"The Happiest Man on Earth" at Six Points Theater

"Family first, family second, family last. And we are all family." When Six Points Theater programmed the solo play The Happiest Man on Earth, based on a Holocaust survivor's memoir, for their 31st season, they couldn't have known that it would play at a time when Minnesota has shown the entire world the true meaning of these words. We are all family, we are all Minnesotans, and when you come for any of us, you come for all of us, and we will stand up for and protect our neighbors, our family. This 80-year-old story of surviving Nazi Germany has an eerie resonance to what's happening right here, right now. People afraid to leave their houses to go to work or school, citizens and lawful immigrants carrying their papers around as protection, armed government agents abducting people off the streets and imprisoning them in detention centers where they're treated inhumanely. I'm not calling anyone Nazis, they were a special breed of evil, but the parallels are unmistakable to anyone who's looking. We need to remember our past in order not to repeat it, and since there are fewer and fewer people alive who lived through the Holocaust, plays like this are an excellent way to do that. Six Points' regional premiere of The Happiest Man on Earth is a gorgeous and moving production that is at times difficult to watch, but also provides hope that humans can survive unthinkably horrible times, and come out on the other side better and stronger, and choose happiness. Experience this beautiful true story through February 8 only at Six Points Theater in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood.

"Becoming Dr. Ruth" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at Highland Park Center Theater

Everyone knows Dr. Ruth, the famous sex therapist and '80s TV and radio icon. But what do we really know about her, other than that she's diminutive, heavily accented, able to speak frankly about formerly taboo subjects, and always grinning and cheerful? The new play Becoming Dr. Ruth reveals just what a fascinating life she's lead as a young girl orphaned by the Holocaust, never forgetting the importance of education instilled in her by her father, or the love and support of her mother and grandmother. A true survivor, she forged a successful new life for herself and became the Dr. Ruth we know today. This funny and poignant one-woman show does a wonderful job of creating a portrait of the woman behind the icon.

Playwright Mark St. Germain (see also Freud's Last Session) has written Dr. Ruth's life story as a conversation between Dr. Ruth and the audience. There's no fourth wall, as she candidly speaks directly to the audience, saying "I love to go out to the theater, today, the theater comes to me!" The play is set in 1997 as Dr. Ruth is packing up the apartment she's lived in for over 30 years, triggering a flood of memories that she shares with the audience. Born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1928, she recounts her days as part of the Kindertransport to Switzerland, moving to Palestine and fighting in the Israeli War of Independence, her three marriages and two children, and her endless pursuit of education, eventually becoming sex therapist to the nation through her radio and TV shows. It's a life both ordinary and extraordinary, filled with unspeakable tragedies as well as everyday struggles of love, family, and career.

Miriam Schwartz as Dr. Ruth (photo by Sarah Whiting)

When I first read that 25-year-old Miriam Schwartz was cast as the 69-year-old Dr. Ruth, I have to admit, I was skeptical. But any doubt is erased within minutes as Miriam takes the stage in full Dr. Ruth mode, and has the audience in the palm of her hand for 90 minutes. She perfectly captures this iconic woman's indomitable spirit, boundless cheerfulness, energetic shuffling walk, and frank and honest sex advice delivered in that familiar German-Israeli-French-American accent. Miriam has completely transformed herself and is an absolute delight to watch as she brings Dr. Ruth to life before us with humor and poignancy.

Of course, a one-person show is never just that, and Miriam has great support in director Craig Johnson, who keeps her busy moving around the apartment set, packing up memories; scenic designer Kirby Moore who has created a cluttered, homey, lived in set; and dialect coach Foster Johns to help her get the accent down pat.

This summer show opens Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company's 2015-2016 season and runs for just seven performances. Catch it while you can* to see a funny, poignant, sharply written play about America's most trusted sex therapist who turns out to be much more than what she seems, with a wonderful performance by Miriam Schwartz as the star of this one-woman show.


*Note that Ford Parkway is closed between the theater and Snelling, so plan accordingly and allow time to navigate detours.

"Freud's Last Session" at the Guthrie Theater

As a friend of mine once said, sometimes the best theater is two people sitting in a room talking. Freud's Last Session is perhaps the best example of this idea that I've ever seen. The two people in this case are Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, two intelligent, eloquent, strongly opinionated men. The imagined conversation between the two of them plays out in real time, with neither actor leaving the stage for more than a brief moment. It's one long fascinating and brilliant 80-minute conversation that we get to listen to. Freud's Last Session was a hit Off-Broadway (where I saw it a few years ago) and is now playing in the Guthrie Theater's Dowling Studio. Brilliantly written and marvelously acted, it's just really great theater.

The play is set in 1939, when Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis and an atheist) is near the end of his life and in pain from advanced oral cancer. He is in exile in London, having been forced to leave his native Austria due to the rising threat of the Nazis. Lewis (perhaps best known as the author of the Chronicles of Narnia but also an accomplished author on the subject of Christianity) is teaching at Oxford and pays Freud a visit. What follows is a fascinating discussion of God, religion, sex, relationships, death, family, evil, morality, and myths. The war and Freud's impending death bring an immediacy to these theoretical issues, as the conversation is occasionally halted by air raids and Freud's increasing pain. Playwright Mark St. Germain has brilliantly constructed this conversation with facts from the men's life as well as their writing. And in the persons of Robert Dorfman and Peter Christian Hansen, Freud and Lewis come to life before our eyes.

