State of the Arts Category Archive: Theater

Fringe Festival announces new Midwest tour circuit, training for artists

Posted at 10:52 AM on November 13, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Theater

This past August the Minnesota Fringe Festival broke a lot of personal records. 46,189 tickets were issued to an estimated 15,100 patrons to see 162 shows at 22 different venues. Executive director Robin Gillette says she thinks the festival doesn't need to grow anymore than it has already, and so she's focussing instead on getting more people into the festival from across the region. Up until now the festival has been dominated by artists from the Twin Cities.

"We're heading to Wisconsin, Iowa and all over Minnesota," said Gillette. "A huge number of people create performing arts in the Upper Midwest, and we want them to participate in our festival."

Gillette said the Minnesota Fringe is also participating in the first organized tour for U.S.-based Fringes. Four Midwestern festivals--Kansas City Fringe Festival, Minnesota Fringe Festival, Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival and Chicago Fringe Festival--have created a circuit for artists who want to participate in all four festivals. Two companies will be picked from the Minneapolis Fringe to participate in the tour.

Gillette said the Fringe is also expanding its training and support to budding performance companies. Fringe and Springboard for the Arts are organizing an all-day conference for producers of small theater.

"The goal is to teach our producers how to make a show a reality," Gillette said. "Fringe is a fantastic way for first-time producers to get their feet wet, but we want to make sure our participants walk away feeling like they've learned enough to do it again outside the framework of the festival."

Fringe is introducing two new programs: "First Steps" for first-time Fringe producers and "Next Steps" for producers with more Fringe experience. First Steps includes a mentorship program with a more established production company and Next Steps provides support to companies as they look to produce shows outside of the Fringe.

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Brave New Workshop goes green

Posted at 3:21 PM on November 12, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

Brave New Workshop has converted its stage lights to LEDs, which has helped to cut its electric bill by 73%.

Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre might not seem like the most likely company to actively embrace environmentalism - its shows tend to mock earnest, do-gooders (along with everyone else). But the theater's last production "Brave New Workshop Saves the Planet!" appears to have left its mark on the staff.

BNW's Vice President of Client Services Elena Imaretska is the force behind a lot of recent changes at the theater that are part of an ongoing effort to reduce its carbon footprint. These changes range from simple ones- improving signage on recycling bins - to some significant accomplishments. Imaretska says it's the natural outgrowth of BNW's own corporate approach to "sustainability."

I think everybody should be green, I don't think we have a choice anymore. We need to be responsible as an organization or we'll disengage our audiences.

Just last month BNW converted its stage lights to LEDs. LEDs can change colors, so the company was able to cut back on the number of stage lights hanging in the theater. That, combined with converting all other lights in the building to either LEDs or compact fluorescent bulbs has cut its electricity use by 73%.

How much money did BNW have to put down for its new, high-tech stage lights? Not a penny. They were paid for in part through a grant from the Minnesota Center for Energy and Environment, and through a loan offered jointly by the MCEE and Excel Energy. BNW will pay back the loan over the next two years by continuing to pay its electric bills at their previous, higher rate. So the installation of the lights cost nothing in the short-term, and will save money in the longterm.

Other changes include converting to 100% post consumer recycled paper, reducing the amount of paper used in mailings, programs, and in the office, and eliminating paper and plastic cups at the theater bar.

On opening nights BNW offers pizza to its patrons. Now, for $20, the city of Minneapolis provides a compost bin to the theater at the beginning of the evening, and picks it up at the end. All the waste generated in the course of the evening - pizza boxes, paper plates, napkins - is thrown into the bin and composted.

In addition to changing its own behavior, BNW is encouraging its patrons to make changes, too. The company has installed bike racks in front of the building, and ticketholders who present a bus pass or a bike helmet at the bar are treated to a free drink.

Imaretska says the company hasn't been able to do everything it would like to reduce its carbon footprint (such as install a more efficient heating/cooling system), in part because it doesn't own the building in which it lives. But it has been able to do quite a bit for much less money than it anticipated. Brave New Workshop offered its improv training and exercises to the University of Minnesota's Design school, and in return, the design school's Greenlight initiative looked at the theater's space and offered some short-, mid-, and long-term solutions. Such a consultation would have normally cost thousands of dollars.

Brave New Workshop is now working to share what its learned with other theater companies. Along with a few other interested parties, it's created the Twin Cities Sustainable Theaters (it's still in the very nascent stages, and so at the moment is just a LinkedIn group). The group meets next in December.

Lest you might think BNW is now going to preach environmentalism from the stage, not to worry. It's latest production "Brett Favre's Christmas Spectacular: the Immaculate Interception" is far more concerned with 'purple' than 'green.'

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A different kind of "Christmas cheer"

Posted at 2:02 PM on November 13, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

Allen Hamilton as Richard and Patrick Bailey as Ivan in the Jungle Theater production of "The Seafarer" by Conor McPherson.

While many theaters are bringing back their warm holiday chestnuts of "A Christmas Carol" or "All is Calm" or "Black Nativity," Jungle Theater is trying out its own brand of seasonal entertainment. "The Seafarer", by Conor McPherson, is the tale of four Irish drunks who've pretty much wasted their lives, and proceed to spend Christmas eve playing a game of poker while getting blitzed. Director Joes Sass said despite the boozing and cursing, the play glows with the holiday spirit.

It is entirely concerned with the gentle moments of grace and kindness these characters exhibit for each other. Conor McPherson was inspired to write this play after visiting Newgrange, a Neolithic tomb built into an Irish hillside. The interior of this tomb always remains in pitch blackness--except on the dawn of the winter solstice, when the rising sun reaches into the tomb and floods it with brilliant light. It is an ancient and powerful metaphor for Light conquering Darkness, and about new life beginning. McPherson said "I wanted to write a play about that moment--when the light comes in at the end."

The darkness in the lives of these men appears to be the desperate state in which they live. Richard has recently lost his sight and is adjusting poorly to his new disability. Sharky cares for his brother despite the constant abuse Richard heaps onto him. Ivan can't help but drink himself into a stupor, leading his wife to kick him out of the house. Nick is shacking up with Sharky's ex-girlfriend and prone to consuming all his friends liquor.

The drama and suspense comes with the arrival of a certain Mr. Kilbourne, who it turns out has played poker with Sharky before, and is a bit of a shark himself when it comes to cards. Before long it's clear that Kilbourne is no ordinary visitor, and Sharky realizes he's playing for more than just the pot on the table.


Phil Kilbourne as Mr. Lockhart in "The Seafarer"

Sass said another one of the inspirations for "The Seafarer" was the legend of Dublin's 'Hellfire Club,' a hunting lodge that in the 1800s was used by aristocrats and land-owners to gather for drinking and card-playing:

The story goes that one night the Devil arrived, disguised as a stranger dressed in black, seeking shelter from the storm. When one of the other guests bent down to pick up a dropped playing card, he noticed the stranger had cloven hooves for feet--and the Devil vanished in a puff of smoke. In "The Seafarer," McPherson explores the next chapter of that myth; what might have happened if the Devil had stayed the night, and why was he there in the first place?

Sharky (played by Stephen Yoakam) contemplates his bleak past and even bleaker future in "The Seafarer."

Sass believes playwright Conor McPherson to be a master of storytelling. Sass directed another McPherson play, SHINING CITY, in which a man was haunted by the ghost of his recently deceased wife. He says "The Seafarer" explores, in a much funnier way, similar themes about how we strive to break away from past relationships, turn over a new leaf, and create a second chance for ourselves.

Despite their appalling behavior, audiences will immediately recognize the peculiar bonds of family and friendship that link the characters: the bickering brothers, Sharky and Richard; and their friends Nicky and Ivan--local lads who don't have much to show for their life except their mutual love of cards and drink. But when the Devil darkens the doorway, they have each other's backs.

"The Seafarer" gets its name from an anonymous English poem written in the late 8th century.

"He knows not/ Who lives most easily on land, how I/ Have spent my winter on the ice-cold sea/ Wretched and anxious, in the paths of exile/ Lacking dear friends, hung round by icicles/ While hail flew past in showers..."

Sass said the poem's bleak description of life at sea could aptly describe that of any one of the characters in the play. But by the end you're left wondering if the most desolate one of them all isn't the devil himself.

"The Seafarer" opens tonight at the Jungle Theater and runs through December 20.

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Can art be democratic? Pangea World Theater thinks so.

Posted at 3:56 PM on November 6, 2009 by Marianne Combs (4 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Theater

"Bridges" performers run through one of their collaborative pieces.

Usually when we think of art, we think of one person's vision. That person could be a painter, a choreographer, a playwright or a director. Their idea is transferred to a canvass, or in the case of theater, to a group of actors and staff charged with carrying out the artists' vision.

The founders of Pangea World Theater think that model needs to change. For three years now, Pangea has hosted what it calls "Bridges" - an intensive program in which artists from different backgrounds work together on a performance. The actors have as much say as the playwrights. Artistic Director Dipankar Mukherjee says Bridges is about coming up with a new way of creating art.

Because the current way is mainstream, and in 'the mainstream' many voices are missing. Financially privileged Euro-American white voices form the centers of most artistic conversations. It's not that artists with marginalized voices stopped creating work - they've always created work. The question is, can we create a circle in which the work is in the center, and that work is dynamized by everybody's participation?

The "Bridges" project provides a pretty heady environment for performers, filled with discussions and workshops in addition to rehearsals. For three weeks they've debated the responsibilities and privilege of being an artist, and the've created work. The results of their collaboration is onstage this weekend at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis.

