Theater
If you love local theater, consider the Theater All Year program offered by the Twin Cities Media Alliance, the Daily Planet's parent nonprofit. For only $99, you can buy six vouchers good for tickets to shows by dozens of top local theater companies.
(The Theater All Year program is run independently of the Daily Planet's editorial coverage, and participation in the program does not affect the likelihood or content of any Daily Planet previews or reviews.)
THEATER | "American Idiot" rages against the machine
"Every generation sends a hero up the pop charts," sang Paul Simon. And every generation, in due time, selects a couple dozen of its most agile young representatives to take to the stage and dramatize its defining struggles in the form of musical theater. The Baby Boomers had Hair, Gen X had Rent, and now the Millennials have their own generational pageant in the form of Green Day's American Idiot.MORE »
SATURDAY PICK | "Beautiful Thing" with the music of the Mamas and Papas
The plot of Theater Latté Da's newest production Beautiful Thing is nothing too scandalous these days: two teenage boys who unexpectedly fall in love. Still, the topic comes during an emotionally relevant time. It wouldn't be Theater Latté Da without music though, specifically that of the Mamas and Papas which is weaved throughout the story, with localite Emily Schwab singing Mama Cass. Beautiful Thing opens on Friday at The Lab Theater and runs through March 18. MORE »
THEATER | "Buzzer" hits it at Pillsbury House Theatre
Racist. That's what white people call black people who dare to mention race these days. At least that's what we see in the comment sections of Daily Planet articles and in response to our posts on social media. "There is no circumstance under which 'white' fill-in-the-blank would be acceptable," wrote one commenter on a Facebook post about a black art trivia competition. "Hypocrisy at its finest."MORE »
THEATER | "My Ántonia" and the problem of turning books into plays
Illusion Theater brought back its award-winning adaptation of Willa Cather’s beloved novel My Ántonia for a limited engagement this past weekend at the Cowles Center as well as a tour around Minnesota to colleges, high schools, and different communities.MORE »
THEATER | "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre: Unapologetically political, completely adorable
When you pick up a ticket for a play entitled My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (currently in production at the Minnesota Jewish Theatre), you sort of know what you're signing up for as an audience member. However, when I first got the assignment to review the show, I didn't notice that it was also a musical. Or that the play started its life as a big hit in the Toronto Fringe Festival. My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding is unapologetically political, and completely adorable.MORE »
Joyce Foundation funds Latino/Asian fusion
In January the Joyce Foundation announced that two Twin Cities theater companies are among the winners of a prestigious commission to write a season of plays inspired by a merging of Latino and Asian cultures.MORE »
SUNDAY PICK | Nuruddin Farah's "A Stone Thrown at the Guilty" staged reading at the Rarig Center
Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah's new play A Stone Thrown at the Guilty found its inspiration in two uprisings that happened under British rule—one in 1920 and the other in 1939-40. The storyline, however, "veers sharply from the usual narratives of heroic resistance." The free public-staged reading will be held at the Stoll Thrust Theatre at the Rarig Center for the performing arts.MORE »
"SEVEN" tells the story of seven strong women, as told by seven renowned playwrights
A new local theatre company, Chain Reaction Theatre Project (CRTP), is tackling a play by seven playwrights featuring seven women from around the world that have fought for justice and empowerment of women in their home countries. Partnering with local nonprofits that focus on helping women here in Minnesota, SEVEN will be produced throughout the Twin Cities community as a way to engage and inspire people to get involved in the issues.MORE »
THEATER | At the Lowry Lab Theater, New Comedy is no joke—and that's a good thing
The creative partnership of Samantha Johns and Savannah Reich is a sign that the theater scene in the Twin Cities both is and isn't working. Since I started reviewing local theater five years ago, Johns, Reich, and their collaborators have produced some of the funniest, smartest, most touching, and just plain best shows I've seen. Where are their awards, their fellowships, their residencies? I'm not sure, but fortunately for all of us, they're still making the magic happen in the offbeat spaces where their work thrives.MORE »
THEATER | Judy Garland’s "End of the Rainbow" at the Guthrie Theater
Before seeing End of the Rainbow at the Guthrie Theater, what I knew about Judy Garland started with her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and ended with a foggy knowledge that her life ended tragically after years of drug and alcohol abuse.MORE »
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