"Thank You for Holding: The Caregiver Play Project" by Wonderlust Productions at 825 Arts

Wonderlust Productions is unique in the kind of theater that they make. Whether it's prison, or state government, or in this case caregiving, they spend a couple years researching a topic, specifically by interviewing people in the community who live in it. Then they create a new piece of theater, with both professional actors and these community consultants acting in the story. The result here is a very moving, raw, truthful depiction of caregiving, the pain and the joys and the endless bureaucracy of navigating a broken health care system. While I have never been a caregiver (yet, as this show reminds us), at least not to humans, I have been a witness to caregiving, and it is probably the hardest and most necessary job there is. But a thankless and often unrecognized one, so kudos to Wonderlust to shining a light on it, and letting caregivers tell their own story. Thank You for Holding continues at the new theater space 825 Arts on University in St. Paul through November 3.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2024: "The Wind Phone"

Day: 3

Show: 8

Title: The Wind Phone

Category: Drama / LGBTQIA+ Content

By: Broken Wing Productions

Directed by: Nicole Wilder

Location: Campbell Plaza (outdoors)

Summary: Several individuals visit a wind phone to talk to their deceased loved ones.

Highlights: Based on the real-life phenomenon of the wind phone which began in Japan, the show explores themes of grief, loss, and healing. Four people visit the wind phone in a park in Minneapolis (not hard to imagine since that's where we are, the natural amphitheater set in a park on the U of M campus), with the park's caretaker Lana (Sheree Froelich) there to give advice, disinfect the phone between visits, and just chat. We meet MaryAnne (Boo Segersin) who needs to talk to her mentor with a problematic history, Carter (Anthony Sisler-Neuman) who visits annually to talk to his husband, and exes Peggy (Kira Pontiff) and Alice (Megan Kim) who are mourning the loss of Peggy's mother and their relationship. The show (co-created by Callie Aho and Sheree Froelich and written by Sheree) is basically a series of monologues, well delivered by the cast. Each story of grief is different but all are moving, and the show is not without moments of lightness and humor. The setting is perfect, and the cast can be heard despite fighting against ambient sounds of wind or passers by. They use the large performance space well, which contains both permanent sculptures and the set pieces and props for the show (designed by Andrew Lester). I love an outdoor show at Fringe, and this one fits the bill well. Get there early to sit in one of the comfy camp chairs, or sit on one of the two cement arcs.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Language Archive" by Theatre Pro Rata at the Crane Theater

Julia Cho's The Language Archive, which premiered in 2010, is a sweet, odd, and endearing little play. Park Square Theatre produced the regional premiere in 2015, when I called it "smartly written, funny, a bit fantastical but very grounded in reality... touches the heart as well as the mind and the funny bone." I described it thusly: "It's about the different languages that we all speak, not just the actual language, but also the more intimate informal languages that we develop in relationships with the different people in our lives. Even though the characters in the play all speak English, they struggle to communicate with each other on a deeper level, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing, as we all do." It's a great choice for Theatre Pro Rata, which consistently makes interesting choices (this is actually one of the rare times when I've seen one of their play choices previously). They've employed a talented five-person cast (Park Square had seven), and an inventive design with some unique delights. You can see this little gem of a play now through May 4 at the Crane Theater.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Tales from the Fiefdom"

Day: 6

Show: 22

Title: Tales from the Fiefdom

Category: COMEDY / MUSICAL THEATER / ORIGINAL MUSIC

By: Gnarly Bard Theater Company

Written by: Bubba Holly & Louie Opatz

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A very fringey musical about people in the Middle Ages, just trying not to die.