"Bridges" curators Dipankar Mukherjee, Meena Natarajan and J. Otis Powell!

The results of their work border on the abstract, which curator Meena Natarajan says is to be expected since they've had so little time to collaborate. But the process they've undertaken will stay with them in future projects, and perhaps lead to new work, and new insights.

Still, the idea of "democratic art" seems cumbersome. Is it practical to make art as a group? Curator J. Otis Powell! says it is:

It is practical that we practice freedom, it is practical that we practice democracy it is practical that we practice listening to each other. Unless we practice we're never going to get better at it. If we keep saying "too many cooks spoil the broth" then we're going to continue to get the same result, because we say "oh yeah, that's right - I've heard that all my life, so it must be true." We're saying that must not be true. It must be true that we can have a better world if we actually paid attention to everybody who's speaking instead of just certain people who are speaking.

As is often the case with art, these performers are trying to create a microcosm of what they want to see in the world. And for that, they're willing to be patient, and keep working.

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Arts 101: Theater company vs. theater building

Posted at 12:16 PM on October 30, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Arts 101, Theater

Theatre de la Jeune Lune had its own theater, and rented it out to other theaters to perform in. Now two of the performers from Jeune Lune (Steve Epp and Dominique Serrand, shown above) are starting a new theater company, and are performing in other people's theaters. Confused? Read on...

I was trawling through Facebook the other day when I stumbled across a thread that caught my eye. A couple of theater professionals were bemoaning the confusion that often arises when a small theater company performs in somebody else's building.
For example, the Guthrie Theater is a professional company with a national reputation for its work. But the building it works out of has three stages, and it often allows other, smaller companies to perform in its space. So a theater-goer who's not paying attention might see a show that was put on by Penumbra, or Theater Mu, or Frank Theater, and come away thinking they had just seen a "Guthrie production."

At the least it means the performing company doesn't get word-of-mouth credit for its work, and loses some potential marketing. But sometimes it can mean the wrong theater company gets a donation at the end of the year. Christopher Kidder, the director of the annual "Klingon Christmas Carol," said he knows of at least one person who gave $100 to Mixed Blood Theatre Company by accident, after having seen his production there.

While the confusion between a theater company and a theater building can frustrate some professionals, others have been known to use it to their advantage. Kidder (and others on his Facebook thread) had heard of at least a couple of instances in which an actor claimed "I've got the lead in a Guthrie play!" In truth, they are performing in a much smaller theater company's production - it just happens to be on a Guthrie stage.

So what to do? The root of the problem is that both the buildings and the companies are called "theaters," and I don't see that changing anytime soon. The best that anyone can ask for is that audience members take a moment to make sure they know the name of the theater company they're seeing, not just the name of the building they're in.

(And if a friend tells you they got the lead in a Guthrie play, you might want to do some fact-checking... )

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What theater can do that the news can't

Posted at 10:17 AM on October 16, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

Celeste Jones, Regina Marie Williams, and Bruce Young in "Ruined" at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. Photo by Ann Marsden.

Recently I had the opportunity to fill in for Kerri Miller as host of Midmorning. The two-hour talk show is always a challenge, particularly because it involves reading up on topics I don't usually cover. One of those hours concerned the use of rape as a weapon in wartime, prompted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Certainly, I thought, this is as far from my arts beat as it gets.

Well, my arts reporting may not have prepared me to talk about the Congo, but that hour on Midmorning did help me to better understand the urgency behind Mixed Blood Theatre's latest production "Ruined."

"Ruined" tells the story of women in a brothel in the Congo, and the amazing strength it takes to simply survive in a world where rape and murder is commonplace. The play, by Lynn Nottage (the playwright behind "Intimate Apparel" and "Fabulation or, the Re-Education of Undine"), premiered a year ago in Chicago, and opened to rave reviews off-Broadway this past February.

The play accomplishes something that the news can't. Let me explain.

We talked for an hour on Midmorning with experts in the field about the challenges surrounding preventing rape during war. Now it's likely many people turned off their radios at the mention of the word "rape." It's a difficult topic that's hard to talk about. Those brave souls who did tune in for the full hour learned a lot of facts, and were exposed to some new ideas.

What they did not learn was the name of a single woman affected by this crisis, or her particular story.

"Ruined" uses theater to take you to the Congo, introduce you to the women there, and teach you what if feels like to endure day in, day out, life under civil war. Through words, images, music and dance, the play lures people in with entertainment, and then convinces them to care. Sneaky, no?

Ben Brantley writes in his review of the Manhattan Theater Club's production for the New York Times:

...precisely because of its artistic caution, "Ruined" is likely to reach audiences averse to more adventurous, confrontational theater. And people who might ordinarily look away from horror stories of distant wars may well find themselves bound in empathy to the unthinkably abused women that Ms. Nottage and the excellent actresses here have shaped with such care and warmth.

If you make it to Mixed Blood Theatre's production of "Ruined" (which opens tonight and runs through November 22) be prepared to be compelled by some great storytelling. And be prepared to care.

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Blake School part of national theater project on hate crimes

Posted at 10:14 AM on October 12, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Theater

The famous "Laramie Project" - is getting an update tonight on stages around the world with the simultaneous reading of "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later." The 'epilogue' focuses on the long-term effects of Matthew Shepard's murder has had on the town of Laramie, and includes interviews with both his mother and his killer, who's serving two consecutive life sentences.

In the Twin Cities area you can see the reading of the new work at the Guthrie Theater... or at the Blake School on its Hopkins campus. A cast of 14 Blake students and staff will take the stage to bring the town's story to life. The production is sponsored by The Blake School Gay Straight Alliance and all proceeds will go to the nonprofit Avenues for Homeless Youth.

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Making the leap from actor to director

Posted at 2:49 PM on October 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

Sonja Parks gives notes to actor Ansa Akyea during a rehearsal of "Othello."

Sonja Parks has a solid reputation as an accomplished actor in the Twin Cities. In just the past year she performed the one-woman show "No Child" at Pillsbury House Theater (for which she won an Ivey Award) and starred in "I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady From Rwanda" at Park Square Theatre.

But Parks has decided that simply acting is not enough for her; she wants to direct. I caught up with Parks at a rehearsal for "Othello" which she's co-directing with Ten Thousand Things' Artistic Director Michelle Hensley. Parks doesn't mince words when she talks about the trade-offs between acting and directing:

To be perfectly honest with you, what directing provides me that acting does not is a say-so.

I've always been the kind of performer who wanted - okay, demanded! - a say in what my character did onstage. I'll never overstep my bounds as an actor in the rehearsal room, but if what you want is a just a body who will show up and move around the stage saying the text the way you want them to say it, I'm not your girl. I know there are those who will argue that that's what acting is and, I'm sorry, no offense, but they're wrong.

Parks says she's committed to a collaborative style of directing in which actors have a voice not just on stage, but in rehearsal. Parks obviously isn't afraid of a challenge, taking on a Shakespeare classic as one of her first projects. She says she loves "Othello," in part because it "pushes my buttons."

The play deals with, among other things, racism. A few times in rehearsal, I had to step back and say: "Okay, I'm not liking this character 'cause they are saying some really racist stuff. But that's what the moment is about, so don't whimp out."

As a black person, it's hard for me to say to a white actor: "You have to make that line sound like the N-word", and I know it's hard for the actor too, but that's what's going on in the scene--that's what it is.

The treatment of women in this play too, is hard for me as a woman. I don't want to see women brutalized, but that's what's on the page. And I joke and kid around about being a violent person, but some of the violence in the play is disturbing. But I'm the director, and if I milk-toast the violence, I'm cheating my audience.

I love the play because it addresses all those ugly things in human nature. I wanted to do the play to bring those things to the forefront. My personal challenge is that I have to go to those places in myself to find the truth of the scenes and that's very difficult.

Even from just attending an hour of rehearsal, it's evident that this is a different "Othello" from stagings I'm familiar with. The Desdemona of this production fights back. The jealousy is not artful - it's real and painful. Michelle Hensley credits Parks with bringing that element to the show.

Othello co-directors Michelle Hensley and Sonja Parks

She brings a great commitment to making all the "ugliness" of the play palpable -- not shying away from the "animal" behavior that jealousy brings out in all of us -- the rage and the violence, particularly the sexual violence. Bringing her perspective as an African American woman as well, she shared my commitment to looking at this play not just as one black man in a white man's world -- but in a world more comparable to ours today, where women and blacks hold positions of power -- but racism and sexism still exist, though in more subtle and complex forms.

Parks adds, "This production is not a glorification of any one society or culture. It touches, rather, on the baggage we all carry around, no matter what our culture. The white characters aren't the kindest and the purest and neither are the blacks. I'm interested in what motivates our actions as human beings and then what labels we put on that."

Parks says directing for her is about growing as a person, and taking on new challenges. And with this production she'll certainly find out what audiences think of her work.

Ten Thousand Things Theater Company performs primarily for people who wouldn't otherwise get a chance to see theater, bringing plays to homeless shelters, prisons and other places that serve the disenfranchised. That often means that if they don't like the show, attendees will get up and walk out, or start talking to the person sitting next to them.

Othello runs October 14 through November 15 at various locations, including public performances at Open Book and the Minnesota Opera Center.

