Transatlantic Love Affair’s Red and the Mother Wild Worthy of Illusion Theater’s 50th Anniversary

front: Amber Bjork, Adelin Phelps rear: Allison Vincent, Derek Lee Miller, Mark Benzel, Peyton McCandless, Jack Bechard photo by Lauren B Photography

Red and the Mother Wild is the latest from the physical Theater company Transatlantic Love Affair. Their shows are created in collaboration, they are developed and performed without the use of set and props. The wonderful thing about them, is that those elements are not missed. Like listening to and old time radio show your mind fills in that which your eyes cannot see. There is no sound design, but the production is filled with sounds. Those of the birds, of the wind, the sounds of the woods, and the animals that inhabit it. All of the sounds are created by the actors live on stage using their voices and bodies. The cast perform the roles of human characters as well as anything else that might aid in creating a picture in the minds eye of the audience. This includes everything from animals, to the walls of Mother Wilds home, and the trees of the forest. The story is grown from the seed of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. It tells of a village of people, one of whom is a little girl named Red who has no parents and so the villagers all take turns raising her. Red is inexplicably drawn to the woods, the one place she is told she must never go. When she is older she will venture in and discover the darker side of the world.

Directed with creativity and exacting detail by Isabel Nelson the first and former Artistic Director of Transatlantic Love Affair. There is one element of production design that they do rely upon and that is lighting which was designed by Dante Benjegerdes and really is well done and integral to the story. The entire ensemble is fantastic and the magic of the piece being the way they have managed to create an entire world using only their voices and bodies. They find the perfect way to suggest a fish in a stream, or a way to embody a tree that is being chopped down, in a way that we know exactly what is happening and also earns a laugh. The cast is a seven Actor ensemble comprised of Jack Bechard, Mark Benzel, Amber Bjork, Peyton McCandless, Derek Lee Miller, Adelin Phelps, and Allison Vincent. While a few have bigger roles, it really is an ensemble in the way they all contribute to creating the world of the play. It’s fascinating the details they add like a dripping faucet in a village home or the layering of sounds to capture the aural experience of the forest at night.

I do want to highlight a few performance moments that really connected for me. Phelps as Red is the perfect performer to take us on this journey, she captures Red’s curiosity about the woods beautifully and is equally effective when shutting down after a traumatic event. Allison Vincent in the role of one of the village mothers has again displayed her gift for line readings that are flat out the best possible way to say anything. She and Phelps together create a very special bond, their connection is felt and is one of the strongest in the production. Vincent also knows how to play a tree falling down in such a way that it elicits a big laugh from the audience. Derek Lee Miller is plays Daniel Vincent’s characters husband, a woodsman, he allows Red to come into the woods. When things take a turn, Miller does a nice job of portraying the two sides of this character. Finally, Amber Bjork plays the Mother Wild, a woman who lives in the woods and takes Red in, this character made me think of Dorothy Molter, the Root Beer Lady, if you saw History Theatre’s show this winter you’ll know what I mean. Bjork plays her very no nonsense and practical, with little jabs of humor now and then.

Red and the Mother Wild runs through April 12th at the Center for Performing Arts in South Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.illusiontheater.org/red-and-the-mother-wild

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, Theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our Theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity.

Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

But that’s not all! You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

The Book Club Play is a Literary Blast at Lakeshore Players

The Cast of The Book Club Play at Lakeshore Players 2025 Photo by Kara Salava

The Book Club Play contains all the elements you might look for in a good book; drama, comedy, social commentary, romance. It touches on all the qualities of the books it’s characters read. But above all, it’s a comedy, one that draws much of it’s humor from the best possible well, that of character. The play is written by Karen Zacarias, whose ability to create characters that can be summed up as a type, but then refuse to be simply that character’s tagline. This is my second exposure to this play by Zacharias. The first was a couple of years back at Theater in the Round and it was a favorite, in fact my wife loved it so much she went back with a group of friends to see it again. This production was just as enjoyable and I’m thrilled to highly recommend it! This is the sort of play that I like to recommend for couples who don’t get out to the theater often or as a great night out with a group of friends. The type of show where there is no way you’re not going to leave the theatre saying “we should go to the theater more often that was really fun!”