Highlights: If you're looking for a fun, silly, fringey musical with catchy and clever songs that are well-sung by a talented and committed cast, look no further. With songs like "Come to the Apothecary," "I'm Not a Witch," "I Don't Wanna Sh#t in a Bucket Anymore," "The Pleasant Peasant," and "Sir Lance-a-little," how can it not be fun? The seven-person cast (Madison Fairbanks, Bubba Holly, Ryan Huxford, Megan Kim, Clare Rollinger, Haley Sisler-Neuman, and Nicole Wilder) sings unmiked to a recorded track with songs of varying styles of pop music - Country-Western, Beach Boys, doo wop, and more (or at least that's what I heard). The topics sung about are very bleak - the plague, the burning of women as witches, and constant warfare and violence - but the music is so happy! The cast performs cute and fun choreography wearing Renn Fest-esque costumes, and set pieces include the apothecary's shop, where much of the action takes place, a stake for burning at, and a charming DIY fire. It's really a delight and everything you want in a Fringe musical. 

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"The Courtroom: A Reenactment of One Woman's Deportation Proceedings" by Jungle Theater at Hamline University

The Courtroom: A Reenactment of One Woman's Deportation Proceedings is unlike any theater I've seen before. As the title indicates, it's more a reenactment than a play. All of the text is taken from court transcripts, arranged by Tony nominated theater artist Arian Moayed. If that sounds dry and boring, it isn't. It's surprisingly riveting. Yes, you have to pay attention, because the words weren't constructed to entertain and hold our attention, so it requires a little more work from an audience. There's a lot of legalize, but if you love Law and Order type shows, you'll love this. But the beautiful thing about Jungle Theater's production is that behind all the legal talk and formalities is a true human story. The cast, direction, and staging really make us feel that humanity, and at the end, the play has a truly beautiful message about the best that America, this nation of immigrants, can be. 

"The Labyrinth and the Minotaur: The Incarceration Play Project" by Wonderlust Productions at Mixed Blood Theatre

Four years in the making, Wonderlust Productions' newest piece The Labyrinth and the Minotaur: The Incarceration Play Project reimagines the myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth in which it is kept as the Minnesota Corrections system. For this project they collected  stories from over 230 people who live and work within this system, and the huge cast (perhaps the largest I've ever seen) includes many of these people, alongside seven professional actors. It's a really beautiful, inspiring, and thought-provoking piece about an incredibly relevant issue - this country's broken, cruel, and racist system of incarceration. This is a theater company dedicated to elevating the voices of the unheard, and there are few voices less heard than those of the incarcerated. Here they get to tell their own stories in an empowering and powerful way. Although the play is a bit too long (three hours and 15 minutes on opening night) and would benefit from some editing, it's very worthwhile and important. See it through May 22 at Mixed Blood Theatre; only five more performances remain.

"Top Girls" by Theatre Pro Rata at the Crane Theater

Everyone loves the '80s, right? Maybe not so much after seeing Theatre Pro Rata's production of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, which takes an unflinching look at what the '80s were really like, particularly in the lives of working women who seemed on the surface to "have it all." It's dark, weird, and a little fantastical, like all of Churchill's work, but it's also smart, thought-provoking, grounded in humanity, and relevant to our world 40 years later, with a different sort of gender politics happening in the work place.

"Hopscotch: Pop-Up Plays about the Future" by Wonderlust Productions at Frogtown Farm and Park

Wonderlust Productions' newest project is popping up in St. Paul parks this weekend and next. They asked an intrepid group of playwrights to imagine a future world. Which, as co-Artistic Directors Leah Cooper and Alan Berks admitted in their pre- and mid-show talks, is a difficult thing to do right now. But these ten playwrights, some of #TCTheater's best, did just that. The result is Hopscotch, a series of ten ten-ish-minute plays presented in two sets. I caught one set on a perfectly gorgeous late summer afternoon in Frogtown Farm and Park, and it was an entertaining, inspiring, and at times worrisome look at our future, and through the imagined hindsight, our present. Click here for more information and to make a pay-what-you-will reservation for today's two sets at Frogtown, or next weekend at Newell Park.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2021: "The Convent of Pleasure"

Day: 1

Show: 2

Title: The Convent of Pleasure

By: Theatre Pro Rata

Performance Type: Live In Person

Location: Wood Lake Nature Center Amphitheater (outdoors)

Length: 90 minutes

Summary: A hilarious modern adaptation of the 17th Century play of the same name about a woman who forsakes the company of men, founding a commune of women who dedicate their life to pleasure.

