Showing posts with label Siddeeqah Shabazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siddeeqah Shabazz. Show all posts

Friday, April 19, 2024

"They Wear Teal Ribbons Around Their Tongues" by Full Circle Theater Company at Gremlin Theatre

In the new play They Wear Teal Ribbons Around Their Tongues by #TCTheater artist Siddeeqah Shabazz, a family therapy session turns into a '90s sitcom. But the cheesy laughs soon give way to some heavy drama, as painful secrets are revealed. Produced by Full Circle Theater Company, the play walks the fine line between comedy and drama, as does the talented cast. Come for the funny and comforting sitcom tropes, stay for the emotional truth of this dysfunctional but loving family. They Wear Teal Ribbons Around Their Tongues continues this weekend and next at Gremlin Theatre.

Friday, November 19, 2021

"The Empathy Project" by Full Circle Theater Company at Park Square Theatre

During this very long extended intermission from live performance, Full Circle Theater Company continued development of new works, including a play called The Empathy Project. They held several zoom readings, and now it's finally on stage in a full production. Having seen and appreciated the zoom version, it's wonderful to see what it has grown into in this fully staged version of the piece. Playwright Stephanie Lein Walseth interviewed 20 people across the state of Minnesota, looking for a good representation across politics, geography, and race. She asked people about their family story, their values, what empathy means to them, and their hope for the future. All of these stories are beautifully woven together, with the interviewees embodied by a talented nine-person cast, to create an inspirational tapestry of humanity that reminds us that behind all the rhetoric, we're much more similar than we thought we were. If you need a little more empathy in your life (and who doesn't right now?), see one of the few remaining performances of The Empathy Project at Park Square Theatre, closing November 21.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

"The Empathy Project" streaming from Full Circle Theater

This past weekend, Full Circle Theater Company premiered a new play they've been working on for several years. Playwright and Full Circle Core Artist Stephanie Lein Walseth interviewed about 20 people around the state about empathy. She noted in a post show discussion (which followed all four showings of the recorded zoom reading) that she first had the idea for this project prior to the 2016 election, and started interviewing people about a year ago. Out of each interview, she pulled a short story, looking for moments of surprise or something that challenged our stereotypes. The stories are woven together in a structure she compared to the docu-theater style of a Laramie Project or Yellow Face, or like a story circle. The result is incredibly moving, and is well suited to the virtual format as it focuses on one person telling a story.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

"The Devout" by Transatlantic Love Affair at Illusion Theater

In their first all female ensemble piece, devised physical theater troupe Transatlantic Love Affair takes on the myth of Medusa. If I didn't know that going in, I wouldn't have known it from the show, which is typical of TLA's reimagining of fairy tales that is more about exploring the theme than telling the exact same story as we think we know it. In this case, Director Isabel Nelson and assistant director Joy Dolo have focused on this part of the Medusa myth (per Wikipedia): "In a late version of the Medusa myth, related by the Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.770), Medusa was originally a ravishingly beautiful maiden, 'the jealous aspiration of many suitors,' but because Poseidon had raped her in Athena's temple, the enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone. In Ovid's telling, Perseus describes Medusa's punishment by Minerva (Athena) as just and well earned." This is 2019, and we won't stand for that anymore. TLA imagines a world in which Medusa (here called Demeres) isn't punished for being raped, but rather is supported by her sisters while her attackers are brought to justice. That's a wonderful narrative to put out into the world, and the six-person ensemble does so with TLA's trademark beautiful and evocative physicality.

Friday, June 2, 2017

"365 Days/365 Plays" by Full Circle Theater at Penumbra Theatre

About 15 years ago, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks gave herself a challenge - write a play every day for a year. New #TCTheater company Full Circle Theater (they've been around a couple years but this is just their second production) has chosen to produce a "remix" of 46 of these plays in just over two hours. The result is a mishmash of stories, characters, and conversations, seemingly unrelated, but with some common threads to be found. Full Circle is intentionally multiracial, with a mission "to produce heartfelt, groundbreaking theater that artfully addresses issues of human nature and social justice for 21st century audiences." A wonderful goal, and 365 Days/365 Plays is an interesting, perplexing, thought-provoking step towards it.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

"Baltimore is Burning" by Underdog Theatre at SPACE

There's another new theater company in town, and they're coming out of the gate with a strong message and a powerful new play. Underdog Theatre hopes to be a voice "for the underserved, the underrepresented, and unheard." Founder Kory LaQuess Pullam, a talented young actor who's made quite an impression on several stages around town in the last few years, has written a great new play about the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody in Baltimore last year. While Baltimore is Burning is about this one specific incident, on a larger scale it's about the many such deaths that have occurred around the country, even right here in Minnesota, and the need to have a conversation about why it's happening and what can be done to change it. At its best, theater brings attention to issues and starts a conversation about them, which is exactly what this play does.

Monday, February 29, 2016

"Everyman" at Open Window Theatre

The last time I was at Open Window Theatre, tucked into a warehouse behind the Basilica in Minneapolis, was in their inaugural season. They are now in their fifth season and appear to be going strong. I was glad to finally return to their cool and cozy black box space for Everyman, a 15th century morality play. While the five hundred year old play is a little heavy handed in its moral message, this 90-minute production directed by Jeremy Stanbary utilizes music, movement, and a beautifully diverse cast to make that message feel relevant and almost modern.