"Wife of a Salesman" by Girl Friday Productions at Gremlin Theatre

A decade or so ago, Girl Friday Productions' performance model was one show every two years, focusing on large-cast American classics, and it was always worth waiting for. Then the pandemic happened, and a change in Artistic Director, to shake things up a little. But now they're back, three years since their last show, and hopefully will move into a regular cadence moving forward. Because while the model might have changed a little - their current show is the new play Wife of a Salesman with just a four-person cast - it's still worth the wait. Perhaps their new niche is new plays that examine classic plays (their last one was Aaron Posner's Life Sucks, very loosely based on Chekhov's Uncle Vanya). This Wife is a fantastic commentary not just on Arthur Miller's American tragedy Death of a Salesman, but on gender roles and women's rights in the last century, and in this one. The short run concludes next weekend, so get yourself to Gremlin Theatre to avoid missing another rare gem by Girl Friday Productions! If you don't, you may have to wait another 2-3 years for the next one. 

Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "FAST Death of a Salesman"

Day: 10

Show: 37

Title: FAST Death of a Salesman

Category: 

By: alleged Theatre Company

Created by: alleged Theatre Company

Location: Rarig Stoll Thrust

Summary: An important theater director is desperate to impress his 10-year-old nephew, so he leads a group of theater students through Arthur Miller's classic at a pace kids are used to.

Highlights: In typically meta fashion, Alleged does theater about doing theater. While the idea of getting more young people engaged in theater is one worth exploring, this show is not that. Instead it shows what goes wrong when you try to make theater for a short-attention-span youth. Dr. Duke Didier is a serious director (you can tell because he wears a beret), but what he wants more than anything is the approval of his nephew Braden, who used to love going to the theater, but now will not look up from his device (played I think by an audience member). So he directs a bunch of theater students (and one carnival barker auctioneer, because he can speak fast) to do Death of a Salesman fast, first by acting to a recorded track of the original dialogue sped up, for a ridiculous breakneck Salesman. When that doesn't work, he asks the students' advice, so they try a superhero Salesman, a comedy roast Salesman, a "brain rot" Salesman (I'm so old that went completely over my head). And then finally, at his wit's end, he himself performs some sort of absurd one-man Salesman. His students tell him he should just make the kind of theater he likes for people who like that sort of theater, and let Braden watch whatever kind of theater/entertainment he likes that other people make. What a novel idea; maybe if you make the art you're inspire to make, the right audience will find it, even if that's not your nephew. Written and directed by Jake Mierva, with Jeremy Motz as Dr. Didier and J. McIntyre Godwin, Kait Johnson, Laura Berger, Sarah Halverson, and Steph Callaghan playing the cast playing the Salesman roles, this show is a wild and meta ride.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

"Death of a Salesman" at Yellow Tree Theatre

Yellow Tree Theatre opened their ninth season with the American classic Death of a Salesman a few weeks ago, and has been racking up rave reviews ever since. So chances are you've already heard what an excellent production this is, and maybe you've even already seen it or made plans to. If not, I'm here to belatedly add my voice to the crowd. I've been a fan and loyal follower of Yellow Tree since their third season, and it's been a pleasure to watch their growth; they just keep getting better. Yesterday Yellow Tree announced that they are one of seven recipients of the American Theatre Wing's National Theatre Company Grant. Which is all just to say that they're doing great things at the cozy little theater in an unassuming strip mall in Osseo, and this intimate staging of an American classic featuring a brilliant cast is the most recent example.

"Death of a Salesman" at Lyric Arts

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a classic American play. Premiering in 1949, it won the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award. It's a complex and layered look at the life of a man named Willy Loman who worked hard his whole life for his family, but never quite achieved what he wanted. The director of the new production at Lyric Arts in Anoka, Robert Neu, writes in the program notes: "Death of a Salesman is about the American dream, for better and for worse. Willy's dream, while he can hold on to it, seems possible and beautiful. The ultimate dissolving and corruption of that dream destroys Willy and forever changes his family." It's the great American tragedy - you work and work and work to pay the bills and buy the things you need, and at the end of it all, what do you have to show for it? A downer, yes, but beautifully written and a thought-provoking look at life that's still relevant more than 60 years later. This is the first play I've attended at Lyric Arts (I've previously seen a few musicals there) so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but they do a very nice job with this complex work of theater.

An interesting feature of this play, and part of what makes it so powerful, is that we get a look inside Willy Loman's mind as he remembers scenes from his past and talks to ghosts. He's at the end of his career as a traveling salesman, and he's tired and slowly beginning to lose his mind. His wife Linda loves him desperately and wants to help him but doesn't know how. His two grown sons are a disappointment to him, and because of that mostly stay away. When the whole family is under the same roof again, issues from the past resurface. Willy remembers happier days when the boys were football stars with bright futures ahead of them, as well as the event that changed all of that. This tragic story could only have a tragic ending, and it's devastating to watch the inevitable unfold.

I was quite impressed with the cast; Death of a Salesman is not an easy play for a community theater to tackle. Warren Sampson is believable and sympathetic as Willy, playing his moments of sanity mixed with ever increasing desperation. Martha Wigmore conveys Linda's love for her husband and her feelings of utter helplessness. As the playboy younger son Happy, who like his name seems to have not a care in the world, Max Lorei is all youthful charm. But the standout in the cast is Ty Hudson (who also had a nice turn in one of my favorite shows of last year, Summer and Smoke at Theater in the Round). As the elder son Biff, he gives a very real performance that culminates in a gut-wrenching physical scene when he confronts his father with equal parts hate and love.

The play takes place mainly in and around the Lomans' Brooklyn home, a cozy set (designed by Brian J. Proball) with vintage appliances and an upstairs loft where the boys sleep. Scenes from the past are differentiated from the present by slight changes in lighting and costumes and a lighter attitude among the characters.

Death of a Salesman is playing now through April 12 at Lyric Arts Main Street Stage in Anoka. If you live on the north side of town, it's worth the drive to see this classic piece of American theater.