"True West" at Theatre in the Round

Continuing their excellent 71st season, Theatre in the Round is bringing us the dark comedy True West. No one writes the dystopian modern Western like Sam Shepard, with complex, flawed, fascinating characters in the darkest of situations. The cast and creative team at TRP have brought this dysfunctional family to life in the best way. The in-the-round space makes it feel like we're watching these brothers in a fish bowl, surrounding them on all sides with nowhere for them to escape. It's gritty and brutal, and so much fun to be on the outside of it watching this family descend into chaos. True West continues at Theatre in the Round through May 14.

"Fool for Love" by Dark and Stormy Productions at Grain Belt Warehouse

Playwright and actor Sam Shepard died just a few weeks ago, leaving us with over 40 plays to remember him by. It's just been in the past few years that I've become familiar with his work, and have grown to love his dark and twisted take on the world. His plays are like modern day Westerns, depressing and hopeless but with a kind of gritty beauty. Dark and Stormy Productions was already in rehearsals for Fool for Love when Shepard passed, giving everyone involved a greater motivation and the play an extra poignancy. The result is a fitting tribute to him, an intense and intimate exploration of love, family, and their devastating effects.

"Buried Child" by Red Bird Theatre at the Southern Theater

I'm starting to think Sam Shepard is a modern-day Tennessee Williams. Both write dark and tragic family stories, Williams focusing on Southern families, while Shepard's play have a modern Western feel (in tone if not geography). Shepard's first big hit was the 1978 Off-Broadway play Buried Child, which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Red Bird Theatre (a company previously unknown to me) is presenting this dark and twisted masterpiece as part of Southern Theater's ARTshare program, and I loved it. I'm not sure why, but the darker and more depressing a play is, the happier it makes me. Walking out of the theater after a Sunday matinee, it just felt wrong that the sun was shining on a beautiful day, and it took me a few minutes to shake the darkness off my shoulders. But what a wonderful experience; a terrific cast and excellent production of this darkly poetic and deeply disturbing American classic.

"A Lie of the Mind" by Theatre Pro Rata at nimubs theatre

An all too real depiction of the real-life hanging of a circus elephant. A disturbing adaptation of a well-known dystopian novel. A devastating and thought-provoking portrait of a child molester. And now a deep dive into an abusive relationship. Theatre Pro Rata doesn't shy away from the tough stuff. After a brief trip to the lighter side with The Illusion at Park Square this summer, Pro Rata returns to the dark side with a sobering look at abusive and dysfunctional families in Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind. This dark fable of a modern day Western offers little hope, but once again Pro Rata offers a beautiful, well-acted and -directed, and disturbing evening of theater.

The play begins shortly after Jake (a frighteningly good Nate Cheeseman) has beaten his wife Beth (a frail yet strong Amy Pirkl) so badly that she ends up in the hospital with brain damage, and has to relearn how to walk and talk. This is not the first time this has happened, and Beth's brother Mike (Bear Brummel) and parents (Don Maloney and Delta Rae Giordano) take her home to recover in Montana where she grew up. Similarly, Jake's sister (Joy Dolo) and bitter mother (Kit Bix) take him in while his brother Frankie (Gabriel Murphy) travels to Montana to check on Beth and make sure she's not dead, as Jake feared. What follows is an exploration of three dysfunctional families. Beth's father is the stereotypical head of the household, spending all his time in the hunting shack and ordering his wife to apply oil to his dry and cracking feet. Jake's mother has never recovered from her husband leaving and his tragic death. And we know how Jake and Beth ended up.

