"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).

"Sisters in Law" at Six Points Theater

Things look pretty bleak in the Supreme Court these days, with recent decisions walking back the rights of women and people of color that we've had for decades. But the new play Sisters in Law, based on the 2015 book of the same name, harkens back to a time of hope, although not without struggle, with the appointment of the first woman to the court, and then the second. Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were very different women – in their politics and in their personalities – but they became allies as the only two women in a position long held exclusively by men. The play explores their work and their friendship, and ends with a reminder that their work is not done. The excellent production of this two-hander at Six Points Theater is close to selling out, but select tickets remain through November 5 to see this incredibly relevant, inspiring, and moving play.

"Calendar Girls" at Lakeshore Players Theatre

Just in time for Women's History Month, Lakeshore Players Theatre is bringing us the true story of a group of women in the UK who bared it all in a calendar to raise money for cancer research after one of the women lost her husband to the disease. Calendar Girls is a story of female friendship and support, of ordinary women defying expectations, taking a risk, and making a difference. It's funny and poignant and a little risqué, with a genial cast that makes you root for these women and their friendship. See it in the beautiful Hanifl Performing Arts Center in White Bear Lake now through March 26.

"The People's Violin" by Six Points Theater (formerly known as Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company)

The only play I saw live and in person in the last ten months of 2020 was Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company's 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, performed outdoors at various locations. They produced another outdoor play this summer, A Pickle, as well as multiple virtual offerings over the last year and a half. I can't tell you how much creative theater offerings like this kept be going through the very long intermission from live performance, and I'm thrilled that we're finally returning (with the help of vaccines and masks). Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company marks their return to their Highland Park space with a new production, The People's Violin, and a new name - Six Points Theater (watch a video about the name change here). But what hasn't changed is the thought-provoking, meaningful, entertaining, high quality work that they do, exploring Jewish culture and identity, with relevance to the world at large. The People's Violin is another such play.

"The Great Society" at History Theatre

I'm not sure I've ever seen a play that feels (and is) as much of a direct sequel as History Theatre's production of Robert Schenkkan's The Great Society, a sequel to All the Way that History Theatre produced just a year ago. This play continues right were the last one left off, with Lyndon B. Joynson's second term as president (or really, his first full term after taking over for JFK halfway through his term). History Theatre reunites most of the cast and creative team from last year, including director Ron Peluso and Pearce Bunting as LBJ, a performance even more powerful than last year. What also continues from the last play is "political machinations, the Civil Rights movement, and the ugly opposition to freedom and equality for all," with a bonus - the rapid escalation of the Vietnam War. The rhetoric used by everyone on stage is disconcerting in a "the more things change, the more they stay the same" kind of way, as is the divisiveness of a country torn in two by politics. The Great Society is long, dense, and kind of depressing, but it's also extremely rewarding, and important to examine our history to give insight into the issues of today.

"All the Way" at the History Theatre

The night after seeing the historical political drama Watch on the Rhine at the Guthrie, I saw the historical political drama All the Way at the History Theatre. That was a couple of pretty heavy (and long) nights, and left me feeling dismayed at just how much history repeats itself. With Watch on the Rhine, it's the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe, genocide, and an impending world war. With All the Way, it's political machinations, the Civil Rights movement, and the ugly opposition to freedom and equality for all. Covering Lyndon B. Johnson's short and eventful first presidential term, from Kennedy's assassination that thrust him into the presidency to his re-election (or rather, first election) one year later, All the Way has a lot of history and historical figures to pack into three (yes, three) hours. While I wish that playwright Robert Schenkkan had consolidated characters and compressed speeches a bit to create a more concise and driving story (the days of me being able to sit comfortably through a three-hour play are long gone), it's a gripping story, well told by director Ron Peluso and an excellent cast.