"Men on Boats" at Theatre in the Round

As promised at the last Theatre in the Round show, their new production of Men on Boats includes neither men nor boats. Nothing against either, but having an all-female or non-binary cast telling the story of the first government sanctioned expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, with nary a boat on stage, is pretty clever. And it's utterly delightful - funny and playful, while still commenting on the ideas of Manifest Destiny, exploration, discovery, and masculinity. It's also a fun adventure tale, and having been on several wilderness adventures with all-female groups (including hiking in the Grand Canyon, and canoeing in the BWCAW), it kinda made me want to plan my next adventure. Maybe a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon, although with better maps, equipment, and food than this group had. But if real-life adventuring isn't for you, you can safety join these non-men on their non-boat adventure at the oldest theater in Minneapolis, now through June 2.

"Immaculate Heart" by Freshwater Theatre at the Crane Theater

In their new original play Immaculate Heart, Freshwater Theatre thoughtfully explores issues surrounding faith (specifically, Catholicism) and sexuality (specifically, the last and often overlooked letter in the LGBTQIA alphabet - asexuality). Playwright Ruth Virkus has created a world and a situation that feels real and very human, and the three-person cast brings truth, vulnerability, and humanity to their roles. As a recovering Catholic, I'm familiar with the struggle between seeing the good that the church has done and the solace it is for so many people, and the many ways it falls short in the modern world with its intolerant and exclusionary doctrine. This play and its characters embody that struggle very well, as well as shed light on a lesser known aspect of the spectrum of sexuality.

Fringe Festival 2017: "Rumpus"

Day: 1

Show: 3

Title: Rumpus

Category: Dance

By: Mike's Brass

Choreographed by: Lori Ledoux

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A music/dance/poetry show inspired by one of my (and many people's) favorite children's book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

Highlights: Let the wild rumpus start! This show is pure delight, combining a brass quintet performing everything from classics to pop tunes, Maurice Sendak's funny and poignant story, and charming and inventive dancing performed by the eight-person ensemble (including the adorable young David Pelletier Guire, who looks like he stepped right off the pages of the book). Ensemble members Derek Meyer and Noë Tallen take turns reading passages from the book, as well as other poetry related to the themes of the book, followed by music and dance which perfectly expresses those words. Fun for all ages and sure to put a smile on your face.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

"Up: the Man in the Flying Chair" by Theatre Pro Rata at Park Square Theatre

For their third show in partnership with Park Square Theatre, Theatre Pro Rata is presenting the sweet, funny, and heart-warming Up: The Man in the Flying Chair in the intimate thrust stage in the basement of the theater. It's one of those shows that just makes me happy. The seemingly diverse elements of a fascinating real person, a family dramedy, a perky pregnant teen and her con artist aunt, and the magical appearance of tightrope walker Philippe Petit all combine for a unique and engaging play. Brought to life by this wonderful cast, it made me feel all the feels.

Fringe Festival 2016: "Mead Hall"

Day: 6

Show: 29

Title: Mead Hall

Category: Comedy

By: Tedious Brief Productions

Created by: Greer, Tallen, and Watson-Jones

Location: U of M Rarig Center Thrust

Summary: A meta-Fringe mash-up of the oldest story in Western literature, Beowulf, and the 1989 Patrick Swayze movie Roadhouse.

Highlights: This isn't your ordinary mash-up, in which two seemingly different stories are combined into one. This one is told in a very meta-Fringe way, with actors playing versions of themselves doing a Fringe show. Or rather shows, as due to a mix-up, two different productions show up in the same place at the same time - a very literary and nerdy one-man show/lecture about Beowulf, and a musical adaptation of Roadhouse (on roller skates!). At first the two groups argue and take turns telling their story, but eventually they come to realize that their stories have several parallels (thanks, Joseph Campbell and the hero cycle) and work together to conclude the two stories that have now become one. The cast is great as both heightened versions of themselves, and the overblown characters (Clarence Wethern as the Beowulf guy, the Roadhouse cast consisting of Kayla Dvorak, Brandon Ewald, Delta Rae Giordano, David Schlosser, Noë Tallen, and a late and shirtless Derek Meyer as the Patrick Swayze character). The structure of the show allows the creators (director Carin Bratlie Wethern, writers Aaron Greer, Ben Tallen, and Brian Watson-Jones) to poke fun at the Fringe itself (including a list of ridiculous Fringe titles that are no more ridiculous than real Fringe titles), while still producing a very fringey show. To be enjoyed by lovers of classical literature, bad '80s movies, and the Fringe. I can't wait for the sequel next year!

