"Sunrise at Midnight" by Taous Claire Khazem at Dreamland Arts

One of the things I most appreciate about theater is the opportunity to learn about cultures different from my own. Where else am I going to experience Algerian folktales? #TCTheater artist Taous Claire Khazem* has brought the folktales of her father's native land right here to St. Paul, and recruited some of her fellow artists to tell the stories in an inventive, engaging, and movement-filled way. Sunrise at Midnight can be seen for eight performances only at the charming and intimate Dreamland Arts, and the performance I attended was sold out (or very nearly), so act fast to catch this unique theater offering (info and tickets here).

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" at Children's Theatre Company

Children's Theatre Company's latest offering 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea isn't what we usually think of as theater. But it is the best game of make-believe ever, and what is theater if not an elaborate game of make-believe? CTC is an expert at playing to their target audience while still creating art that we grown-ups can enjoy as well. And kids are quite familiar with playing make-believe, acting out their favorite stories, TV shows, books, or movies. That's pretty much what this show is - fan fiction (created by the wonderfully inventive team of Ryan Underbakke and Nick Ryan) about Jules Verne's novel with a fantastic team of actors playing the characters and leading the audience, who are also playing characters, through the story. It's an exercise in the collective power of imagination, something that comes naturally to kids, but that's necessary for adults to take part in occasionally as well. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a super cool and totally unique experience.

I don't want to tell you too much about the experience, because the uncertainty and surprise is part of the fun. But you should know that you will be required to get physical, running, crouching, doing jumping jacks, as you are led through backrooms, staircases, and hallways of the theater (a great way to see some theater and get in a good workout at the same time!). The premise is that the 20 or so audience members on each "launch" (see website for times) are on a mission to capture Captain Nemo aboard her (yes, her) submarine Nautilus and rescue Professor Arronax (having never read the book, I found a quick perusal of the Wiki page to be helpful). You'll be in spaces large and small (claustrophobics beware), dark and bright, with cool electronic equipment that looks like something out of Star Trek, sometimes projecting scenes going on in other rooms. And there's one particularly detailed and homey looking Victorian designed room. The scenic and projection design (by Jorge Cousinea), lighting design (by Craig A. Gottschalk), sound design (by Sean Healey), and costume design (Annie Cady) all combine to create a completely immersive multi-media underwater experience so lifelike I almost wish I had taken Dramamine!

The cast and creative team merges CTC veterans with artists from the physical theater/comedy/improv world. The roles of the two mission guides are double cast (likely due to the frequent launch times), and I was happy to be guided by Isabel Nelson (whom I will gladly follow wherever she leads me, underwater or with her lovely and inventive company Transatlantic Love Affair) and Matt Spring (of the hilariously clever Four Humors). Both give performances so committed and real that even though my plan was to let the kids go first, I found myself rushing to the front to follow their commands. Watch for CTC company members Dean Holt as the good (?) professor and a completely transformed (as usual) Reed Sigmund in a scarily convincing performance. Jame Froiland's strong performance as Nemo makes the audience question just what side we're on. And in fact, we're asked to make a choice at the end, like a live action Choose Your Own Adventure book.

Immersive walk-through theater is a bit of a trend right now (see the recent Crime and Punishment, and NYC's Sleep No More), and CTC is doing an amazing job bringing it to children, perhaps its most susceptible audience (I heard parents whispering, "don't be scared, it's just pretend"). Part of the fun of the experience is watching the wide-eyed children as a totally in character actor gets down to their level and speaks directly to them (don't worry parents, you're not asked to respond or do anything, just follow along and obey commands). For kids and adults alike, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is the awesomenest game of make-believe you've ever experienced (the mission continues through August 23).

Captain Nemo and her crew (photo by Dan Norman)

This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"In the Next Room" at the Jungle Theater

In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play. It's an unexpected title. And while, yes, the play features the vibrator (more specifically the time in history when "electric massage" was a serious medical treatment for a particular ailment of women diagnosed as "hysteria"), the play is really about relationships, medical practice, the dawn of electricity, connections, and life "when the power dynamic between man and woman began to stir, but most men's hearts belonged first to invention" (from a note in the playbill). This Tony-nominated new play by Sarah Ruhl is making its regional debut, and as usual, it's perfectly executed by The Jungle Theater. Funny, smart, and sweet, with impeccable set and costume design, it's a highly entertaining night at the theater, even if it might make you squirm in your seat a little (which is not a bad thing in theater).

The titular "next room" refers to Dr. Givings' medical office, which, awkwardly, is just off the parlor of his beautiful Victorian home in "a prosperous spa town outside of New York City." Women visit Dr. Givings when they're feeling a little off, and he very calmly and clinically administers the therapy, as their husbands chat with Mrs. Givings or take a brisk walk around the grounds. Catherine is very curious about her husband's practice, despite his attempts to keep her away from it. The ironic thing is that the doctor who is helping many women, strangers, to feel better, is completely oblivious to his own wife's needs. She has recently given birth to a beautiful baby girl but is unable to produce enough milk to feed her, so a wet nurse is hired to feed the baby. This leaves Catherine feeling inadequate as a mother and as a woman, something her husband has little sympathy for. He just pats her on the head and says "there there." Her restlessness and dissatisfaction manifest themselves as falling in love with a male patient (it is rare, but men apparently can also suffer from "hysteria"). Eventually the Givings are able to talk to each other about how they feel and what they want and need, in their own sort of way, and begin the road to healing and connection (without the aid of electricity).

the patient and the doctor's wife "in the next room"
(Emily Gunyou Halaas and Christina Baldwin)

This is a dream cast. The capable John Middleton brings the doctor to life and hints that perhaps there is something behind his cold exterior. As I've said before, there's nothing Christina Baldwin can't do - comedy or drama, musical or straight play, or all of it combined. She's completely delightful as doctor's wife, her bubbly exterior masking the pain underneath (and she even sings a little!). Also great are Emily Gunyou Halaas as the reluctant patient who comes to depend on the therapy, and the always entertaining Bradley Greenwald as her insensitive (to say the least) husband. My new fave Austene Van (I'm super excited about her upcoming role) brings much compassion and humanity to the role of the wet nurse, who has recently lost her own baby and is now giving milk and love to a stranger's baby. Ryan Underbakke is quite charming as the artist suffering from hysteria, and Annie Enneking brings a softness to the outwardly brusque and efficient midwife assisting the doctor.

