"Ironbound" by Frank Theatre at Gremlin Theatre

Leave it to Wendy Knox to discover a new-to-#TCTheater playwright who has written (at least one) gorgeous, funny, devastating, and very human play about immigrants, poverty, classism, sexism, and so much more. Ironbound is believed to be the first of Polish-American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok's work to be produced in the Twin Cities, and it's a stunner. As per usual, it receives top notch treatment in Frank Theatre's production, with beautifully raw and real performances from the four-person cast and an understated but effective design. It's only mid-January, but I'm confident this will be one of the best plays of 2024. It plays Thursdays through Sundays at Gremlin Theatre until February 11. Click here for info and tickets, and watch for Frank's remount of another fantastic and relevant play, Fetal, playing at their intimate studio space in late February. After a very long hiatus, it's a joy to have Frank Theatre back with two strong plays, that are probably among my favorites that I've seen them do.

"Gloria: A Life" at the HERstory Theatre

The History Theatre is continuing their successful spring of bringing us women's stories written by women into their new season. Their first HERstory play of 2019-2020 is Gloria: A Life, a new play (seen Off-Broadway just last fall) in its regional premiere. Friends, this show is more than just theater. It's the celebration of a movement that changed the world, and has a long way yet to go! After the 80-minute first act in which we learn about the history of the Women's Rights movement through the life of Gloria Steinem, the "second act" is a talking circle. In one of the best post-show discussions I've ever experienced, women (and a man or two) in the audience shared their inspiring stories too. I like that they call it the second act of the play, because it really is an important part of Gloria's story, in which the conversation that was started on stage is continued into the audience and into our lives. Gloria: A Life is another educational, entertaining, and inspirational experience from the HERstory Theatre.

"The Heiress" at the Jungle Theater

Last night I saw the classic play The Heiress, about Catherine, a wealthy heiress lacking in social graces with a stern father and an unexpected suitor. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the play until I had a sudden revelation this morning - Catherine is Peggy. On the exquisite work of art that is Mad Men, Peggy starts out as a powerless secretary and over the course of 7 seasons has slowly gained power in her life and her career, often at the expense of romantic relationships. In one pivotal scene in season 6, the married man Peggy has been having an affair with who promised to leave his wife for her (don't they all) changed his mind and decided to move his family to L.A., far away from the "temptations" of Peggy. He said to her, "one day you'll be happy I made this decision." Peggy replied, "well aren't you lucky, to have decisions." This is perhaps the best line ever uttered on television, and speaks volumes about women's lack of power in the advertising world of the 1960s, or a modern-day women's prison, or the upper-class world of 1850s New York. The Heiress is all about Catherine reclaiming her power, even if it comes at the expense of her own happiness. Catherine's father decides that Morris couldn't possibly love her and therefore she shouldn't marry him. Morris decides that Catherine shouldn't give up her inheritance for him. But in the end, after much heartache and pain, it's Catherine who decides what she wants and what is best for her life.

The Heiress was written by husband and wife playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz in 1947, based on Henry James' late 19th Century novel Washington Square. The title refers to a young woman named Catherine who lives with her father Dr. Sloper in a posh house on Washington Square Park in 1850s NYC. Catherine's mother died in childbirth, and like Tyrion Lannister, her father blames her for her mother's death. He continually compares Catherine to her mother and finds her lacking. According to him, Catherine is plain, boring, and possesses no charm or grace. But who could possibly live up to the ghostly image of the perfect woman that he has created in his head? Despite this attitude, or perhaps because of it, Catherine loves her father desperately and would do anything to please him. When Catherine is courted by a handsome young gentleman, Dr. Sloper believes that he only wants her for her money, because who could love such a woman as Catherine? So begins Catherine's struggle between pleasing her father and committing to this man that she loves and she believes loves her. Like Tyrion, Catherine eventually gets her revenge on her father, although with much more subtle tactics than a cross-bow. She finally realizes her own power, and will not let the desires or decisions of either man control her life.

Catherine at her needlepoint with her aunt looking on disapprovingly
(Katie Guentzel and Wendy Lehr, photo by Michal Daniel)

The world of The Heiress is brought to life on the Jungle stage through impeccable design and a fantastic cast. Director Bain Boehlke has made the tiny shoebox stage look like a large and luxurious drawing room, with stairs ascending in the back and an unseen front door. Amelia Cheever has designed absolutely gorgeous period costumes, each of the many outfits perfection from head (top hats!) to toe (spats!). I don't usually notice lighting and sound, but in this case they're so lovely they must be mentioned - the warm glow of lamps turned on one by one, the morning sunlight streaming through windows, and the very important sound of horse-drawn carriages passing by on the street outside (lighting by Bill Healey and sound by Sean Healey).

To play the title role, Kate Guentzel reigns in her usual effervescent charm and transforms into this plain and timid woman, who blossoms with love, grows through pain, and shows her strength at the end through subtle changes in voice and demeanor. One of my favorite playwrights, Jeffrey Hatcher, makes a rare onstage appearance as Catherine's stern and pragmatic father and proves he's just as good on this side of the stage. The incomparable Wendy Lehr plays Catherine's fluttery aunt who so desperately wants her to marry Morris, regardless of his true intentions. Kate's real-life husband John Catron plays Catherine's suitor Morris, and is so delightfully and falsely charming that one wonders how awkward that ride home is every night. The rest of the cast fill their roles well, even if only onstage for a short time, including Valarie Falken as the family's ever-present Irish-accented maid.