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Radio Golf: A play for our time

Posted at 2:11 PM on September 30, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

James Craven as Harmond Wilks and Abdul Salaam El Razzac as Elder Joseph Barlow in "Radio Golf" at Penumbra Theatre. Photo credit: Lauren B. Photography

August Wilson died on October 2, 2005, just six months after the premiere of "Radio Golf," the tenth and final play in "The Pittsburgh Cycle," his examination of African-American life in the 20th century (one play for each decade). "Radio Golf," set in the 1990s, is the story of Harmond Wilks, an Ivy League-educated lawyer with an educated and ambitious wife. Wilks wants to redevelop an area of the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and declares his candidacy to be the city's first black mayor.

While Wilson died with the satisfaction of having completed his life's great project, in retrospect it seems tragic that he didn't live just 25 months longer, to see the election of the nation's first black president. Penumbra Theatre Artistic Director Lou Bellamy, who is staging the regional premiere of the play, finds the timing compelling:

Wilson imagined his lead character, Harmond Wilks, Pittsburgh's first serious black mayoral candidate, long before Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States. Yet, the text of Radio Golf feels and sounds as though it was ripped from yesterday's headlines. The result is an eerie prescience with which Wilson develops the issues in Radio Golf. It's possible that his play might provide a more objective snapshot of today's political climate than our own first-hand observation.

James Craven as Harmond Wilks and Austene Van as Mame Wilks in "Radio Golf" at Penumbra Theatre. Photo credit: Lauren B. Photography

In "Radio Golf" Harmond Wilks not only faces the skepticism and expectations of his own community:

Sterling: You get to be mayor, is you gonna be mayor of the black folks or the white folks?

Harmond: If I win, I'm going to be mayor of the city Pittsburgh. I'm going to be mayor of all the people.

Sterling: The white mayor, he be the mayor of white folks. Black folks can't get the streets cleaned. The schools don't have no textbooks. Don't have no football uniforms. The mayor be the mayor for white folks. As soon as black folks start a club or something, the first thing they say is it just ain't gonna be for blacks. Why not? They got five hundred thousand things that be just for white folks. If they have fourteen hundred students out at Pitt eating lunch in the cafeteria, and they have five black people eating lunch together, they say, "look, see, they segregate themselves." They ain't said nothing about them thirteen hundred and ninety-five white folks eating lunch by themselves. What's wrong with being the mayor for black folks?

Harmond: I'm going to be the mayor of everybody. It's not about being white or black, it's about being American.

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The panels of artist peers have spoken

Posted at 1:57 PM on September 24, 2009 by Chris Roberts (1 Comments)
Filed under: Dance, People, Theater

It's been a week of honors and acknowledgement in the Minnesota arts community.

On Monday night, the Ivey Awards, the annual celebration of Twin Cities theater, brought glitz, glamour and local thespian star power to the State Theater in Minneapolis.

On Wednesday night, members of the dance scene trained a spotlight on their best and brightest in 2009, with the fifth annual Sage Awards (named after dancer, choreographer and philanthropist Sage Cowles) at the Walker Art Center's McGuire Theater.

Both ceremonies are designed to tone down competition -- there are no pre-established categories and awards are decided by peer panels rather than independent judges.

A hearty congratulations to the winners!

Ivey Awards

Jennifer and Christina Baldwin---Outstanding singing and acting in "Sister Stories," by Nautilus Music Theater

Greta Olgesby---Outstanding performance in Tony Kushner's "Caroline, Or Change" at the Guthrie Theater

Luverne Seifert---Outstanding performance in "800 Words, The Transmigration of Philip K. Dick," by Workhaus Theater Collective

Sonja Parks---Outstanding performance in the one-woman show, "No Child," at Pillsbury House Theatre

The Youth Performance Company---Civil rights musical "Little Rock, 1957"

Greg Banks---Oustanding direction in "Romeo and Juliet," by the Childrens Theatre Company

Chris Griffith---Oustanding prop design in "Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins," by the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company

Sean Healy---Oustanding sound design in "Shipwrecked," by the Jungle Theater

The History Theatre---Overall excellence for its production, "Tyrone and Ralph," written by Jeffrey Hatcher

Theatre Latte Da--Overall excellence for its production, "Old Wicked Songs"

Emily Gunyou Halaas---Emerging Artist award

Dudley Riggs---Lifetime Achievement award

Sage Awards

Tary Griggs---Outstanding Performer award

Kristin Van Loon---Outstanding Performer award

Tamara Ober---Outstanding Performer award

John Munger---Outstanding Performance award for "Lord Cutglass"

Hijack---Outstanding Performance award for "O.M.G. P,Y.T.M.K."

Chris Yon---Outstanding Performance award for "The Infinite Multiverse"

John Koch, Vanessa Voskull, David Mehrer---Technical award for lighting, prop and video design in "En Masse"

Karen Sherman, Jeremy Wilhelm---Technical award for set design in "Copperhead"

Jane Shockley---Recognized for her contributions to dance education as a founding member of Zenon Dance Company

Wild Goose Chase Cloggers, DeLaSouljah Steppers--Special citation

Sachiko Nishiuchi---People's Choice award for work with Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre

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Guthrie to show three more National Theatre broadcasts this season

Posted at 12:31 PM on September 23, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Technology, Theater

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis announced today it will show three more NT Live broadcasts from the National Theatre in London. The decision follows the success of the the NT performance of Phedre with Helen Mirren in midsummer.

The three shows are Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well" (right) on Oct 24th and 25th at 1pm, "Nation" by Terry Pratchett (Feb 5th and 6th at 7,30,) and a new Allen Bennett play "The Habit of Art" on May 1st and 2nd.

Some theaters will take the NT feed live, but due to timing considerations, and other shows already booked in the theater, the Guthrie shows will be tape delayed.

The Guthrie's Lee Henderson says while there were a few technical glitches on "Phedre" the production was very well received. He says the Metropolitan Opera has already prepared audiences for the idea through its productions sent to theaters around the world. He says patrons know the quality of the National Theatre and then curiosity brings them in.

He also points out that it's expensive to fly to London to see a show, and this arrangement offers a unique opportunity.

"To see four shows at the National Theater in London is just not possible for the average theater-goer in Minneapolis," he says.

The Guthrie is betting the broadcast option will work well as an affordable substitute. If local audiences like it, the Guthrie may make future NT Live broadcasts a regular feature.

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Back to school means the performance halls are open

Posted at 8:55 AM on September 21, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Music, Theater

One of the great things about the new school year is the plethora of cultural offerings at institutions of higher learning available not just to students, but the public as well.

For example Macalester College's Theater and Dance department will present John Cage's landmark 1948 piece, "Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano." There are two free performances on Saturday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 27 at 2 p.m. in Macalester College's Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center Theater.

A release from Mac describes the featured instrument in this way: "A prepared piano is one in which the pitches, timbres, and dynamic responses of individual notes are altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and other objects at particular points on the strings." Music Department chair Mark Mazullo will be at the keyboard.

Meanwhile in Northfield at Carleton College the New York-based SITI Company will present performances of a new adaptation of Sophocles "Antigone." The company will present what are called two "dress rehearsal" performances of Irish playwright Jocelyn Clark's contemporary adaptation. The shows are in preparation for the play's world premier in New York in late October. The Carleton shows are on Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m. in the College's Arena Theater.

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The Laramie Project: 10 years later

Posted at 3:30 PM on September 17, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

How much can one town learn from a brutal hate crime in a decade?

Audiences will find out on October 12th when more than 120 theaters - including the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis - present a simultaneous staging of "The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later."

The piece is meant to serve as an epilogue to "The Laramie Project," a play created entirely from interviews with the residents of Laramie, Wyoming in the wake of the brutal murder of 21 year-old Matthew Shepard. Witnesses to Shepard's murder say it was motivated by hatred for gays, and the media coverage of his death brought attention to the need for hate crime legislation.

Now Tectonic Theater has returned with "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later," a look at how the murder continues to reverberate in the community. The play includes new interviews with Matthew's mother Judy Shepard and Matthew's murderer Aaron McKinney (currently serving dual life sentences), as well as follow-up interviews with many of the individuals from the original piece.

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Remembering Rachel Corrie

Posted at 10:08 AM on September 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: People, Theater

In the years since the 23 year old's death attempting to stand down an Israeli bulldozer, Rachel Corrie has been called both a martyr and a fool. But what she was is something much more complex - an intelligent, compassionate and imperfect human being.

The play "My Name is Rachel Corrie" - opening Friday at Open Eye Figure Theater - is compiled from her journal entries and her e-mails, spanning her childhood right up to the final days before her death. It takes you into the head of a bright and idealistic young woman who keeps a messy room, loves to write, and can't stand the inequities she sees in the world.

Last night I paid a visit to a final rehearsal of "Rachel Corrie." Director Jess Finney says she's staging the play not as a platform for political discussion (although it does deal heavily with the Israel-Palestine conflict) but more as an exploration of American identity.

"Rachel Corrie's story is so emblematic of the American ideal , with her desire to save the world," said Finney.

Emily Gunyou Halaas takes on the part of Rachel Corrie. She says she feels both daunted and fortunate to be playing the role of someone who lived so recently. She's seen videos of Corrie, but says just trying to mimic her would be insult to her memory.

"What makes this play work is that her writing is so beautiful," said Gunyou Halaas. Indeed - here's an excerpt:

Nothing could have prepared me for the reality of the situation here. You just can't imagine it unless you see it. And even then your experience is not at all the reality: what with the difficulties the Israeli army would face if they shot an unarmed US citizen, the fact that I have money to buy water when the army destroys wells and, of course, the fact that I have the option of leaving. I am allowed to see the ocean.

