"For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday" by Prime Productions at Mixed Blood Theatre

Now in their 8th season of telling stories about women in their prime (at a time when we start to become invisible in society), Prime Productions is bringing us the regional premiere of Sarah Ruhl's For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday. Playwright Sarah Ruhl wrote this play for and about her mother, Chicago theater actor Kathleen Ruhl, who, like the character Ann in the play, played Peter Pan in an Iowa production and met Mary Martin (read more about that here). In this fictionalized version of her mother's life, Sarah explores ideas of family relationships, grief, loss, religion, faith, politics, and what it means to grow up (and do we have to?). It's an engaging and relatable 90 minutes. See it at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood now through October 26.

"Come Back, Little Sheba" by Dark & Stormy Productions at Gremlin Theatre

Minnesota Fringe Festival is over, and the 2025-2026 #TCTheater season has not yet begun, which means it's time for another Dark & Stormy Production, a company that very smartly programs one of their unique offerings during this relatively quiet time. But this time, they're not serving us one of their usual dark comedies. The 1950 play Come Back, Little Sheba, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright William Inge, is all dark and no comedy. It's a tragic play that mostly makes me think about how women's choices were so limited in the past, and in many ways still are today (and becoming more so). But it's thoroughly engaging and full of captivating and complex characters, beautifully brought to life by the cast and creative team. See it at Gremlin Theatre through September 7.

"The Drawer Boy" at Theatre in the Round

The 1999 play The Drawer Boy by Canadian playwright Michael Healey is apparently one of the most produced plays in Canada and the US, but I had never heard of it. I admit I was confused by the title; is this about a boy who draws, or a boy who lives in a drawer? It's of course the former, but this boy is much more interesting than just being a drawer. He grows up to fight in WWII with his best friend, where a brain injury destroys his short-term memory. After returning home to rural Canada, the two men settle into their lives as bachelor farmers. Not much changes until an actor arrives to write a play about them, and it forces them to reexamine the story they've been living and telling for 30 years. This production by Theatre in the Round (now in their 63rd season, the oldest theater in Minneapolis) tells this story well and sweetly.

We meet lifelong friends Angus (he of the brain injury) and Morgan at the same time city slicker Miles does. It soon becomes obvious to Miles and the audience that Angus is... special. Although he remembers Morgan from the pre-war days, and after years of repetition and practice he knows how to do things like make sandwiches (lots of sandwiches) and drive a tractor, he can't remember new things or people. Miles has to reintroduce himself every day as he follows the farmers around with his notebook, gathering material for the play he's working on (interestingly based on a true event in Canadian theater in 1972 called The Farm Show). Morgan has a good time with the gullible actor, asking him to perform tasks like washing rocks and rotating the crops at 3 am. Every night Angus asks Morgan to tell him a story, the story of their life. Miles overhears this touching story of love, friendship, and loss, and puts it into the play. When Angus and Morgan go to the rehearsal and hear Miles' rendition of their story, Morgan is angered, but Angus is delighted. And more importantly, it triggers something in his injured brain and he begins to remember. It changes the delicate balance in Angus and Morgan's life, of which Morgan has always had control. But as painful as it is to hear, perhaps it's better for both of them to know and speak their true story.

Bob Malos, Keith Shelbourne, and Mike Swan
(photo by Richard Fleischman)

The three-person cast does a wonderful job of bringing this story to life, under the direction of Jamil Jude who makes great use of the in-the-round space. It really is an interesting and unique way to see theater; it provides a three-dimensional, 360-degree, more realistic view of the story. Keith Shelbourne is sweet and sympathetic as the addled Angus, and believably portrays his reawakening and longing for something more. Bob Malos is the epitome of the bachelor farmer (something we Minnesotans are also familiar with), a no-nonsense hard worker with little time for frivolities, but hiding a depth of feeling for his friend and deep pain at their shared past and the loss he carries for both of them. Mike Swan is also great as the eager actor who teaches the other two men a bit about storytelling.

The play is set in 1972, which you wouldn't know from the farmers' timeless uniform of Levis and plaid shirts, but the city kid actor displays a fun array of '70s fashion. The farm set fills up the in-the-round space, with short walls between the indoor kitchen and living room and the great outdoors, and open spaces hinting at doors and windows. The lighting nicely highlights the time of day, from nighttime star-watching to the morning sun glowing warmly through the imaginary windows (costumes by Amy B. Kaufman, set by Laura Tracy, lighting by Andrew C. Kedl). I also quite enjoyed the pre-show, intermission, and between-scenes soundtrack - a mix of '70s and acoustic folk and country.