Ana is a Type A personality who lives in a letter-perfect world with an adoring husband, the perfect job, and her greatest passion: Book Club. But when her cherished group becomes the focus of a documentary film, their intimate discussions about life and literature take a turn for the hilarious in front of the inescapable camera lens. Add a provocative new member along with some surprising new book titles, and these six friends are bound for pandemonium.”
plot summary From the Theatre in the Round Website

That’s basically all you need to know of the plot because the humor and heart of the play comes from the characters and their relationships. Lakeshore players has gathered a very talented group of actors who know how to bring Zacarias complex characters to life, always avoiding making them into caricatures. With 7 actors appearing on stage and all of them so good it’s hard to choose who to highlight. What I noticed most about the ensemble was the way they genuinely seemed to be listening to each other. They were exceptionally good at showing us their character’s thoughts and feelings when the attention wasn’t on them. A great example is Mitch Kiecker’s portrayal of Rob, Ana’s husband. Ana played by Laura Knobel is frequently seeking the spotlight or the one holding court. It was fascinating to watch Kiecker at these times and how natural and in the moment he appeared at those times. If I had to choose a favorite it would either be Lewis Youngren who plays William or Katie Rowles-Perich who plays Alex. William co founded the Book Club and was Ana’s first romance and Rob’s roommate back in college. William plays him humorously immaculate, and his line reading when he makes a revelation in the second Act is uproariously funny. Rowles-Perich plays an interloper to the book club that Ana sees as a threat to her perfectly curated group of people. Rowles-Perich blows through the book club like a breath of fresh air and full of intelligent insites. Her reactions to the group in many ways mirror our own.

One of the little touches that I love about this script is these inter scenes between book club meetings where Erika Soukup performs as different characters giving testimonials. Director Jess Yates stages these brief little bits cleverly, even having one of them off to the side on a wall above some of the audience. Sarah Brandner’s set design is perfectly suited to the play with the audience placed where the Documentary’s camera would be. The Book Club Play runs through March 23rd at Lakeshore Players in White Bear Lake. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.lakeshoreplayers.org/bookclubplay-season-72-1

*Portions of this review come from my previous review of the play.

The Messenger is Scarily Relevant, Attendance Should be Required at Six Points Theater

The Messenger a new play by Jenny Connell Davis is a powerful and important work that needs to be seen by as many people as possible. Told from the perspective of four women in different time periods The Messenger explores the reality of hate and how it endures. Their gender of the characters is in and of itself an important choice Davis makes. We hear these four testimonials play out and while it is being produced at Six Points and three of the four stories do revolve around the holocaust in some way, it is not a play simply about anti semitism. It is about how hate of any kind is given power, how well intentioned or fearful people become complicit in it’s growth. Davis has the Woman tell us their stories directly because hearing facts is less impactful than hearing someone’s personal story. Facts often leave our minds leaving behind vague impressions of a general topic, but stories create emotional responses and empathy that generates a longer lasting understanding of not just what happened but how it affected the teller. The Messenger powerfully provokes emotional responses to the stories it shares, some of anger, grief, understanding, and inspiration.

inspired in part by Georgia Gabor, a math teacher and a Jewish Holocaust survivor who tells students in Pasadena California about her experiences in WWII. Georgia is played expertly by Laura Esping and her retellings to her students of her experiences are harrowing. Espings performance displays an understanding of the characters mindset. She has survived and she has made it a point to share her story wherever and whenever she can. She does not breakdown or get emotional, she is teaching, she tells her truths in a way that conveys the gravity of what her words mean and to ensure understanding. Her accent is also superbly done. Her story is intertwined with that of Angela, played by Tracey Maloney, who is a helicopter parent in 1993. She starts a petition when she learns that Georgia is telling her students about her experiences during and after the war. Maloney perfectly captures the clueless entitlement and dangerous censorship masquerading as parental protectiveness. Maloney’s performance success can be measured by how much she makes your skin crawl, mine almost made it off my body and out of the theater. She is absolutely chilling in her cheerfulness.

Julia Isabel Diaz plays Gracie an archivist at a museum in 1969 who discovers some documents that are not catalogued that throw an unflattering light on a U.S. WWII General. Her employers do not want the document to be put forward despite its historical importance. The rationale is why tarnish the good name of an American hero? Gracie loves her job and Diaz lays the groundwork in her initial scenes which are about her initial internship and then being hired, the enthusiasm is a stark contrast to the emotional turmoil she displays later when it is made clear that she has a bright future at the museum if she just buries the documents. Ashley Horiuchi plays the final character Annie, a young asian woman who is also linked with the museum, but in 2020 as a student volunteer. Horiuchi is very believable as a fifteen year old teenager in a grade conscious Pasadena school. Her character starts of with the kind of attitude that makes those of us who were or are parents of teenagers role our eyes in recognition. There is also a sort of defensive mean girl aspect to the character that eventually is broken down. She allows us to come to a understanding of the girls feelings and emotions, taking us from eye rolls to sympathy. When she is witness to and involved in an act of prejudice she stays silent. The message of the play and of these characters in particular is that silence allows hate to flourish. What is important with these characters is it makes the situations in which Gracie and Annie remain silent understandable, we can comprehend why they keep silent, making them sympathetic characters, but it also wisely shows us the price of their silence on their mental state and the world around them.

When I was in school we learned that we study history because if we don’t do so and learn from it, that history will repeat itself. As we look around our world today we can see the truth in that lesson. What is the cause? Why did we not learn from the past? Is it the Mothers who didn’t want their children to know about the atrocities of the past? In saving their children the discomfort of facing some ugly facts did the doom all of society to repeat our darkest hours. Did they contribute to the downfall of our educational system with their over protectiveness creating generations that don’t really grasp what happened and why? Or is it that we hid things that we thought would embarrass us as a nation, thinking they didn’t really matter. Not knowing that to confront all of our darkest moments was the only way to stay in the light? Or is it the silence of fear, the advice given to many to keep your head down, ignore the hate and it will go away. But it doesn’t go away, it only grows stronger when you are not watching it.

The Messenger is probably the most important play you will see this year and I wish I could enforce the “will see” of that sentence. For those of you turned off by the dark subject matter, know that it is dark but it is also very illuminating. It’s not a fun show, but it also isn’t a difficult show to sit through, it is very rewarding and helps clarify the reality of hate and how it spreads. With that understanding we can hopefully be better about finding ways to fight back against the encroaching darkness. The Messenger runs through March 23 at Six Points theater for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.sixpointstheater.org/the-messenger

“When Children Learn to devalue others, they can learn to devalue anyone, including their parents” – Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Now more than ever in the wake of the most recent election and the hailstorm of stupidity and hate it has unleashed, Theater companies need you and we need them. Buy tickets to shows go out and support work that reflects diversity and inclusiveness. Donate to your favorite theater companies, don’t wait until they are on the brink of shutting down. We all need to stand up and fight for our Theaters whose funding is under attack for promoting inclusion, equality and diversity.

Tired of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself left out when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn.

But that’s not all! You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time. Think I may have steered you wrong on a show? Well, I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by m’colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers.

This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, This Blogger Beamed With Joy at Ten Thousand Things Theater Latest Triumph

Joy Dolo, Maggie Chestovich, and Katie Bradley Photo by Tom Wallace

“… and tell a world’s worth of stories”
This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing by Finegan Kruckemeyer

Tonight Ten Thousand Things Theater (TTT) proved once again that you don’t need a large budget, huge sets, or elaborate costumes to make great theater. Armed with a few simple props and costumes, performed with all the lights up and in the round This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing is as entertaining and creative as anything else you’ll see on any stage. In a world that wants to whitewash our Theaters, TTT offers up a diverse cast telling a story that encompasses the entire planet with a message about self love, helping others, and family. The play is a modern day variation on a fairytale about three sisters, triplets who suffer a loss and then are taken into the woods to be lost. Though triplets, they are very different from each other. Albienne was the oldest and enjoyed cake, Beatrix was next and she was a child of the sun, Carmen was the youngest and carried the world upon her shoulders. When they are left in the woods they each decide what the best course of action will be for themselves and at age 12. They separate, Albienne goes forward out into the world, Carmen stays in the forest, and Beatrix goes back in search of their Father. The play follows each girls story until they are in their thirties and find their way back to each other. Along the way they will first serve others, and then learn to serve themselves.

