"Clybourne Park" at Yellow Tree Theatre

As a follow-up to their fun, light-hearted, crowd-pleasing holiday show A Hunting Shack Christmas, Yellow Tree Theatre is presenting Clybourne Park, a darkly funny and challenging play dealing with heavy and timely issues of race, class, gender, and gentrification. This is one of the things I love about Yellow Tree; they don't pander to their suburban audience with easily digestible fare, they challenge them with plays that might take them outside of their comfort zone. One of the biggest areas of improvement for Yellow Tree, now in their 8th season and taking their place among the heavy hitters in town, is increasing diversity on their stage (and in the audience). I'm thrilled that they've chosen two plays this season that tackle race head on (this play and the upcoming musical Violet), and hope that this trend of diversity, and even non-traditional casting, continues. But back to the play at hand - Clybourne Park is a funny, edgy, brilliantly written play (it won the Tony in 2012) and this production does it justice with a top-notch cast and director.

"Pussy Valley" at Mixed Blood Theatre

You know a play titled Pussy Valley is going to be on the edge, not your typical evening at the theater. And boy does it deliver! Mixed Blood Theatre's world premiere of the new play by Katori Hall (whose work was last seen last year on the Guthrie Proscenium Stage - the beautiful and imaginative The Mountaintop) is a raw and edgy look at the life of pole dancers in the Deep South. The playwright digs deep into this very specific world to find universal human truths. The result is funny, sexy, heart-breaking, and devastating, and yes, features some pretty awesome pole-dancing.

At the Pink Pony, we meet four very different women, whose life experiences have brought them to the pole for different reasons. There's tough Mercedes (an amazingly fit and fierce Jasmine Hughes), who uses her earnings to support her preacher father's church; fourth-generation pole dancer Get 'Em Gidget (the graceful Megan Rippey), who longs for somewhere that's green; mother of three Miss Mississippi (a vulnerable Joetta Wright), who hopes to escape her abusive boyfriend for the bright lights of L.A.; and mysterious newcomer Autumn Night (an enigmatic Tatiana Williams). Autumn's story is never fully revealed; she says that she's "all of the above," but maybe she represents anyone who's one step away from doing something desperate, daring, and dangerous, for a multitude of reasons. Presiding over the club like a cross between a mother hen and a warden is the cross-dressing Uncle Clifford, with an outstanding performance by Nicco Annan that is both hilariously entertaining and heart-breakingly vulnerable. They're supported by a wonderful cast of men (including James Craven as the preacher, Dustin Bronson in a Jekyll/Hyde performance as both Gidget's sweet boyfriend and Mississippi's horribly abusive boyfriend, and Ansa Akyea as the club bouncer and Mississippi's wealthy suitor), but this is really the women's story.

Get 'Em Gidget, Mercedes, and Miss Mississippi
(Megan Rippey, Jasmine Hughes,
and Joetta Wright, photo by Rich Ryan)

Each of the four women goes through her own personal journey over the course of the show, some for the better, some not so much. They each have a sort of dreamlike moment on the pole in which they express its deeper meaning in their life, in a weird way sort of like A Chorus Line (which just celebrated its 40th anniversary), only with pole dancers instead of chorus dancers. What it comes down to is that they're working towards a better life, for themselves, their children, their family, and pole dancing is the way that they've found to do that. Only they're never quite able to break out of it. On the one hand they're exploited and abused by the men around them, but on the other they own their power and take great pride in the artistry of the pole.

Speaking of artistry, the actors trained for a year to get in pole dancing shape,* and it's quite amazing what they've accomplished in that time. They're as strong, athletic, and graceful as professional pole dancers. OK I've never actually seen professional pole dancers, but I'm certain these women measure up! They physically and emotionally bring these complex and varied women to life.

Set designer Joseph Stanley has created the Pink Pony onstage with poles, a bar, and red velvet curtains. Although I'm surprised that the black box theater is set up as a traditional proscenium, especially after Colossal's brilliantly recreated football stadium. It would have been interesting to see a thrust set-up or something more intimate and club-like. Trevor Bowen's costume design brings authenticity to this world, and manages to create a specific personality for each of the women out of costumes that are in some cases just a swatch of spandex. Those of you sensitive to strobe lights, take note that there is ample use of them in this show, which creates some cool effects, but was a bit too much for my system to handle. I also had a hard time understanding some of the characters' accents, it's a very specific dialect, but fortunately Mixed Blood always has surtitles in their shows as yet another manifestation of their commitment to diversity of all kinds, including hearing ability.

