If I had to describe the production of Urinetown at the Jungle Theater in a single word, it would be “exuberance.”  John Command directs an energetic and talented group of singers and dancers to tell the tale of a world where water is scarce and the ability to relieve oneself is limited by the size of one’s pocketbook. Micturition seems like an unlikely topic for a rousing musical, but this show radiates exuberance and provides for a very entertaining evening.

Clybourne Park is the kind of play that's often referred to as "sociological": it deals with issues of race, class, and neighborhood change. Really, though, Bruce Norris's 2010 play—now being presented at the Guthrie Theater—would more accurately be described as psychological. The characters are aware of broad social issues insofar as their own lives are affected, but they don't spend their time debating policy. Rather, we watch them trying to determine how to navigate those structures as individuals and as families, while trying—hard though it sometimes is—to treat others as they themselves would like to be treated.

Junauda Petrus had been living in New York when she was initially inspired to begin the creative process of writing and developing the concept for the gripping play entitled There Are Other Worlds. Her original idea for the performance, which sold out each night of its four-night run, was a little different than the work which was presented at the Open Eye Figure Theatre in Minneapolis April 25-28, 2013.

In the beginning  of the 10Fest process, Bedlam Theatre offered a weekend of workshops in a theater class-like setting, everyone invited. Then conversations about ten-minute play ideas and proposals were turned in. The co-curators, Molly Van Avery and Miré Regulus, chose the pieces.  A week later there were open auditions; everyone who auditioned got a part. Long live community-grown and -nurtured theater!