If I feel outrage at entering briefly into the world in which these children exist, I wonder how it would be for them to arrive in my world. Once you have seen the ocean and lived in a silent place where water is taken for granted and not stolen in the night by bulldozers, spent an evening when you didn't wonder if the walls of your home might fall suddenly inward, aren't surrounded by towers, tanks and now a giant metal wall, I wonder if you can forgive the world for all the years spent existing - just existing - in resistance to the constant attempt to erase you from your home. That is something I wonder about these children. I wonder what would happen if they really knew.

Rachel Corrie died less than two months after arriving in Israel to work as a "human shield" and do what she saw as her part to save the world. While a bulldozer cut short her life, her story is now known around the world, and her idealist spirit shines even brighter than before.

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Times are tough for arts, may get worse

Posted at 4:48 PM on September 4, 2009 by Chris Roberts (0 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Funding, Theater

With a few exceptions, 2009 has been a year of salary freezes, layoffs and declining revenue for many Minnesota arts organizations. With all the reported sightings of the 'green shoots of a recovery' and an emerging belief that the worst of the recession is behind us, is the worst over for arts groups?

Bush Foundation President Peter Hutchinson says no. In fact, Hutchinson says 2010 is likely to be worse than 2009.

Hutchinson said arts groups depend primarily on four sources of revenue -- ticket sales, individual donations, public funding, and philanthropic giving. He expects ticket sales and individual donations will continue to be detrimentally affected by the high unemployment rate, which is predicted to linger well into 2010.

The arts may be buffered a little by new money from the stimulus package and the Legacy Amendment passed by voters last year, but Hutchinson doesn't think the level of public funding will actually rise over previous years.

Which brings us to philanthropic contributions. Hutchinson said the level of giving is dropping because of the hit foundation portfolios have taken on Wall Street.

"Foundation giving is likely to be down because most foundations figure their giving using a three year rolling average," he said. "As we went into 2009 we had a couple of really good years behind us. But as we go into 2010, we've got this really bad year that we have to incorporate into that formula, and I think that's actually going to lead to lower giving for many foundations when it comes to the arts. So, if I were predicting, I would say that arts and cultural organizations, oh and by the way, most other non-profit organizations, are going to face a really tough 2010."

Hutchinson said because of that three-year formula, foundation giving tends to be higher than you'd expect going into a recession. But he said it also lags coming out, meaning the economy generally recovers more quickly than foundation giving. He said foundation giving probably won't return to pre-recession levels until 2012.

"But that assumes that the market recovers," added Hutchinson, which he said isn't certain.

In his view, the recession may have a significant diminishing effect on the Minnesota arts landscape, depending on how arts groups respond in their programming. Hutchinson said they may be tempted to play it safe, and bring out the old "warhorse" productions that put butts in seats. He thinks that might not be wise.

"I actually think that's probably a risky strategy in the long run, because in my view this is a time when we're under stress," he said. "Communities are under stress, individuals, families, people are suffering, and I think arts organizations have a chance to kind of call us to our higher selves. Arts, more than any other institution, have this way and means of appealing to peoples' emotions, to reaching into our souls. And if all they do is put on fluff, I don't think that's rising to their highest opportunity at a time when we probably need them in ways that we've not before."

Hutchinson believes the art groups that are more relevant to their audiences in these tough times are more likely to remain relevant when the happy times are here again.

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Playwriting is a blood sport

Posted at 11:24 AM on August 21, 2009 by Marianne Combs (6 Comments)
Filed under: People, Theater

Image courtesy of The Playwrights' Center

The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis is a nationally recognized incubator for new plays, and its existence has compelled many playwrights to move to Minnesota. This week Producing Artistic Director Polly Carl is leaving the Twin Cities for a new job (Director of Artistic Development) at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Before leaving town I asked her to take a moments for an "exit interview," and she was kind enough to oblige.

Why are you leaving the Playwrights' Center?

PC: The decision to leave the PWC was incredibly difficult. I've said for many years I have the best job in the American theater, and when Steppenwolf called me my first response was "no" because I couldn't imagine a better job than Producing Artistic Director at the Playwrights' Center. After a visit to Steppenwolf, I realized that I would have a learning opportunity as an artist and administrator that I couldn't pass up. Learning is my highest value.

What's the most important thing you learned while at the Playwrights' Center?

PC: This may sound a bit philosophical but the PWC has taught me the importance of taking the long view of my work. I'm terribly impatient about every thing. When I was given the opportunity to run the Playwrights' Center I had a million ideas that I wanted realized immediately. This impatience can make me hard to work with and at times unreasonable. As I look at the evolution of this organization over eleven years I recognize that despite my impatience, my willingness to hang in over the long-term has allowed me to see what happens when you commit, when you persist and pursue. This experience has given me an entirely new approach to my work. This is an organization all about process and I have come to respect process and relish it.

What was the biggest challenge heading up the Playwrights' Center?

PC: History. Every playwright who had a history with the Playwrights' Center had an idea of how it should be run. My challenge was to harness their passions and make it into a positive. People's passions and emotions aren't always logical or properly targeted but as a leader you have to listen and respond AND trust your instincts even if they run counter to popular opinion.

What do you think of the health of the Twin Cities theater scene?

PC: I think the scene here has a lot going for it. I'm amazed at the talent pool--playwrights, directors, dramaturges, actors--they bring so much excellence to this community.

My biggest disappointment is that the commitment to new plays lives primarily with the smallest of companies with the smallest of budgets. I think this problem impacts how Minnesota theater is perceived nationally and I hear about it a lot when I travel. We have not done enough to build a broad audience in this town to love new plays, to crave risk, and to believe in their hearts that theater is much more than entertainment.

What would you do to change it?

PC: There's a lot of Minnesota nice in the theater scene here. I say less nice, more excellence.

If you could impart one thing to all playwrights, what would it be?

PC: Playwriting is a blood sport.

Anything else you want the Twin Cities arts scene to know?

PC: This town is the best. It's an artist friendly nirvana with amazing foundations who believe wholeheartedly that the arts are a necessity not an extra. It's been a privilege to work here and I'll miss it.

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When life is a musical

Posted at 8:31 AM on August 12, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Dance, Film, Music, Public Art, Theater

(500 Days of Summer/Fox Searchlight Pictures)

What if people did break into song and dance when they were really happy? Or sad? Or angry?

"500 Days of Summer" is the most recent film to use a sudden song and dance number to convey the unbridled joy of one of its main characters.

Such scenes do more than express a heightened feeling; they also give us a sense that we're all connected. Suddenly we're all singing the same song and moving to the same beat. We belong to something bigger than ourselves, and we know exactly what we're supposed to do. That sounds pretty reassuring to me.

So what if like was really like that? Well, it would probably look something like this:

The above is courtesy of Improv Everywhere, a group based in New York City whose mission is "to create chaos and joy in public places." Other spontaneous events include large crowds boarding a subway with no pants on, and throwing a wedding reception for a random couple just married at city hall. You can watch the art gallery opening they hosted on a subway platform here.

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MN Fringe Festival sets attendance records

Posted at 1:54 PM on August 10, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Theater

The Minnesota Fringe Festival reports its preliminary ticket numbers are in. They show:

46,189 tickets were issued to an estimated 15,100 patrons of the 2009 festival.

Gross box office revenue was over $330,000 from 162 different productions at 22 venues in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Compare this to 2008's numbers, when a total of 40,926 tickets were issued, generating $297,374.

This is the Fringe's best year yet, beating out the previous banner year (that was 2006, with 44,692 tickets issued with gross box office of $338,181).

Fringe artistic director Robin Gillette says she blames the success on a number of factors. She says the festival provides a wide array of cheap entertainment, which is especially appealing during a recession. In addition, there was great weather, extensive media coverage, and a really strong line-up.

"Fringe's success is a heartening sign for all Minnesota performing arts attendance this fall," said Gillette. "In many ways, Fringe is a wind-up to the next theater season. I think our festival having such an amazing year bodes well for everyone."

Top ten shows by number of tickets issued:

1. The Harty Boys in The Case of the Limping Platypus presented by Joshua English Scrimshaw and Levi Weinhagen at U of M Rarig Center Thrust (1,067 tickets)

2. Bard Fiction presented by Tedious Brief Productions at U of M Rarig Center Thrust (1,046)

3. Sideways Stories from Wayside School presented by Four Humors Theater at U of M Rarig Center Thrust (946)

4. Blue Ribbon Burlesque presented by Lili's Burlesque Revue at U of M Rarig Center Proscenium (797)

5. Tragedy of You presented by Joseph Scrimshaw Productions at U of M Rarig Center Thrust (785)

6. The Red Tureen presented by Doolin & Dingle at U of M Rarig Center Thrust (756)

7. The Return of LICK! presented by LICK! at Southern Theater (687)

8. The William Williams Effect presented by Balance Theatre Project at Southern Theater (680)

9. Buyer's Remorse presented by Sarah Gioia and Steve Moulds at Mixed Blood Theatre (637)

10. Tales ... Of the Expected! presented by Ari Hoptman at U of M Rarig Center Proscenium (615)

Top ten shows by percentage of house capacity:

1. Projectile Thinking presented by Stages Theatre Company with Jon Ferguson at InterDistrict Downtown School (108 percent)

2. Parry Hotter and the Half-Drunk Twins presented by Empty S Productions at Augsburg Studio (107.5 percent)

3. Sarah, Your Ovaries Are Drying Up: The Musical presented by Crankador Productions at Augsburg Studio (101.5 percent)

4. Two Short Operas: Mr. Berman's Bath-Size Bar and There's a Mastodon In My Backyard presented by the Dead Composers Society at Playwrights' Center (100.3 percent)

5. Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter presented by Paul von Stoetzel at Playwrights' Center (99.7 percent)

6. 2 Sugars, Room for Cream presented by Shanan Wexler and Carolyn Pool Productions at U of M Rarig Center Xperimental (96 percent)

7. The Traveling Musicians presented by 3 Sticks at Nomad World Pub (95.6 percent)

8. Rumspringa the Musical presented by Best Weird Dog at Augsburg Studio (95.1 percent)

9. Squawk presented by Walking Shadow Theatre Company at Gremlin Theatre (93.6 percent)

10. June of Arc presented by Sandbox Theatre at U of M Rarig Center Xperimental (92.6 percent)

NOTE: All numbers are preliminary and have not yet been subject to a full audit of box office receipts.