I feel I must devote an entire paragraph to the sets at the Jungle, and to this set in particular. I've come to believe that the Jungle has the best sets of any theater in town, not because they're the most fancy and elaborate (that would be the Guthrie and whatever touring Broadway production is currently in town), but because they serve the story best, and create the most distinct and specific world in which that story exists, from the sparse and barren world of Waiting for Godot, to the shabby rooming house of The Birthday Party, to the gorgeous home of the Givens juxtaposed with the cold and efficient operating theater "in the next room." Often the director also serves as set designer at the Jungle, giving a cohesive focus to the story and its environment. Although that's not the case here, the result is the same. Sarah Rasmussen beautifully directs this piece, and Bain Boehlke has created a beautiful world in which it comes to life. And the effect at the end, when the Givens go out into their winter garden, is something quite magical. In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play, really is a beautiful and touching holiday show!

And then there are the costumes, gorgeously designed by Moria Sine Clinton. Not only do they look luscious, but they're also functional, as most characters strip down to their underthings. It's quite fascinating to watch the layers come off and go back on again in a complicated but orderly manner. And yes, the underthings are just as beautiful (and yes, they use the word underthings).

In the Next Room is the final show in The Jungle Theater's 2012 season, which also included the Ivey Award-winning (for lighting) and deliciously thrilling Dial M for Murder, the bizarre Pinter play The Birthday Party, the hilarious and fast moving farce Noises Off, and the delightfully absurd Waiting for Godot. It's truly been a remarkable season. Is it possible the 2013 season could be better? With recent Broadway hit Venus in Fur (starring Anna Sundberg and Peter Christian Hansen), Deathtrap, Urinetown (a musical I love and have been dying to see again), Fool for Love, and Driving Miss Daisy starring the incomparable Wendy Lehr, the answer could be yes. Stay tuned. In the meantime, go see the perfectly delightful In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play, playing now through December 16.

"The 7-Shot Symphony" by Live Action Set at Loring Theater

I first heard of Live Action Set at the Ivey Awards last year when they performed the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in nine minutes (scroll to the bottom of this post to watch the video).  It was hilarious and brilliant, and I've had it in the back of my mind to check them out ever since.  So when I received an email from Artistic Director Noah Bremer telling me about their new show The 7-Shot Symphony, I decided it was a good time to finally check them out.  Live Action Set performs what they call "physical theater."  They don't have much in the way of props or set pieces; they act out everything with their bodies, from guns to trees to canyons to swinging saloon doors.  It almost reminded me of old silent films, except that there was of course sound (provided by the actors and members of local band Tree Party).  A note in the playbill says, "The creativity of non-literal depiction is what awakens the imagination.  And, this is what our theater does best - awaken the imagination."  They definitely succeeded in that with this piece!

The 7-Shot Symphony, an original piece written by Matt Spring and Ryan Underbakke (who also directs), is a re-imagining of several classic myths as a Western.  It's performed in seven "movements," like a piece of music, and each part tells a different story.  From the Epic of Gilgamesh (which was also the subject of a play I saw last fall called The Oldest Story in the World), to the Norse god Odin, to the Greek myth about Orpheus and Eurydice (which I was vaguely familiar with through Anias Mitchell's folk opera Hadestown), they all fit together in the end to complete the puzzle that is Deus county.  The seven actors take turns narrating the movements and playing the different parts, often changing characters in a matter of seconds with only a hat or a skirt or an accent or the carriage of their body to aid in the transformation.  It's really amazing how they create such specific characters; for the first half of the show I didn't realize that the actor playing Hades (Matt Riggs) was the same actor playing a few other roles, and it wasn't just the coat and top hat, it was the whole physicality of the character.  And that's just one example of the magic they create.

My favorite story was Orpheus and Eurydice.  In this incarnation, Orpheus is a frontiersman who borrows money from the evil Hades, owner of the Underworld saloon, to bring Eurydice to America from the "Old Country" to be his wife (similar to the plot of one of my favorite Minnesota-made movies, Sweet Land).  Eurydice can speak no English, so Orpheus (Joey Ford, a member of the band Tree Party) wins her heart by singing to her with the saddest and most beautiful yodeling I've ever heard.  It's a yodel that will break your heart.  Hades kidnaps Eurydice as payment on the loan, so Orpheus travels across the desert to find her.  When the lovers are reunited, Orpheus sings his song for her, and Jenna Wyse (also a member of Tree Party) as Eurydice adds her lovely voice to his.  It's a moment so beautiful that even evil Hades is moved.  He lets her go, but with a condition that tragically is not met.

There's not a weak link in this ensemble, which also includes Mark Benzel, Damian Johnson, Emily King, and Dustin Suggs.  They work and play together very well, and are all experts at creating not just characters but the whole environment in which the story takes place.  The Tree Party band provided a really cool country/rockabilly sound that makes me want to hear more from them.

I've seen several new (to me) theater companies in the last few weeks, and have been impressed with all of them.  The more theater I see, the more blown away I am by the talent in this town.  It's a beautiful thing.

And now, if you're a LOTR fan like me, enjoy this interpretation of the epic tale: