"The Hobbit" at Theatre in the Round

In 2019, Children's Theatre Company commissioned Greg Banks to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, and he did so using just five actors to play all of the many characters, and added original music. Unlike the bloated movie trilogy, it's a charming, playful, and succinct version of this classic hero story. Now Theatre in the Round is bringing us their version of this same script, but with ten actor/musicians, and a framing story. It's a clever and inventive take on this beloved tale of adventure, courage, and friendship. I've read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy countless times over the last 40 years, and have even visited New Zealand twice (not because of LOTR, but also not not because of it). This is a story and a world I love very much, and will take any opportunity to spend a little time in. I found TRP's version of The Hobbit to be fun, playful, inventive, and very satisfying. Check it out through the end of the month - if you can get tickets.

"The Sparrow" by Live Action Set at the Southern Theater

The lights went down, and figures staggered slowly onto the stage accompanied by loud mouth-breathing. No, this was not a stage adaptation of The Walking Dead (although I would totally go see that), it was Live Action Set's newest creation entitled The Sparrow. Like their previous two works presented at the Southern Theater (Basic North and The Half Life) The Sparrow is an odd and lovely piece that combines movement, music, acting, and spoken words. Not quite dance, and very far from what we typically think of as theater, it's an experience that defies description, but is definitely recommended if you're looking for something different and beautifully expressive (even if I'm not sure of what).

Fringe Festival 2015: "FRANKENSTEIN"

Day: 1

Show: 1

Title: FRANKENSTEIN

Category: Something Different

By: Raw Red Meat Productions

Directed by: Tyler Olsen

Location: Intermedia Arts

Summary: A super creepy cool retelling of the Frankenstein story, in which a young boy becomes obsessed with the book to an unhealthy degree.

Highlights: Victor's story is told in a nonlinear fashion, and just like the original Dr. Frankenstein (and Victor himself), we need to put the pieces together to come up with one disturbing whole. Victor is often the narrator of his own story, and we see flashes back to his childhood mixed with scenes from the present at a dark and scary cabin. Scenes often move from one to the other in the middle of a conversation, with characters disappearing and appearing as if by magic. Tyler Olsen wrote, directed, and designed the show (a remount from last year's Twin Cities' Horror Festival), and has created a terrifying and starkly beautiful world. The whole show is done in the dark with hand-held lights and one floor light, flashed on and off at appropriate times to create some really beautiful images with contrasting light and dark. The sound design adds to the creep factor, from the moment you walk into the theater to the sound of buzzing flies. The excellent cast is fully committed to the creation of this world, centered around a raw and emotional performance by Miles Duffey as Victor, with the nimble Joanna Harmon as his girlfriend, Jay Kistler as a childhood friend, and Garrett Vollmer and Noah Bremer as some pretty scary monsters. The whole thing is really well done and yes, there is blood, and some pretty messy clean-up. Moral of the story: don't let your children read Frankenstein.

"The Half Life" by Live Action Set at the Southern Theater

Have you heard of the new ARTshare program at the Southern Theater? For just $18 per month, you can see as many shows as you want (and are able to) by their almost 20 resident companies. It's like all-you-can-eat for theater! It's a great deal and a great way to experience much diverse art while providing consistent support to the Southern and their artists. One of their resident companies is Live Action Set, which just closed the deliciously creepy immersive experience Crime and Punishment. Going into this show, I had no idea what to expect, except that Live Action Set always provides an experience that's a bit weird and a bit wonderful. The Half Life is most certainly a bit weird (about an hour of mostly silent movement), and very wonderful.

In the post show discussion that follows every performance, creator/directors Noah Bremer and Joanna Harmon talked about the head vs. the heart, the push and pull of life, thinking vs. feeling. You may or may not get that from the performance; you may see and feel something entirely different. That's the beauty of this piece, and of art in general.