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The Tiny Circus is coming to town!

Posted at 3:12 PM on August 5, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Theater

Last summer a group of artists got together in Grinnell, Iowa and created their own miniature travelling circus. Using a rehabbed vintage airstream trailer, the Tiny Circus travels from town to town, creating stop animation films that it calls "alternate histories." Past works include "The History of Smiles," "The History of Ghosts" and "The History of Popcorn."

This weekend the Tiny Circus is coming to St. Paul, to (fittingly) the Minnesota History Center. On Saturday, Tiny Circus' Carlos Ferguson will offer a half-day workshop on how to make your own stop-motion animation. The results of the workshop will be shown on Tuesday, August 11th, following the Minnesota History Center's "Nine Nights of Music" program.

Here's one of their recent works, "The History of Rain."

For more information on the workshop, click here.

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First Frog and Toad, now Bert and Ernie

Posted at 9:11 PM on August 4, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

The Children's Theatre Company is following up its success with the musical "A Year with Frog and Toad" with the Sesame Street inspired "Bert & Ernie, Goodnight!"

It's a formula that has worked for centuries - place two good male friends with very different personalities in the same room, and watch what happens. Think The Honeymooners, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and The Odd Couple.

"Ernie is a bit of a trickster. He is imaginative and enthusiastic, while Bert, who is orderly and disciplined, simply wants to sleep. Their personalities differ, but at the core, this is a friendship with amazing heart and tenderness," says Peter C. Brosius, artistic director at CTC.

Brosius has even brought back two actors who inhabited the roles of Frog and Toad, Bradley Greenwald and Reed Sigmund. Previews for "Bert & Ernie, Goodnight!" begin September 8.

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Preliminary numbers for this year's Fringe Fest look good

Posted at 2:07 PM on August 3, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Theater

According to Fringe HQ, the first four days of the annual eleven-day performing arts festival--Thurs., July 30 through Sun., Aug. 2--show that 16,814 tickets were issued, a 19% increase over last year's 14,133 tickets.

Of this year's 162 productions, nine companies sold out their first performances and a total of 18 performances sold out. Among the sold-out shows are Bring Your Own Venue productions--a Fringe program dedicated to site-specific work--and two shows at Gremlin Theatre, Fringe's first St. Paul venue.

Traffic to the festival's Web site, fringefestival.org, increased 46 percent. By 11 a.m. today, the site had received over 1,400 audience-submitted show reviews, well on pace to eclipse last year's total, and previous festival record, of 2,200.

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War at the Fringe

Posted at 12:20 PM on August 3, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Music, Theater

What do our views of war sound like? Baritone Stephen Swanson has put together a collection of war songs both dark and humorous into a one hour performance in the Minnesota Fringe. MPR's classical host Alison Young interviewed Swanson, who performed a selection of the songs. You can find out more, and take a listen, here.

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Fringe Festival reviews are in

Posted at 8:42 AM on August 3, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Theater

Video trailer for Fringe Festival show "Sarah, Your Ovaries are Drying Up"

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a frenzied, fantastical feast of theater, dance and music, and the numerous media outlets' attempts at covering the Fringe reflect its somewhat chaotic and slippery nature. Teams of critics are sent out by the papers to review as wide a swath of shows in the first weekend as possible, reducing their usually lengthy observations to quick first impressions. Independent bloggers give their take, and others just celebrate the fact that for ten days theater has taken over the city of Minneapolis.

But for sure the most reliable way of figuring out what's a hit and what's not is by checking out the Fringe Festival's own website, complete with video trailers and user reviews.

What's emerging as the festival's standouts this year?

First off, there's "Bard Fiction" - it's a Shakespearean retelling of "Pulp Fiction." As one Fringer writes:

I was amazed at the seamless transition of handgun to dagger, cocaine to snuff, "Bad Mother****er" to "Blasted Oedipus." The use of iambic pentameter and an Elizabethan-influenced dialect retained the spirit of the dialogue while remaining easy to follow.

Looking for good laughs in more modern English? Try "The Harty Boys in the Case of the Limping Platypus." It features a theft from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and several other Minnesota references. Adult and child actors alike have received rave reviews for their performances. The cast includes local comedic talents Josh Scrimshaw, Ari Hoptman and Leslie Ball.

Some other good bets:
Untitled Duet with Houseplant
Buyer's Remorse
Jurassic Dork
Tragedy of You
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
An Intimate Evening with Fotis, Part III
Projectile Thinking

Of course, that's just a partial list. What do you recommend people see at this year's Fringe?

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Arthounds: things to consider

Posted at 12:02 PM on July 30, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film, Theater

Carolyn Pool and Shanan Wexler rehearse their show "2 Sugars, Room for Cream" for the Minnesota Fringe.(Picture Euan Kerr)

The summer arts scene explodes tonight with the opening of the Minnesota Fringe. Fringe Executive Director Robin Gillette can provide the numbers off the top of her head.

"There are 162 different companies, doing a total of 847 performances," she says.

Other important numbers: 11 days, 22 venues (including one in St Paul!) We'll have a piece on the air later today on ATC.

Also how about some laugh-out-loud cinematic satire? Armando Iannucci's "In the Loop," (not to be confused, as some have, with the fine MPR podcast of the same name,) pokes fun at the political relationship between the US and the UK in the fun-up to an invasion of an un-named Middle Eastern country. The film opened to strong reviews on the coasts last week and now comes to the Twin Cities.

The readings at local bookstores are always of interest to the MPR newsroom, because it allows tremendous access to writers who have interesting things to say. Case in point is next Tuesday evening Common Good Books in Cathedral Hill in St Paul is hosting a reading by retired Macalester professor Mahmoud El-Kati of his new book "The Hiptionary: A Survey of African American Speech Patterns with A Digest of Key Words and Phrases." It's a fascinating work on the origins and usage of words and phrases, backed with history and insight.

Also check out the recommendations of the Art Hounds, as told to Chris Roberts. And remember we are always looking for more Hounds. Want to try?

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Art Hounds: Mixing it up

Posted at 9:17 AM on July 23, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Art Hounds, Culture, Events, Film, Museums, Music, Sculpture, Theater

One of the delights of the late summer is that it's time when local arts folks mix it up a little.

Take tonight at IFP Minnesota's Fresh Fete at the Varsity Theater. As the local organization devoted to independent film it will of course be showing films, but blending some chat and a lot of music too. The film comes from local writer director Emily Haddad who won IFP Mn's Fresh Film grant last year and used it to make "Egg Timer" which will premier at 6.30. There will be a conversation between Mystery Science Theater 3000's Bill Corbett and local playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher. The evening will be rounded out by local icon Willie Murphy and the Angel Headed Hipsters and pianist John Sims.

If you haven't seen the Walker Art Center's examination of conceptual art "The Quick and the Dead" - or even if you have - it's worth a visit. There are some 90 pieces by 53 artists, some of which are designed to change over time, hence the value in returning. Take for example Claes von Oldenburg's "The Garden" which involved burying 100 objects and then exhuming and displaying one item per day. He didn't specify what the object should be, but the Walker staff chose lemons, and you can see the results in jars in the Center's lower lobby.

After sell out shows last week the Trylon Microcinema returns with another Buster Keaton film "The Navigator." Live accompaniment is supplied by the Dreamland Faces, complete with singing saws.

If you are considering a little road trip this weekend, there is the final weekend of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, and the always whacky Free Range Film Festival in Webster, about half an our south of Duluth. Movie shorts in a barn, how can you miss?

And for the truly dedicated sports fan the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis is presenting live coverage on the big screen of the Tour de France. You can watch the cyclists sweat while sitting in the finest art deco movie house the Twin Cities has to offer. Admission is free, although they are collecting non-perishable goods for local food shelves, or a $2 donation.

And of course there is all the great stuff ferreted out by the Art Hounds Want to be one of them? Sign up!

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The Guthrie reports: big ticket sales, but still a small deficit

Posted at 6:30 PM on July 20, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

There seem to be generally happy sounds coming out of the Guthrie Theater with the release of its annual report covering fiscal year 2008-2009, The headline is simple: Guthrie attendance up 9 percent, but still produces a small deficit.

As with any good drama there are a number of interesting subtexts to consider.

The Little House of the Prairie Musical was a box office highlight for the Guthrie's 2008-2009 fiscal year, but ticket sales plunged with the onset of the financial crisis.

