"Falsettos" by Morris Park Players at Edison High School

There's a ton of great community theater in the Twin Cities, but I don't get to see much of it because I'm kept more than busy attending shows by the plethora of professional #TCTheater companies. But when the only local theater to do Falsettos (in my recent memory) is a community theater, I'm there. The 1992 multiple Tony winner had a successful Broadway revival a few years ago, and I fell in love with this messy and real love story when I saw the filmed version in a movie theater, and the subsequent tour. I just happened to see that Morris Park Players, a Northeast Minneapolis-based company that has been around for 70 years, was doing Falsettos, and I was lucky enough to catch their final performance. This is not an easy musical, think Sondheim-level complicated lyrics and rhythms, and I was super impressed with MPP first for choosing it, and secondly for the way they handled the material with energy, skill, and heart. It looks like they do one or two shows a year, so I'll be watching for their next choice. You can too (follow them on Facebook here), or better yet, find out what community theater is performing in your neighborhood and give them your support!

"Man of La Mancha" by Mounds View Community Theatre at Chippewa Middle School

This is my annual PSA to support your local community theater! Especially if one of your favorite #TCTheater director/choreographers is involved. I'm lucky enough that Joe Chvala (founder of the dance company Flying Foot Forum) is directing and choreographing a production for Mounds View Community Theatre for the second time (after helming a delightful H.M.S. Pinnafore two years ago). This Man of La Mancha, playing at a middle school a mile from my house, is as good as what I see on professional stages around town. Of course there's fantastic dancing in Joe's trademark rhythmic percussive style, but he's also assembled a really talented cast, most of them unknown to me, with impressive set design, all of which combines for an all around funny, engaging, and inspiring show. This story of the idealistic noble knight fighting injustice in the world is one that we always need to hear.

"H.M.S. Pinafore" by Mounds View Community Theatre at Irondale High School

Friends, support your local community theater! In the beautifully rich theater community that is #TCTheater, there is a ton of great work being done in high schools, community centers, churches, and other locations around the Twin Cities metro area. Most of which I don't get to see because I'm too busy seeing work by the 70+ professional theater companies. But lucky for me, my local community theater is Mounds View Community Theatre, which does a musical every summer. And lucky for all of us, the director of this year's selection, the delightfully silly Gilbert and Sullivan operetta H.M.S. Pinafore, is one of the Twin Cities' best director/choreographers Joe Chvala. I saw the show on their closing weekend and was absolutely delighted by it from start to finish. Joe Chvala's energetic and dynamic choreography combined with this amazingly talented and hard-working cast of "amateur" performers and designers, not to mention all the behind the scenes volunteers, adds up a whole lotta joy and rapture for this audience member.