"Jeeves in Bloom" at Theatre in the Round

To end their 66th season, the longest running theater in Minneapolis, aka Theatre in the Round, is bringing back a popular character from a few seasons ago - the quintessential English valet Jeeves. Even if you've never read the stories of British author P.G. Wodehouse, who created the character (and also wrote some of the Princess Musicals featured in Theatre Elision's latest show), you know the name Jeeves from any number of references. The original Jeeves was an all-knowing, unfailingly competent valet to a charming mess of a young Englishman named Bertie. Playwright Margaret Raether adapted Wodehouse's stories into three plays; Jeeves in Bloom is the second produced by TRP (the third is part of their upcoming 67th season). This was my first experience with Jeeves, and I found it funny and charming and very well done by the cast and team at Theatre in the Round. It's the perfect light comedic summer entertainment.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at Pioneer Place Theatre Company in St. Cloud

"Mendacity is the system we live in. Liquor is one way out, death is the other." Oh Tennessee Williams, no one does tragedy quite so beautifully as you! Even though his plays are filled with despair, anguish, and pain, they make me so happy. Especially when the poetic language and tragic relationships are brought to life as beautifully as they are in Pioneer Place Theatre Company's production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Set in the back of a 100 year old building in downtown St. Cloud, "Central Minnesota's Premiere Professional Theatre" often attracts talent from the Twin Cities, as it has for this show. Directed by one of our best directors, Craig Johnson, this Cat features a cast full of Twin Cities favorites. So I happily made the one hour drive through a wintery precipitation mix to St. Cloud (where much of my extended family lives and where I went to college) to take in some quality theater at a new-to-me location (and eat the best pizza in the world at House of Pizza just across the street). If you're a theater-lover in the St. Cloud area, make plans to see this show before it closes this weekend. And if you're in the Twin Cities, I know there's more theater offered than one person could possibly see (believe me, I've tried), but if you're interested in some beautiful Tennessee Williams tragedy, this one is worth the drive.

"Christmas in the Airwaves" at Lyric Arts

If today's snowstorm doesn't get you in the holiday spirit, Lyric Arts in charming downtown Anoka will! This year they commissioned a new holiday play, Christmas in the Airwaves, which premiered the week before Thanksgiving, and this weekend they open their "Mainly for Kids" (and grown-ups who can't get over their childhood obsession with all things Little House) production of A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas. I'll be visiting my friend Laura on Saturday, but first, let's return to the 1940s. A time when men went off to war, women stayed behind to run things (and sing harmony), and radio was king. It's in this idealized world of the '40s that our story takes place. It's Christmas 1944 in a small snowy Minnesota town, as we watch a live radio broadcast, along with the behind-the-scenes lives of the cast and crew of the show. This simple, sweet, charming story with lovely holiday and wartime music is as comforting as hot apple cider on a cold and snowy day.

"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" at Theatre in the Round

Muriel Spark's 1961 novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie has been ranked among the best English-language novels of the 20th century. In the late '60s it was turned into a play and movie (the latter starring Dame Maggie Smith as the title character, for which she won an Oscar). Theatre in the Round is presenting the play as part of their 63rd season (they're the oldest theater in Minneapolis, by the way). It's a fascinating look at a complicated woman, but in the end, I wasn't quite sure what to think about her.

Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher at a private girls' school in Scotland in the '30s (an accent that the large cast accomplishes with varying degrees of success). But not just any teacher, she's a special teacher with her own ideas of what should be taught and how it should be taught. She focuses less on the prescribed curriculum and more on imbuing "her" girls with a sense of confidence and independence. She takes them on outings to museums, theaters, and the countryside, and favors telling romanticized stories from her past over teaching them history from books. But it's not all as rosy as it sounds. She also uses her students as pawns in her romantic entanglements with two fellow teachers, one a married man. As the girls progress through school, they remain under Miss Brodie's influence, for better or worse. She has left her mark on all of them, and some of them will pay the price.

