"Vienna, Vienna, Vienna" at Six Points Theater

Last fall, I took a Viking River cruise down the Danube River through Austria, and we had one short day in its capital city, Vienna. It was an amazing day filled with music, art, culture, history, and food, but I easily could have spent a full week there and not gotten bored. The characters in the new play Vienna, Vienna, Vienna have more personal reasons for visiting this gorgeous and historically significant city, and a complicated family history with it. Three generations of women return to the city where the family matriarch was born, and from which she had to flee with her family in 1938 around the time of the Anschluss, when Austria became part of Nazi Germany. Like Chekhov's Three Sisters (which this play references frequently), she always longed to return, and raised her children and grandchildren with nostalgic stories about where she grew up. But the reality of returning 83 years later brings up some more unpleasant memories. This world premiere new play at Six Points Theater is a fantastic family dramedy that touches on history, culture, identity, what it means to be a refugee, and if you ever can go home again after you were forced to leave a place that you loved (continuing through April 12).

"Boston Marriage" by Arrow Theater at Maison Bodega

Last night was a perfectly charming evening from start to finish. I attended the first official production from new #TCTheater company Arrow Theater, spearheaded by #TCTheater artist Grant Sorenson who last December independently produced Vincent River, a beautifully devastating play about the aftermath of a horrific hate crime. David Mamet's Boston Marriage is the complete opposite – a light and frothy comedy. The site-specific production is staged in the gorgeous Maison Bodega (run by Bodega Ltd.), in a room as light and airy as a delicate pastry. Free wine was served to the mingling audience dressed as if for a garden party, creating a festive atmosphere. Unfortunately the rest of the small audience short run is sold out, but if these two shows are any indication, Arrow Theater needs to be on your radar. Two such different plays, both beautifully executed by Grant as director and the cast and team.

"Actually" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at the Highland Park Center Theatre

I don't think there's ever been a time in our culture in which we've been so aware of the issue of consent. It wasn't a thing when I was growing up. But thanks to the #metoo movement, there's much more discussion and awareness of consent in the last several years, so naturally it has made its way into theater too. In Anna Ziegler's new play Actually, receiving its regional premiere at Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, two college students find their lives upended by their (mis)understanding of consent. Featuring two of #TCTheater's best young actors, Actually is a powerful and incredibly timely play that will hopefully get audiences thinking and talking about this important issue.

"The Father" at Gremlin Theatre

After a nearly two-week hiatus (during which I wrote about my favorites of the 200-ish shows I saw in 2018), I returned to the theater on Friday night. It was good to be back doing my favorite thing, and Gremlin Theatre's production of The Father was an excellent way to start 2019, setting the bar quite high for all the shows to follow. A smart and twisty script (adapted by Christopher Hampton from French playwright Florian Zeller's original), an excellent six-person cast, thoughtful direction, and meaningful design. Subtitled "a tragic farce," this story of a man descending deeper into dementia is so sad to watch, but beautiful and amusing at the same time. Start your year of theater at Gremlin and you won't be disappointed (continuing through January 27).

"Awake and Sing!" at Artistry

I love sad plays. I love stories of miserable families who love each other but don't know how to express it in healthy ways. Awake and Sing!, now playing at Artistry's black box theater, is one such tragically beautiful and beautifully tragic play, like Tennessee Williams set in the Bronx. Or rather, since Clifford Odets' 1935 play predates Williams' major works, I guess I should say that Tennessee Williams is like Odets set in the South. The multi-generational Berger family has become beaten down by life, with the younger generation trying to break free and make a new life in this new country, if only it will let them. With a strong cast and detailed design in an intimate space, Artistry's production is beautiful and heart-breaking.

"Natasha and the Coat" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at Highland Park Center Theatre

For the final show of their 23rd season, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company is bringing us the world premiere of a new play. LA-based playwright (and Playwrights' Center affiliated writer) Deborah Stein's Natasha and the Coat is an engaging look at a Hasidic Jewish family in the neighborhood of Williamsburg in early 21st Century Brooklyn, as well as the garment industry in that neighborhood. It touches on themes of immigration, gentrification, and how to maintain one's culture and traditions while still functioning in modern American society. While it could use a little tightening up (it's lacking in momentum in parts, and feels too long at 2.5+ hours), the likable and believable cast make it worthwhile.

"Indecent" at the Guthrie Theater

Fresh off of Broadway, Indecent has arrived at the Guthrie Theater. Ingeniously written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel (who made her Broadway and Guthrie debuts with this play and is currently the toast of the town), the play tells the story of a play, the history of the world around it, and the interaction of the two. It's about so many things, among them the depiction of a lesbian romance on stage in the early 20th Century, the role of theater in the world, the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust, and the resulting decline of a language and a culture because of it. This new production is gorgeously designed and beautifully performed by the seven-person mostly local cast, for an incredibly moving, enlightening, thought-provoking evening of theater.

"Church and State" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre at Highland Park Center Theatre

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain," John Lennon sang. Or to put it another way, in the movie Corrina, Corrina when a little girl tells her dad that her mother is in heaven with the angels, he says, "heaven, the angels, and all that, it's just something people made up so they won't feel sad anymore." And the child responds, "well, what's wrong with that?" The answer, of course, is that what's wrong with that is when people try to force their religious beliefs on others, and are intolerant of any other beliefs. But here in America, we have something called the separation of church and state which ensures this can't happen. Don't we? It's getting a little hard to tell these days. But in Jason Odell Williams' new play Church and State, making its #TCTheater debut at Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, at least one politician still believes that, and isn't afraid to say so. Church and State is funny, smart, thought-provoking, sobering, and short, and MJTC has put together an excellent cast that makes this an entertaining, if a bit depressing, evening of theater.

"Little Wars" by Prime Productions at Mixed Blood Theatre

British mystery writer Agatha Christie. American playwright Lillian Hellman. Activist Muriel Gardiner. American author Dorothy Parker. It's debatable whether or not these four accomplished women met in the home of the equally accomplished women Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in the French Alps in 1940, but it sure makes for a fascinating play. One with these many roles for women in their prime. A perfect choice, then, for the debut of the new theater company Prime Productions whose mission is "to explore, illuminate, and support women over 50 and their stories through the creative voice of performance." As a woman who's approaching that age (at a seemingly greater speed with each passing year), it's a mission I whole-heartedly support. And the Twin Cities is the perfect location for such a company, as we are lucky enough to have many female theater artists in their prime. Little Wars, a play about fascinating real-life historical women*, is an exiting debut for this company. I look forward to seeing what else the amazingly talented women in their prime in the #TCTheater community can do, when given the opportunities they deserve but are often denied by our ageist and sexist society.

"DAI (enough)" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at Highland Park Center Theater

When I returned from this afternoon's performance of Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company's DAI (enough), I sat down at my computer, opened up the internet, and saw the headline "Palestinian rocket strikes Israel, drawing Israeli reprisal." When will this decades-long conflict be over? When is enough enough? I'm not going to pretend to know enough about this issue to speak intelligently about it, but this new production by MJTC certainly does. Or rather, it tells the very specific stories of ten people gathered in a cafe in Tel Aviv in 2006, as portrayed by one actor. It's a devastating look at the impact of the never-ending violence on human lives, in addition to being a completely engaging and entertaining play.

"Bad Jews" by Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company at Highland Park Center Theater

And now for something different. I attended MJTC's Bad Jews on the same night as Minnesota Theater Love's three bloggers Carly, Jules, and KRL, and we went out afterwards to discuss the show and theater in general. This is a show you'll want to talk about, and since the play is four people talking at and with each other, we decided to do a four-way... review of Bad Jews. What follows is our (mostly) unedited conversation.

Carly

So, Bad Jews, y'all!

KRL

Yes!

Jill

Talk about bloodthirsty! [note: I interrupted Game of Thrones to do this chat]

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at Pioneer Place Theatre Company in St. Cloud

"Mendacity is the system we live in. Liquor is one way out, death is the other." Oh Tennessee Williams, no one does tragedy quite so beautifully as you! Even though his plays are filled with despair, anguish, and pain, they make me so happy. Especially when the poetic language and tragic relationships are brought to life as beautifully as they are in Pioneer Place Theatre Company's production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Set in the back of a 100 year old building in downtown St. Cloud, "Central Minnesota's Premiere Professional Theatre" often attracts talent from the Twin Cities, as it has for this show. Directed by one of our best directors, Craig Johnson, this Cat features a cast full of Twin Cities favorites. So I happily made the one hour drive through a wintery precipitation mix to St. Cloud (where much of my extended family lives and where I went to college) to take in some quality theater at a new-to-me location (and eat the best pizza in the world at House of Pizza just across the street). If you're a theater-lover in the St. Cloud area, make plans to see this show before it closes this weekend. And if you're in the Twin Cities, I know there's more theater offered than one person could possibly see (believe me, I've tried), but if you're interested in some beautiful Tennessee Williams tragedy, this one is worth the drive.

"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.

"Gabriel" by Walking Shadow Theatre Company at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage

As I left the theater yesterday afternoon, I clutched my sweater close around me to ward off the chill. Not the chill in the crisp fall air, but the chill from the play I had just seen - Walking Shadow's Gabriel. This story about a little known facet of WWII history is so captivating, horrifying, chilling, and completely engaging that it hangs with you well after you leave the theater. The excellent cast and realistic set make you feel like you're right there, as this family fights for survival on a Nazi-occupied British island. It's only playing for one more weekend, but it's well worth it if you can make it. You won't soon forget this beautifully done, powerful play.

It's 1943 on the island of Guernsey, a British Island just off the coast of France. After the British troops abandoned it and much of the population fled to England, the Germans occupied it without a fight, leaving the remaining population to live under their rule. They've watched their homes and cities be taken over by the Nazis, with rumors of "camps" striking fear into their hearts. One particular family, consisting of the widow Mrs. Becquet, her young daughter Estelle, her secretly Jewish daughter-in-law Lily (son Miles is a pilot in the British army), and their housekeeper Mrs. Lake, has recently moved out of their home, which is now serving as a barracks for the German soldiers, and into a small cottage. They do what they can to survive, including selling food on the black market and Mrs. Becquet making nice with the officers. Two things threaten this delicate balance - the arrival of a new Nazi commander, von Pfunz, who is smarter and more vicious than he seems, and a naked and unconscious young man washed up on the beach, whom Lily brings home. The mystery of just who this young man is, whom they call Gabriel, lingers throughout the play. In fact we never find out for certain who he is, but his presence changes things for everyone involved. Estelle thinks he's an angel who has come to save them from the Nazis, Mrs. Lake calls him "my boy" and tenderly cares for him, Lily sees in him the husband gone so long she can barely remember him, Mrs. Becquet finds him a dangerous nuisance and wants him out of her house, and von Pfunz suspects he's a German due to his fluent speech (there are several conversations in beautiful German). What enfolds as Gabriel tries to remember who he is and Mrs. Becquet tries to save her family from the evil von Pfunz will keep you on the edge of your seat.

a strong little girl in saddle shoes stands up to a Nazi
(Katherine Kupiecki, Lily Wangerin, and Wade A. Vaughn,
photo by Dan Norman)

There is not a weak link in this excellent six-person cast, beautifully directed by Amy Rummenie. Katherine Kupiecki is the proud and haughty Mrs. Becquet, who may not seem like the best mother but will do whatever she has to to protect her family, however distasteful. Janet Paone is a welcome comic relief as Mrs. Lake, who's as much a part of this family as any of them. Miriam Schwartz brings both strength and vulnerability to the role of Lily, who sees something in this strange young man, portrayed by Ross Destiche as a lost soul with innate goodness in him. Wade A. Vaughn gives yet another brilliant and fully committed performance as the Nazi commander von Pfunz, an evil, twisted, disturbed man, outwardly charming, quietly threatening, and a menace to them all. Last but certainly not least is star in the making Lily Wangerin, who can't be more than ten years old but holds her own with these professionals. Adorably precocious and spirited, she's so present and engaged in every moment, and impressively goes toe-to-toe with Wade in an intense interrogation scene. It's a heavy play and a large role for a little girl, and she handles it gracefully. The entire cast works and plays together very well, and has a great chemistry. Their playground is the realistic and detailed cottage set by Steve Kath, including a kitchen with working sink, stocked pantry, and stove, and an attic bedroom.

