at the same time.  The set by Stephen Mohring consists of four adorable little "houses" around the square, which are really just ladders with a little platform/window on top from which the residents chat, spy on their neighbors, and wave.  All of this allows the action of the play to take center stage (or in this case floor), and doesn't distract from, but only enhances, the story.

Another fun thing about Ten Thousand Things is that in the program, instead of lengthy bios, each actor answers the question, "Why Do Theater?"  I enjoy reading their answers; they talk about connection, joy, play, being in the moment, problem-solving, spirituality, listening.  But I think my favorite statement about theater is this from Randy Reyes: "It's make believe about truth."  Ten Thousand Things represents the highest form of make believe, requiring their audience's participation and imagination, with the highest payoff of truth and entertainment and magic.


*The lovely space at Open Book is certainly not among the ugliest of rooms, I'm just imagining what some of their other locations must be like, in prisons and the like.

**Christiana is blogging about the show and the tour.  It's quite interesting to read about how the show goes over with other audiences - check it out.

"In the Red and Brown Water" by Pillsbury House Theatre at the Guthrie Studio

When I go to the Ivey Awards this fall, I'm going to recognize many more theater companies and productions than I usually do.  In the last year I've attended many shows by theater companies that I was previously unfamiliar with, and last night I crossed another one off the list: Pillsbury House Theatre (thanks to the Guthrie Studio Theater for bringing many of them into a space I'm familiar and comfortable with).

How can I describe In the Red and Brown Water?  Fortunately there was a post-show discussion that helped me understand it a little better.  On the surface the story's pretty simple.  A young woman loses her mother and her dream of becoming a track star, and wanders through her life looking for something to cling to.  The staging is very simple too; there's nothing on stage but a dozen lawn chairs on an upward sloping reddish brown floor.  But the themes are more complex; it feels like a piece I need to see a few times to fully comprehend.  Lucky for me, Pillsbury House Theatre is producing the play again in 2012, along with the other two plays in the Brother/Sister trilogy by emerging playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney.  I really grew to know and love these characters over the course of the play, so I'm curious to find out what happens to them next.  Stay tuned.

The characters in In the Red and Brown Water are named after gods in the Yoruba mythology of Nigeria; the child/prophet Elegba, the attractive bad boy Shango, the good and stable man Ogun, and our heroine Oya.  A unique feature of this play is that the characters speak their own stage directions aloud.  "Shango enters," "Elegba exits," "Oya weeps."  It was a little jarring at first, but once I got used to it I really liked it.  As was discussed in the talkback, it's another opportunity to more deeply understand the characters.  The way the actors say the stage directions gives the audience insight into their feelings: sad, angry, confident, joyful.  Towards the end of the play Oya begins to say everyone's stage directions, perhaps because she's starting to take control of her own life.

Oya is a high school track star from the projects in San Pere, Louisiana.  She turns down an opportunity to run for the state college so she can stay with her dying mother.  Oya is devastated by the loss, but is comforted by the love of Shango.  She's devastated again when that relationship ends, and her sweet friend Ogun helps pick up the pieces.  Having missed her chance at her dream of running, she clings to a new dream - starting a family with Ogun.  But that never happens either, and Oya goes to drastic lengths to give something of herself to someone.  She is completely depleted.  And then she gets up and starts running.  As director Marion McClinton said in the talkback, sometimes it's the running of the race that matters, not the outcome.  There's glory in the running.  (I'll be thinking about that as I run my fourth half marathon in four weeks on Sunday in Minneapolis, in a race I like to call the Run to the Guthrie. :)

This is a top-notch production and the cast is amazing; I will definitely be checking out other productions at Pillsbury.  Christiana Clark plays Oya.  Not only does she look like an athlete, but she also beautifully embodies Oya's spirit - her confusion, desperation, and determination.  Gavin Lawrence plays the delightfully devilish Elegba, who grows from a boy to a young man.  Elegba is one of those characters who seems simple, but is actually quite wise and profound (the title of the play comes from a dream he has about Oya's future).  Gavin is very convincing in that transition, and has a lovely voice when he sings for Oya.  From Sonja Parks as Oya's mother, to Ansa Akyea and James A. Williams as her suitors, to the great Greta Oglesby as her aunt, to every last member of the ensemble, the cast is just beautiful.

I can't say it better than this, from the Guthrie's publicity postcard about the show: "Lusciously theatrical and boldly original, this play weaves together elements of urban contemporary realism with West African mysticism for a lyrical experience that is at once joyous and challenging, raucous and raw, and brazenly beautiful."