Despite the salacious title and the presence of mostly naked women dancing on poles, Pussy Valley is a complex, deep, emotional story. I'm not sure it needs to be three hours long (I'm not sure any entertainment needs to be three hours long, other than Shakespeare and Sondheim and Lord of the Rings movies). There are a few scenes that could be trimmed or cut to make the story more compact, but it's an epic story. One that's difficult to watch at times because of the emotional and physical violence portrayed, but one that is compelling and engaging and hits you right in the gut. Playing now through May 20 - reserve tickets online for $20, or take your chances and show up within two hours before the show for free tickets as part of Mixed Blood's "Radical Hospitality" program.



*I predict a surge in pole dance classes in the next few weeks, check out Knockout Bodies in NE Minneapolis as an example.

"Displaced Hindu Gods: A Trilogy of Plays" at Mixed Blood Theatre

I found myself with a free day yesterday and decided to go to a Sunday matinee (the theater kind, not the movie kind). My October has been quite busy and there are several shows I want to see that I haven't been able to fit in my schedule. So I woke up yesterday with the intention of seeing one of them, and posted a question on the Cherry and Spoon Facebook page to help me decide. Three of the shows I was interested in did not have performances yesterday (The Cubicle by Theater for the Thirsty at Yellow Tree Theatre, Ich, Kürbisgeist at Red Eye Theater, and This is a World to Live In by Sandbox Theatre), so I narrowed it down to just three choices, all in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood - Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals by Mu Performing Arts at the Southern Theater, Based on a Totally True Story by BOOM! Theater, and Displaced Hindu Gods: A Trilogy of Plays at Mixed Blood. The latter is the one I was most intrigued by (I love the idea of related plays in repertory), so when the Facebook voters agree with me, that's the one (or rather, three) I decided to go see. Sadly, I don't think I'll make it to the other five on my list (such is the life of an independent theater blogger), but I was quite pleased with my choice. (But you should check out any and all of the above and go see the one or two or six that interest you.)

Theater artist Aditi Kapil (aka Diana in Next to Normal) has written three one-act plays based around the trilogy of Hindu gods: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the sustainer), and Shiva (the destroyer). The plays are set in modern times with very modern characters, but all contain mystical elements. Recurring themes that tie the three very different stories together include the colonization of India, the formation of the Himalayas, the naming of Mount Everest, water, and the intervention of gods in the lives of mortals. With overlapping casts and similar sets, the plays are presented individually on weeknights, with all three being performed on the weekend. Each stands on its own, but I really enjoyed seeing all three in one day and making the connections between them. They're all so different - one a stand-up comedy routine, one about a couple of misfit teenage girls, and one a gentle love story (of the romantic and parental kinds) - but they work together to create a larger whole.

Brahman/i: A One-Hijira Stand-Up Comedy Show
Presented as a stand-up comedy routine, Brahman, aka Brahmani (Debargo Sanyal), tells stories and jokes about growing up as an intersex person in an Indian-American family. Some stories are typical of any young person (the trials of middle school humiliations), and some are not (being asked at 14 to choose whether to live as a girl or a boy). B mines much humor from the awkward teenage years and a large crazy family, as well as the history of India. An except of the piece was presented at the Ivey Awards last month, and now the mystery of why Peter Hansen was randomly playing bass guitar has been explained. Turns out he's not just there to provide a musical backdrop to the comedy routine, but he also plays a character who adds greatly to the story - B's friend/lover who is one of the few people who "never asked you to choose." Debargo gives an incredible performance, so vulnerable, funny, physical, and heart-breaking, speaking in many different accents, from British to Indian to bored teenager. B's story, while in some ways unique, is also a universal story of someone struggling to define their place in the world when they don't fit into society's strict molds.

The Chronicles of Kalki
Two teenage girls (Cat Brindisi and Joetta Wright) in anywhere, America are visited by Kalki (Lipica Shah), an avatar of the god Vishnu. She appears to them as a pink-haired outrageously-dressed transfer student, and after an incident and her sudden disappearance the girls are questioned by a detective (Andrew Guilarte). The story is told in flashback as the girls reluctantly tell the cop what happened. Cat (who's never less than 100% committed to whatever character she's inhabiting) plays a tough girl who tries to get in with the popular crowd to disastrous effect. The fearless Kalki helps the girls seek their revenge (a little like Carrie), appearing when they need her and disappearing just as suddenly.