Highlights: Theatre Pro Rata got their start at the Minnesota Fringe Festival 20 years; one of the many benefits of this festival is that it supports artists in such a way that allows companies like this to form and expand beyond the festival that birthed them. Local playwright/actor/comedian/baker Heather Meyer's play is one of those "ghost plays" that was supposed to premiere in the summer of 2020, and happily it is finally seeing the light of day. This fantabulous all-female cast really brings out all of the humor in the script (of which there is much), as well as the emotion in the sweet love story between Lady Happy (the delightful Boo Segersin), who uses the money her father left her when he died to create the Convent and live only for the immediate pleasures of all of the senses, and Princess Principle (a serene Megan Kim), who loves Lady Happy but longs for commitment. Kelsey Laurel Cramer, Nissa Nordland Morgan, and Taj Ruler play Lords Somewhat, Sortof, and Soso, who try to woo the ladies, devilishly twirling their greasepaint mustaches. Ankita Ashrit, Lynda Dahl, and Kayla Dvorak Feld flit across the stage and grounds as Lady Happy's companions, while Meri Golden frets as her mistress of accounts. And can we talk about the costumes? So fun, colorful, and playful, with flowers and hats and frills to spare (designed by Mandi Johnson). There's a reason I chose this show to see on the first night of the Fringe - a company that's been doing good work for 20 years, a strong cast, the feminist theme, and the promise of laughs make this a must-see.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"The Penelopiad" by Theatre Unbound at Gremlin Theatre

Homer's The Odyssey is one of our oldest stories; Wikipedia tells me it is "the second-oldest extant work of Western literature." But this story, as many old stories do, mostly focuses on the men, with the women as peripheral characters. What if we reimagined this ancient story with women at the center? Author Margaret Atwood did just that in her 2005 novella The Penelopiad, which she later adapted for the stage. It's fascinating and exciting to look at these old familiar stories in new ways, ways that feel more relevant and immediate and rich. Theatre Unbound is presenting this play to begin their 20th anniversary season, and it's a powerful, moving, tragic, and beautiful example of the work they've been doing for 20 years - women telling women's stories.

"The Drowning Girls" by Freshwater Theatre at the Crane Theater

Three victims of an early 20th Century English serial killer have their say in the haunting play The Drowning Girls, receiving its regional premiere with Freshwater Theatre. Based on a book about this true story, The Drowning Girls examines the life of these three women, their hopes in marrying a seemingly charming man, and the dire consequences when it's revealed he's a con man and serial marryer/murderer, after their money only. The play is ingeniously staged with three onstage bathtubs, shower-heads periodically pouring water into them, the three hardy actors working in water and wet clothes for the entire 75-minute show (which probably explains why the theater was toasty warm, a nice treat on a cold late winter day). The short run closes this weekend - just two remaining performances; click here for more info on how to see this fascinating, gripping, and well executed story.

"Our House: The Capitol Play Project" by Wonderlust Productions at the Minnesota State Capitol

I've never experienced anything quite like Wonderlust Productions' Our House: The Capitol Play Project. I've been to site-specific productions before, but none that have been written specifically about that site, telling the true stories of the people who daily inhabit that site, with a cast largely made up of those people. The site in this case is our house, the people's house, the Capitol of the great state of Minnesota, and the people whose stories are told are not the famous and/or infamous politicians one usually associates with the government, but everyone who works there, performing the unglamorous day-to-day hard work of keeping the state running. After following the actors (and "real people!") around our house for two and a half hours (a building I have not stepped foot in since a barely remembered school field trip over 30 years ago), I felt both better and worse about the system that governs our lives. Our House is unabashedly sincere and optimistic about the people who work in government, but it's also harshly realistic about the inefficiencies and corruption within the system. It's a shame this is such a short run (just six sold-out* performances), and I really hope they bring it back. More impactful than any high school civics class could be, it should be required viewing for every citizen.