"The Cottage" at Gremlin Theatre

It's the summer of Noël Coward in #TCTheater, and after the long hard winter we had, we deserve some summer escapist comedies. Last month, Theatre in the Round brought us the ghostly and hilarious Blithe Spirit, about a man who is haunted by his ex-wife, much to his current wife's dismay. The Guthrie is about to open Private Lives, about exes honeymooning with their new spouses. And Gremlin Theatre is throwing their hat into the ring with a new play that, according to Wikipedia, is "described as a modern take on a Noël Coward comedy." The Cottage is a straight up farce that is definitely reminiscent of Coward's plays, but since it was written by a modern female playwright (Sandy Rustin,* one of the most produced playwrights in America last season, in part because of her adaptation of the movie Clue) it gives a bit more agency to the female characters, with an atypical ending for a romantic comedy. Gremlin's regional premiere production of The Cottage, that premiered on Broadway just a few years ago, is perfectly cast, impeccably designed, and utterly delightful from start to finish. Playing now through August 2.

"Apples in Winter" at Gremlin Theatre

Food is comfort, food is family, food is community. We like to joke about what our last meal would be, listing our favorite foods. But in Gremlin Theatre's new production of the solo play Apples in Winter, it's no joke. The entire story plays out in real time as we watch a woman make an apple pie as her son's requested last meal. It's a brutal and devastating look at the effects of addiction, violence, the prison system, and the death penalty on individuals and families. Gremlin has turned their stage into a kitchen, and Angela Timberman not only gives a heart-wrenching performance, she also literally prepares and bakes a pie before our eyes (and noses). It's a triumph of performance, direction, and design that casts a mesmerizing spell that's difficult to wake up from. When the lights went down at the end of the opening night performance, there was a moment of silence and a few heavy sighs before the applause broke out. See this devastatingly beautiful play at Gremlin Theatre now through April 7.

"The Boys Room" at Gremlin Theatre

It's been nearly three years since Gremlin Theatre's last production (the dark comedy Becky Shaw in January 2020). They've of course hosted other theater companies in their Midway St. Paul space in that time (including a few outdoor productions in summer 2020). But now they're back with the family dramedy The Boys Room, which premiered at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater a little over ten years ago. A stellar four-person cast brings this family, that puts the fun in dysfunctional, to such vivid life that it's a bit startling when it ends after 90 short minutes, with nothing really resolved, but a whole lot exposed. None of these characters are very likeable, but the actors are as they make these people, and the awkward situation they find themselves in, seem very real.

"Fast Company" by Theater Mu at the Guthrie Theater

Theater Mu's latest play is a fun crime caper about a Chinese-American family of con artists. Mu was part of the rolling world premiere of NYC-based playwright Carla Ching's smart, funny, two-person relationship play Two Kids that Blow Shit Up a few years ago, and are now bringing us this smart, funny, family crime dramedy Fast Company. There's nothing particularly deep or revelatory about it, but it's fun in an Ocean's Eleven heist kind of way, and it's rare and wonderful to see an Asian-American family at the center of this type of story, portrayed as flawed, messy, loving, complicated humans instead of stereotypes.

"Samuel J. and K." at Gremlin Theatre

"A sports play written by Mat Smart? I'm in! (See also Tinker to Evers to Chance.)" I wrote this on Instagram last night, but as it turns out, Samuel J. and K. is not really a sports play. It's a play about brothers, family, betrayal, loss, and love. In the same way that Tinker to Evers to Chance (seen in a fantastic production at Artistry earlier this year) is not a sports play, but a play about family, grief, love, connection. There's something about sports that loosens people up and allows them to connect and talk about deeper things, and Playwrights' Center core writer Mat Smart uses that to great advantage in these plays. Here, two brothers (one adopted from Cameroon when he was three years old) bond over a game of basketball. Gremlin's production features two talented actors in their cozy intimate theater space, transformed into a basketball court and a hut in Cameroon by deceptively simple design.

"Tinker to Evers to Chance" at Artistry

You don't have to be a Cubs fan to know the exquisite joy and pain of loving a baseball team. I've been a Twins fan my whole life, so I understand the highs ('87 and '91 world champs!) and lows (too many to name) that come with being a die-hard fan. In Playwrights' Center core writer Mat Smart's play Tinker to Evers to Chance, now receiving its regional premiere with Artistry, he very cleverly draws parallels between that specific and complicated baseball sort of love with other sorts of love - that experienced in families and relationships. When you've been disappointed by love (whether that's your beloved Cubbies losing a chance at the World Series by the skin of their teeth, or watching your wife die a slow and painful death), how do you let yourself love again? Is it worth it? You don't have to be a baseball fan to relate to the very human emotions explored in Tinker to Evers to Chance.

"Ideation" at the Gremlin Theatre

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. The characters in the play Ideation are definitely paranoid, entertainingly so, but whether or not someone is out to get them is still a question mark at the end of the play. The regional premiere of Ideation by Gremlin Theatre is a taut, thrilling, engrossing, and funny 90 minutes of work colleagues going down a paranoid rabbit hole, and it'll make your head spin, in the best way. Rarely has my logical math left brain side been so engaged and excited at the theater as I tried to follow these characters through their hypotheses and arguments and conclusions. Theories and algebraic equations are written on the white board, only to be erased and written over by a new theory. By the end you don't know what to believe, and neither do the characters in the play, but it sure is fun to watch their wheels spin.

"Don't Dress for Dinner" at Gremlin Theatre

Good news friends, Gremlin Theatre is back with a new performance space in St. Paul! Four years after losing their space on University and Raymond, which also hosted other theater companies and the Minnesota Fringe Festival, they've opened a brand new space just a few blocks away on Vandalia (although they've continued to do shows at other venues in the intervening years). They are continuing to make improvements to the space that includes a spacious lobby and an intimate thrust stage, conveniently located near the Green Line, just off highways 94 and 280, and right next door to Lake Monster Brewery, whose libations can be brought into the theater. And there's also free parking! What more could you ask for from a theater space? Just one more thing, and that's great theater. The inaugural production at the new Gremlin fulfills that last requirement - the hilarious and tight comedy Don't Dress for Dinner (which was the first show they did nearly 20 years ago, read more about that here). It's a really funny and fast-moving show with a fantastic cast, and a great way to christen this exciting new St. Paul theater space!