"The Seagull" at The Modern Rep

Just the third production from the new #TCTheater company The Modern Rep that launched earlier this year, their new adaptation of Chekhov's first play The Seagull perfectly exemplifies their mission statement: "a classics theater for today." The company began (before it even had a name) with a never-before-produced-locally Oscar Wilde play Salomé, and then continued with Shakespeare's most popular romcom A Midsummer Night's Dream. Both excellent and inventive and modern interpretations of the work, but this Seagull feels even more so. "Reimagining the canon for a contemporary audience, THE MODERN REP believes that classic texts are not relics to be preserved, but living works meant to be interrogated, disrupted, and brought vividly into the present moment." Mission accomplished. Artistic Director Grant Sorenson adapted and directs the play, and has the characters speaking and acting like real people in our modern world. The themes of this 130-year-old play - generational conflict, the nature of art and theater, the struggles of the young people - all feel so current. Classics are classics because they still have something to say to and about our modern world, and The Modern Rep understands that deeply. The Seagull continues through November 7 at The Modern Rep's warehouse space in Minneapolis' North Loop neighborhood.

"Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley" at Lyric Arts

My recent favorite #tctheater holiday* tradition is the Christmas at Pemberley plays, a series of three plays by Lauren Gunderson (one of the most produced playwrights in the country, often writing plays about women in history, particularly in STEM) and Margot Melcon. The Jungle Theater produced all three of these plays beginning in 2017, and even co-commissioned two of them. Lyric Arts has picked up the tradition the last few years, culminating in the third play this season. Each of these plays focuses on a different Bennet sister or two, but they're all similar in their sparkling dialogue that feels both period appropriate and refreshingly modern, their centering of women in the story (continuing the legacy of Jane Austen), their fleshing out of characters who didn't get much space in the original novel, and their charming romances complete with obstacles to be overcome, just like all good Austen heroines. With Georgiana and Kitty we get not one but two new Austen heroines to love and root for in their pursuit of love, art, purpose, and happiness.** Lyric's production is an absolute delight, and I hope that they continue to cycle through these three plays for years to come! But for now, you can visit Pemberley Thursdays through Sundays until December 22.