Fringe Festival 2015: "High Flight"

Day: 4

Show: 18

Title: High Flight

Category: Dance

By: Mike's Brass

Choreographed by: Windy Bowlsby

Location: Illusion Theater

Summary: A moving exploration of loss through music and dance.

Highlights: In 2012, Mike Bratlie flew his plane to Duluth and disappeared. This piece, produced by Mike's daughter Carin Bratlie Wethern, written by Ben Tallen, and choreographed by Windy Bowlsby, explores the different stages one goes through upon receiving such news - shock, confusion, accepting help, dealing with the media, wondering what might have happened, and acceptance. The brass quintet Mike's Brass plays music from Bach to the Beatles to "Into the West" from Lord of the Rings. Windy's choreography is so evocative of the varying feelings, beautifully realized by dancers Danielle Ricci, Joshua Engebretson, Rachael Schlee, Derek Meyer, and Noë Tallen, with the latter two also providing thoughts and observations between dances. A particularly moving piece is danced to no music, just the recitation of Mike's favorite poem - "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee Jr. What this family went through, literally losing a loved one, is unimaginable. This piece is a beautiful expression of the experience which much be cathartic for the family, and is definitely moving, emotional, and poignant for the viewer.

"A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur" by Gremlin Theatre in an Apartment Next to Open Eye Figure Theatre

I love site-specific theater, when a play is produced not in a traditional theater space, but rather in a location where it might actually take place. A dark office comedy in an office, a relationship drama in what looks like a Brooklyn apartment, or an early 20th century story of the wealthy and the help in the basement kitchen of the James J. Hill House. These very real locations make it easier to suspend disbelief, so that you feel like you're actually witnessing real happenings in a real environment. But as Gremlin Theatre found out last week, this sort of site-specific theater is not as easy as it looks. They were set to produce Tennessee Williams' A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur in a house in St. Paul, when they were informed of occupancy and legal issues just a day before performances were supposed to start. They were forced to suspend the production indefinitely, but were luckily able to quickly secure another location, an apartment owned by Open Eye Figure Theatre, proving the old adage of theater - "the show must go on!" And it just so happens that this is the perfect location for this funny, touching, and wistful little play set in a St. Louis apartment. Kudos to director Jef Hall-Flavin, technical director and scenic designer Carl Schoenborn (who can currently be seen onstage in Savage Umbrella's Rapture), the excellent four-person cast, and the entire Gremlin team for making a seamless transition in such a short time. The play looks as if it was always meant to play in that space. I have really come to appreciate Gremlin Theatre over the last few years, everything they do is so well-done and they make interesting and unexpected choices, so I'm happy to see them continue on after losing their permanent home last year. A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur is a wonderful production and a welcome return.

Tennessee Williams (one of my favorite playwrights), is most well-known for the American Southern tragedies he wrote in the '40s and '50s - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, and my personal favorite, The Glass Menagerie. Creve Coeur, written in 1979, is one of his later works but definitely bears a resemblance to those earlier plays. Set in St. Louis in the 1930s and focusing on one day in the lives of four women, it features the obligatory desperately and tragically in love Southern woman. Dotty has recently moved from Memphis to teach Civics in the local school, and is rooming with Bodey, a German woman intent on setting Dotty up with her twin brother (the title refers to the location of a picnic she's planning). But Dotty is in love with the school principal, and spends the day waiting for his phone call. Her friend and fellow teacher Helena drops by to collect money for the apartment they're planning to share in the nicer part of town. Helena looks down on Bodey and her shabby and colorful apartment. Bodey is fiercely protective of Dotty (and her plot to marry her to her brother), and tries to prevent Helena from telling her some devastating news. Complicating the situation is a visit from the upstairs neighbor Sophie, grieving the recent death of her mother and afraid to be alone in her apartment. There's no happy ending for any of these women (this is Tennessee Williams, after all), but as Dotty says, "We must pull ourselves together and go on. Go on, we must just go on, that's all that life seems to offer - and demand."

Suzanne Warmanen and Sara Richardson

The show is well cast. Suzanne Warmanen is always hilarious (see also: Pride and Prejudice and her many appearances in A Christmas Carol), but also gives Bodey a depth of feeling and heart beneath the busybody exterior. Sara Richardson, who can do broad comedy as well as intense drama, walks the line between the two and is pitch perfect as the classic Tennessee Williams Southern woman ala Blanche and Maggie the Cat. Sara takes Dotty from a happy and carefree young woman doing her daily exercises to a woman who's dreams have been crushed. As Helena, Jane Froiland is appropriately haughty, while also giving us a hint of what's underneath the polished exterior (see Jane in the hilarious locally filmed web series Theater People). Last but not least, Noë Tallen is equal parts humor (rushing to the bathroom because of what coffee does to her digestion) and pathos (wailing that she's "alein in der Welt" - "alone in the world") in her portrayal of poor Sophie.

