"The Seagull" at The Modern Rep

Just the third production from the new #TCTheater company The Modern Rep that launched earlier this year, their new adaptation of Chekhov's first play The Seagull perfectly exemplifies their mission statement: "a classics theater for today." The company began (before it even had a name) with a never-before-produced-locally Oscar Wilde play Salomé, and then continued with Shakespeare's most popular romcom A Midsummer Night's Dream. Both excellent and inventive and modern interpretations of the work, but this Seagull feels even more so. "Reimagining the canon for a contemporary audience, THE MODERN REP believes that classic texts are not relics to be preserved, but living works meant to be interrogated, disrupted, and brought vividly into the present moment." Mission accomplished. Artistic Director Grant Sorenson adapted and directs the play, and has the characters speaking and acting like real people in our modern world. The themes of this 130-year-old play - generational conflict, the nature of art and theater, the struggles of the young people - all feel so current. Classics are classics because they still have something to say to and about our modern world, and The Modern Rep understands that deeply. The Seagull continues through November 7 at The Modern Rep's warehouse space in Minneapolis' North Loop neighborhood.

"The Seagull" at Theatre in the Round

The Seagull may be the most tragic comedy I've ever seen. As it happens, this Chekhovian mix that makes you laugh as much as it makes you cry is my favorite thing (see also: The Bear). This slice of life story of a group of family and friends at a country home by the lake one summer, with a flash forward to catch up with them two years later, is full of laughter, music, love, heartbreak, and tragedy. Just like life. #TCTheater artist Craig Johnson has written a new adaptation of Chekhov's first play, and although I can't really speak to what's new or different about this adaptation since I've only seen it once before, it feels fresh and funny and modern, and heart-wrenching. An across-the-board strong 10-person cast and a charming nature-based design bring this 125+ year old story to such vivid life that it was jarring to leave the theater and walk out into the bitterly cold night. Experience this great tragicomedy now through February 4 at Theatre in the Round, the oldest theater in Minneapolis.

"The Seagull" by Theatre Novi Most at the Southern Theater

Chekhov's The Seagull is a classic of the theater, but I had never seen it. That's not exactly true, it was actually the first play I ever saw at the Guthrie, but being almost 25 years ago, I have no recollection of it. So it was as if I'd never seen it when I sat down to yesterday's matinee production of The Seagull by Theatre Novi Most, a company that specializes in Eastern European theater, as part of the Southern Theater's ARTShare* program. It took me a few minutes to get into this story of many inter-related characters with strange sounding names, but by intermission I was completely under its spell. This is one of those shows that is so completely captivating that it's hard to shake when you leave the theater. Funny, tragic, odd, and completely enchanting.