The show begins with a single performer slowly descending the stairs and walking across the empty stage of the gorgeous Southern Theater to place clothes on a pile at the back of the stage, and then take a place on the floor in an interesting position. Then another performer does the same, then another, then another, until the floor of the theater is filled with bodies (I'm an audience member who typically likes to sit close, but in this case being a bit further up might be an advantage). This sea of bodies begins to move, slowly and subtly at first, then more and more forcefully until the theater is alive with a cacophony of movement. It almost made me dizzy to watch it, each individual moving differently but somehow combining to form a whole, some kind of being.

The show continues for about an hour, with different groups of people performing different movements in different formations, at times being pulled back to the wall, at times struggling forward. Sometimes a movement is in one body part only, sometimes the whole body is consumed in herky-jerky movement, all accompanied by haunting original music by Linnea Mohn. It's quite fascinating to watch the many different ways the same idea resides in different bodies.

It's sometimes hard for me to turn off my brain, especially knowing I need to put words on paper the screen to somehow describe this. But that's the best way to experience this piece; try not to think about what it means or what they're trying to say, but just let go and see what it makes you feel. It's a truly beautiful and moving experience, one of those shows that's so engrossing that when it's over and the lights come up, it's a bit jarring facing harsh reality again.

Three more performances remain of The Half Life, and check out what else is on the ARTshare schedule.

"Crime and Punishment" by Live Action Set, Dangerous Productions, and The Soap Factory

Friends, this one is out there. The interactive and immersive experience that is Crime and Punishment pushes the boundaries of what theater can be. Theater isn't always sitting safely in your seat in a dark room watching a story play out on stage before you. It can also be walking around an incredibly detailed environment, mingling with other audience members and actors as they create the story all around you. You're not just watching the show, you're in it, you're part of it. This experience may not be for everyone, and you do have to push yourself outside of the theater seat comfort zone, but if you're willing to don a mask and stumble around in the dark for an hour with an open mind, you will be rewarded with a totally unique and all-consuming experience.

A remount of last year's Fringe hit, this co-production of Live Action Set, Dangerous Productions, and The Soap Factory is co-directed by Noah Bremer and Joanna Harmon of Live Action Set and Tyler Olsen of Dangerous Productions, who is also credited as writer. It's loosely centered around the 19th century Russian novel Crime and Punishment (which I've never read), which serves as more of an inspiration for characters, settings, and situations than a literal plotline. It's not so much of a cohesive story as small vignettes with various characters in various situations, that all combine to create a surreal world that you won't soon forget.

The experience begins in a Russian tea room in the basement of The Soap Factory, where you sip tea from real cups and saucers while lounging on the shabby chic furniture. At the appropriate time (7 and/or 8:30 pm) you're called forward to put on your mask and enter the performance space. If you saw the show last year at the Fringe, you'll have a slight advantage in that the landscape is much the same, so you might know your way around a bit better. But it's a completely different experience every time you see it, and doubtless is for every person at every show. There are infinite ways you could experience the show, based on where you go, who you follow, and just what you get dragged into. The masks are absolutely essential to this experience because they a) differentiate actors from audience members and b) create a feeling of anonymity and freedom to explore free from self-consciousness (tip: if you wear glasses, ask for a special mask with larger eye holes).

Various stories are happening simultaneously, and it's up to you which one you follow. There's a poor woman and her drunken husband being thrown out of their apartment, a police inspector interrogating a suspect in a small cell, women selling goods at the market, a red light district where men and women slowly move and dance behind glass, a woman rejecting a man who loves her, a bloody murder, and lots of people yelling at each other and getting beat up. All of these things take place in a labyrinth of a set, with narrow hallways, cramped and cluttered rooms, an area hung with sheets, and various nooks and crannies, all impeccably detailed (interior set design by Sarah Stone and Donna Meyer). One could spend the entire hour just looking at the set, but the stories draw you in, sometimes literally as a cast member might take you by the hand and lead you somewhere. The cast of over two dozen is completely committed to the performance, and convey extreme emotions of anger, passion, despair, greed, love, and grief through dialogue and movement.

