"Trayf" at Six Points Theater

"Trayf" is a Yiddish word meaning "food not in accordance with Jewish dietary law." In the play Trayf, currently playing at Six Points Theater, the word refers not just to food, but to anything not following the strict Orthodox laws that the characters subscribe to (e.g., secular music, mixed gender swimming, musicals!). But really, the play is about friendship, and what happens when two friends begin to grow beyond their childhood beliefs and want different things. Can they still maintain that friendship when their lives begin to move in different directions? The 90-minute play is funny and touching, and explores ideas of faith, family, and adhering to ancient traditions vs. living in the modern world. See it at the Highland Park Community Center through March 12.

"Circle Mirror Transformation" at Theatre in the Round

The oldest theater in Minneapolis returns from the very long intermission; Theatre in the Round opened their 70th season with the sweet and awkward little play Circle Mirror Transformation. Unfortunately it has already closed, but their season continues with four more productions through next summer, including the Agatha Christie mystery A Murder is Announced, opening in November. But in the meantime, read on for more about Circle Mirror Transformation, which I caught on closing weekend.

"25 Questions for a Jewish Mother" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at Harriet Island Target Stage

The last time I saw a play was on February 22. In fact I saw two plays that day (as I sometimes had to do to fit everything in in the good old days) - the Children's Theatre's new original play Spamtown, USA, and Theatre Pro Rata's production of Silent Sky at the Bell Museum. If someone had told me that I wouldn't see a play live and in-person for almost six months, I would not have believed them. I would have said that's impossible. But a few days after seeing those plays, I left the country to spend two weeks in paradise (aka New Zealand), and returned home to find that the world had turned upside down. We found ourselves in a global pandemic that we're still very much in, with theater being one of the first things to go, and unfortunately one of the last to return. The good news is some #TCTheater companies have gotten creative in this time (see also Park Square Theatre's delightful original Zoom play series RIDDLE PUZZLE PLOT). Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company is opening their 26th season with an outdoor, masked, socially distanced play. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to gather together again and listen to a story, simply and beautifully told. To anyone else who's craving that, go see this play! And not just because it's the only thing out there right now in terms of live theater, but also because it's a really moving, funny, relatable, heart-warming play.

"What I Thought I Knew" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at the Highland Park Center Theatre

NYC-based theater artist Alice Eve Cohen had a surprise late-in-life pregnancy filled with traumatic
experiences and decisions. So she wrote a play about it, because that's what artists do. The result is a frank, funny, and almost unbelievable story that touches on many common and relatable issues. For their production of What I Though I Knew, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company enlisted Kim Kivens to perform the solo piece, a wise choice indeed. As much as anything else, the play is about storytelling. About our need to tell stories, our need to listen to each other's stories. Alice's story is a remarkable one, and listening to it, as told by the team at MJTC, is a joyful, heart-breaking, moving experience.

"Collected Stories" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at the Highland Park Center Theatre

I recently commented that I love two-people-sitting-in-a-room-talking kind of plays. Collected Stories is one of those plays. But rather than one long conversation, it's a series of conversations over six years in an ever changing teacher/student relationship. Written 20 years ago by Donald Margulies, the play does not feel dated (except in character wardrobes and phone references), but rather is a smart and thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a mentor, a mentee, and a writer of stories, yours or others. I found Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company's production, playing now through March 18, to be entertaining, engaging, and thought-provoking.