St. Croix Festival Theatre has been performing in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, beside the beautiful St. Croix River, for 35 years. I've recently become aware of them; they've started inviting me to their shows and my blogger buddy
The Stages of MN has been to a few shows. As appealing as it is, and as much as I love that theater exists outside of metro areas, it's hard for me to take a road trip to see theater when there's more theater in the Twin Cities than even I can see. But when they program a season that includes plays by Kate Hamill and Lauren Gunderson, as well as the rarely done gem of a musical
Ordinary Days, it's nearly impossible for me to stay away! Since theater in the Twin Cities has slowed down a bit for the summer, I was able to make the scenic one-hour drive through darling Minnesota-Swedish towns to the charming river town of St. Croix Falls (just across the river from Taylors Falls). And now that I've been there, I'm going to make more of an effort to get back. The show that lured me there is
Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B, a modern reimagining of the classic detective tales by Kate Hamill, the most produced playwright in America this season.
Her plays have often been seen in the Twin Cities, including some local commissions, and they're always fresh, funny, feminist, modern, and cheekily theatrical. This one is no different, and Festival Theatre has assembled a talented four-person cast to bring this fun and clever play to life. It's playing for one more weekend (
click here for tickets), followed by several more intriguing offerings this year (
click here for season details).
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Holmes (Kathryn Cesarz) and Watson
(Mary Margaret Hughes) are on the case
(photo by Dan Norman) |
The story begins when American "I am not a" Doctor Joan Watson shows up at Apt. 2B in 21st Century post-pandemic London looking for a room to rent. Landlady Mrs. Hudson obliges, but Joan is less than thrilled to learn she will be sharing living spaces with longtime tenant Sherlock "don't call me Shirly" Holmes. Such a disagreeable odd couple are destined to become friends and partners, as these two reluctantly do. After deducing that Joan is a physician (which she denies) who suffers from panic attacks (which is undeniable), Sherlock ropes her into helping solve crimes, from blackmail to murder. Familiar characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories appear throughout the play, including Inspector Lestrade, Irenee (like Irene but with something extra) Adler, and nemesis Moriarty. Every time a familiar name is introduced there's a dramatic pause and glance to the audience. This is only one of many fourth wall breaking moments, both in the script and the performances, with a wink to the audience that lets us in on the joke. Mysteries are solved, characters are revealed to be someone else, and through it all Joan and Sherlock build a friendship.
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Lindsey Fry and Jesse March in two of their
many guises (photo by Dan Norman) |
Traci Ledford directs the play with great energy and a sense of fun, with which the four-person cast complies. While I believe Festival Theatre does sometimes employ #TCTheater artists, all four actors in this play are new-to-me, and all are great in their role(s). They play well together as an ensemble and perform some fun physical comedy. Kathryn Cesarz plays all of Sherlock's eccentricities yet somehow makes her endearing rather than annoying, and Mary Margaret Hughes as Joan, aka Wats, is our everywoman way into this wacky world. The other two actors are perhaps having the most fun, and are the most fun to watch, as they play too many different characters to count. Lindsey Fry plays various victims and criminals in a parade of wigs, each one a fun and distinct character. Jesse March starts and ends the show as the narrator, in between embodying the somewhat befuddled Lestrade, a gross American tech billionaire, and more. Characters are dressed in modern clothing that hints at the classic characters, Joan all in black like the New Yorker she is, Sherlock with hints of the familiar brown plaid (costume design by Ellinora Wondra).
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| Apt. 2B (photo by Dan Norman) |
Before you go, pay attention to
location and parking details on their website, which I neglected to do. If you put "St. Croix Festival Theatre" into Google Maps, it will take you to their box office in a storefront on the main street in town, which will likely be closed. There is a small black box theater in there where they have performed the last ten years, but they have recently moved performances back into the newly renovated 100+ year old The Historic Auditorium a half block down and across the street. It's a beautiful building, with the theater up on the third floor, which has been used for various functions over the last century, including a movie theater. Now it's a beautiful intimate historic-feeling 270-seat theater, used by St. Croix Festival Theatre as well as for concerts and other events. The world of
Apt. 2B has been created under the proscenium arch and spilling out front onto the stage with a cleverly adaptable set. Three large set pieces with moving pieces and hidden compartments (including a Murphy bed) transform from Sherlock's apartment, to various hotel crime scenes, and more. These transitions take a bit of time, which they lean into and make entertaining by doing it very theatrically (with help from stagehand Chase Johnson, also playing a minor role). It's all intricately choreographed to well-chosen classic and modern music (some script-dictated), with more knowing looks to the audience. This might be the only time when I've had the urge to applaud after a scene transition. (Scenic design by David Markson, props design by Denise Evert-Bartz, sound design by Jesse March, lighting design by Jules Robinson.)
Playwright Kate Hamill has successfully turned the classic detective stories of Holmes and Watson into a female buddy comedy, well executed by
St. Croix Festival Theatre. If you're looking for a fun theater day trip out of the Twin Cities, this (or other shows in their season this year) is a great choice. Both Taylors Falls and St. Croix Falls are cute little towns with shops and restaurants, and Interstate State Parks on both sides of the river have great trails and camping.
Franconia Sculpture Park is on the way there and also worth a visit. The thing I love most, next to theater, is traveling and exploring new places, and combining the two is my favorite thing of all.