The set, the creepy sounds and lighting, the always in character and totally in the moment cast, all create such a complete, surreal, all-encompassing world that it's a bit jarring when the hour is up and you're abruptly ushered out and back upstairs to the real world. This is a new kind of theater (see also NYC's hit Sleep No More), one that requires more from the audience than just sitting and paying attention. I go to the theater to be completely immersed in a story with its specific world and characters, which usually takes a bit of suspension of disbelief to imagine that you're not really sitting in a theater. Thanks to the commitment of the cast and design team, it takes very little effort to believe that the world of Crime and Punishment is real. It's a completely unique experience, unlike anything else that's going on in the Twin Cities right now, and must be seen to be believed. If you're up for the challenge, purchase your ticket here and begin to receive lovely/creepy emails from Nastya to prepare you for the event. Crime and Punishment continues in the basement of The Soap Factory through April 27 (find more information and a list of the full cast and creative team here).

a photo of my mask and secret egg in the tea room

Fringe Festival: "Crime and Punishment"

Day: 7

Show: 25

Title: Crime and Punishment

Category: Something different

By: Live Action Set

Directed by: Noah Bremer

Location: The Soap Factory

Summary: It's something different all right - an immersive wild ride through a haunted house sort of adaptation of Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.

Highlights: After seeing this show, or rather experiencing it, my initial thought was "I don't know what just happened, but I want to do it again!" I've never experienced anything quite like it; it takes theater beyond the boundaries we're comfortable with into a completely immersive experience that engages all of the senses (well except for taste, I was asked if I drank but wasn't offered one). The sights of many little intricately detailed spaces around every corner, the sound of people whispering in your ear or shouting from behind a sea of white sheets, the touch of a hand on your arm as someone pulls you into another room, and the sickly sweet and fruity smell of fake blood. Since I'm not familiar with the source material, I didn't get much of a cohesive story, which is not necessary or perhaps even desirable in this case. I'm not certain what was going on but I do know this - I was led by the hand into a small room below the stairs, a beautiful lady in a tiara and fur held my hands and looked meaningfully into my eyes, I leaned on a window sill and watched a drunken Russian, I was asked to buy wares from a market, and I'm pretty sure I glimpsed through the sheets a man with a sharp object protruding from his forehead. And did I mention that the audience members have to wear masks? At first I was less than enthusiastic about it but soon came to realize that the masks are absolutely essential to the experience. Not only does it differentiate your fellow audience members from the actors, but it gives you something to hide behind and not worry about your reactions. I cannot even imagine the logistics of making this work, with so many things happening in so many places, in the dark! Kudos to Noah Bremer and the cast and crew for pulling it off. Crime and Punishment is a crazy brilliant theatrical experiment.

I regret waiting until the last weekend of Fringe to see this, I really wish I had the opportunity to revisit it now that I have the lay of the land (literally and figuratively). If I experienced it again, I would pick out one of the "main characters" and follow them through the duration of the experience. I had a bit of a scattered experience because I kept getting pulled in different directions, which was still wonderful, but I would love more time to put all of the odd and surprising little pieces together. Just as I was getting into it, the lights went out, and then on, and we were unceremoniously told to leave. I feel like I could have spent hours exploring, but since there are only two shows remaining tonight and they're sold out, I can only hope for a post-Fringe revival. Until then I'm sure I'll be revisiting those creepy dark shabby rooms of the Soap Factory basement in my dreams, whether I like it or not.

"The Big Lowdown" on the streets of Lowertown St. Paul, by Bedlam Theatre and Live Action Set

I had an interesting new theatrical experience last night. It's called The Big Lowdown and it's put on by Bedlam Theatre and Live Action Set on the streets of Lowertown. Rather than sit in a theater and be entertained by what's happening on the stage in front of you, the audience walks around from stage to stage to view various short pieces, so that you're actually walking in and moving through the theatrical universe. It's pretty darn cool. There are only three performances (I attended a preview) and I highly recommend you check it out this weekend if you're looking for a fun and unique adventure that's part theater, part neighborhood tour, and part community gathering.