Let's look at the positives first. Here is part of Guthrie Chief Administrative Officer Jacques Brunswick's financial report:

We had more visitors buying more tickets than any year in the theater's history, with a total attendance of 463,412 representing a 9 percent increase over the previous year. The number of performances rose from 684 to 814, an increase of 19 percent. The Guthrie also provided 68,648 tickets to the community at little or no cost. This is a 23 percent increase from the year before.

Utilizing funds raised for the new building and in accordance with the agreement with our banks, the Guthrie repaid $58 million in construction bonds during this past year and plans to repay another $7 million before the end of the current calendar year. The remaining $20 million will be repaid over time as planned.

Basically the first two big shows of the year did really well: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" played to 94 percent capacity, and "Little House on the Prairie: the Musical" sold an astonishing 101 percent. (The Guthrie reached this number by adding 12 extra seats for each performance in a space it originally planned to use for lighting, thus allowing it to exceed its original box office maximum.)

"The first part of our year we couldn't have done better" Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling said this afternoon, after pointing out that the Guthrie fiscal year runs from April 1st to the end of March. Several other early shows did well too.

But this is where we get into the negatives.

"Almost as if someone had turned a faucet off, come September our box office immediately started to drop once the whole financial crisis hit the country," Dowling said. "And from then on it really was a case of us getting large numbers but everybody was looking for a bargain."

So while box office receipts were up seven percent over the previous year, it was six percent short of the annual revenue goal. The Guthrie's Annual Fund also fell short, missing its goal by 9 percent. On top of that, just as with similar institutions all over the country the Guthrie's endowment was hit hard by drops in the stock market. It dropped from $43 million in April 2008 to just over $31 million on March 31st.

The bottom line is the Guthrie is reporting a $67,000 deficit on an operating budget of about $28 million.

It's never pleasant to report a deficit of any sort," Dowling said, "But a deficit that is small as ours less than one quarter of one percent of our operating income, you know I think we have done as well as we could have possibly have done under the circumstances."

There has been a lot of belt-tightening at the Guthrie, which apparently limited the final deficit. Artistically Dowling says there was a lot of which to be proud.

"You know, overall, looking back on this year I think we have a lot to be grateful for. It could have been a lot worse."

Dowling says there are several lessons to be taken away from 2008-2009.

"One is that we are not budgeting at the high box office levels that we anticipated in the last fiscal year," he said. "We know that we've got to be extraordinarily careful on the expenditure side. We were last year we were able to adjust our budget as the year went on, in order to avoid a massive deficit we were able to adjust our budget."

Dowling says this has led to layoffs.

"That has meant unfortunately we have had a reduction in force," he said. "We have had to lose some colleague here, we have had to put other of our employees on part-time. And none of that is pleasant, we are facing up to the reality of what we have to do."

Dowling says they hope their shows will continue to draw well, and with controlling expenditure, he's hopeful for the future. He sees more collaborations with writers following the Kushner Festival (part of the current fiscal year,) and more collaborations (and expense sharing) with other theaters.

He does not see any changes in the nature of the Guthrie repertoire.

"Our job is to continue to be here, and to be strong, as strong as we can, and to present the work in as positive a way as we can because it is al ways in tough times like these that theater really does offer both a terrific sense of an engagement with imaginative worlds that I think people like and at the same time we must remain strong as we can so that when the recession is over, we will still be here and still standing."

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One show, two nights, two reviews

Posted at 1:24 PM on July 20, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Criticism, Theater

The Brave New Workshop's latest production "Save the Planet: Yes we can, but do we have to?" opened over the weekend. Two reviews of the production reveal how critics can have differing viewpoints, and how the production can change from one evening to the next.

Graydon Royce got to the show on Friday night, and his take-away was lukewarm, writing "laughter is uncomfortably absent on several occasions." Royce points out "the material seems more eager to offend than has been the case recently at the Workshop" but remarks it comes across as more bravado than bravery.

The following night freelance writer Quinton Skinner made his way to the Brave New Workshop, and his review was a clear rave. He writes that the Brave New Workshop delivers ample quantities of "sharp, smart and uninhibited comedy." He goes on to state:

What stands out... is the cohesion and energy of a cast that has worked together long enough to elevate its work to a level of deceptive smoothness and attention to detail.

From the two critiques it's not hard to glean that Royce probably has a lower tolerance than Skinner for swearing and vulgarity. Royce notes he's never heard so many references to the uterus since attending "The Vagina Monologues." But he acknowledges his bias when he writes "These are just the facts, ma'am. You can decide whether that's your cup of hemlock."

Two differing viewpoints, however, don't account for one critic experiencing awkward silences while the other walked away untroubled. Or do they?

I called up a couple of the core performers of Brave New Workshop, Joe Bozic and Lauren Anderson, to get their takes. Bozic noted that Graydon Royce came to the show on opening night, which Bozic says, tends to be a "rockstar performance" due to all the BNW "superfans" in the audience. Bozic says opening night often gets louder and longer laughs, and this opening night was no exception.

By contrast, Bozic says Quinton Skinner went to an early show on Saturday (7pm, as opposed to the 9pm 10pm late show), which tends to draw an older, more conservative crowd. Given the two reviews, you might have expected the two reviewers to have switched places. Bozic says he believes the Friday and Saturday night performances were both strong, and it's the reviewers mindsets that made the difference.

Lauren Anderson takes a different approach. "If we're doing our job right, every sketch someone will love, someone will hate, and someone will get offended by," she said.

She actually viewed Graydon Royce's review as pretty positive. But she says she has particular respect for theater critics:

My expectation from reviewers is that they see more theater than anybody else. It's like, my sense of humor started to change once I started to do comedy for a living. So now it takes quite a bit to make me laugh. I think that happens to reviewers as well. What your typical audience would laugh at a reviewer could go 'oh I've seen that before.'

So what do you think? And where do you get your information to help you figure out which shows to see?

Oh and heads up - tune in to All Things Considered tonight for a look at how blogs and other social media are changing the way artists promote their work, and how audiences get their reviews. It's the first in a two part in-depth report by MPR's Chris Roberts.

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Adopt a Klingon for Christmas

Posted at 10:43 AM on July 14, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Funding, Theater

Photo by Dave Stagner

For the third year running, Commedia Beauregard is bringing back its new holiday classic "A Klingon Christmas Carol." But this time, the theater company is attempting to blossom the production into a 12-show run. Quite the feat, since the entire play is in Klingon.

In order to beef up funding, Commedia Beauregard is offering the opportunity to "Adopt a Klingon." For $100, you can be the sole proprietor of SQuja (Scrooge), QachIt (Bob Cratchit), vreD (Fred), or even the ghost of marlI' (Jacob Marley).

As an adoptive parent benefits include a letter from your Klingon with a picture of his or her snarling face, an invitation to a meet-and-greet reception to get to know your Klingon, a ticket to openint night of "A Klingon Christmas Carol" and a photo of you and your Klingon.

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Guthrie announces winners of "When We Are Married" contest

Posted at 5:45 PM on July 13, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Architecture, Theater

Gretchen Bierbaum and Jeremiah Albrecht have won the Guthrie Theater's 'Dream Wedding Giveaway" valued at more than $60,000. And once you watch their video, you'll understand why.

The wedding prize package includes:

· Wedding ceremony on Sunday, August 16, 2009 on the Guthrie's Wurtele Thrust Stage

· Reception, including food and beverage, for 150 guests in the Dowling Studio

· Wedding gown and tuxedo rental

· Wedding bands

· Ceremony and reception photography

· Custom designed invitations

· Floral arrangements

· Wedding night hotel room

· Honeymoon at the Radisson St. Martin Resort, Marina and Spa

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A season designed to get butts in seats

Posted at 12:00 PM on July 13, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

An easy way to gauge the economy requires simply looking at a theater's line-up. Theaters known for taking risks will offer slightly more trustworthy fare. Theaters known for offering pure entertainment return to their sure-fire favorites.

Take the Hennepin Theatre Trust season, for example (Hennepin Theatre Trust is the entity that runs the State, Orpheum and Pantages theaters in Minneapolis). "Mary Poppins," "101 Dalmations", "Wizard of Oz," "Cats," "Mamma Mia!," "Dreamgirls," and "Young Frankenstein" are all on the bill. Many of these shows have performed in the Twin Cities before, and many are guaranteed to have kids pulling at their parents' pocketbooks (Note: Dirty Dancing was originally part of this line-up, but has cancelled its tour).

Probably the least well-known production is "In The Heights," which won four Tony Awards last year. The most controversial play is likely to be Avenue Q (featuring at least one porn-loving puppet), but since it's been running on Broadway ever since it opened in July of 2003, it's a pretty safe bet.

So what's lost when a theater plays it REALLY safe? In the short-term, not much. Audiences still see a fun show, and the theater comes closer to paying its bills. In the grander scheme of things, what's lost is what's new. New plays are less likely to get a staging, in favor of known entities. There will be less challenging theater out there, which is the kind that really gets people thinking, and often provokes the strongest emotional reactions.

Some theaters will insist on continuing their mission to present new work, and stage productions that will likely only bring in half a house. But by doing so they knowingly risk their financial security for the sake of doing work they believe in.

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The Lost Boys of Postville, Iowa

Posted at 8:21 AM on July 13, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Theater

Members of Teatro Indocumentado field questions after their performance.

This weekend I went to see an unusual play. It took place in a church, and the actors were all playing themselves. The play was in Spanish, and if you didn't speak Spanish you could read an English translation. The acting wasn't stellar and the writing wasn't award-winning, but the close of the play brought down the house, and everyone got to their feet to applaud the performance.

