"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.

"Only Ugly Guys" by Running Errands at Gremlin Theatre

The "funny, clever, inventive, and very modern" new play Only Ugly Guys, written by up-and-coming #TCTheater artist Kurt Engh, is back for another round. But this is no mere remount, it's an expansion and rewrite of what he calls an "anti-romcom" about four young gay men. The version staged at Open Eye Theater last summer as part of their Guest Artist Series was 90 minutes long and used projections of videos, texts, and social media. This new version (with two of the four original cast members returning) is about two and a half hours including intermission, staged on the thrust stage at Gremlin Theatre. So there's 30-40 additional minutes of story, with a new structure and style as well. It's the same four characters and similar relationships and story, but told in a fresh new way. And it's still "funny, clever, inventive, and very modern," continuing through September 27.

"Torch Song" at Six Points Theater

A few years ago, Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein wrote a new adaptation of his 1982 play Torch Song Trilogy (for which he won two of his four Tonys), cutting it down to about two and a half hours from the original four. Six Points Theater is presenting this version, that still feels like three distinct but related one-act plays. It's a beautiful and heart-wrenching story about a gay man navigating his career as a drag queen, dating, relationships, and family. Full of heart and humor and featuring a lovely and heartfelt performance by Neal Beckman, this Torch Song is a joy to experience. See it at Six Points Theater (in the Highland Park Community Center) now through May 19.