"A Walless Church" at Pillsbury House + Theatre

Certain religious traditions say that humans were created in god's image, but I've also heard it said that humans created god in their image. Which is often not a good thing. But this is a good thing: in Pillsbury House + Theatre's production of the world premiere new play A Walless Church (walless = wall-less = without walls), three Black women, "godlings," show us how to create god in just about 70 minutes (and they're not happy about the time constraint). You need a big emotion, a common intention, and a conduit (although this one isn't absolutely necessary). But they need our help. Join in this loving, playful, heart-warming ritual of a play happening four to five times a week through October 13 at Pillsbury House in South Minneapolis.

"Passage" by Exposed Brick Theatre and Pillsbury House + Theatre

Two theater companies are joining forces to bring us Passage by Christopher Chen, loosely based on the 1924 novel A Passage to India. The central question is: is it possible for two people to be friends when one is a citizen of a colonized country and the other is one of the colonizers? Colonization has been a part of world history for hundreds, even thousands, of years, but awareness and discussion of its injustices has never been at a higher level. This play puts a human face on the sometimes abstract issue, and places the audience squarely in the shoes of both the colonized and the colonizers. For more on how this collaboration between Exposed Brick Theatre and Pillsbury House + Theatre came to be, listen to episode 2.3 of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers' podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat, in which my blogger friends from Minnesota Theater Love and I interview the co-directors of this piece, longtime friends and synchronized swimming teammates Signe V. Harriday (Pillsbury House's Artistic Director) and Suzy Messerole (co-Artistic Director of Exposed Brick). Then get your tickets and head to "the jewel of South Minneapolis" to see this thought-provoking and engaging play.

"the bull-jean stories" at Pillsbury House Theatre

This year, Pillsbury House Theatre is presenting the work of playwright and author Sharon Bridgforth, whose work 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." Their current production the bull-jean stories, to be followed by bull-jean/we wake this summer, is a little like that. The amazing Aimee K. Bryant plays a dozen or more characters, all telling stories about a woman known as bull-jean, or bulldog-jean, in a lyrical and non-linear way. It's really beautiful, moving, and almost dreamlike storytelling (continuing through February 5).

"What to Send Up When It Goes Down" at Pillsbury House Theatre (outdoors)

Pillsbury House Theater returns to live theater with the play What to Send Up When It Goes Down by playwright Aleshea Harris (who also wrote the powerful revenge fantasy Is God Is produced by Mixed Blood Theatre a few years ago). Though written in 2019, this play could not be more relevant to this time and place. The time: coming out of a tumultuous year-plus that saw a devastating global pandemic, the continued murder of Black people by police that led to a racial reckoning, and an attempted violent overthrow of our government by white supremacists. The place: the parking lot outside Pillsbury House Theatre in south Minneapolis, just a few blocks from where George Floyd was murdered just over a year ago. This play was created by Black people for Black people as a safe space to gather, release, mourn, and celebrate the experience of being Black in America. Described as "part ritual and part theatrical experience," it's one of those rare plays that transcends theater to become an experience of real connection and communion with each other and what's going on in the world around us. This is the kind of profound, relevant, truly meaningful theater that I expected to come out of this last year, and I hope it continues.

"Hidden Heroes: The Black Women of NASA" at Stages Theatre Company

Are you (or your children) a fan of superhero origin stories? If so, you (and they) should go see Hidden Heroes: The Black Women of NASA at Stages Theatre in Hopkins. It's the origin story of heroes named Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Miriam Mann, and Annie Easley - black women scientists and mathematicians who played a vital role in the space race. Most of us learned about them through the 2016 film Hidden Figures, which was based on the book of the same name that came out the same year. Now multi-talented #TCTheater artist Shá Cage has adapted the book into a play for young people, that imagines what these remarkable women were like as children. She's taken a bit of artistic license (I doubt all four went to the same school), but shares the truth of what it was like to be a black girl growing up in the mid 20th Century, the limitations placed on them that they persevered through to become heroes. It's a very special thing to see a stage full of women and girls of color telling this story, inspiring us not only with the history of these smart, brave, pioneering black women, but also with their own artistic talent. Director Signe V. Harriday notes in the program: "May this play spark in you the feeling of joy and the power of dreaming." Mission accomplished.

"The Agitators" at Park Square Theatre

When planning their 2018-2019 season, Park Square Theatre couldn't have known how timely and relevant The Agitators would be. But then again, the lives and work of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass will never not be relevant and urgent until their dream of an America that is equal and just for all is realized. And we have not yet reached that day. That's why football players take the knee during the National Anthem, and why women take to the streets in pink hats. It's the legacy of these two self-described (at least in the words of the play) agitators, people who stir things up and get people talking, because that's where change begins. Their legacy is also our right to vote, which these two (among many) fought so hard to secure for all Americans. With what feels like the most important mid-term election in history approaching, it's a perfect time for this play to remind us just why the vote is so important that these two agitators devoted their entire lives to it. Playwrights' Center core writer Mat Smart's smart (pardon the pun), funny, engaging, and inspiring play couldn't come at a better time.

"Cardboard Piano" at Park Square Theatre

Forgiveness. Redemption. Healing. Can you always repair something that you broke if you try hard enough? Or will some things remain forever broken? Can we do bad things, I mean really bad things, and somehow wash our souls clean to become "good" again? Can you forgive someone who's responsible for the greatest hurt of your life? And if not, how do you ever recover from that hurt?

These are some of the ideas and questions brought to mind by the beautiful and devastating new play Cardboard Piano at Park Square Theatre. You know a love story between two young women in Uganda on the eve of the new millennium will not end happily, and this one sure doesn't. It left me feeling absolutely broken. But perhaps hopeful that healing can be possible if we listen to each other and try to understand.