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.)
Retired union member writes, directs original play about legendary Joe Hill
The song, “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,” popularized by folksinger Joan Baez in the late 1960s, stuck with Keith Reed. Reed, now a retired union member, will direct six performances in June of his original play, “The Murdered Minstrel of Toil: The Joe Hill Story.”MORE »
THURSDAY PICK | Minouk Lim and Emily Johnson dance the Seoul streets at the Walker Art Center
If writing about music, as Martin Mull may or may not have said, is like dancing about architecture, then what is dancing in sculpture? That's what Korean artist Minouk Lim and local performer Emily Johnson will be doing on May 31 at the Walker Art Center, "animating" Lim's wearable sculptures on the opening day of Lim's exhibit Heat of Shadows. Lim's work concerns urban alienation, a favorite theme for dancers as well, so I have a hunch we're going to be seeing a lot of come-here-come-here-come-here-come-here-get-away-get-away-get-away-get-away moments. Isn't that what life is all about?
WEDNESDAY PICK | Bedlam's 10-Min Play Fest: A mixed bag (in a good way) at Mixed Blood
Rumor has it that Bedlam Theatre, after nearly two years in its temporary Seward home, is closing in on a deal that will land it in a new permanent home. In the meantime, though, Bedlam is building on its long-time relationship with Mixed Blood Theatre—just down the street from Bedlam's former West Bank space—by staging its annual 10-Minute Play Festival on the Mixed Blood stage. Whereas in previous years the short plays have appeared in series, this year Bedlam's making it easy on us by staging them all back-to-back at six performances over five days. The watchword for these little plays is innovation, so don't expect any tidy little dramas: settle in to your seat, and hold onto your hat.MORE »
TUESDAY PICK | AEthem Theatre Company realizes their "Before. After. Never."
Before. After. Never.'s Kickstarter video is a little, uh, offbeat. But it worked nevertheless, because AEthem Theatre Company now has itself a fully produced play showing at the Sabes Jewish Community Center on May 21 and 22. The premise of the show takes J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan one step further by looking at what happened after Neverland and describes itself as darker than Disney's version. The Twin Cities ensemble specializes in "physical theatre" and is made up on a group of Bethel University students wanting to develop "non-traditional skills." It seems the little company is succeeding in all of that so far.MORE »
THEATER REVIEW | Penumbra Theatre's "The Amen Corner" at the Guthrie Theater brings Tyler Perry to mind
James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner has been around for almost six decades now, but as I sat at the Guthrie on opening night listening to the show’s rousing gospel choir numbers and watching its central characters give spirited sermons from the pulpit, I couldn’t help but notice how many similarities there were to the majority of the entries in Tyler Perry’s rapidly growing oeuvre of faith-based films and plays centered largely around themes of morality and spirituality.MORE »
SATURDAY PICK | Live Action Set's "7-Shot Symphony," out on the range
"Is there something in the water down in Plainview? Seemingly against all odds, the farm town two hours southeast of the Twin Cities has hosted some of the area's very best original theater productions over the past two years." That's how I began my rave review of Jon Ferguson's 2011 show Pinocchio, staged at the Jon Hassler Theater. Currently playing at the theater is a sure bet: Live Action Set's Ivey-winning production The 7-Shot Symphony. It's an epic western told in the company's signature physical-theater style, and it would make for a fine day trip in this temperate late-spring weather. If you don't have your own wheels, or if you just want to make friends and save on gas, the company is facilitating carpools via its website.
Are critics too snobby?
When a movie critic says something my dad doesn't agree with, Dad will grunt. "Those critics see too many movies! They have no idea what the average person likes." Of course, if a critic says something Dad agrees with, he'll cite it favorably. "Did you see they gave Zorba the Greek four stars? That's a classic." Welcome to the world of the critic, where favorable reviews are greeted as the sage musings of a discerning viewer and negative reviews are dismissed as useless hackwork.MORE »
THURSDAY PICK | Mrs. Smith brings her many talents to the Bryant-Lake Bowl
Every drag queen is her own special flower, but Mrs. Smith is a very special flower indeed. Storyteller, dancer, electric guitar wizard, there's not much Mrs. Smith can't do, and she's sure to showcase her many talents on stage at the Bryant-Lake Bowl from May 17-26 as she presents her new one-woman show Mrs. Smith Live at the Bowl! The show is Mrs. Smith's version of the redemption-story one-woman shows performed on Broadway by the likes of Liza Minnelli, Elaine Stritch, and Carrie Fisher. But what on earth could Mrs. Smith possibly have to be redeemed from? You probably won't be sorry you asked.
THEATER REVIEW | Blank Slate Theatre's "Analyzing the Bully" looks at peer abuse from the bully's perspective
I am not a bully. Despite my stint in fifth grade of pushing fourth-graders into snowdrifts and calling them stupid, I have never been, nor could I ever be, a bully.
At least that’s what the doctors from blank slate theatre’s original production of Analyzing the Bully told me. Bullies, to them, can only be males under the age of 20 who are athletes, bigots and homophobes. Bullies always use force, wear torn jeans and black shirts, and have no reason for their “random” acts of violence.MORE »
THEATER REVIEW | At the Guthrie Theater, "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been..." is resonant and affecting
Nighttime in Harlem was a refuge for poet and author Langston Hughes. Icon of the Harlem Renaissance (though he was abroad for much of it), Hughes brought the rhythm of jazz to his poetry. In “Harlem Night Song,” Hughes writes, “Across the Harlem rooftops/ Moon is shining./ Night sky is blue./ Stars are great drops/ Of golden dew.” When we find him hunched at his typewriter, however, the night offers none of its usual solace. Awaiting his appearance in front of Senator McCarthy’s Committee on Government Operations, Hughes is a man isolated from his home and country.MORE »
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