"The Palabras Project" by Other Tiger Productions at Park Square Theatre

After spending the evening walking around the historic James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue watching theater, I spent the next night walking around the historic Hamm Building in downtown St. Paul watching theater. But unlike the comic opera wedding in The Marriage of Figaro, the wedding depicted in The Palabras* Project, based on Spanish playwright Frederico Garcia Lorca's 1932 tragedy Blood Wedding, is decidedly less happy. If "blood wedding" makes you think of Game of Throne's "red wedding," you're not far off. But this isn't a straight-forward adaptation of the play. New theater company Other Tiger Productions, founded by local theater artists Jessica Huang and Ricardo Vázquez with a mission "to pursue other forms, stories, and modes of collaboration in order to present an inclusive and global theater experience," has assembled a collection of short pieces around the theme of Blood Wedding. Incorporating music, dance, and puppetry, as well as theater, the pieces are performed in various locations in and around Park Square Theatre's basement Boss Stage, including hallways, lobbies, and rehearsal rooms. It's a truly unique experience that goes beyond theater, and a wonderful new (or old) form of storytelling.

"Everyman" at Open Window Theatre

The last time I was at Open Window Theatre, tucked into a warehouse behind the Basilica in Minneapolis, was in their inaugural season. They are now in their fifth season and appear to be going strong. I was glad to finally return to their cool and cozy black box space for Everyman, a 15th century morality play. While the five hundred year old play is a little heavy handed in its moral message, this 90-minute production directed by Jeremy Stanbary utilizes music, movement, and a beautifully diverse cast to make that message feel relevant and almost modern.

"Art" by Theatre Coup d'Etat at Muse Event Center

What inspires someone to spend $200,000 on a piece of art, especially one that to others looks like a plain white canvas with some marks in a slightly different shade of white? This question is at the crux of the play Art by French playwright Yasmina Reza, most famous for the play God of Carnage. Both plays won the Tony, and both plays are of the talky variety. Not much happens and the play is pretty much just people sitting around a room talking. But that talking is some pretty deep and intense conversation and confrontation, in this case ostensibly about the nature of art, but in reality more about the nature of friendship. This production by Theatre Coup d'Etat features great performances by the three-person cast in an intimate up-close-and-personal site-specific setting (something this theater company does well) that makes for an intellectually, if not so much emotionally, engaging evening.

Marc (Lucas James Vonesek), Yvan (Kevin Fanshaw),
and Serge (Elohim Peña)

We're told that the three characters in this play have been friends for 15 years, although I had a hard time understanding why; there isn't much love lost between any of them. Serge (Elohim Peña) is the one who bought the expensive work of art, and Marc (Lucas James Vonesek) is the friend who can't understand it. More than that, he's downright angry about it. The two argue repeatedly about it, and their friend Yvan (Kevin Fanshaw) is stuck in the middle trying to make peace, while dealing with the stress of planning a wedding. The 90-minute play consists of several scenes between various pairs, asides by one character while the other is frozen, and a final confrontation between all three when things get a bit heated. This piece of art is the catalyst for the three men to delve into issues in their friendship that were about to boil over long before this white painting came into their lives.

the "Club Room" at the Muse that doubles for Serge's apartment

The story plays out in a room that really looks like it could be in Serge's apartment - the "Club Room" at the newish Muse Event Center in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis. With wood floor and paneling, cushy leather furniture, and a fireplace, it fits the posh and pretentious nature of the characters. Director James Napolean Stone makes good use of the unconventional space. All three of these actors do a great job of creating these specific characters, none of which are very likeable, except perhaps for the tender-hearted Yvan. On the night I attended, the audience barely outnumbered the cast, but yet they were totally in character, speaking directly to us in the asides, interacting with the environment by going to the bar to get a drink and taking advantage of the empty seats to lounge on the furniture in a character-specific way - exasperated, reserved, wounded.

Spending $200,000 on a piece of art is not something most of us can relate to, and these guys for the most part are pretentious jerks. In other words, this is a first world problem kind of play (not unlike God of Carnage). But what is relatable is a long-time friendship that hits a pretty serious snag due to the changing nature of the relationship. And the play is definitely worth seeing because it's smartly written, well acted, and takes place in a cool setting (with perhaps the comfiest seats I've ever experienced at the theater). But hurry - it closes this weekend so only four performances remain.

"Hauptmann" by Candid Theater Company at the People's Center Theater

The kidnapping of the son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1932 was headline news across the country and caused a media sensation. Eighty years later, the "crime of the century" is still a fascinating story and a bit of an unsolved mystery. Last year the History Theatre produced a fantastic musical Baby Case about the kidnapping, investigation, and media frenzy. Playwright and screenwriter John Logan (see also the multi-Tony-winner Red) wrote a play about it from the point of view of the man accused, convicted, and executed for the crime, Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Candid Theater Company's current production presents a fascinating and compelling drama with the barest of sets and costumes and a cast full of new young talent.

The focus of Hauptmann is not Mr. and Mrs. Lindbergh, whose child was stolen and murdered, but, as the title suggests, Hauptmann himself. He tells his story directly to the audience from his prison cell where he's awaiting execution. He narrates his story from his arrest two years after the crime, through the brutal interrogations, through the trial with resources and public opinion in the Lindberghs' favor, to his almost predetermined conviction. He never wavers in his insistence of his innocence, as the real Hauptmann never did. Someone needed to pay for the "crime of the century" to put the watchful nation at ease, and Hauptmann did. The possession of some of the ransom money, which he says he got from a friend, handwriting experts who testified to the similarity between his writing and the ransom notes, and wood experts who insisted that the wood from the ladder found at the scene of the crime matched wood in his attic was enough to convict him. History is undecided about whether or not Hauptmann was guilty of the crime, but this play leaves no doubt that he was the innocent victim of circumstance and the public and law enforcement's desperate need for a conviction.

Director Justin Kirkeberg tells the story efficiently with simple costumes, minimal sets (just a cot and a few chairs), and his seven-person cast, several of whom are new to the Twin Cities theater scene, with no a weak link among them. Aaron Henry plays the title character and rarely, if ever, leaves the stage as he guides the audience through the story. His Hauptmann is a sympathetic man, an average Joe caught up in a whirlwind, but who eventually shows his anger and frustration that no one believes him. The rest of the cast all play multiple characters, from nameless police and guards to the other personalities in the story. Jonathon Dull's Lindbergh is a strong and elegant man, desperate to find answers for his wife. As Mrs. Lindbergh, Kate Zehr is the picture of a grieving mother. Kevin Fanshaw plays four different witnesses, never getting up from the witness chair but managing to create four distinct personalities in a short period of time. Matt Saxe is the cruelly efficient prosecuting attorney, relentlessly badgering Hauptmann until he gets the answers he wants. Rounding out the cast is Elohim Peña as multiple characters including the judge, with a nice array of accents.

The American public has always been obsessed with true crime stories, and the Lindbergh baby kidnapping is one of its earliest obsessions. Hauptmann shows us the other side of the story, the possibly innocent man who was sacrificed to create a satisfying end to the story. Candid Theater Company's well done production of John Logan's compelling story continues through November 23 at the People's Center Theater on the U of M's West Bank campus (discount tickets available on Goldstar).


This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.