"Nina Simone: Four Women" at Pillsbury House Theatre

Nina Simone: Four Women premiered at Park Square Theatre in March of 2016 to great acclaim. It won a couple of Twin Cities Theater Blogger Awards, and was remounted the following year, when the world was a much different place than it was the previous year. It's now ten years after this play premiered, and the idea of arts as advocacy, which Nina Simone is such a great example of, is even more vital today. Rather than tell Nina's entire life story, playwright Christina Ham focuses this play on one moment in her life, when she wrote her first Civil Rights song, and pivoted from being just a singer of pretty songs, to using her voice to advocate for change. Pillsbury House + Theatre's new production reunites the director of the original production, former PHT Artistic Director Faye M. Price, the music director Sanford Moore, and three of the original four cast members. It's an inspirational story that reminds us that we all have a voice, and that art is, was, and always will be political. Don't miss the chance to see this powerful and moving locally created play with music, even more relevant now than when it premiered (continuing through September 27).

"Gutenberg! The Musical!" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

Broadway buddies Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad, who originated the roles of Elder Price and Cunningham, respectively, in The Book of Mormon 15 years ago (which I was lucky enough to see), recently reunited on Broadway in a two-person musical comedy called Gutenberg! The Musical!, receiving its Broadway premiere almost 20 years after it debuted. The buddy comedy was the perfect vehicle for these two individual talents with undeniable chemistry, and now, two years after that short Broadway run closed, Theater Latte Da is bringing us, if not the regional premiere, the first #TCTheater production since this Broadway hit. It's the kind of thing I expect from Theater Latte Da - something new and inventive that you just can't see anywhere else. Artistic Director Justin Lucero saw Gutenberg on Broadway shortly after he was hired by Theater Latte Da, and immediately decided that they were going to do the show someday (proving once again that he was the perfect choice to replace founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein). They have done just that, and also made the smart decision to hire Tyler Michaels King to direct, and cast the perfect physical comedy duo. Gutenberg! The Musical! is a super silly and hilarious ode to the musical theater form that we love so much, and that Theater Latte Da does so well. It's playing through May 3, so if you need a laugh (and who doesn't these days?), head to the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis.

"The Ruins" at Guthrie Theater

For the first time since the pandemic, Guthrie Theater is doing a show in the 9th floor Dowling Studio. This is very exciting news, and feels like a continuation of the slow return to normal. Even more exciting is that the piece they have chosen to bring back this intimate black box space is nothing short of exquisite, and could not exist anywhere else in the building. The world premiere new play with music The Ruins, by Broadway actor George Abud who was in the original cast of The Band's Visit, a uniquely special musical that I loved, is simply everything I want theater to be: original, philosophical, musical, funny, eye-opening, thought-provoking, moving, intimate, epic, and profound. No doubt my words will come up short in attempting to describe why this piece is so special, but if you trust me, just go see it (now through October 12), and thank me later.*

"The Effect" at Jungle Theater

In my day job, I work in clinical trials. I'm not a researcher in the clinics working with patients, I sit at home in my living room analyzing the data they collect. But still, the themes and situations in the brilliant play The Effect are familiar and fascinating to me. Written by Lucy Prebble, a writer and executive producer on the brilliant and brutal HBO show Succession, the play asks thorny and relevant questions about the ethics of clinical research, for-profit pharmaceutical companies, and the health care industry in general. It also explores the very stuff that makes us human, our feelings and emotions, and if that resides in our brain, or in our heart, or in situations or the substances we're taking. (If you're getting Severance vibes, you're not alone.) In short, The Effect is my favorite kind of play - smart and thought-provoking, asking difficult questions and not answering them, populated with complex, interesting, and engaging characters. And as expected, Jungle Theater's production really couldn't be better, with a fantastic four-person cast and spot-on design. If you like smart, thoughtful, relevant plays, The Effect is not to be missed (continuing through the end of March).

"The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki" by Full Circle Theater at Park Square Theatre's Andy Boss Stage

Full Circle Theater doesn't exclusively do new work, but they do a lot of new work, supporting local playwrights. Their latest is #TCTheater artist Oogie_Push's lovely new autobiographical play The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki. In it, she and four other actors play herself as she tells the story of her life, from childhood to the present, all connected by the theme of water. Less a straight-forward narrative story and more a collection of interrelated stories, experiences, and revelations, it feels like an epic journey that comes full circle (pardon the pun) from past to present, from water to water, to finding self and home. It's heart-warming, inspiring, and thought-provoking, as it deals with themes of grief, environmental disaster, and this country's horrific treatment of indigenous people. But the overall feeling is one of hope, community, and connection, and it might make you regard water a little differently. Join the adventure in Park Square's intimate basement thrust stage, Wednesdays through Sundays until November 24.