The five person cast all play multiple roles and every member of this ensemble contributes equally, making it a very special production. Joy Dolo plays Albienne, I have a soft spot in my heart for Dolo. The first time I saw her perform was a show called Every Brilliant Thing. It’s a show where the audience have slips of paper and when she says the number on the slip of paper you have to say or do what is on it. I got the slip that said I was her Father, and I had to make a toast at her wedding. Since that night, she has held a special place in my heart, not just because I played her Father for a minute or two, but because of the connection she made to the entire audience. A connection I have experienced again and again in her performances including this one. Dolo has a way of interacting with the audience that makes them feel welcome and included rather than on the spot. Katie Bradley plays Carmen who just about had us falling out of our seats with laughter as she goes on a feeding frenzy of woodland animals. Maggie Chestovich plays Beatrix, and her character has a manic energy and feistiness, not afraid to go full on wild and crazy when she tries to cheer up a city full of depressed people. The cast is rounded out by Tyson Forbes who plays among many other roles, their Father and Marisa B. Tejeda who among others plays their Mother.

The five together along with the Director Markell Kiefer are masterful storytellers. They convey everything from the changing of the seasons to battles with Vikings with simple movements, small props, and hats that represent the sun and the moon. They use so little, yet use every tool available to them to convey so much. The play is performed to live musical accompaniment by Composer and Music Director Julie Johnson, which is so light and sweet that it floats around the audience lifting us up on it gentle melodic waves. The set and props are designed by Joel Sass, one of the most creative theater designers in the Twin Cities. Equally capable of wowing us with detailed and fabulous designs at Open Eye Theatre or stunning us with the simplistic creativity of a TTT production. The lovely and multifaceted costumes are by Sarah Bahr. The Choreography is by a master of movement, Jim Lichtscheidl, whose ability to complement and enhance the story physically adds immeasurably to the charm of the show.

This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing is filled with humor and creativity, it is exactly the kind of show we need right now. A show that embraces the art of storytelling in a way that inspires us to hope and love and engage. As with all TTT shows this one travels around the area, to find out where they are performing, on what dates, and to grab your tickets go to https://tenthousandthings.org/

The Heart Sellers is Surprisingly Warm and Touching at the Guthrie Theater

Juyeon Song and Jenna Agbayani Photo by Dan Norman

The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh tells the story of two women who are recent immigrants to the US in 1973. But what it’s about is the journey of friendship, or more pointedly the birth of friendship. My wife commented as we made our way out of the theater how universal friendship between women is. Suh tells what seems like a very specific story about two women, Jane and Luna, who are strangers in a strange land. Both friendless and yearning to connect to someone. The play opens as they arrive at Luna’s apartment after having struck up a conversation at the grocery store. Both of their husbands are doing their medical residency and since it is Thanksgiving and they are foreign, they get to work the holiday. Jane and Luna are drawn to each other, as so many of us are to new friends, by what we have in common. When they arrive their interactions betray their uncertainty, Luna talks incessantly, nervously trying to make this new acquaintance feel at home. Jane is quiet and timid at first, overwhelmed by Luna’s nervous energy. It’s the awkward dance we all know when we feel a connection but are unsure how to nurture it without smothering it. Over the course of the evening the women will open up, a couple of bottles of wine, as well as to each other.

Jenna Agbayani as Luna and Juyeon Song as Jane let the trust and connection between the characters blossom slowly and believably throughout the evening. They share information about their days alone while their husbands are at work. Looking for more links between them, they tell about their families back home, what they dream of doing. Slowly they both relax, Luna talks less and Jane more. Agbayani and Song who played the roles previously opposite each other are exquisite in their nuanced portrayal of two women for whom the common language is foreign to them. But the need to connect is as my wife put it, universal. They get pulled along through uncertainty and discomfort by a shared need to engage, to find someone to break them from their isolation. They find humor in the smallest bits of dialogue and a deeper bond in their shared fears developes. And while part of the play is certainly about their specific situations as new immigrant housewives in 1970’s America, it’s really a story of the beginning of a friendship. By the end, one imagines that if we were able to follow these characters into the future to the end of their lives they would still be sitting on a couch next to each other having been witness to each other’s lives. We feel as though we are privileged to be a part of the beginning of something beautiful. Agbayani and Song create such vivid characters that they go on in our minds long after we have left the theater. We want to spend more time with them, to feel along with them the building of the community that these two women are destined to birth.

