An illustration by Margaret C. Cook for a 1913 edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, the subject of a recent play of the same name by Patrick Scully at the Guthrie Theater. 2019 marks the bicentennial of Walt Whitman's birth. The American poet's long shadow still tinges much of American
Author: Amy Donahue
Amy Donahue is a staff reviewer at the Twin Cities Arts Reader. She interned with the magazine during the summer of 2017, served as a guest contributor while studying abroad in Europe that fall, and has moved up to regular old reviewing. She admits to being at least 50% terrified of contemporary German opera.
Fringe File #2: The Overachiever’s Plan for Day 1 of the Minnesota Fringe Festival
A collage of show images from the 2019 Minnesota Fringe Festival. There are many different ways to approach to the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the Twin Cities' annual performing arts binge extravaganza. Mine has two rules. The first? Park once, move never. The second? Variety. Rule 1 means that, once I've parked my
BREAKING NEWS: Rose Ensemble Aborts Planned Closure
The Rose Ensemble announced last June that the much-decorated vocal ensemble would fade away at the end of the present season, citing declining revenues. Today, the Rose Ensemble delighted fans by announcing that its planned sunset would not actually take place. Thanks to an outpouring of fundraising and audience support,
REVIEW: Bad Education on Trial in Spring Awakening (Chameleon Theatre Circle)
Schoolboys in Chameleon Theatre Circle's production of Spring Awakening. Photo by Kari Elizabeth Godfrey Photography LLC. It's surprising how well Spring Awakening has aged. For a show based on an 1891 stage drama by Frank Widekind, the musical's indictment of harmful education systems and nonexistent sex ed play very well in
PREVIEW: Hilarious The Play That Goes Wrong Opens Tomorrow (Hennepin Theatre Trust)
Things quickly start going wrong to hilarious effect during The Play Goes Wrong's play-within-a-play The Murder at Haversham Manor, which opens at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN on Tuesday, May 7. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. Making fun of theatre is a very British tradition. While many U.S. theatre audiences are
NEWS: 2019 Tony Award Nominations Announced
Nominees for the 2019 Tony Awards were announced this morning. Notably, the musical Hadestown: The Myth. The Musical. received 14 nominations, while To Kill a Mockingbird (unpopular, perhaps, due to a high-profile licensing battle that canceled theatre productions around the country) and Network received none for Best Play. The annual Tony Awards are
PREVIEW: The Events Behind the Umbrella Collective’s Velvet Swing
A promotional image for the Umbrella Collective's production of Velvet Swing, which premieres tonight at Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, MN. Google "Velvet Swing" and the first thing that comes up is a not-safe-for-work product mixing sex and cannabis. An odd pairing? Not if you know the history of the term, a now-and-again
REVIEW: Freewheeling Adaptation of The Hobbit at CTC (Children’s Theatre Company)
Becca Hart and Reed Sigmund in the Children's Theatre Company's new adaptation of The Hobbit. Photo by Dan Norman. There's a freewheeling musical adaptation of The Hobbit playing at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. This new take on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic children's novel is very loosely based on the source
REVIEW: Powerful Iphigenia and Other Daughters (Theatre Unbound)
Iphigenia and Other Daughters, currently being presented by Theatre Unbound at Gremlin Theatre in Saint Paul, MN. Photo by Theresa Burgess. It says something that, 25 years after its premiere in Los Angeles, Ellen McLaughlin's play Iphigenia and Other Daughters still has something powerful to say. It also says something that
REVIEW: Evocative, Lush My Àntonia Returns (Illusion Theater)
The cast of the Illusion Theater's 2019 remount of My Àntonia, now playing in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of the Illusion Theater. My grandparents' bookshelf had some novels whose titles caught my eye, long ago: Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. Peek into senior centers and community libraries