The adventure begins at the beautifully restored historic Union Depot in St. Paul, where the audience is divided into 12 small groups (I was told the max size is 40, but there were only five in my group which was a great size for us all to get to know each other a little bit). Each group is given directions to their destination where they meet their "roamer," or tour guide for the night. You are then led to various locations in St. Paul's Lowertown neighborhood (a neighborhood with which I was not very familiar, but of which I am now a fan) to view short pieces. It's almost like a mini-Fringe Festival, in that there's a great variety of work presented and you're never sure what you're going to see next. I will refrain from telling you any details about any of the performances because I don't want to ruin the delightful surprise of it all. Suffice it to say that I experienced many different kinds of theater, including but not limited to: music, puppetry, storytelling, dance, folktale, circus, painting, poetry, and things I'm not sure have a name. The pieces were in turn odd, funny, beautiful, creepy, delightful, sad, silly, moving, fun, trippy, and fascinating. They took place in locations as various as the bright and open waiting room at the Depot, a darkened room, a rough and unfinished basement, an alley, and a lovely park. Walking around the dark and deserted streets with a small group of companions and only a lantern to light our way, it was as if we were on our own private adventure, with everything happening around us seemingly a part of the show.

My group attended seven of the nine performances going on that night (according to the program, which also includes a handy map), and we were just one of 12 groups. I don't really get how that math works (and I'm good at math), but it's an impressive logistical feat by director Noah Bremer and team to make it all work! Since I attended the first and only preview performance, there were a few moments of extra time here or not enough time there, but in general it all ran remarkably smoothly. And it's an adventure, so it doesn't have to be perfect, that's part of the fun.

I just can't recommend this highly enough; it's the best adventure you can have for $15! Wear your walking shoes, dress for the weather (i.e., hot and and humid), carry a water bottle (although there are a few water stops along the way), bring your adventurous spirit, and be aware of what's happening around you, for around each corner is a new wonder to explore. The adventure begins this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 8 pm (but they ask that you arrive by 7:30 to allow time to be sorted into groups and take care of logistics). Be sure to visit the Facebook event page for details on location, parking, and ticket info. Have fun!

the Union Depot and light rail stop

one of the locations, inside artists lofts

Fringe Festival: "A Clown in Exile"

Day: 5

Show: 14

Title: A Clown in Exile

By: World Wide Clown

Created by: Mohamed Yabdri and Noah Bremer

Location: U of M Rarig Center Proscenium

Summary: One man (a clown) navigates the issue of travel, love, flight, home, and other facets of daily life.

Highlights: Clowning is one art form with which I am not very familiar. The Fringe Festival is a great place to experience those sorts of things, because the shows are short and sweet. While I'm still not sure clowning is my thing, it was an amusing show. Mohamed Yabdri is incredibly expressive, and even though he only speaks a few words, manages to convey a range of emotions and stories. The use of a coat on a hanger to represent his wife, the repeated motif of a paper airplane, and a suitcase full of props are clever. A little too much audience participation for my taste (maybe because I was one of the unlucky audience members chosen), but worth checking out if you're interested in the art of clowning.

Read more of my fringe fest reflections… 

… including my top 5 shows

"Basic North" by Live Action Set at the Southern Theater

The bare, cavernous, gorgeous stage at the Southern Theater. That's about as exciting as it gets in the world of theater - you never know what magic is going to happen in that big open space in front of you. Currently, it's Live Action Set's new creation Basic North: a performance in three directions. But I didn't see three directions, I saw one cohesive piece, where one "chapter" flows into another and back again. I don't want to say too much about the show, firstly because it's difficult to describe, but mostly because it's the surprise factor that makes it so delightful. I really had no idea what to expect, and I was entertained, moved, amused, and yes, delighted by what I saw.

