Rarely does the need arise to talk someone off a cliff. In popular art, when this situation is dramatized, exceptional people often find the perfect words to provide hope.  Marsha Norman‘s stunning play Night, Mother rejects this contrivance and shows…
Author: David and Chelsea Berglund
Review | The Legend of Georgia McBride: a joyous, charming celebration
At the Guthrie Theater, through August 26Since taking the helm, Guthrie artistic director Joseph Haj has pushed the venerable theater into greater diversity, both in tone and in representation. With The Legend of Georgia McBride, the theater ventures into new territory on both fronts with a…
Review | Taking Shakespeare: an overly slight take on the Bard
Gremlin Theatre, through June 3rdFor those with mentors willing to invest in them, it can prove invaluable and leave a lifelong impact. In the best of these relationships, inevitably both mentor and mentee are left as stronger, better people. John Murrell‘s Taking Shakespeare, at…
Review | An Enemy of the People: a searing, must-see political thriller
The Guthrie, through June 3Copper pipes, venture capital, scientific ethics. Who knew combining these elements could make for stimulating, prescient drama? Brad Birch’s new adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen classic, An Enemy of the People, running through June 3 at the Guthrie, uses these…
Review | Five Points: the production thrills, but the play needs work
Theater Latté Da, though May 6In the mid-nineteenth century, the now nonexistent Five Points in New York City was one of the nation’s most diverse neighborhoods, though it was far from a melting pot. As oppressed people groups found themselves relegated to its squalid accommodations,…
Review | Familiar: timely, thoughtful, and uproariously funny
The Guthrie, through April 14Cultural identity is rarely simple for immigrant populations. In leaving home for new frontiers, immigrants are daily tasked with balancing the dual ideals of assimilation and heritage. To nurture both is a lofty undertaking that demands determined effort and can…
Review | The Pirates of Penzance: a fresh reframing of a beloved classic
Park Square Theatre, through March 25There is a reason Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance is a theater mainstay – it is clever, approachable, and hilarious. Yet, with so many productions of the show over the years, it’s charm inevitably has faded for all…
Review | The Wiz: a fun, funky fairytale
Penumbra and Children’s Theatre, performing at Children’s Theatre through March 18The Twin Cities is blessed with many storied theater institutions, two of the most vital being the Children’s Theatre Company and Penumbra Theatre. Both have distinct missions – one to introduce theater in approachable ways to new generations and one…
Review | Hatchet Lady: doesn’t cut it
Walking Shadow Theatre Company, performing at the Red Eye Theatre, through Dec 16Carry Nation is an odd footnote of American history; a woman so impassioned to halt the scourge of alcohol in pre-prohibition times that she took it as a call from God to do physical damage to saloons and bars with…
The Privateer: an amusing, uneven swashbuckler
Transatlantic Love Affair, performing at Illusion Theater, through November 18If you consider yourself a Twin Cities theater devotee and haven’t seen a production from Transatlantic Love Affair, you must. Their unique approach to theater, with actors offering their bodies and voices as versatile replacements for physical sets, props, and…