Last night I descended into a hot and labyrinthian basement of a building in Northeast Minneapolis (not far from The Crane Theater) to check out a new-to-me theater company. Despite the heat, I was impressed by
Brick by Brick Players' mission ("to create Theatre of Joy in the Traumatized Body"), and their production of Shakespeare's
Twelfth Night. Similar to Ten Thousand Things, they are bringing this production out into the community, performing at a juvenile detention center and elder care facilities, and they also have an outreach program called "
Safely Thus: Hope and Healing through Shakespeare." This production of
Twelfth Night is a great example of finding joy after trauma, set in some kind of fallout shelter, characters bloodied and dirty, with lots of references to our recent occupation by armed agents terrorizing our streets. But yet, there is much joy in the finding of love and laughter and community. Unfortunately, seating is limited in the found space inside Bumbling Fools Mead, and their entire two-weekend run is sold out. But this is a company that should be on your radar,
follow them on
social media for upcoming events, including a production of
Every Brilliant Thing this fall, which is very much a play about finding joy after trauma.