The three chapters consist of:

• Without Wax: a six-person ensemble (Crane Adams, Artistic Director Noah Bremer, Joanna Harmon, Skyler Nowinski, Tyler Olsen, and Katelyn Skelley) dressed in party clothes and sharing seemingly mundane details about their daily life. Using a technique developed by director Dario Tangelson based on the "neutral mask," each actor looks directly at the audience and speaks with no expression, while the rest of the ensemble shuffles around to stare at them blankly. It's strange and fascinating.
• Start Select: a dance piece featuring Emily King, Dustin Maxwell, and Stephanie Shirik. I'm not a dance expert so I'm not sure how to describe this, other than it's inventive, expressive, and seamlessly woven into the other parts of the piece (and the bright costumes and wigs are adorable!).
• Quiet Heart: a solo piece by Noah Bremer, using clown techniques. He opens the show with just a spotlight and a microphone (that he never actually speaks into), which sets the stage for the rest of the show to come. He's so expressive without saying a word, conveying emotions with just the expression on his face or the movement of his body.

I'll end this with a quote from one of the performers, Joanna Harmon, who's also the Executive Director of Live Action Set: "It takes guts to say, 'Surprise me! Show me what ya got! Throw me a curve ball,' and with joy, choose to experience a show in which you have never before been immersed." If that sounds at all intriguing to you, then you should definitely catch one of the remaining five performances. And if you missed last year's brilliant and Ivey Award-winning 7-Shot Symphony, you might also want to check out the one-night-only performance of the show, along with a CD-release party (from the bluegrass band Tree Party) on Monday July 2, also at the Southern.

no, these are not the costumes seen in the show,
but I'm sure they symbolize something...

"Capital Crimes: The St. Paul Gangster Musical" at the History Theatre

I love HBO's Boardwalk Empire, about gangsters in Atlantic City during Prohibition.  There's something about that era of history that seems glamorous and delicious, even though the reality of it was violent and dark.  The History Theatre offers a fun and campy look at this era in our very own hometown.  Capital Crimes: The St. Paul Gangster Musical* is a little like Boardwalk Empire the musical, without the heavy drama, and with the Depression-era Midwest as the backdrop instead of AC.  I almost wish they had gone a little bit further into camp; there were some more serious moments that didn't quite fit the tone of the show.  But all-in-all it's a fun show that is sure to make you want to learn more about these criminals and their involvement in Minnesota history.  And it's pretty cool to think that some of these things happened just a few blocks from where you're sitting.  That's what the History Theatre does best - shed light on the complicated and varied history of our beloved state.

The show tells the true story of Barker-Karpis gang, who were bank robbers, murderers, and kidnappers working throughout the Midwest, including Minnesota, where they kidnapped local beer tycoon William Hamm.  This story is told through the eyes of crime reporter Nate Bomberg who acts as narrator (Jake Endres, also playing multiple other roles, much as he did in the last History Theatre show, Coco's Diary).  We see the Barker brothers, their mother, and Alvin Karpis as they plan and commit crimes.  We also see J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI chase them, in particularly Karpis as Enemy Number One.

A few highlights of the show:

• Get there early for the pre-show entertainment - an onstage speakeasy, complete with dancing, singing, drinking, and fighting.  I kept waiting for the dancers to return during or after the show, but sadly they never did.
• E.J. Subkoviak again plays a government official with questionable motives and techniques.  In 1968 he was Nixon's adviser John Mitchell, and here he's Hoover.  One of the highlights of the show is his hilarious song "Perfection." This show is at its best when it's tongue-in-cheek, not taking itself too seriously.
• Josiah Austin Gulden as Karpis looks like a young Nucky Thompson (with better teeth), has a great voice, and makes a compelling hero-criminal.  You almost want him to get away with his crimes and retire with his "girl" and start a family.
• Speaking of, the two gangster girlfriends are played by the clownish (I mean that as a complement) and loose-limbed Kimberly Richardson and the more serious and lovely-voiced Anna Reichert.  Paula and Dolores take "stand by your man" to a whole new level.
• You can definitely see touches of director Noah Bremer of Live Action Set in this show.  His theater company excels at physical theater, using their bodies and movement to set the scene and tell the story.  There are some really lovely moments of that here, but I found myself wishing for more.
• I love period costumes, and E. Amy Hill does a beautiful job bringing the 1930s to life without being too over-the-top about it.  Wear your long strand of pearls or your fedora and you'll fit right in.

