"Last Stop on Market Street" streaming from Children's Theatre Company

Like many theaters, Children's Theatre Company is offering recordings of past shows to be viewed during this extended intermission from theater. The current show is Last Stop on Market Street from 2018, a show I didn't see because there was so much #TCTheater happening I couldn't fit everything into my schedule (what a great problem to have). I watched it today and found it to be a sweet and entertaining show with a great message. It's available for a 24-hour rental through November 22 (ticket price beginning at $25).

"Liberty Falls 2020" web series by The Moving Company

The Moving Company is remounting their absurd comedy Liberty Falls 54321 as a four-part web series called Liberty Falls 2020, and I couldn't be happier about it. We revisit the specifically odd characters from the play (last seen in early 2017) in the specifically odd year that is 2020. The first three episodes are free to view, and if you like what you see, the fourth episode can be viewed for only $6.99. The talented and hilarious original cast (plus a few welcome additions) has reunited in creative ways to bring us wonderfully silly story, not without some social commentary. Click here to watch.

A Love Letter to Theater

I sent this letter, along with two paper cranes, to Broadway Up Close, a tour company and gift shop in NYC, for their "Broadway Paper Crane Project," in which theater lovers all over the world are making cranes with a wish for the return of theater. They're a great follow on Instagram (or Facebook, where you can find details of the Crane Project) that's helping me feel connected, at least a little bit, to Broadway and theater in general. I also ordered some of their merch, including a beautiful custom engraved wooden magnet representing the ticket stub from when I saw Hamilton, and a Broadway passport in which I've recorded the 60+ shows I've seen at the 41 Broadway theaters over the last 20 years, which I hope to add to next year.

"Flip the Script: The Great Divide IV" an audio play series by Pillsbury House Theatre

"During the 2016 presidential election, the American political landscape ruptured into one of the most heated divides in recent history. In response, Pillsbury House Theatre began The Great Divide project, commissioning five new ten-minute plays each year tackling the rising political tensions in America. As we head towards the 2020 election, on the heels of a pandemic and a global uprising, that divide has grown even larger. For the fourth and final installment of The Great Divide, Pillsbury House Theatre has invited five former Great Divide playwrights to write a companion piece to their earlier work that imagines a way to move forward, beyond the divide. By pairing playwrights' earlier work with pieces written in this election year, Flip the Script is a powerful examination of the past, present, and future of our political divide."

"Operation: Immigration" streaming from Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company

One of the hits of last year's Minnesota Fringe Festival was #TCTheater artist Avi Aharoni's solo show Operation: Immigration, which was the highest selling Fringe show at Mixed Blood. Now, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company (where Avi has frequently performed) is offering an updated and filmed remount of the show as part of their 2020-2021 season, entitled "Theater Six Feet Apart." Avi and the creative team (including director Robert Dorfman, cinematographer Ryan Melling, sound designer Reid Rejsa, and lighting designer Todd M. Reemtsma) have done a great job transferring the on-stage show to a filmed production. One of the great things about the Fringe show is that Avi played very well off of the live audience, which of course is gone here. But he's still very personable as he tells the story of his twice-immigrant father, an Iranian Jew, and how delving into this story has influenced his own identity. One thing that remains true about this updated version of the show is this, that I wrote in my review last year: "This is a fascinating and inspiring immigrant story, about a man who sacrificed his whole life for his family's safety and security. But even more than that, it's a love letter from a son to a father, one that it was a privilege to witness."

"The Awakening of Spring" - a live virtual performance by Feral Theatre Company

Spring Awakening is one of my favorite musicals, so much so that 11 years ago I named my new kitten Moritz Stiefel. I've seen it on stage eight times, including twice on Broadway (the original run with most of the original cast, and the stunning 2015 revival by Deaf West). The musical is an adaptation by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater of the ahead-of-its-time late 19th Century German play Frülings Erwachen by Frank Wedekind. The play was often banned or censored due to it's frank (no pun intended) discussion of the sexual awakening of teenagers in an oppressed society. Feral Theatre Company is offering us this 100+ year old play for 2020, complete with zoom and masks. The themes of this play - suicide, abortion, sex education, child abuse - never lack relevancy, and are perhaps even more important now as we approach this election. It's an ambitious undertaking for a new theater company, and they do a great job bringing this story to life within the limitations of the current world, with a talented young cast that gives raw and vulnerable performances to a camera, nicely edited together with graphics of modern social media communication.

