"The Great Armistice Day Blizzard" by nimbus theatre at the Crane Theater

All signs point to this being a snowy winter here in Minnesota; since the first significant snowfall a few days before Thanksgiving it feels like it hasn't stopped snowing, and conditions are ripe for an above-average snowfall this season. This is good news for those of us who enjoy outdoor winter activities that rely on snow, but not so much for those who view snow as an inconvenience. But no one wants a recurrence of what happened on Armistice Day of 1940. This day that was founded to commemorate peace was anything but peaceful for people in the Midwest, where temperatures in the 60s lured them outside to enjoy the warm November weather, only to be blasted by dropping temperatures and several feet of snow. As is their wont, nimbus theatre has devised a new play about this historic event. But instead of focusing on the grand scale of a storm that resulted in 154 deaths, including 49 in Minnesota, playwright and director Liz Neerland has chosen to focus on four people caught up in the storm, resulting in an intimate and engrossing 80-minute story. It's worth going out into the snow and cold to see The Great Armistice Day Blizzard at the Crane Theater through December 21 (but if there's a blizzard - by all means, stay home!).

The opening scenes of The Great Armistice Day Blizzard play out like a silent movie, accompanied by period music and the sounds of nature and neighborhood. We see Connie (Cate Jackson) move into her new home, develop a friendship with neighbor Gwen (Starla Larson) and her husband Martin (Quinton Michael) in the shared yard between their houses, become pregnant, and walk with her new baby in a stroller. It's an effective way to accomplish the exposition of these characters and their relationship over the course of a year without a word of dialogue. Once the friendship is established, the story begins shortly before the storm we know is coming, but they don't (weather forecasting in Chicago failed to predict the extent of it). Connie's husband (whom we never meet) is going out of town for work, and Martin plans to go duck hunting with his buddy Bo (Song Kim), a true-to-life detail since half of the fatalities in Minnesota were duck hunters stranded on the Mississippi. This pleasant slice of neighborhood life turns tense when the storm unexpectedly descends on our characters. Martin and Bo hunker down on an island attempting to wait out the storm, while Gwen, Connie, and the baby (a cute doll) cozy up in Connie's kitchen as Gwen gets more and more worried for Martin. The storm finally ends, as all storms eventually do, but what has it left in its wake?

Connie (Cate Jackson) and Gwen (Starla Larson)
meet at the clothesline (photo courtesy of nimbus)

Even though the play is only 80 minutes long, it doesn't feel rushed or crammed with too much info. On the contrary, things play out in their own time, with moments of silence and calm as the women hang laundry on the line, or the men blow their duck calls and wait for the prey to appear. All four actors are great in their roles, really creating full and rounded characters in a short amount of time, aided by bits of dialogue that add specificity (Cate and her husband moved from Louisville, Gwen and Martin always wanted children but it never happened). We come to know them and care about what happens to them. 

Since the day starts out as a warm fall day, the set looks like fall, and the blizzard is accomplished not with fake snow, but with video projections and sound, which is quite effective. At first we see a few dots of snow falling across the center yard and duck-hunting island behind it. Then the snow gets thicker, then it starts to move horizontally across the space, accompanied by the harsh sound of cold wind. It's enough to make you shiver and pull your coat around you. The two family homes are on either side of the stage, mirror images but each unique, with slightly different period appliances and kitchen table. And there a remarkable number of costume changes for a short play, particularly in the opening sequence, showing the passage of time and setting the scene in the 1940s. (Scenic design by Sadie Ward, costume design by Rubble&Ash, lighting design by Jon Kirchhofer, sound design by Forest Godfrey, props design by Jenny Moeller, video design by Josh Cragun.)

Any Minnesotan can relate to a winter storm interfering with plans and making everyday tasks dangerous. This play shows us a day in our not too recent past where that turned deadly. Here's hoping this winter is full of fun in the snow, without the danger of The Great Armistice Day Blizzard, viscerally brought to life on the Crane Theater stage.