*I received two complementary tickets to attend the opening night of Capital Crimes: The St. Paul Gangster Musical.

"The 7-Shot Symphony" by Live Action Set at Loring Theater

I first heard of Live Action Set at the Ivey Awards last year when they performed the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in nine minutes (scroll to the bottom of this post to watch the video).  It was hilarious and brilliant, and I've had it in the back of my mind to check them out ever since.  So when I received an email from Artistic Director Noah Bremer telling me about their new show The 7-Shot Symphony, I decided it was a good time to finally check them out.  Live Action Set performs what they call "physical theater."  They don't have much in the way of props or set pieces; they act out everything with their bodies, from guns to trees to canyons to swinging saloon doors.  It almost reminded me of old silent films, except that there was of course sound (provided by the actors and members of local band Tree Party).  A note in the playbill says, "The creativity of non-literal depiction is what awakens the imagination.  And, this is what our theater does best - awaken the imagination."  They definitely succeeded in that with this piece!

The 7-Shot Symphony, an original piece written by Matt Spring and Ryan Underbakke (who also directs), is a re-imagining of several classic myths as a Western.  It's performed in seven "movements," like a piece of music, and each part tells a different story.  From the Epic of Gilgamesh (which was also the subject of a play I saw last fall called The Oldest Story in the World), to the Norse god Odin, to the Greek myth about Orpheus and Eurydice (which I was vaguely familiar with through Anias Mitchell's folk opera Hadestown), they all fit together in the end to complete the puzzle that is Deus county.  The seven actors take turns narrating the movements and playing the different parts, often changing characters in a matter of seconds with only a hat or a skirt or an accent or the carriage of their body to aid in the transformation.  It's really amazing how they create such specific characters; for the first half of the show I didn't realize that the actor playing Hades (Matt Riggs) was the same actor playing a few other roles, and it wasn't just the coat and top hat, it was the whole physicality of the character.  And that's just one example of the magic they create.

My favorite story was Orpheus and Eurydice.  In this incarnation, Orpheus is a frontiersman who borrows money from the evil Hades, owner of the Underworld saloon, to bring Eurydice to America from the "Old Country" to be his wife (similar to the plot of one of my favorite Minnesota-made movies, Sweet Land).  Eurydice can speak no English, so Orpheus (Joey Ford, a member of the band Tree Party) wins her heart by singing to her with the saddest and most beautiful yodeling I've ever heard.  It's a yodel that will break your heart.  Hades kidnaps Eurydice as payment on the loan, so Orpheus travels across the desert to find her.  When the lovers are reunited, Orpheus sings his song for her, and Jenna Wyse (also a member of Tree Party) as Eurydice adds her lovely voice to his.  It's a moment so beautiful that even evil Hades is moved.  He lets her go, but with a condition that tragically is not met.

There's not a weak link in this ensemble, which also includes Mark Benzel, Damian Johnson, Emily King, and Dustin Suggs.  They work and play together very well, and are all experts at creating not just characters but the whole environment in which the story takes place.  The Tree Party band provided a really cool country/rockabilly sound that makes me want to hear more from them.

I've seen several new (to me) theater companies in the last few weeks, and have been impressed with all of them.  The more theater I see, the more blown away I am by the talent in this town.  It's a beautiful thing.

And now, if you're a LOTR fan like me, enjoy this interpretation of the epic tale: