New #TCTheater company Open Circuit Theatre, whose mission is "artistic resistance, telling stories that disrupt systems of oppression," has chosen for their debut the 2008 play
Great Falls by prolific Minnesota-born playwright and
Playwrights' Center core writer Lee Blessing. The systems of oppression depicted in this play are, to put it bluntly, men. Or rather, the many patriarchal systems we live under that allow men to abuse and take advantage of women, often with little recourse. Hopefully things are better in the post #MeToo era, but the unnamed young woman in this story has to find her own way through, with the help of her estranged ex-stepfather. Like all Lee Blessing plays, the two-hander
Great Falls is brutal but real, with characters that are not always likeable but always human. And this production is a well-done impressive debut for this new theater company.
You can see it at the cozy and intimate Hive Collaborative in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood through this weekend only.
