I've been putting off writing this for a while because it was a big, fat weekend of theater for me. I saw shows on Thursday and Friday night, watched 300+ auditions at the Twin Cities Unifieds, and had a tech rehearsal on Sunday night at Theatre in the Round.
So... in the interest of being brief (I hear that is the soul of wit, after all), I present my weekend in a nutshell:
THURSDAY NIGHT... I attended the opening performance of Do You Want to Know a Secret by Daniel Pinkerton, whichis being presented by Fortune's Fool at Intermedia Arts. The production features the talents of Stephen D'Ambrose, Barbara Kingsley, and their daughter Maggie D'Ambrose. Rouding out the cast were Greta Grosch and Harry Baxter. Leah Cooper, yes THAT Leah Cooper!, directed.
Okay...before I say more about this show, it is honest disclosure time: I am on the board of advisors to this production. Although, while this is true, I did not directly have anything to do with the artistic choices that went into it. I'm not sure if that makes this review one that suffers from conflict-of-interest or not. Anyway... There's that.
I enjoyed this work. It is a thinker of a play, and that's not bad at all. The performances were solid and the direction good as well. The play takes place in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or what we used to call East Germany in the good old days of the cold war.
When the wall fell, there was a lot of finger pointing and discovery about the way things were prior to that. This play personalizes that fact by telling the story of a family torn apart by a prison sentence during the cold war, and by personal betrayal afterward. It is a really good character study, and while through the lines it tells us that the theme is about cowardice in the face of adversity, I think there is a bigger message there about the perception of any situation through the eyes of differing people. No matter how close two people are, they can still misunderstand what would be considered a betrayal by their partner. That's the case in this play. It is deep, thoughtful, and well worth seeing. I won't give any more of the plot away, though... go see it!
FRIDAY NIGHT... My Alma Mater held an alumni function for its Twin Cities alums at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. We saw Midlife: The Crisis Musical. It was fun. it is fluffy fun that doesn't pretend to be anything else. I felt a little out of place as one of the only 30 year-olds amongst a bunch of 40s+ alums. I didn't exactly identify with the material of the show, as they did... but... it was still an enjoyable evening.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY...Congrats to everyone who auditioned at the Unifieds. That was a long couple of days. some good folks on stage, though. Thanks everyone for your efforts.
SUNDAY NIGHT... This was the most pleasant surprise of the weekend! I normally dread tech reheasals when I'm not the director or one of the designers. Basically as a light board operator, all I do is push a single button when someone else says "go," so I'm not terribly vested in the process, and therefore get easily bored during technical rehearsals.
Last night, however, I saw a show that was many days prior to opening that is already at the point of being better than anything else I've seen on the TRP stage. Kudos to GJ Clayburn (and big kudos to me if I spelled that right, not to mention apologies to GJ if I got it wrong). GJ's direction of this play has it sharp and exciting. I was riveted through the entire show. And it isn't only because of the acting of Andy Babinski in the role of Henry David Thoreau. Babinski is great, but so is every other person in the cast, down to the folks that only have one or two lines. I've not seen such a solid group across the board in a long time.
If you get a chance, go see The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. It is really good. It's showing at TRP through April 9th.
NOTHING RANDOM TODAY...
I have to get to my tech rehearsal. Later...
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