"The Children" at Pillsbury House Theatre

Medea. Even if, like me, you've never seen or read the play, we all know the story of the mother who kills her children. Worst mother ever, right? But maybe, as they say on Crazy Ex Girlfriend, the situation is a bit more nuanced than that. Maybe there's more to the story, maybe other people in the story see it differently. Playwright Michael Elyanow (see also the beautiful play with music Lullaby) wanted to explore the story from the children's viewpoint. He writes in the playbill, "I started writing The Children as a response play where somebody does take action to defend those kids. In the writing, the piece revealed itself to be a fever dream, a time-traveling mystery, a fish-out-of-water comedy, a theatrical event with a perception shift in every scene until we get at what the play is ultimately, singularly about: trauma survival." That's about as good of a description as I could imagine. The Children is not an easy play to categorize, but it is a wonderful one to experience for 80 minutes. It'll challenge your perception of Medea, as well as your perception of time and space.

"Lullaby" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

2015 was my 5th full year as a Twin Cities Theater Blogger, and I saw a record high 200+ shows. When I look at those numbers, or at my busy schedule, I sometimes think, why do I do this? Why do I devote all of my free time to this part-time job for which I don't get paid? And then I see a show that reminds me why I do this. That reminds me why I started going to theater, why I started writing about theater, why I think theater (and specifically music-theater) is the most beautiful and powerful art form we have. Lullaby is one such show. This new original play-with-music is everything I want music-theater to be: funny, smart, relevant, relatable, moving, poignant, with awesome songs and a brilliant cast and creative team pouring their heart and souls into the work. This is the first of 20 new works of "theater musically" that Theater Latte Da has committed to developing by 2020 in a project they're calling "Next 20/20.*" It's an exciting thing to create the future of music-theater, and Lullaby has set the bar high for this project.