Shiv
In the final play of the trilogy we meet Shiv (Lipica Shah, playing a completely different character in look, voice, and personality). The play flashes back and forth between her loving relationship with her father growing up (Andrew Guilarte, also completely different in this incarnation), and the present, working as a caretaker at a fancy estate on a lake. Her employer (Nathaniel Fuller) is mostly absent, leaving her to explore the lake with only his nephew Gerard for company (Peter Hansen again). Something has happened in between the two time periods that separate them, and in this present time Shiv is trying to heal. The only connection between the two is her mattress, which gets more and more cluttered as the play goes on and her complicated past catches up with her. Both of her relationships, with her father and with Gerard, are so compelling and lovely, but not as simple and easy as they first appear. It's a very real, sweet, earthly story, and then it takes a turn into the fantastical as Shiv flies into the cosmos on her mattress.

So that was my spontaneous Sunday afternoon at the theater. I was glad to check one, er, three, more shows off my list, and I'm always happy to support Mixed Blood Theatre, a theater company that is dedicated to and really lives up to their commitment to diversity of all kinds in the theater. This was my first time taking advantage of the "Radical Hospitality" program, in which anyone can get in to see any of their shows for free if they show up within two hours of the show and there are still seats available. Yes, I experienced a five-hour theater marathon for free (which just means I'll donate more on Give to the Max Day). It was an epic day - great stories; fascinating characters played by fantastic actors; a wild, funny, and moving ride.

"The Seven" by Ten Thousand Things at Open Book

Friends, I know I rave about Ten Thousand Things often on this blog, but I'm telling you, The Seven is crazy good. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced. Using an adaptation by Will Power, they've taken an ancient Greek tragedy and reinvented it as something entirely modern, fresh, relatable, energetic, contemporary, and understandable. The New York Times review of the 2006 premiere at NY Theater Workshop referred to it as "a hip-hop musical comedy-tragedy." This cast of eight includes some of the top talent in this town, and they all bring it. There's really no choice but to do so; in the small fully lit space at Open Book with minimal sets and costumes, there's nothing to hide behind. What you see is what you get, and in this case, what you get is awesome.

Artistic Director Michelle Hensley introduces the show, as she always does, and sets the stage for those of us unfamiliar with the story. The original play, Seven Against Thebes, tells the story of Oedipus' sons, upon whom he levied a curse - that they would kill each other. Despite their best intentions to avoid the curse, they of course fulfill it, as always happens in Greek tragedies. The Seven also shows us Oedipus, explaining his own curse (that he would kill his father and marry his mother) and bestowing it upon his sons after they cast him out, and later appearing to them to encourage them in falling victim to it. It's a universal tale of family, war, power, fear, and destiny.

The cast is comprised of eight talented actor/singer/rappers (most of whom I've seen in theaters around town), directed by Sarah Rasmussen, fresh off the completely delightful In the Next Room at the Jungle. We are guided through the story by the narrator/DJ, mixing tunes and tales, played by the fabulous Aimee K. Bryant. Bruce A. Young is strong and powerful as Kind Oedipus, with a scary turn as one of the Seven who wage war against Thebes. As his sons, H. Adam Harris and Kinaundrae Lee give their all, vocally, physically, and emotionally, as the loving brothers who unthinkably turn against each other. One tough and kingly, the other a nature-loving poet, but both sons of the cursed family. The excellent Greek chorus consists of Katie Bradley, Brian Sostek, Ricardo Vazquez, and Joetta Wright, who also play the worried people of Thebes and the titular Seven, a parade of superheroes. Particularly impressive is Ricardo (see also Next to Normal), who possesses a voice that was made for musical theater, ringing out across the room with no amplification necessary. He also has a pretty cool fight scene with himself.

Even though hip-hop and rap are not my favorite musical genres, the music here is fantastic (directed, as always, by Peter Vitale, who also accompanies on percussion). Fast raps are combined with more pop sounding tunes, much of it a capella, all ably performed by the talented cast. The costumes (by Annie Cady) are simple but effective, modern mixed with classic (and to-die-for green gloves worn by the chorus to represent nature).

I don't know how Ten Thousand Things does it. In a fully lit room with minimal sets and costumes, you're more aware that this is just pretend, but somehow, because of their particular brand of genius, it's so easy to be carried away into their world, and never want to leave. I was so engrossed in the world created in that room, that when it was over and I walked outside, I forgot for a moment where I was and what I was supposed to do next. Reality is jarring when you realize that what you truly believed was reality for a short space in time was only make-believe. That's theater at its best, and that's what Ten Thousand Things consistently does. Three more weekends of paid public performances remain (in addition to their usual schedule of performing in prisons, schools, and community centers). Go see it.