There are only two flaws in this play. One, it's too short. I could easily spend another hour or two listening to Robert and Peter as Freud and Lewis debate the very essence of life. The other flaw is that it's impossible to watch both of them at once, which is perhaps more a flaw of human vision. I wanted to watch one's reaction as the other was speaking, but also wanted to watch the speaker at the same time. It's like watching a tennis match between two brilliant and equally matched players (or at least I assume that's what it's like, I don't watch tennis). I found myself nodding in agreement with one, and then the other, as they made their points. In the end it's clear that it's not about who "wins" the debate, it's about two people sharing their opposing viewpoints and gaining a better understanding of the other. Neither is swayed from their position, but they respect each other's opinion and try to understand it as they debate. How I wish people on opposing sides of arguments today could converse like Freud and Lewis do in this play.

C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud ponder the big questions
(Peter Christian Hansen and Robert Dorfman)

The Dowling Studio looks completely different than I've ever seen it before, and also completely different from the last time I saw this play. The Off-Broadway set was a very realistic and lived-in study, with books and tchotchkes on every surface, like a cozy and cluttered professor's office. The set at the Guthrie is quite the opposite, more stark and fantastical than cozy and realistic. Everything in the set is black - the books are black, the figurines on the desk are black, the furniture is black, the floor is black, the radio is black. Prior to and after the show there is an odd otherworldly lighting and almost creepy haunted house sounds, although during the play the lighting is quite natural and you soon forget they're in a colorless world as the debate takes center stage. Director Rob Melrose explains in the playbill, "I imagined a production that dispensed with clutter and realistic details and allowed the focus to be on the great men and their ideas, almost as if we were ripping them out of time and space and bringing them to the Dowling Studio for our own edification." He also chose to position the long narrow stage between the audience on either side, so that we're surrounding the conversation and can see the audience on the opposite side. It's an interesting choice. (Set design by Michael Locher)

Freud's Last Session is a wonderful play, so smart, challenging, thought-provoking, moving, and even funny at times. It will thoroughly engage your brain and maybe even get you to think about your own life and beliefs a little. My friend and I stayed in the theater talking until we were kicked out of the space. It's that kind of play. If you like smart, thoughtful, well-written and well-acted theater, go see Freud's Last Session (playing now through March 16).

"Freud's Last Session" at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater Off-Broadway

After four straight musicals (three on and one off Broadway), my theater buddy and I decided to conclude our New York City trip with a one-act Off-Broadway play.  We heard good things about Freud's Last Sesson (we always like to talk to the helpful people hanging around outside the TKTS booth, most of whom are young actors, and will give you the real scoop if you ask for it).  It's currently playing at the "Little Theater" in the West Side YMCA, just off of Central Park, but will be moving to New World Stages in October.  This new play written by Mark St. Germain ran from July through November of 2010, and was brought back in January due to popular demand.  It has gotten rave reviews; this move will hopefully mean that even more people get to see this intelligent, throught-provoking, moving play.

Freud's Last Sesson tells the story of a fictional encounter between two historical figures, Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) and C.S. Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia).  It takes place in London in 1939, when Freud is 83 years old, having recently fled from his native Austria, and Lewis is 41 and teaching at Oxford University.  Freud is suffering from a painful cancer of the mouth (he died a year later).  In the fictional story, Freud contacts Lewis and asks him to visit him.  Lewis is initially nervous and unsure why Freud would want to see him, thinking possibly he offended Freud in one of his recent books.  It turns out Freud just wants to have a conversation with him.  Freud is an atheist, and is curious why Lewis converted from atheism to Christianity.  They have a long conversation about a number of topics, including religion, God, family, love, and sex.  They rarely agree, and really have no hope of changing each other's mind.  But it's obvious these two men have a great respect for each other as well as a willingness to have an open and non-judgemental dialogue about their beliefs.  Which is is an attitude I wish more people had.

This is a two-person cast, and both actors are marvelous and well-matched.  Martin Rayner is a kindly, curmudgeonly Freud, and Mark H. Dold plays Lewis with a deference to his elder, while still staying firm and confident in his beliefs.  As the play goes on Freud's pain increases to the point where it's almost painful to watch him, for the audience and the character of Lewis.  The pain of both characters is palpable due to the performances of the actors.  They've been playing these roles for over a year and have really settled into their characters.  With a play like this, I'm sure they find greater depth in the piece with every performance.

By the end of the play, nothing had been resolved.  I wanted them to keep talking so I could keep listening to their discussion.  My friend bought an (autographed) script; I'll have to borrow it so I can more deeply study this piece.  They discussed the German word Sehnsucht (one of those great German words that describe such a complicated concept it cannot be accurately translated).  Freud says that our deepest desires are never fulfilled, but to Lewis that's the definition of joy.  I'm not sure what to think about that, but think about it I do.