All of this takes place in a very realistic apartment, because it is a real apartment. Walking through the door next to Open Eye, you are presented with a long narrow room with high ceilings. First are few rows of chairs and stools for the audience, followed by the living room area opening up to the kitchen behind. Stairs on the right go up to the upstairs apartment. Colorful wall hangings and props adorn the space, and it's hard to tell which came with the space and which were brought in for the production, so organic does it feel. The four women move around the space, from the open door letting in cold air behind the audience, to the living room, kitchen, stairs, and even bathroom (which the audience members can use before the show and during intermission). Bodey really fries chicken (you can hear and smell it) and makes deviled eggs in the kitchen. The period costumes (by Clare Brauch) also feel authentic, from the frumpy housedresses of the German women, to Helena's beautiful period dress and hat, as pretty and proper as she is, and Dotty's simple but pretty new dress. It all feels very real.

I once wrote "Tennessee Williams did not write comedies," although maybe he did, as this play is much lighter than his usual southern tragedy. But there are still elements of that tragedy, in a woman grieving her beloved mother, another desperately in love with a man who is not who she thinks he is, another hanging all of her hopes for happiness on someone else's possible relationship, and one who seems cold and selfish but is really just longing to not be alone.

With just 40 seats and a reduced performance schedule, tickets may be hard to come by (the performance I attended was sold out), but it's worth the effort. There are a few discount tickets left on Goldstar, otherwise call or get your tickets online at the Gremlin website. Don't miss this chance to see a lesser known work by one of America's greatest playwrights, brought to very real life by a great cast in an authentic location.

"Fuddy Meers" by Loudmouth Collective at nimbus theatre

It's fun to see multiple works by the same playwright, and look for similarities and differences between them. Loudmouth Collective's Fuddy Meers is the third play by David Lindsay-Abaire that I've seen in the last year. I could easily see the similarities between Rabbit Hole and Good People; both are intense family dramas dealing with serious issues with humor and realism. At first glance Fuddy Meers seems to be a bit of an anomaly. The situations are surreal and wildly comic - a woman who wakes every morning with amnesia, the damaged and crazy man who kidnaps her, her mother who speaks in mostly nonsensical sentences, a man who speaks through a sock puppet. While one could easily see oneself and one's friends and families in the characters and scenes in the former two plays, it's a bit of a stretch with Fuddy Meers. But by the end of the play, I could more easily see how it fit with the others - the same relatable and real characters, just in more absurd situations.

Fuddy Meers is part mystery, part madcap comedy, and part touching family drama. The mystery comes in as we join amnesiac Claire (Noë Tallen, very charming and open) in her journey to discover who she is and what happened to her. She wakes every morning with no memory, and is therefore happy and childlike, with no memory of the pain she's experienced. Her genial husband Richard (Leif Jurgensen) patiently explains the situation to her, while her surly teenage son Kenny (a completely natural Spencer Harrison Levin) just wants to go about his normal surly teenage life. Claire is surprised by a man (an effectively creepy Matt Sciple) who claims he's there to rescue her from her husband, and takes her to her mother Gertie's house. Gertie has suffered a stroke and has trouble forming sentences (in a quite brilliant performance by Karen Weise-Thompson, who believes every word she's saying, even if the words make no sense). They soon meet the crazy man's friend/accomplice Millet and his hand puppet (Paul Rutledge, equally good as both). Meanwhile, Richard and Kenny go looking for Claire and are waylaid by a cop (Katie Willer). They all end up at Gertie's house, which is where the madcap comedy ensues as the plan goes wrong, guns go off, puppets disclose truths, and everyone reaches their wit's end. The puzzle pieces begin to fall into place, and we learn just what happened and how everyone fits in. In the end, the touching family drama can be seen through the man who loves his wife and the son who loves his mother, and just want her to return to them, which has become a daily process.

Loudmouth Collective is a newish theater company, in just their second season, but all of their work that I've seen has been great - interesting choices of smart, well-written, complex plays, and wonderful actors. This cast of seven is large for them; previous pieces have been one- or two-person shows. It's a nice ensemble and they work and play well together, as directed by Artistic Director Natalie Novacek. A fun feature are the dancing scene changes which keep the mood light and the momentum going, and keep the audience from getting bored as furniture is shuffled about.

Performances continue this weekend and next at nimbus theatre's NE Minneapolis space, with ticket prices just $15 (or $10 with a Fringe button). Definitely worth checking out for an inexpensive and entertaining night at the theater.