"Thurgood" at Penumbra Theatre Company

Friends, if you want to be reminded of the promise of America, and have a little hope restored that this promise will one day be fulfilled, go see Thurgood at Penumbra Theatre. And you're in luck - after selling out the initial planned run (at limited capacity), they've it extended through April 10. This solo play is such an inspiring look at the icon and the human that was lawyer, activist, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and what an important role he played in the continued fight for Civil Rights. Though it seems like we've taken a few steps back in that regard lately, with new voter suppression laws and increased hate crimes and violence against Black Americans, and other communities of color, this play reminds us what is possible. And with the recent nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, who would be the first Black female Justice, it couldn't be more timely.

"Bars and Measures" at the Jungle Theater

I've only recently become aware of what an incredible resource we have in The Playwrights' Center, located right here in Minneapolis (even if there are occasional bats in the performance space). PWC fosters new playwrights and supports experienced playwrights, helping them to develop new work through various programs, workshops, and readings. Much of this work ends up on the stage, not just here in the Twin Cities but around the country. This spring saw the local premiere of three plays developed at the Playwrights' Center, The Changlings, Scapegoat, and Le Switch. The latter was at the Jungle Theater, which is following that up with another new play by a Playwrights' Center playwright, Idris Goodwin's Bars and Measures. The Jungle's production is one of four around the country in the National New Play Network's Rolling World Premiere. It's a sharp, intense, lyrical, topical play, and in my completely unbiased opinion, I cannot imagine a better production of it than the Jungle's with this incredible cast, director, and technical team.