My first show of the 2025-2026 #TCTheater season is a new work by two companies I've never seen before, and it set the bar pretty high for the season.
Black Label Movement (a dance theater company) and
Sod House Theater (specializing in site-specific theater) are combining forces on a music-dance-theater piece based on the 1906 Russian novel
Mother by Maxim Gorky. This "punk rock dance musical" tells the story of striking workers in early 20th Century Russian in a way that feels modern and relevant. The intimate and immersive space at the historic Sokol Hall in St. Paul's West 7th neighborhood,
a center for Czech and Slovak culture, makes you feel like you're part of the revolution, and the original music by Annie Enneking, who also plays the title role, is so inspiring.
The Mother is a fusion of theater companies, artists, and art forms that really makes you feel the emotions of the story viscerally in a captivating 90 minutes. But it's playing for one weekend only -
click here for info and tickets to the remaining shows (through Sunday).
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| the ensemble (photo by Bill Cameron) |
Palagea (Annie Enneking) describes herself as the wife of a worker and the mother of a worker. She doesn't really get involved in politics, until her beloved son organizes a strike with his friends to protest yet another wage cut. She reluctantly becomes involved in the revolution to support her son, and eventually becomes a leader of the movement. The talk of companies that prioritize profits over people, and the lack of appreciation for the people that grow the food that we eat and make the products that we use, sounds eerily familiar. And the people banding together to fight for what's right is exactly the message we need right now.
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Annie Enneking is The Mother
(photo by Bill Cameron) |
The story is beautifully and effectively told through a combination of thrilling dance numbers happening literally a few feet in front of you (keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times), really fantastic original music, and more traditional theater scenes. It all works so well together, sketching out the story and filling it with emotion. Co-directed by Luverne Seifert and Darcey Engen of Sod House Theater and Carl Flink of Black Label Movement (who also choreographs), the show is so dynamic and fun to watch.
Annie Enneking is a force of nature, often working behind the scenes in the theater world as a fight and intimacy director, when not fronting her band
Annie and the Bang Bang. It's great to see her take center stage here, displaying her rock singer and guitar player skills as well as her acting skills in portraying this loving mother driven to revolution. She's joined by a fantastic ensemble of dancers, led by Patrick Jeffrey as her son and Sri Peck as his girlfriend, who also sings on a couple of numbers. Carl Flink plays a truly terrifying commissioner who tries to stifle the revolution, with Allison Vincent and Ryan Robert Nelson playing his sidekicks and other characters, as always bringing some humor into the show.
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table dancing in front of the stage
(photo by Bill Cameron) |
The corridor staging of the piece works well, audience seated in a few rows on either side of the historic Sokol Hall theater space, a small proscenium with charming historic painted backdrops on one end, a little balcony on the other, performers entering and exiting from all sides. The four-piece band sits up on the stage, occasionally joined by singers, with the dance performances and scenes taking place on the floor right in front of us. A large wooden table (creatively used and moved and lifted) and some chairs are the only set pieces needed. The space is lit by lights on either side, with spotlights held by performers at times, creating almost a rock concert like feel. Performers are dressed in the neutral toned clothing of the worker, functional dresses, skirts, or pants that hint at the time and place. (Lighting design by Mike Grogan, sound design by Riley Rosalie, costume design by Melissa May Gubrud.)
You could say my new season of theater-going started out with a bang (bang).
The Mother is an exciting new collaboration that tells a historic and relevant story in an inventive and exciting way, in a unique and intimate space.
