"Murder on the Nile" by Frosted Glass Creative on the Stillwater Riverboats

Frosted Glass Creative often performs in Stillwater or other parts East, including outdoor musicals along the St. Croix River. So why not perform ON the river?! And Agatha Christie's Murder on the Nile (her own adaptation of her novel Death on the Nile) is the perfect choice for this floating theatrical experience. The entire play takes place on a riverboat, and we're actually on a riverboat - it doesn't get much more site-specific than that. Murder on the Nile is a typical Christie play full of eccentric characters, many of them suspicious, a clever detective (of sorts), and a surprise ending that makes perfect sense as it clicks into place. Seating is limited on the main floor of the Jubilee II (buffet dinner and cash bar upstairs, as with an open deck above), so most performances have already sold out. But there are a few tickets remaining for the final performance in Stillwater on October 18, as well as the following weekend in St. Paul on the Padelford Riverboats. It would be a fun murder mystery play in any location, but the site-specific setting makes it even better. But please remember, if you're seeing theater on a boat, it's still the theater, not a night out at a bar with friends, and you should act accordingly!

"Twelfth Night" by Brick by Brick Players at Bumbling Fools Mead

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.