"Everything Changes: A Parking Lot Concert" by Yellow Tree Theatre in a parking lot

Everything changes, and that's perhaps never been more true in my lifetime than this year. But what hasn't changed is people's need to share stories and music, and the connection that it brings to us. Yellow Tree Theatre's outdoor drive-in parking lot concert entitled "Everything Changes" is a prime example of that. A parking lot full of cars, five performers on a makeshift stage, some speakers and a radio frequency - an unconventional set-up but a familiar and beloved experience of audience and artists sharing stories, music, energy, and light.

"A Pickup Truck Opera; Volume One: The Odyssey; Episode Three, The Song of Telemaco" by Mixed Precipitation at Various Outdoor Locations

One of my favorite summer #TCTheater traditions is Mixed Precipitation's delightfully playful mash-up of classic opera and pop music, performed outdoors with passed small bites of delicious food. While the "Picnic Operetta" (which I've attended for the last six years) is on hiatus this year due to the pandemic, Mixed Precipitation is still bringing us fun and and accessible outdoor opera in the form of what they're calling "Pickup Truck Opera." In a 2011 royal blue Ford pickup, they've been "popping up" all over the Twin Cities with their 25-minute performance of yet another opera/pop mash-up. I was lucky enough to catch one of their 11 performances, at a little not-park in St. Paul on a perfectly gorgeous fall afternoon. Their final two performances will be as part of Park Square Theatre and Steppingstone Theatre's "Family Day Out" event on October 25.

"Understood" by Trademark Theater, an Audio Play

Two years ago, Trademark Theater premiered the new play Understood, written by resident playwright Tyler Mills, about a divided couple and a divided nation. Now, when that division has only increased, and a global pandemic has made live performance dangerous, they've pivoted this piece into an audio play, updating it for 2020. It works remarkably well in this format. Removing the visuals and the staging allows the audience to really focus on the words, and what's in between the words. And this play is all about what's being said, or not being said, or how it's being said. Understood is available now through the election, and is such an advocate for the kind of communication, listening, and connection we'll need to survive the next few months.

"The Cafe" by Collide Theatrical Dance Company Outdoors at Gremlin Theatre

Since 2013, Collide Theatrical Dance Company has been creating original dance musicals that really blur the line between dance, theater, and music (their name refers to a collision of art forms). Most of their shows tell a story strictly through dance and music (typically pop songs performed live), with little or no dialogue. In February they remounted their adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, which I didn't see because I had seen the original in 2014 and I was so busy with #TCTheater that I couldn't fit it in (can you even imagine?!). But in the last 6+ months my life has become the complete opposite of that, so my schedule was happily free and clear to see their new production, being performed outdoors for a limited time only. In fact only one performance remains, tonight, and can be viewed in person or virtually. I saw it in person last night and was smiling under my mask for 60 minutes! Click here for all of the details of how you can take in this delightful dance show.

"Live at the Loading Dock: Ordway Cabaret" outdoors behind the Ordway Center

St. Paul's Ordway Center for the Performing Arts had planned a 2020-2021 Broadway season that included touring shows and original productions, classics and new musicals. But as this extended intermission is lasting longer than any of us had hoped, due to a pandemic that isn't slowing down, at least in this country, their plans have changed. The only show on the schedule as of now is a summer 2021 Ordway Original production of RENT, which of course is still dependent on what happens with the virus between now and then. To celebrate this season-that-wasn't, and to show their commitment to producing these shows at some future date, the Ordway is presenting an outdoor cabaret concert consisting of songs from the planned upcoming season, as well as one cancelled show from last season. Live at the Loading Dock is performed outside behind the theater in the loading dock area, which is really a perfect outdoor venue. Seeing this show nourished my theater-starved soul and gave me hope for that day in the future when we can all gather together safely to share music and stories again.

"An Evening with Kate Beahen" at Crooners Lakeside Cafe

What good is sitting alone In your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret.

I don't know about you, but I've been doing more "sitting alone in my room" the last six months than any six-month period in my entire life. For someone who's used to going to the cabaret, i.e., theater, 3-5 times a week, that's quite a change. As I told someone last night, life just feels a little empty right now. But fortunately, there are still cabarets that are safely happening; one of the few places is at Crooners Supper Club, which has a couple of different options for outdoor concerts. I've been to enough of their drive-in concerts that the workers recognize me and/or my bug, but this was my first time attending a concert at their lovely Lakeside Cafe, to see the one and only Kate Beahen.