May Adrales directs The Heart Sellers with such a light touch that everything seems completely unscripted, from every line of dialogue to every move in the blocking. The costumes by Junghyun Georgia Lee are perfect extensions of the characters, Luna, who is more outgoing is dressed like a 1970’s woman, in clothes that have a little more character to them. Jane is more reserved and her dress could have been worn by a woman in any decade, it’s conservative and reflects a simple but graceful taste. The Set Design by Wilson Chin is intricately detailed and grounds the entire productions in a way that enhances our sense that these characters are real people. I also want to mention in conjunction with the Set Design the Sound Designer/Composer Fabian Obispo and Lighting Designer Kat C. Zhou. As the play opens Obispo’s music comes up in synch with the lights in the windows of the apartment buildings that make up the backdrop of the stage, it’s a moment that echoes the birth of a new day, a very zen moment for me. Zhou also had a nice lighting queue when Luna turns on the TV and we see the old Blueish white glow that used to shine on the faces of black and white TV viewers.

The Heart Sellers runs about 90 minutes with no intermission and this is one of the few times that I wish a play was longer. I didn’t want to leave these characters, I felt as though I had been a part of a new friendship coming into existence and I didn’t want that feeling to end. The Heart Sellers runs through January 25th at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2024-2025-season/the-heart-sellers/

Twin Cities Horror Festival XIII Day 4 Reviews: Gh0stChaser04, The Regular, Campfire Stories

This will be my last batch of reviews until I see the final show Keith Hovis’ Schaulust on 10/30. As I prep this I’m told there is a single ticket left for the final performance of Let’s Summon a Demon at Debbie’s, it’s not to be missed so snatch it up if it’s still available. To read more about all the shows and to purchase tickets goo to https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/tchf-xiii-schedule.html Now without further ado here are my reviews for the three shows I saw on Day 4 of the festival.

Gh0stChaser04 plays like an old episode of the Twilight Zone crossed with Scooby-Doo, yet taken almost entirely seriously. It’s another in the increasingly rare shows that attempts some actual scares and creepiness and for that it is very welcome. This one has a great cast including a couple a favorite comedic performers Rita Boersma and Heather Meyer. The script by Rachel Teagle is clear and witty, particularly in the opening dialogue between the three ghost chasers. Jenny Moeller pulls off a tricky directing job, keeping it mostly grounded but also giving in to the more absurd aspects of the script, the Scooby-Doo aspects if you will. It’s hard to change tone from the realistic to the absurd and then come back to a reality established in the opening, but Moeller makes it work. The plot follows three ghost chasers in the late 1990s and simultaneously a journalist and a spiritualist from the early 1900s. How the two intersect and the surprises in store I’ll leave you to discover in wherever it is that signpost up ahead reads as the next stop.

The Regular is best explained as an episode of Cheers, which it openly acknowledges as an inspiration, gone horribly horribly wrong. Wait, let me amend that, it’s like the funniest fucking episode of Cheers getting hijacked by Kevin Spacey’s character in Seven. Josh Carson writes and directs the show and I’m not sure why he isn’t writing his own number one sitcom, or maybe that’s in the works. I thought the script was brilliant as was the staging including some great fight choreography by Annie Enneking. Filled with clever music cues that add repeated laughs throughout the show. Set in a bar an hour before closing the brilliant Sam Landman plays Charlie who sees himself as the loveable Norm character of the local bar. He banters with the bar staff, the bartender Teddy played by Claire Chenoweth, and the server Wes played by Lukas Ramsey, who humor him. Things take an odd turn though when a stranger arrives played by Jay Melchior who once left alone with Charlie informs him that he’s going to kill him when they leave the bar. Charlie doesn’t know why or what to do with this information or whether the stranger is being serious or not. The four person cast is top notch they make Carson’s jokes feel fresh and spontaneous like the best comedy. Special spotlight though on Landman and Chenoweth, they have the meatiest roles to be sure, but both have that something extra that makes it impossible not to believe their performances. This is a genre mashup of sitcom, thriller, horror, not the most naturalistic performance styles generally, and yet, for an hour they were Charlie and Teddy. This is so far, the best show the Festival.