Nate Cheeseman and Amy Pirkl
as the not so happy couple
(photo by Charles Gorrill)

This is one of those plays that makes one happy to be single. What's the point of getting married if all you do is make each other miserable, and raise miserable children who go out to make other people miserable? None of these characters are particularly likeable, but all are beautifully brought to life by the strong cast under the direction of Carin Bratlie Wethern. Perhaps the least hateful of these miserable people is Beth, who, like many so-called simple-minded characters, speaks simple and eloquent truth in her blunt and mixed up speech. And Frankie seems like a good guy, trying to make up for his brother's sins. But maybe looking for good guys isn't the point of the play. Maybe it's to recognize the bad guys within all of us. And then hopefully not marry one.

The starkly beautiful West of Sam Shepard's imagination is well represented on nimbus' intimate stage by scenic designer Ursula Bowden. The stage elegantly and seamlessly combines three very different sets - a hotel, hospital room, and childhood basement bedroom - with a painted Western backdrop tying them together. The former two sets are replaced by the Montana living room, which shares some of the same space with the basement bedroom. In fact they almost seem to exist in the same space, even though they're presumably hundreds of miles apart, as Jake and Beth can almost seem to see each other across the distance.

The last Shepard play I saw was only an hour long, so I was expecting this one to be short as well. It's not, coming in at almost three hours with intermission. That's a long time to spend with these miserable people in their miserable lives, but it's a compelling and engaging play despite the misery. A Lie of the Mind continues through September 27.

"Fool for Love" at the Jungle Theater

The Jungle Theater continues their excellent 2013 season, following the smart and sexy Venus in Fur, the thrilling Deathtrap, and the hilarious Urinetown with Fool for Love, an intense exploration of love, loss, and the complicated relationships of family. Written by Sam Shepard (see also True West), it's like a modern-day Western - stark and gritty and strangely beautiful. In a note in the playbill, director and set designer Bain Boehlke calls it "one of the greatest examples of theater poetry in the 20th Century," and after seeing it, that makes perfect sense. It's only an hour long (keep that in mind as you're paying your parking fee), but leaving the theater I felt like I had witnessed something epic. It's one of those theater experiences in which the world created is so real, so intense, that when the play is over, the lights come up, and you're spilled out onto the streets of the city, it's jarring. I found myself shaking my head in an attempt to readjust to my surroundings. Sitting there in the theater, the world of the play becomes the only reality, so that when it's over it's like a spell has been broken and you're not quite sure where you are or what just happened. This was perhaps the most gripping and intense hour of theater I've ever experienced.

The story centers on ex-lovers Eddie and May. After years of suffering in their tumultuous relationship, May has run away and taken up residence in a seedy motel. Eddie drives thousands of miles to find her and convince her to come back to him. She refuses, but can't bear for him to leave either. There's so much more to their relationship that unfolds over the hour. In the midst of it, May's date Martin shows up to take her to the movies, bringing the intensity to new heights. And through it all, an "old man" is sitting in a rocking chair on the side of the stage (and has in fact been sitting there since the theater doors opened), sometime telling stories, sometimes interjecting or commenting, even entering the action. There's a harsh realism to the play, even surrealism with this character who's sort of there, but not really. And there is a sort of beauty. At one point, Eddie tells a long story about a walk through town with his father in language that is beautiful, but in a stark, gritty, Larry McMurtry kind of way.

This four-person cast is totally in the moment and fully invested in their characters. Jennifer Blagen gives a fearless performance as May, swinging from one emotion to the next, about to crawl out of her skin. Terry Hempleman is intense and riveting as Eddie. Jason Peterson perfectly plays the nervousness and uncertainty of poor Martin, who doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. And Allen Hamilton is a little too creepy as that "old man" sitting just beyond the story but at the very center of it.

Jennifer Blagen, Allen Hamilton, and Terry Hempleman

The set is, as per usual at the Jungle, perfection. Grimy greenish walls surround the bare space, which holds only an iron frame bed, a table with two chairs, a bare light bulb, and a ceiling fan that looks like it hasn't worked in years. Lighting (by Barry Browning) and sound (by Sean Healey) add to the atmosphere, with strange and beautiful shadows cast on walls, and a loud thunderclap perfectly choreographed to every time someone slams a door or hits a wall (which happens often). Each character's wardrobe (by Amelia Cheever) perfectly suits them, from May's too short dress, to Eddie's blue jeans and duct-taped boots, to Martin's plaid pants and bolo tie. There's great attention to detail in every aspect, which creates a very real universe in which the story takes place.

This is a play I could definitely see again; it's just so full. (If only I weren't fully booked with theater for the next several weeks.) Sharply written, wonderfully acted, with detailed perfection in all elements of the production, it's a very rich hour of theater.

"True West" by Torch Theater at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage

I received a tip about this show about a month ago, but I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to look into it until a few days ago.  Truthfully, I was hoping to rule it out because I have a pretty busy theater schedule in the next month, with more shows to add.  But when I saw that it stars John Skelley, one of my faves, and Peter Christian Hansen, who recently won an Ivey Award, I changed my mind.  This show was another must see, and I fortunately just caught it before it closed.

True West was written by American actor and playwright Sam Shepard and first produced in 1980.  It tells the story of two estranged brothers who meet up later in life.  Austin (John Skelley) is the younger brother and the responsible, mature, educated one who has a job, wife, and kids.  His mother has asked him to house-sit for her in L.A. while she's on vacation.  He's a screenwriter so he's using the time to do some research and writing, and as well as meet with an L.A. producer.  His older brother Lee (Peter Hansen) shows up and ruins his plans.  Lee is a drifter and a grifter, never staying in one place too long, making money however he can, legal or not.  The two brothers have reacted to their father's alcoholism and abandonment in opposite ways - one by being an overachiever and hoping to win his love, the other by becoming more like him.  But eventually, they end up at the same place.

Austin is writing a screenplay on an old typewriter (remember, it's 1980), and is about to sell it to his producer Saul (a slick and slimy John Middleton).  But instead, Lee runs into Saul, and charms and cons him into buying an idea of his.  Saul drops Austin's movie (a period love story, which "no one wants to see") for Lee's silly story about two idiots chasing each other across Texas.  Austin is furious and frustrated - "everything is riding on this" - which makes you wonder what else is going on in his life that makes him so desperate to sell this screenplay.  The brothers fight and argue as they work on the new screenplay based on Lee's story.  Austin goes from drinking milk to matching Lee beer for beer, and then they both continue on to the harder stuff.  The kitchen becomes a mess of empty beer cans and littered dishes and silverware.  Austin begs his older brother to let him join him on the road, living in the desert.  Lee agrees, but their plan is quashed when their mother comes home unexpectedly.  This feels like just a snippet of this family's life that makes you curious about what happened before and what will happen next.

This play really gets deep into these two characters and their relationship with each other and their parents.  And it's not pretty.  In fact, it's brutal, and very physical.  I couldn't help but wonder how many injuries were incurred throughout the run of the show.  The actors are probably glad not to be hurling themselves and each other across the stage every night.  But it sure was entertaining, if at times painful, to watch.  John and Peter are both great and fearless in creating these characters.  I remember seeing Peter in Dollhouse at the Guthrie last year.  He was so good at playing this jerk of a husband, that I wanted to boo him when he came out for the curtain call.  This was a similar experience; they're both good at playing unlikable characters, but somehow finding the humanity in them.

I can check another theater off my list, Torch Theater, whose Artistic Director is Stacia Rice, another one of my faves.  I've been to the Theatre Garage three times in the last few months and have really come to enjoy it.  It's pretty unassuming from the outside, but for $20 cash at the door you get to see some great theater in an intimate little space (so intimate in this case that I was glad I was not sitting in the front row because it appeared that the fights were about to spill over into the audience!).  Over the last year or so I've been going to more and more venues around town to see more and more theater companies.  And the more theater that I go to, the more theater that I'm led to, as I discover more and more favorite actors, venues, and theater companies.  This town is an interconnected web of talent.