"Hells Canyon" by Theater Mu at Jungle Theater

The world premiere new play Hells Canyon is a revenge fantasy, in which the revenge comes almost 140 years after the crime - the murder of 34 Chinese goldminers in Oregon. The spirits of the murder victims are restless, and use a group of friends having a fun getaway at a cabin to enact their revenge. It's modern dramedy-horror with social commentary, in the vein of Get Out. Horror isn't really my thing, but this play is thrilling. It'll make you laugh, and think, and feel, and maybe jump out of your seat a little. Theater Mu's production is brilliantly cast with an incredible design that pulls off some real scares, and it's a must-see, especially if you're a fan of the horror genre (and even if you're not). It plays at the Jungle Theater* Wednesdays through Sundays until March 17. 

"C.L.U.E" by Collide Theatrical Dance Company at the Southern Theater

For their 30th production, Collide Theatrical Dance Company is remounting/revising their 2015 original dance musical C.L.U., now with one letter added to be C.L.U.E. It's a parody of the classic board game (which I spent many hours playing as a kid) and the movie based on it (coincidentally, a new non-musical stage version will be at the Orpheum next week). While the mystery part may be a little thin, the dancing and performances are incredible, and the show is overall a whole lot of fun. Collide lives at the intersection of theater and dance, and as a primarily theater reviewer, it's fun to have an excuse to see some dance, especially when it tells a story in a theatrical way. Embrace the mystery and enjoy the dancing of C.L.U.E. at the Southern Theater (the best venue for dance) now through March 10.

"Stones in His Pockets" by Theater Latte Da at the Ritz Theater

Every once in a while, Theater Latte Da throws a play on their season schedule and I think - what is this going to be? At one time their tagline was "we don't do musical theater, we do theater musically," and their new production of Stones in His Pockets is a prime example of this. They haven't turned it into a musical (like they did with the classic play Twelve Angry Men, which sounds weird but turned out to be brilliant), but they have turned it into theater musically. Jason Hansen (Twin Cities Theater Bloggers' favorite Music Director for three years running - watch for our interview with him on an episode of Twin Cities Theater Chat coming soon!) has written original music to fill in the spaces and add color and emotion to the story, like a film score played live. I'd never seen this play before, and now that I've seen this production, I can't imagine it without music. Music is so much a part of Irish culture and everyday life, that it seems fitting that there is music in this funny, wistful, tragic, heart-warming, and very Irish little story. See this wholly original Stones in His Pockets (featuring a brilliant comedy duo) at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis through February 25. (Recommended dinner-and-a-show pairing: enjoy the food, atmosphere, and Guinness at The Anchor Fish & Chips just down the street.)

"bull-jean / we wake" at Pillsbury House Theatre

This season, Pillsbury House Theatre has been presenting work by playwright Sharon Bridgforth, whose play Dat Black Mermaid Man Lady / The Show they produced in 2018, about which I wrote "It's a piece that defies explanation, that maybe shouldn't be explained, but rather experienced." That description applied to their January production of the bull-jean stories, "a beautifully lyrical look at love and resilience through the lens of a Southern Black lesbian woman in the early 20th century," and even more so to the conclusion of this series. bull-jean / we wake is described on the website as "a new performance installation and invitation" that "envelopes the senses with incantations, memories, and future visions that invites audiences closer to their deepest questions and longings." It's more ritual than theater, and is a joyful and life-affirming experience. The short run concludes this weekend.

"Code You" by Exposed Brick Theatre at Dreamland Arts

Exposed Brick Theatre, "dedicated to telling untold stories, centering omitted narratives and creating art at the intersection of identities," was founded in 2004, and somehow this is my first experience with them. Last night I saw the new play Code You, written and directed by Nora Montañez Patterson, at Dreamland Arts, a sweet little venue on Hamline Avenue in St. Paul that I haven't been to since pre-pan. Code You is one of several plays to come out of Exposed Brick's 2020 "Through Our Eyes" program, in which they commissioned eight playwrights to write plays "in response to the multiple pandemics impacting MN communities." Code You starts out as fun and trippy multiple-reality narrative about friends just hanging out and having fun, but there's an undercurrent of something more sinister happening, and things get serious real fast. The short run continues for one more weekend only, and the hour-long play is short, sweet, and to the point, bringing back the fear of the unknown from those early COVID days and reminding us what we all went through.

"Marie and Rosetta" at Park Square Theatre

For two nights in a row, I experienced rousing gospel music as part of #TCTheater. In other words, was a good week. The night after seeing Penumbra Theatre's annual gospel rendition of the nativity story Black Nativity, I attended opening night of Park Square Theatre's regional premiere of the new play Marie and Rosetta, the true story of lesser known gospel legend Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Written by Playwrights' Center affiliated writer George Brant, Marie and Rosetta imagines the night of the first performance of Rosetta and her protege/duet partner Marie Knight. A night in 1946 Mississippi when there was no room at the inn for two black women singers, so they rehearsed and slept in a funeral home with a kindly owner. This play with music paints a beautiful picture of these two very different women, their music, and their relationship, as well as the hardships both faced in their lives and careers, and brings these two musical legends to vivid life. A "joyful noise" indeed.