Why? Because this play wasn't about entertaining an audience. It was about seven undocumented workers sharing their stories, helping others to understand what they went through to come to the U.S. and how they were treated once they got here. In that sense the play was a complete success.

On May 12, 2008 the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa. They arrested close to 400 workers, most of them from Guatemala and Mexico. Many were sentenced to five months or more in jail for the use of stolen social security numbers and other similar offenses. Once they served out their terms, many of them were relocated to Decorah, Iowa, where they are awaiting trial of their former employer, AgriProcessors. They now have work permits, but many are having trouble finding jobs while they wait to testify.

Seven of those workers (six from Guatemala, one from Mexico), came up with the idea of putting on a play. While this might seem odd, political theater has been a part of the arts since the Greeks first started staging their comedies. It plays a particularly important role in countries where the people are trying to rise up against their political leaders. One of the actors said it was the best way they could imagine to help people understand what they, and other immigrants go through.

The men in Decorah have named themselves "Teatro Indocumentado" or "The Undocumented Theater" and their play is called "La Historia de Nuestras Vidas" (The Story of Our Lives). In the play they don't ever say "I'm not guilty" or "what I did was right." Instead they say things like this:

Life is hard in Guatemala and Mexico.

The crops never earn enough, and everything is expensive.
We plant with borrowed money, and only our debts grow.
Some days there isn't enough to eat.
I wanted to make a better life for my family,
So that my brothers and sisters might finish school,
So that my children might finish school.
I wanted to build a house out of brick.

The play follows the men from their dreams in their home country, through what they had to do to come to the United States, to the working conditions they put up with once they got here. Then there's the raid, the imprisonment, and being moved from prison to prison every few weeks.

As part of the play the men put themselves back in chains to show us what prison was like. This scene was particularly powerful knowing that the "actors" had actually lived through this.

The play closed with these words:

Our American Dream had become a nightmare.

And the land of freedom had become our prison.
We came here so that we could provide for our families, and improve their future.
But we'll return to them with empty hands.
We made friends here, but now they are gone, deported, I don't know where.
And meanwhile, we wait - without knowing for how long,
We are still waiting,
Unable to make a life here and unable to return home.

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New Walker season tests limits of performance

Posted at 6:00 AM on July 10, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Museums, Theater

Image from "Call Cutta in a Box: An Intercontinental Phone Play," courtesy of Walker Art Center

The Walker Art Center has released its 2009-2010 performing arts season (although as of this writing it's not posted on the Walker website), and it's as ambitious as ever. It highlights artists from around the world along with those here at home. In many cases the Walker has commissioned new works that involve collaboration across disciplines, and international borders. American guitarist Bill Frisell is paired with an Iraqi oud player, while a Brooklyn dance company is collaborating with another troupe from West Africa.

I spoke with curator Philip Bither about the season. He described many of the performances in detail. Among them, one really caught my attention. It's a performance by a German group called Rimini Protokoll, which will run for a month during the Walker's Out There Festival. It needs to run that long because each performance is limited to two people: you, and a call worker in India. I'll let Bither explain the rest:

...you go into a room and you get a cell phone call from a call worker in Calcutta. You end up going through a series of structured conversations and you get to know this person very well. You end up drinking some tea that they're able to turn on all the way from Calcutta. You taste some spices from India, and by the end of 'the show' you're in front of a computer screen and moving a mouse that's hidden under a planter, and you see each other. It's a remarkably different kind of theater. You and what you bring with your life and stories is as much part of that theater experience as what's happening 'on the stage,' which in this instance is in Calcutta, through the computer.

Part script, part improv, part cultural exchange, this one-on-one drama is an example of how artists are playing with our everyday experiences (such as the computer service call that ends up connecting us with someone on the other side of the planet) to tell stories of human connection and disconnection. It's just that in an era of globalization, what constitutes an "everyday experience" is changing rapidly. In today's world technology has the power to transform a desk with a computer and a cellphone into a theater. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

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Minnesota Fringe Festival schedule and passes online

Posted at 4:02 PM on July 6, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

Theater-goers, start your laptops. You can now map out your fringe-a-thon; the Minnesota Fringe has finalized the schedule for this year's festivities. That means, for those inclined, you can create your own profile and work out what shows you can see when, using the website's "My Fringe" function. If you're antsy to get started, you can even buy your pass now.

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Web Site Story: The Musical

Posted at 10:25 AM on July 2, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Technology, Theater

Collegehumor.com takes on Facebook, Twitter, Pandora and more in this modern take on "West Side Story." Enjoy!

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Guthrie hosts National Theatre play -- on video

Posted at 5:50 PM on June 30, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Theater

Next week the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is hosting two screenings of the National Theatre's production of "Phèdre," starring actress Helen Mirren. The production will be projected onto a large screen on the Guthrie's McGuire Proscenium Stage.

The screening is an experiment, similar to the broadcast of Metropolitan Opera performances at movie theaters across the country. New York Times writer Christopher Isherwood got to attend a preview of the screening at the Directors Guild of America in Manhattan.

His review? Mixed. There were technical glitches, and the interviews leading up to the performance came across as a bit too didactic. But he also recognized the uniquely theatrical experience of watching a stage actor up close:

Seen on digital video -- in tight focus, if you will -- the intensity of the feeling in the performance keeps you riveted. The theatricality is unmistakable, with Ms. Mirren making dramatic shifts in vocal register and declaiming the verse in sometimes archly wrought tones. But the precisely channeled emotion behind the effects all but obliterates your awareness of the actress at work.

When Phèdre is first informed that the man she loves loves another, the camera moved in tightly on the back of Ms. Mirren's head. She turned slowly to reveal a face suddenly transformed into a mask of cold fury, creating a moment of tension magnified by the intimacy of the camera's gaze. It was not "live" theater, but the goose bumps felt just the same.

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Children's Theatre Company hires new education director

Posted at 5:40 PM on June 30, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: People, Theater

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) today announced the addition of Debra Baron to its education department. Baron fills the role of director of CTC's Theatre Arts Training (TAT) program, which serves more than 1,500 youth annually.

Baron most recently served as the director of education for Westport Country Playhouse, in Westport, Conn. Her experience includes the development of arts education curricula, student instruction, staff development as well as an extensive list of directing credits.

"Debra is a great addition to CTC," said Gabriella Calicchio, managing director for CTC. "Her experience couples creativity and artistic vision with the prerequisite management skills needed to energize and expand our TAT program."

Prior to Westport Country Playhouse and CTC, Baron served as the director of education for BlackRock Center for the Arts, in Germantown, Md., and the BoarsHead Theater in Lansing, Mich. She also served as the artistic and managing director for Manatee Players located in Bradenton, Fla.

Baron has more than 120 directing credits, including "Peter Pan," "Into the Woods," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Crucible." She is a member of the Actors' Equity Association, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Baron received her jurist doctorate at Howard University in Washington DC.

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Was the Tony Kushner festival a success?

Posted at 10:16 AM on June 29, 2009 by Marianne Combs (4 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Theater

Sunday marked closing night for "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures" at the Guthrie Theater. It seemed a bit of a quiet end to what's been a major theater event for both the Guthrie and the Twin Cities. The two other Kushner plays, "Caroline, or Change" and "Tiny Kushner" had already closed, and so the big blue building was relatively quiet. There was a standing ovation for the play, but it wasn't unanimous. "The Intelligent Homosexual" (or "I-Ho," as Tony Kushner likes to call it), ends with the line "I'm thinking." It's an ambiguous finish, and a fitting end to a festival that's been marked with both praise and sharp criticism.

Today the Guthrie (via an e-mailed press release) is already championing the success of the festival. It's cherry-picking the sweetest comments from reviews and boasting gargantuan numbers of tickets sold (although many of them were rush tickets, or online specials designed to get butts in seats). The Guthrie says all three plays met their "box office goals" but there's no explanation of what exactly those goals were.

Any artistic performance's success can be judged a myriad of ways. Was it compelling? Was it entertaining? Did it make money? Did it take us someplace new? Did we learn something valuable? Was it great art?

The Guthrie commissioned Kushner to write a new play, invited him to speak, and staged two other works of his as well. In so doing, it provided an opportunity for thousands of people to learn more about this living playwright, and to see theater that is steeped in modern politics. If that was the theater's goal, than it did indeed succeed.

The more long-lasting, greater success, to my mind, is what those approximately 90,000 people who partook in the Kushner Festival took away from it. And that is a much more difficult thing to gauge.

Did you see any of the Kushner plays? If so, what did you take away from them? Do you think the festival was a success?

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Jeune Lune redux; a new chamber group, too

Posted at 3:26 PM on June 24, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Music, Theater

The Southern Theater just announced its 2009/2010 season, which tends to be a long list, since it hosts many events that last only a weekend or two. A couple of items on that list popped out, however.

First, Dominique Serrand and Steven Epp, two of the artistic directors behind Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and the creative duo behind some of the theater's most successful shows, are back in action. While they give no solid details as of yet, they are on the docket to perform a new work October 22-25, 2009. Epp will write and perform, Serrand will design and direct.

Second, the Southern promises not one, not two, but three different performances (in September 2009, and January and April, 2010) by a new chamber music group called "Accordo." The group (which I can't find mention of anywhere on the web) features SPCO principal players Steven Copes, Ruggero Allifranchini, Maiya Papach and Ron Thomas, and Minnesota Orchestra principal cellist Tony Ross.

(Photo © Michal Daniel, 2008)

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How much is a standing ovation worth these days?