I had a had time with the character of Miss Brodie; I wasn't sure if I was supposed to like her or not. In the end I decided I didn't like her. She talks a lot about educating her girls and forming them into the best they can be, but mostly what I saw was a woman reliving her youth through these vulnerable girls, regaling them with thrilling stories of her past, convincing them to do things like fight for a cause that maybe wasn't theirs, or "pose" for an artist, knowing full well what that would lead to. Several of the girls were bullying another girl, a fact she either was ignorant to or didn't care about. She gained their trust, brought them along on fun outings, treated them as confidantes, but wasn't there for them when they truly needed her. It seemed like a lot of talk that covered a lack of any real feeling for these young women.

Miss Jean Brodie (Anna Olson) with her girls

The young actors playing these young women influenced by Miss Brodie range in age from 14 to 23, and all are wonderfully real and in the moment. McKinnley Aitchison is a standout as Sandy, the one Miss Brodie singles out as her chief confidante, and believably portrays her transformation from teacher's pet to disillusioned young woman. As Jean Brodie, Anna Olson effectively conveys the complexities of the character. Maybe headmistress Miss MacKay was supposed to be the bad guy, but in the form of Mary Kay Fortier Spalding, I found her to be sympathetic and reasonable.

It's always fascinating to see how Theater in the Round deals with the "problem" of a 360 degree stage, and as per usual, it leads to some creative and well thought-out staging, in this case by director Dann Peterson on a set designed by John A. Woskoff. The teacher's desk and students' benches take up half of the stage, with the art studio a tiny but well-used raised space on the side, while other scenes take place in the open area.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie continues weekends through February 1.

"If We Were Birds" by 20% Theatre Company at nimbus theatre

This is a tough one, friends. 20% Theatre Company's production of the new play If We Were Birds is not easy to watch, but it is so worth it if you can steel yourself to sit through what might be the most realistically brutal scenes I've ever seen on stage. There is a rape scene, actually more than one, that is so painful and difficult to watch that it almost seems gratuitous if it were not for the fact that too many women live this experience every day, on college campuses, in the military, at the hands of trusted friends, or in the spoils of war, which is the focus of this piece. Based on the Greek mythical characters, sisters and princesses of Athens Procne and Philomela, the play is, as director Lee Hannah Conrads notes in the program, "a classical interpretation of a contemporary tragedy."

Beloved daughters of King Pandion of Athens, Procne and Philomela live a happy and comfortable life. Younger daughter Philomela seems especially blissful and ignorant of the troubles that those who are not in her privileged position face. When celebrated soldier King Tereus of Thrace brings a gift of slaves to Pandion, Philomela is shocked at what they have to say and defensive of her father and way of life. To reward Tereus for his victories in battle, Pandion gives him his oldest daughter's hand in marriage. Procne must leave her sister and home to be a wife of the king. After a few years of a mostly happy life, Procne asks her husband to return to Athens and bring her sister for a visit. Tereus obliges, but on the return voyage he finds that he wants Philomela, so he sets her up in a cabin where he repeatedly rapes and tortures her. When Procne finds out, she vows revenge, and the sisters serve him up some black-eyed peas... or something. Something so dark and twisted only the Greeks could think it up.

Procne (Jill Iverson)

Philomela (Suzi Gard)

The talented cast includes six women playing the Greek Chorus, each of whom represents a victim of sexual violence in a 20th Century war (or so the program notes; I didn't get that from the play itself, perhaps due to my own ignorance of foreign affairs). Dann Peterson is the warm loving father who reluctantly gives his daughters over to this man he admires a bit too much, Ethan Bjelland is menacing and frightening in his portrayal of the utterly reprehensible Tereus, and Jill Iverson gives a fierce performance as the protective older sister. But the star of this show is Suzi Gard as Philomela. Hers is a fearless performance, full of vulnerability and strength, and incredibly brave. She is literally thrown and dragged across the stage, wearing next to nothing, exposing herself physically and emotionally. Suzi's Philomela makes a believable transition from a carefree happy young woman to something scarred and broken, yet resilient. Kudos to fight coordinator Jessica Smith for making it all look so painfully real.