Head to the Theatre Garage this weekend for one of the four remaining performances of Gabriel to see this chilling, mesmerizing, beautifully acted play. It's a bit long at nearly three hours with intermission, but it doesn't feel long; every moment is captivating and gripping. It's just devastating, and truly one of the best plays I've seen recently.


This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"Cinephilia" by 7th House Theater Collective at the Q.Arma Building

I admit it, I'm not a movie buff. I spend so much time at live theater that I rarely have time to go to a movie theater. And I grew up watching TV, not old movies, so my education in classic cinema is sorely lacking. Not so the characters in the play Cinephilia. They live and breathe movies, and speak to each other in movie quotes like my cousins speak to each other in Friends quotes (or I sometime speak in musical theater quotes). But of course, the play is not about movies. Rather, movies are the language through which playwright Leslye Headland explores the ideas of relationships, sexual politics, friendship, and self identiy. 7th House Theater Collective has chose Cinephilia as it's second production, following last summer's wildly successful production of the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical Hair. As a new theater company, they and the audience are still figuring out who they are and what sort of work they want to do.This is a great choice and continues them on a nice trajectory - the grass-roots hands-on feel of a small theater company, an intimate staging, and a youthful and modern production (yes Hair is set in the 60s, but its themes are timeless). I look forward to seeing where they go next.

Cinephilia unfolds on one night in the Brooklyn apartment of longtime friends and roommates Johnny (Torsten Johnson) and Plato (company member Grant Sorenson). Johnny's on-again-off-again lover (but not "girlfriend") Arden (Miriam Schwartz) wants more from him than he's willing to give, and is upset when he announces his plans to move to L.A. Plato walks into this argument and adds his opinions (and also much humor); it's clear these three have a comfortable, yet sometimes contentious, friendship. The arrival of Johnny's new girlfriend Natalie (company member Cat Brinidisi) complicates the situation further, as more secrets are revealed.

All four characters are cinephiles (and sort of movie snobs), and constantly talk about their favorite movies and directors, sometimes acting out entire scenes. One particularly important movie that seems to bear some resemblance to these characters' lives is Splendor in the Grass (which of course I've never seen but now really want to!). There are so many movie quotes in this play, and not being a movie buff, most of them I didn't recognize. In fact I'm sure many quotes went by that I thought was just original dialogue in the play. I imagine this would be quite a fun play for actual cinephiles, although a knowledge of film history is certainly not necessary to enjoy the play.

Miriam Schwartz and Torsten Johnson
in the cool space in the Q.Arma Building

The production takes place in the Q.Arma Building in NE Minneapolis - a very cool non-traditional theater space. A small corner of the room represents the Brooklyn apartment, with big windows looking out on the dark cold Minnesota night. About 40 folding chairs are set up facing the set; an intimate setting that allows you to get up close and personal with the work. With direction by company member David Darrow, the entire cast is great, so present and committed to their roles. And they need to be; in a small space like this there's nowhere to hide.

I should warn you that there is frank sexual language in the play, but nothing you wouldn't hear on an episode of Girls. In fact it reminded me a bit of the Lena Dunham-penned HBO series, in that it's set in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, features much sex and (semi) nudity, and showcases a group of friends who sometimes don't treat each other very well, but remain friends in spite of this. But the tone of Cinephilia is quite different from Girls. Where Girls is almost absurd and mocking in its comedy, Cinephilia feels more real and grounded. But also like Girls, none of these four characters are very likeable; each of them angered or frustrated me at times. Like many young people in their 20s, they can be pretty self-centered with not much self-awareness. But each has their sympathetic moments too. At one point Johnny says that he feels no one really knows him. Maybe that's because he's always speaking through the voice of movie characters. I'm not sure he even knows himself. Johnny escapes into movies and uses them to keep from becoming too invested in anyone or anything real.

If you love movies, or site-specific intimate theater, or if you want to see a group of smart, young, talented, dedicated theater artists creating a space for their work, you might want to check out this play. But act fast, only five performances remain (Sunday and Monday night, and next Friday, Saturday, Sunday). At just $10 a ticket (email for reservations or just show up), it's a bargain, and a great opportunity to see what the up-and-coming young theater community is up to.