"Red" at Lakeshore Players Theatre

I first learned about Russian-American abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko when I saw the regional premiere of the 2010 Tony-winning play Red at Park Square Theatre in 2012. I really loved this play, and have not seen it since then. But I have been lucky enough to see several Rothko paintings in person in museums in New York and/or Chicago; in fact I seek them out whenever I'm at a museum that houses modern art. At first glance, they're simple blocks of color, usually dark rich reds. But when you look deeper, they're so layered and endlessly mesmerizing. So is the play - just a simple two-hander, i.e., two people sitting in a room talking, but so layered in the way it explores the life of an artist and the meaning of art, and in a broader sense ideas of legacy, grief, friendship, purpose. I was so thrilled to see it announced as part of Lakeshore Players Theatre's 73rd season, and even more thrilled to report that it's a fantastic production with wonderful performances and gorgeously, messily detailed designed observed up close in the intimate space of Lakeshore's black box theater. Friends, it's only playing for three weekends, and seating is very limited with performances already beginning to sell out, so don't snooze on this one.

"The Book Club Play" at Lakeshore Players Theatre

Sometimes a book can change your life. Sometimes so can a book club. Such is the premise of Karen Zacarías' hilarious play The Book Club Play, which I first saw at Theatre in the Round two years ago* but was more than happy to revisit at Lakeshore Players Theatre. The play is essentially a study of humanity as seen through the very specific phenomenon known as the Book Club, and the life changes brought about in all of our characters through several very eventful meetings. It's also an exploration of books, literature, art, and what makes some worthy and some not, some popular and some not. And are those two things mutually exclusive? You can see the very funny, real, and relatable The Book Club Play at the Lakeshore Players Theatre in lovely downtown White Bear Lake through March 23 only.

"The Root Beer Lady" at the History Theatre

History Theatre is currently remounting their 2023 original play The Root Beer Lady, in which playwright/performer Kim Schultz so beautifully captures the spirit of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and the inspiring life and personality of Dorothy Molter, the last non-indigenous human living in the BWCAW. The Saturday Evening Post once called her "the loneliest woman in America," but throughout the play Dorothy shows us why, in fact, she was "the luckiest woman in America," because she lived an authentic life that was exactly what she wanted, despite society's and her family's expectations of what a proper young woman should do. Whether or not you have a personal connection to the BWCAW like I do (click here to read about that), The Root Beer Lady will engage and entertain you for 80 minutes or so, make you laugh, and maybe even inspire you to go for a hike, look up at the trees, or jump in a lake (continuing through February 23).*