The Heiress is a remarkably feminist piece for a play written in the 1940s based on a book from the 19th Century. While Catherine might not have a happily-ever-after ending, at least it's on her own terms. The Heiress continues at the Jungle Theater through August 10.


This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"Shakespeare's Will" at the Jungle Theater

If 2013 was the year of the one-man show (see my 2013 wrap-up for more on that), then perhaps 2014 will be the year of the one-woman show. It's certainly off to a great start with the Jungle Theater's Shakespeare's Will, in which Cathleen Fuller commands the stage as the woman behind the man who became perhaps the world's greatest playwright. Playwright Vern Thiessen offers one interpretation of this woman about whom not much is known except for a few bare facts. He fills in these facts with a personality and a relationship that was unconventional (the couple mostly lived separate lives) but worked, and gives us a sense of who this woman might have been.

In about 75 minutes, Cathleen as Anne takes us through her life with "Bill," from their first meeting, through marriage and children, through separation as his career took off, to his death and the controversial contents of his will (he left her "my second best bed with the furniture," while leaving most of his estate to their eldest daughter). This all takes place on the day Bill is buried, while Anne is waiting for a visit from his sister. She talks to Bill, recites conversations she had with him, her father, and others, and relives pivotal moments in her life. Through it all we get to know Anne as a person, not just a footnote in Shakespeare's biography. She's a funny, smart, spunky, strong woman, fully inhabited by Cathleen as she goes through a range of emotions, from the happiness of new love to anger to grief at the death of a child.

Cathleen Fuller as Anne Hathaway

The beautifully sparse set designed by Bain Boehlke, who also directs, consists of a bare stage populated only with a bench, chair, and table, upon which sit period-appropriate writing materials and and other props. The stage is framed by two columns on either side, with a bay window at the back, once again creating that perfect diorama effect. Anne wears a beautifully authentic looking dress of velvet and brocade (designed by Amelia Cheever). The entire scene looks very much like it came straight out of an Elizabethan era English country home.

Shakespeare's Will plays through March 23 and is a wonderful start to the Jungle's 2014 season, which continues with the comedy Detroit, the Tony Award-winning play The Heiress, and a return of The Mystery of Irma Vep with Steven Epp and Bradley Greenwald, and concludes the brilliant team of Bain Boehlke and Wendy Lehr in On Golden Pond. It's shaping up to be another great year at the lovely little theater in Uptown.

"Fool for Love" at the Jungle Theater

The Jungle Theater continues their excellent 2013 season, following the smart and sexy Venus in Fur, the thrilling Deathtrap, and the hilarious Urinetown with Fool for Love, an intense exploration of love, loss, and the complicated relationships of family. Written by Sam Shepard (see also True West), it's like a modern-day Western - stark and gritty and strangely beautiful. In a note in the playbill, director and set designer Bain Boehlke calls it "one of the greatest examples of theater poetry in the 20th Century," and after seeing it, that makes perfect sense. It's only an hour long (keep that in mind as you're paying your parking fee), but leaving the theater I felt like I had witnessed something epic. It's one of those theater experiences in which the world created is so real, so intense, that when the play is over, the lights come up, and you're spilled out onto the streets of the city, it's jarring. I found myself shaking my head in an attempt to readjust to my surroundings. Sitting there in the theater, the world of the play becomes the only reality, so that when it's over it's like a spell has been broken and you're not quite sure where you are or what just happened. This was perhaps the most gripping and intense hour of theater I've ever experienced.

The story centers on ex-lovers Eddie and May. After years of suffering in their tumultuous relationship, May has run away and taken up residence in a seedy motel. Eddie drives thousands of miles to find her and convince her to come back to him. She refuses, but can't bear for him to leave either. There's so much more to their relationship that unfolds over the hour. In the midst of it, May's date Martin shows up to take her to the movies, bringing the intensity to new heights. And through it all, an "old man" is sitting in a rocking chair on the side of the stage (and has in fact been sitting there since the theater doors opened), sometime telling stories, sometimes interjecting or commenting, even entering the action. There's a harsh realism to the play, even surrealism with this character who's sort of there, but not really. And there is a sort of beauty. At one point, Eddie tells a long story about a walk through town with his father in language that is beautiful, but in a stark, gritty, Larry McMurtry kind of way.

This four-person cast is totally in the moment and fully invested in their characters. Jennifer Blagen gives a fearless performance as May, swinging from one emotion to the next, about to crawl out of her skin. Terry Hempleman is intense and riveting as Eddie. Jason Peterson perfectly plays the nervousness and uncertainty of poor Martin, who doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. And Allen Hamilton is a little too creepy as that "old man" sitting just beyond the story but at the very center of it.

Jennifer Blagen, Allen Hamilton, and Terry Hempleman

The set is, as per usual at the Jungle, perfection. Grimy greenish walls surround the bare space, which holds only an iron frame bed, a table with two chairs, a bare light bulb, and a ceiling fan that looks like it hasn't worked in years. Lighting (by Barry Browning) and sound (by Sean Healey) add to the atmosphere, with strange and beautiful shadows cast on walls, and a loud thunderclap perfectly choreographed to every time someone slams a door or hits a wall (which happens often). Each character's wardrobe (by Amelia Cheever) perfectly suits them, from May's too short dress, to Eddie's blue jeans and duct-taped boots, to Martin's plaid pants and bolo tie. There's great attention to detail in every aspect, which creates a very real universe in which the story takes place.

This is a play I could definitely see again; it's just so full. (If only I weren't fully booked with theater for the next several weeks.) Sharply written, wonderfully acted, with detailed perfection in all elements of the production, it's a very rich hour of theater.