Posted at 8:09 AM on June 14, 2009 by Marianne Combs (6 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

I finally made it to "Caroline, or Change" at the Guthrie Theater last night. The show has received several rave reviews, and according to David Hawley at MinnPost, it's "one of those transcendent events that one experiences only rarely in a lifetime of going to the theater."

So it should be of no surprise that "Caroline, or Change" received a standing ovation at the end of the evening. Goodness knows Minnesota audiences tend to err on the side of a standing ovation, even when it's more to say "good job, nice try." What struck me was the nature of the ovation. When Greta Oglesby (Caroline) walked out on stage, there was a simultaneous surge of energy throughout the theater as everyone leapt to their feet and roared with applause and cheers. It was the most sudden and unanimous ovation I'd ever experienced.

I left wondering if a theater's performance should no longer be judged by whether or not it earns a standing ovation, but by some more refined tool that could break down ovations into different types. "Ah yes, you received an ovation that registered a 3.4 on the richter scale - that translates to a C+ rating..."

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Tennessee Williams' play to make its world premiere in St. Paul

Posted at 12:17 PM on June 12, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Theater

How is it that one of America's greatest playwrights of the 20th century has a play out there that's never before been staged? That's what I was wondering when I called Peter Hansen at Gremlin Theatre, with a more than slightly skeptical tone in my voice.

It turns out there are a lot of works by Tennessee Williams that have never been performed, and many of them never will. Williams wrote the way some artists sketch - profusely, with many rough drafts. A lot of what remains (he gave his collected writings to Sewanee, University of the South) is either plain bad or unfinished.

But there was at least one little gem among them. It's a short (35 minutes!) play, which is one of the main reasons it never got staged. According to Hansen it's believed to be an early version of "Sweet Bird of Youth," but a lot changed between the two versions.

So how do you get people to come see a 35 minute show? Hansen says Gremlin Theatre is treating the June run as a sort of "summer social." People can come and play croquet or toss bean bags in the theater before the show while enjoying a drink and some food, and then they're invited to hang out with the actors and crew afterward at a restaurant around the corner.

Photo by Carl Schoenborn

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Want to sponsor a prop?

Posted at 5:19 PM on June 10, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Funding, Music, Theater

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is taking a unique approach to raising money for its upcoming show, Singin' In the Rain. For anywhere from $10 - $50 you can "sponsor" a prop in the production. Cosmos' gal, a cake, a camera or even the wall - the choice is yours. In return you'll be listed online as an official member of the creative team, and can have the pleasure of pointing to someone's umbrella during the show and saying "hey, that's MY umbrella!" No word on if there's a limit to how many people can sponsor a single prop.

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The Minnesota Fringe Festival expands to St. Paul! (just barely)

Posted at 11:52 AM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (2 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Theater

Each year the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the state's largest unjuried theater event, descends on the city of Minneapolis for eleven days, taking over every venue it can get its grubby little hands on, and creating an immense theater extravaganza out of thin air, thousands of volunteers, and boundless quantities of creativity (What is a unit of creativity? Does it comes in tons? Watts? Bytes?).

For many years the city of St. Paul has been the neglected little sister of this festival. "We have theaters, too!" she cries. "Good ones! And within walking distance of each other!" But to no avail - the festival, out of a desire to remain relatively compact (allowing audiences to get from one show to another in less than 30 minutes), has drawn the line at, well, the city line.

But times, they are a changin'. This year you'll notice the sub-heading for the Minnesota Fringe Festival is "Minneapolis and St. Paul." That's because one little venue, Gremlin Theater, lies just over the borderline on University Avenue.

While this may appear to be a small chink in the Fringe's "Minneapolis Uber Alles" armour, it's actually an indication of a larger movement at work. Fringe Executive Director Robin Gillette and Communications Director Matthew Foster (seen above shortly after drinking large quantities of coffee) say they are working at making the Minnesota Fringe Festival just that - a Minnesota festival. They've made trips across the state to visit communities with their own theaters and talk about ways they can get involved. That's not to say people will be driving three hours between shows in upcoming festivals, but it's an invitation to Minnesotans all over to claim the Fringe Festival as their own.

Want to check out the more than 160 shows that made the final list for this year's Fringe (July 30th - August 9th)? You can find them here.

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Broadway cast of "A Chorus Line" offers master class in Minneapolis

Posted at 10:19 AM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Dance, Film, Theater

Is there a high-stepper in you? On June 18th members from the Broadway touring company for "A Chorus Line" will teach choreography from the show at the Lundstrum Center for the Performing Arts.

The Lundstrum Center has a stong connection to the show; its artistic director, Kerry Casserly, performed in "A Chorus Line" on Broadway for ten years. Her sisters, also at the center, performed in regional tours.

If you need some inspiration to get you up and moving, check out the new documentary on the revival of "A Chorus Line," called "Every Little Step."

Image courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

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Kushner unapologetic about his "feverish" new play

Posted at 10:54 PM on June 8, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: People, Theater

Playwright Tony Kushner spoke at the Guthrie Theater tonight in conversation with artistic director Joe Dowling. Over the course of two hours, Kushner managed to do everything from condemn Ayn Rand ("put your hand in a blender, it's faster") to flirt with the entire Twin City Gay Men's Chorus ("you're all really hot, if I wasn't already married, etc").

While Dowling avoided any mention of recent critical reviews of Kushner's new play The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Sciptures , Kushner himself took a moment to address questions about the plays "readiness:"

There's this sort of snarky stuff that's been out there in mutterers' corners and the unlit places surrounding what has mostly been a pretty fun time here. That the play... that something was sort of awful and wrong because the play was written under these "circumstances" - I mean screw you! - the play was written in a kind of fever and it produced a really interesting feverish play. The next version of it will be somewhat different than this version, but the... big challenge for me is going to be to preserve what I think is the most exciting thing about the play, which is it's feverishness, and not to clean it up and make it all tidy so that drama critics say "ooh, it's tidy now!"

If you detected a note of animosity toward critics, you're right. Kushner also shared a poem he wrote years ago, which lays bare the sentiments playwrights feel for critics who pan their work. It was too good not to post, so I've done my best to transcribe it here:

A Song for Playwrights in self-defense:

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
the drama critic's in a stew
He holds his breath 'til he turns blue,
He doesn't like the work we do.

Tell us critic, tell us true
Whence oh whence your bilious spew?
Is it some trauma's residue?
What did your parents do to you?

You carp and pick and misconstrue,
besmirch the world with critic poo,
less welcome than the spanish flu,
the sort that decent folk eschew,
and you're reactionary, too.

Perhaps it's time that you withdrew,
doffed your cap and bid adieu,
defenestrate or swallowed glue,
take up a knife - your breast imbrue.

We wish for you a passepartout
Transport yourself to Ougadou-
gou, Honolulu or Corfu,
Say Tally-ho and Toodaloo!
We promise we will not pursue.

You will not do, you will not do
Your "mein kampf" love of rack and screw
Your brute brute newsprint heart, ach du,
We are no longer reading you,
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, etc.

Note: this poem refers exclusively to those drama critics who fail to appreciate my work. All others are enthusiastically exempted.

Finally, Kushner ended with a gushing thank you to the Guthrie and to Minneapolis for hosting the Tony Kushner Festival:

Please know, that this has been a soul-changing and life-changing experience for me. There's that line from the Tempest: "Gentle breath of yours my sails must fill or else my project fails." I feel like I've been given so much from the last five weeks - it will carry me through the rest of my career, I'll never forget this and I'll never ever stop being enormously grateful for it so thank you very much.

If you missed the talk, not to worry - Midday plans to rebroadcast it this Friday, barring any major breaking news.

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Ed Gein: The Musical?

Posted at 12:34 PM on June 8, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Music, Theater

A Wisconsin-based production company is shooting a movie called "Ed Gein: The Musical," about the 1950s Plainfield grave robber and insane murderer. It wouldn't be the first time the man's life has inspired art - he's considered the basis for the Norman Bates character in "Psycho." The filming is taking place in Omro, whose town cry is "In Omro we have it all."

Co-owner of the DaviesRussell production company, Dan Davies (who will be playing Gein), promises a movie that's historically accurate, funny, and filled with great music. A while back the Star Tribune reposted the article dating from Gein's arrest in 1957. Give it a read and see whether you think it has the makings of the next Sweeney Todd.

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Kushner: Give "Intelligent Homosexual" another week to get better.

Posted at 10:36 AM on May 24, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: People, Theater

This weekend I bumped into Tony Kushner at the Guthrie. We were both watching "Tiny Kushner," a series of one-acts. He raved about the actors and then continued to laud the local actors in "The Intelligent Homosexual." I said I hadn't seen it yet. His response: "Give it a week."

Kushner's frank advice made me feel that much more pity for the people I ran across as I left the Guthrie at 10pm. Bleary-eyed, they were in their second intermission for the new play, and had still another hour to go. Many of these people paid hundreds of dollars for the opportunity to be among the first to see the play.

The critics this weekend were not as optimistic as Kushner in their reviews. Pioneer Press critic (and MPR commentator) Dominic Papatola described it as "overwheening... pedantic... and needlessly junked up ...with out-of-place manifestos." The Star Tribune's Graydon Royce says "[Kushner's] operatic cacophony at times skates precipitously close to the razor's edge of incoherence."

So while Kushner claimed last week that making major changes even in previews is part of his creative process, it sounds like he didn't give himself enough time to get the play where it needed to be. I'll be giving it at least a week.

Photo credit: 2009 © Michal Daniel

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