Theatre in the Round's poignant production of The Drawer Boy continues through next weekend only.

"Street Scene" by Girl Friday Productions at Minneapolis Theatre Garage

Hello.  My name is Jill and I'm a theater-aholic.  It had been two weeks since I'd been to the theater, and I didn't have anything on my schedule for another two weeks.  A month without theater, perish the thought!  So when I received an email telling me about Girl Friday Productions' Street Scene, I eagerly looked it up.  A theater company I'd never seen, a location I'd never been to (the funky Minneapolis Theatre Garage), a Pulitzer Prize winning play from 1929 about immigrant life in a NYC tenement  - sold.  As one of the characters in the play says, "you never know, when you get up in the morning, what the day will bring."  Unlike the tragedy that the day brought to the characters in the play, my day unexpectedly brought a wonderful and moving experience at the theater.

Street Scene was written by Elmer Rice and first produced on Broadway in 1929.  The entire three-act play takes place on the streets and stoops in front of a NYC tenement building, teeming with life of all flavors.  The mix of accents is a delight to the ear - Irish, German, Italian, Swedish, and New York "natives."  20-some actors (including several children and a dog) play 50+ different roles, some as small as a man who strolls down the street singing and is never seen again, or a little girl being reluctantly pulled along by her mother, or a milkman making his deliveries.  The busy sounds of the street are playing softly throughout the play, as well as 20s-era radio (songs, ballgames, talk) playing during intermission and before the show.  It all sets up the environment of the show: a close, supportive, and contentious neighborhood in which the neighbors all know each other - perhaps a little too well.

The show starts off with everyone mopping their brow and asking "hot enough for you?" - a scene that could have been lifted from just about any neighborhood in the country right now (I suspect that the "it's not the heat it's the humidity" line might have been added to cater to local audiences).  The first act establishes the characters: the gossipy and bigoted Mrs. Jones, with her bully son Vincent and flapper girl daughter; the Maurrant family, sad suffering Anna and her abusive husband and idealist working-girl daughter Rose; the outspoken Bolshevik Mr. Kaplan and his smart student son Sam, in love with Rose.  The characters have long conversations with each other, both philosophical and practical, and gossip about their neighbors behind their backs.  The chief object of gossip is Mrs. Maurrant, who appears to be having an affair with the milkman.

Things start to happen in the second act.  Vincent torments Sam, and he and Rose talk about running away together, getting out of the tenements.  She's hopeful of a better life; he believes life is nothing but pain.  He has a serious case of Weltschmerz, as his father points out.  Mr. Maurrant goes off on a trip for a few days, and Mrs. Maurrant invites her milkman up.  In true soap fashion, her husband returns to find them together and (spoiler alert) kills them both in a bloody and action-packed scene.  In the final act, Rose is forced to grow up fast and make a new life for herself and her little brother.  She plans to leave town, and Sam wants to go with her, declaring his undying love for her.  But Rose gently refuses him, putting her in the position of having to comfort him (which doesn't seem fair since she's the one who's just lost both of her parents!).  Rose says people shouldn't belong to anyone but themselves, and that was part of what caused her parents' problems.  She's determined not to fall into the same trap.  As the show ends, modern day sneaks into the old neighborhood: a Lady Gaga song is heard, a man enters with a cardboard coffee cup and Target bag, and a boy rides a skateboard while listening to an iPod.  Life goes on, not so different now from what it was then.

The Theatre Garage is a small space with a small stage, but there's nothing small about this production.  The large cast fills the space and moves around and through it with ease (as directed by Craig Johnson).  It's a strong ensemble; most of them are new to me.  Anna Sundberg is luminous and captivating as Rose, and Logan Verdoorn is heart-breaking as the serious studious Sam.  John Middleton (Theater Latte Da's Song of Extinction) brings a strength to the frail old Mr. Kaplan.  Ellen Apel provides much of the humor as the busybody Mrs. Jones.  Kirby Bennett conveys sadness and longing with a look as the poor Mrs. Maurrant, and Bob Malos as her jerk of a husband is infuriating and somehow almost sympathetic.  It was a thrilling, engaging, tragic night at the theater.  From what I gather, Girl Friday's shows are few and far between, but judging from Street Scene, it's worth the wait.

Thanks to Nancy for telling me about this show, that otherwise would have passed me by without my knowledge.  Please, friends, be my enablers in my theater addiction.  Tell me about theater going on in the Twin Cities that I might not have heard about, so that I don't have to go two weeks without going to the theater again.