"Proof" at Gremlin Theatre

The 2001 Tony winner for Best Play, Proof ran for two and a half years on Broadway, had a national tour (rare for a non-musical), and was adapted into a 2005 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Gyllenhaal. There have been several local productions, but not in 5+ years, so it was time to revisit this brilliant play, and thankfully Gremlin Theatre is doing just that. I fell in love with the play when I saw it on tour 20+ years ago; in contrast to my current nearly 15 years as a theater blogger, I was a math major, so I love all of the math references and discussions of proofs and higher mathematics. But it wasn't just math nerds who made this play so popular. Despite the fact that I like to call Proof my second* favorite math play, it's about so much more than math. It's about family dynamics, caring for aging parents, relationships between very different siblings, mental illness, and what we inherit from our parents vs. making our own life separate from them. As per usual, Gremlin's production is practically perfect in every way - an excellent cast, clear direction, and spot-on design. See it in their Vandalia Towers theater (in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood) between now and March 30, and for one of the best and most convenient dinner-and-a-show pairings in town, visit Lake Monster Brewing in the same building, where you can now order delicious OG Zaza pizza from across the patio (bonus: as spring weather arrives, you can enjoy your beer and pizza al fresco).

"Rope" at Gremlin Theatre

The 1929 play Rope, which was adapted into a 1948 film by Alfred Hitchcock, is now receiving fine treatment on the Gremlin Theatre stage. Written by English playwright Patrick Hamilton (who also wrote Gas Light, which was also adapted into a film, and later become a term for psychological manipulation), it was inspired by the real life case of two college students who murdered a child in 1920s Chicago as an intellectual pursuit. In this version of the story, two university students murder a fellow student, put his body in a chest, and then hold a dinner party with food served on top of the chest, just to prove they could get away with murder. It's sickening really, but also makes for a riveting and suspenseful tale, because - spoiler alert - they don't get away with it. Watching their carefully plotted plan unravel like so much frayed rope is a thrill. A fantastic cast and spot on design chillingly bring this story to life. See it at Gremlin Theatre in Vandalia Tower in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood now through August 4.

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2023: "Starved": The Astonishing True Story of the University of Minnesota Starvation Experiment

Day: 7

Show: 26

Title: "Starved": The Astonishing True Story of the University of Minnesota Starvation Experiment

Category: DRAMA / STORYTELLING / HISTORICAL CONTENT / POLITICAL CONTENT

By: Pat O'Brien

Written by: Richard Chin

Location: Augsburg Mainstage

Summary: A dramatization of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment that studied the effects of starvation on WWII conscientious objector volunteers.

Highlights: The History Theatre did a reading of this play as part of their 2018 "Raw Stages" new works festival. That was the first time I had heard of the 1944 experiment at the U of M, in which 36 conscientious objectors volunteered to partake as their wartime service. As someone whose day job is in clinical trials, I find the issues of informed consent and the ethics of science to be fascinating. In this 60-minute (or less) version of the play, we get two know two scientists (Pat O'Brien and John Gottskalkson) and three subjects (Samuel Ahern, Elliot Drolet, and Coleson Eldredge). The conscientious objectors were often belittled and seen as cowards, so they were eager to do something worthwhile - providing data that would help rehabilitate the thousands of starving people in Europe. The scientists conducting the experiment believe in the worthiness of it, but begin to doubt the morality of it as the men grow increasingly thin, depressed, and even psychotic. Even though these men agreed to participate knowing the expected effects, and were free to drop out at any time, things become murky when the effects of the experiment begin to inhibit their ability to think clearly. The three subjects are distinct characters, jokingly referred to as the preacher's son, the New York intellectual, and the wiseass. Throughout the course of the play their energy decreases as they become solely focused on food. It's a bleak and insightful play, well acted by the ensemble (also including Mickaylee Shaughnessy and Vickijoan Keck as various nurses and waitresses - this was the 1940s after all), that doesn't give us any clear answers about the ethics of this experiment, but leaves us to decide for ourselves.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.