THEATER REVIEW | Billy Mullaney creates engaging theater at the Uncreativity Festival

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I hope the Uncreativity Festival becomes a regular event, that’s how much fun I had watching this grab bag of exercises in taking words out of context to create new meaning. Even though the show easily qualified as a full evening’s entertainment at 90 minutes long, the friend who came with me was genuinely disappointed there wasn’t going to be a intermission and then still more of it (I’m not kidding, there was actually an elongated “Awwww” involved). I have to say I agree but it was nice to have my enjoyment of it all immediately reinforced. Curator Billy Mullaney has struck a pleasant nerve with the collection of performance art he’s gathered together under the banner of Uncreativity. What Mullaney and his Fire Drill partner Emily Gastineau do for movement performance in their fascinating showcases like Bring In The Indigo and Absolute Bliss, Mullaney does here solo with the art of the word. Continue Reading

Sarah Rasmussen new Jungle Theater artistic director, Children’s Theatre Company receives grant

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The last two years have seen several high-profile personnel changes at Twin Cities-area theater companies as a series of founding leaders have stepped aside to usher in a new generation of leaders. Mu Performing Arts and Penumbra Theatre announced succession plans last year; this year, the Guthrie Theater’s search reached fruition with the announcement that a second Joe, Joseph Haj, would take the helm after Joe Dowling steps down. On Tuesday, the Jungle Theater joined these ranks with the announcement that Ivey Award-winning director Sarah Rasmussen will succeed Jungle founder Bain Boehlke when he retires this summer. Continue Reading

Guthrie to move, turn building into condos

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In a stunning press conference this morning, the Guthrie Theater announced that it is returning to Minneapolis’s Lowry Hill neighborhood and converting part of its iconic building on the banks of the Mississippi River into condos. These twin measures, some of the most far-reaching in the company’s 52-year history, sent shockwaves through the Twin Cities theatre and Downtown East communities. Editor’s note: This feature is part of the Daily Planet’s April Fools’ Day Arts Coverage. The first part of the plan, constructing a new theatre complex near the Walker Art Museum, is a return to the Guthrie’s founding roots and location for decades. (The Walker’s parking garage sits on the site of the old theatre.) This new complex, tentatively named Guthrie 2.0, will sit above the I-94/Hennepin Ave/Lyndale Ave interchange, long an area eyesore and transit bottleneck. Continue Reading

Zombies and Disney spectacular “Frozen” coming to Ordway, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

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The greater Twin Cities theater scene is getting a whole lot more zombies and ice castles in the 2015-2016 season. The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and Chanhassen Dinner Theatres both announced major screen-to-stage adaptations in the coming year: a musical version of the hit cable television series The Walking Dead at the Ordway and a much-anticipated adaptation of the Disney megahit movie Frozen at CDT. Both new musicals will have their world premieres in Minnesota as part of pre-Broadway trials.Editor’s note: This feature is part of the Daily Planet’s April Fools’ Day Arts Coverage.Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, the world’s largest dinner theater organization under one roof, will present Frozen: The Musical as part of its 2015-2016 season. This coup follows up on two tremendously successful years of alternating Broadway classics in the fall and winter with stage versions of Disney musical films in the spring and summer. CDT’s Midwest premiere of The Little Mermaid attracted the attention of Disney executives, who after extensive negotiations selected the company to host the show’s pre-Broadway development. Continue Reading

THEATER REVIEW | “Annie” timeless at the Orpheum Theatre

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Stop what you’re doing right now and get all expectations of cliches out of your system. Sure, go ahead, say something along the lines of “I’ll see the production ‘Tomorrow.’” Make a few cracks regarding what a “Hard Knock Life” you’d experience if you missed this show. Go ahead and make reference to the barely related Jay-Z track. Just work it out of your system quick. We can wait.Good?You sure?It figures you had one more in you.Alright, with all that said and done, let’s get down to business: This production of Annie is wonderful. Vibrant and full of energy and optimism, this production feels surprisingly fresh for a play that is almost 40 years old that is based on material from almost 90 years ago. Continue Reading

THEATER REVIEW | Theatre Coup d’Etat’s ‘Art’: Basic in the best way

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Friendship is often as strange and random as family. Though you can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends, the circumstances that bring us in contact with those that become our friends are frequently just as out of our control. The same school, the same place of work, the same passion for a particular subject—these serve as the catalyst for unlikely pairings that might not otherwise ever cross paths. But just like romantic relationships, friendships need attention, care and feeding, or they’re likely to wither. Even if you don’t see your family members for years at a time, you’re still family. Continue Reading