Campfire Stories like Rev. Matt’s performances will be different every night. The line up changes but the structure is the same. Each night a group of four to five storytellers will take their turn at the microphone and tell true ghost stories. If the opening night is any indication they will run the gamut from funny, to moving, and even genuinely spooky. The show is accompanied musically by its curator and storyteller at each performance Nissa Nordland along with the multi talented Sam Landman. Here is the lineups for the remaining performances:

Monday, October 28th at 6:00 PM

Lauren Anderson

Jex Arzayus

Nissa Nordland

Shannon Twohy

Wednesday, October 30th at 9:00 PM

Lauren Anderson

Shanan Custer

Matthew Kessen

Heather Meyer

Nissa Nordland

Friday, November 1st at 7:30 PM**

Jex Arzayus

Nissa Nordland

Shannon Twohy

Derek “Duck” Washington

ASL Night

Saturday, November 2nd at 10:30 PM

Shanan Custer

Matthew Kessen

Heather Meyer

Nissa Nordland

Terrified of missing reviews from The Stages of MN? Do you find yourself afraid and all alone in the dark when all your friends are talking about that great new play that you didn’t even know about? Never fear, that need never happen again. Now you too can subscribe and have every post from The Stages of MN sent directly to your email box. No more hoping the algorithm works in your favor and you actually see a post on facebook or Instagram. No relying on so-called friends to tip you to the best shows in town. To subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. You can also follow me on Facebook, @thestagesofmn click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. You can also read some of my reviews syndicated on the MN Playlist website https://minnesotaplaylist.com/ from time to time.

A Wrinkle in Time Full of Stage Magic at Theatre in the Round

A Wrinkle in Time is an American Newbery Award winning young adult novel published in 1962 by Madeleine L’Engle. Cherished by many, not me, but many. I’m not saying it’s not a good book, I’m saying I haven’t read it, and honestly now I wish I had. A little research has informed me that there are actually 5 books in the series that make up the Time Quintet. A Wrinkle in Time tells the story of Meg Murray, her younger brother Charles Wallace and their new friend Calvin O’Keefe who are sent on an adventure through time and space to rescue the Murray children’s father. The story takes us to several different planets where the trio will encounter strange beings and a powerful darkness known as It. Their guides on the journey are the three Mrs. W’s: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, who it is suggested by a line of dialogue could perhaps be the three Witches from Macbeth.

The Director Penelope Parsons-Lord has chosen to produce the show using only practical effects so there are no projections or recordings used. For the most part this approach works and in fact is one of the charms of the production. There are a few aspects of the story for those of us not familiar with it that are a little hard to follow. When they reach the planet Camazotz where Mr. Murray is imprisoned, much of what occurs there is hard to follow in the literal sense, though you get a general understanding of what happens overall. I mention this because the play is appropriate for younger audiences say Ten and up, but those unfamiliar with the story might get lost during this section. In terms of the production design I enjoyed the fairly barebones approach; I always like what I call stage magic. It really is a combined effort to create the illusions used to illustrate the fantastical elements of the story. Lighting Designer Mark Kieffer makes excellent use of Black Light technology for the interplanetary traveling sequences. The team behind the characters’ looks: Co-Costume Designers Krista Weiss and Penelope Parsons-Lord, Makeup/Hair Designer Robin Gilmer, and Puppet Designer Elliot Van Winkle create some very distinct images and creatures very simplistically.

The three leads are all relatively new to me; Ryan Pierce as Charles Wallace, Harriet Spencer as Meg, and Tic Treitler as Calvin. Pierce has it the toughest, being the biggest of the three but playing the youngest (six years old in the book), it’s an uphill battle, but I’m not sure most child actors would be able handle some elements as when the character is possessed by the spirit of It. Spencer and Treitler have an easier time suspending our disbelief, as they are playing 13 and 14 year olds. They also somehow create a romantic connection between the two characters that you can sense but I’m not sure is explicit in the script; in my research I find it foreshadows their relationship in the later books. My favorite performances were those of the Mrs. W’s played by Shelley Nelson, Robin Gilmer, and Ariel Pinkerton. Nelson’s portrayal of the quirky Mrs. Whatsit who is the quirkiest of the three is especially fun.

Highly recommended for fans of the book or those who have seen one of the two screen adaptations. I think foreknowledge of the plot is a great help in following certain elements of the plot. The story is full of ideas, themes, and concepts that I think an audience not struggling to follow the plot will focus in on more completely. A Wrinkle in Time runs through July 14th at Theatre in the Round Players for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/home/season-placeholder/72nd-season/wrinkle/

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