Tereus is a soldier who is unable to turn off his violent side when away from the battle field. I couldn't help but think of the recent allegations of domestic abuse and violence against NFL players, men who are also trained to be violent and aggressive at their jobs, some of whom seem unable to turn it off when they get home. This is definitely not a play that resides only in the past.

If We Were Birds is beautifully written by playwright Erin Shields; it feels epic and mythical, but also fresh and modern. The subject is a difficult one but one that's important to witness and examine, something that this production and this cast do well. It's a short run and playing through this weekend only, so get their quickly to experience this challenging and rewarding piece (discount tickets available on Goldstar).

"Changes in Time" by 20% Theatre Company at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage

I love finding new (to me) theater companies, and with over 70 theater companies in this theater-rich town, there are many I have yet to discover. Here's one I can cross off my "to do" list - 20% Theatre Company, "committed to supporting and vigorously promoting the work of female and transgender theater artists, and celebrating the unique contributions of these artists to social justice and human rights." (Their name comes from a study that found that only about 20% of professional theater artists are women.) Their current production, the new play Changes in Time, speaks directly to their mission. It's a story of a transgender individual, who was born in a girl's body but always felt like a boy. We see three scenes in her* life - as a teenager in the 1950s, and in 20 year increments in the 70s and '90s. Taken as a whole, the play is an effective and moving exploration of how it feels to be born in the wrong body, and how that affects the individual as well as their relationships with those who love them.

Wishes: We meet our protagonist Lorraine, or Rain as she prefers to be called, as a teenager away at camp in the 1950s. She sneaks out to meet her friend Court on their last night at camp. They share stories and snacks, and Rain sadly learns that what she feels is seen as weird even by the person she loves and trusts the most. In matching blue jeans, white t-shirts, and crewcuts, Chava Curland and Briana Zora Libby are charming and sweet as Court and Rain, a perfect picture of innocent young love.

Dresses: Twenty years have passed, and Lorraine returns home to Connecticut from Boston to attend her cousin's wedding with her mother. The entire scene takes place in the car on the drive there, and as often happens on a long drive, the two have an intense and real discussion and talk about things they've never talked about before. Lorraine's mother, perfectly groomed in a skirt and jacket with hat and gloves, can't understand why her daughter can't wear a dress, just once, for the wedding in which she's a bridesmaid. Lorraine tries to explain that it goes against every fiber of her being, but her mother just doesn't get it. Still, she loves and supports her daughter, and will do anything in her power defend her. Muriel Bonertz is a hoot as the prim and proper mother with a hidden depth of feeling, and has great chemistry with Heather Spear as the tough but tender daughter.

Changes: Another twenty years have passed, and much has changed - Lorraine is now Laurence, and his mother has died. This time it's his father's turn to have a real and intense discussion with the child that he loves but can't quite understand. You get the sense that he really loves Laurence and wants him to be happy, but can't quite wrap his head around the decisions he's made, and he misses Lorraine. The truth comes out, and it's not pretty, but it's a beginning that leads to greater connection. Chris Little makes his acting debut as Laurence, which is incredibly brave, but it's Dann Peterson who shines in this scene with his very natural and touching performance as a father coming to terms with the fact that the child he's always loved is still there, even though he might look different.

Theatrically, it's interesting to track one character through several stages of their life, especially when there's such change. From a more global standpoint, it's pretty great to use theater to give voice to an underrepresented community. Unfortunately there's only one more performance of Changes in Time (go directly to the Minneapolis Theatre Garage if you're interested), but I'm glad I caught this one before it closed.


*I feel like the English language is failing me, we need a gender-neutral pronoun!