Tag: performing arts

The Name Jar at Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins a Collaboration With Theater Mu

The Name Jar a 45 minute play is an adaptation of the book by Yangsook Choi by Susan H. Pak and Directed by Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan running at Stages Theatre Company through April 14th. The production is done in Collaboration with Theater Mu which is one of my favorite Theatre companies. One of the things I love about Theater Mu is that aside from always putting on quality productions I almost always learn something new about various Asian cultures. Sometimes it is as intricate as learning about a war I knew nothing about, other times as simple as how to pronounce a word. I love what the two companies have done with this production geared towards people age five and up; however, the up doesn’t mean 14 or 17 it means 101+. The message here is simple enough for school age children to understand but universal enough for anyone to learn from. It’s short, energetic, and yes geared towards children, but did I mention it’s short? Two hours of a showed geared towards five years old, without having a five year old with me would be rough. But I attended this on my own at 45 minutes I found if engaging and full of heart and I felt I gained knowledge and understanding.

The plot follows Unhei, a young girl who has just moved to the United states from Korea, as she attends her first day at school. None of the other children can pronounce her name and she starts to wonder if she should pick out an American name to go by at school. This is a difficult decision, in her family and indeed her culture, names are very important. It’s important to note that her classmates are not intentionally mean or tease her about her name. But, the enthusiastically grasp onto the idea of her picking a new name and create the name jar of the title into which they place suggestions of what she can call herself. We see how not Unhei feels different from the others and understand her natural instinct to try and change to fit in with her classmates. We also gain an understanding through her interactions with her Umma (Mom), Mr. Kim the Korean Grocery store owner, and her Halmoni (Grandma) about the ways in which a name differs in Korean culture from those of the average midwestern family. Director Sullivan does a great job keeping the play moving and of engaging the audience through some mild interaction. Encouraging the audience say Korean words and names along with the characters involves us in the story but also in the learning, we don’t simply let things wash over us we actively engage. Technically the show has subtle but effective use of projections, the scenic design by Sarah Brandner is versatile and well suited and more elaborate than I expected for the studio space. There’s also nice work done by Lighting Designer Alice Endo and Sound Designer Gretchen Katt in helping to create the locales and make for effective transitions.

The Name Jar is running through April 14th at Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.stagestheatre.org/name-jar/

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Honey, I’m Home a Hilarious Solo Show at Open Eye Theatre

Honey, I’m Home is Madeleine Rowe’s one house show which combines comic clowning, inspired physical theater and very clever writing. It’s part of Open Eye Theatre’s 2024 Guest Artist Series, and a remount of a successful run at The Southern Theater in 2022. I recently saw Rowe in Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some) at Yellow Tree Theatre and found her clowning most enjoyable. I expected some laughs, what I got were more laughs than you can shake a plunger at. I could explain that but like a lot of comedy shows the fun is in the unexpected, the laughs come from your spontaneous response to what his being presented. Open Eye Theatre is such a small but wonderful theater space, I’ve seen some of my favorite performances in this little theater with it’s tiny brick enclosed stage that usually feels like it’s about eight feet by eight feet. Tonight though, it felt especially spacious, possibly because it looked to have been freshly mown. Rowe plays a house for sale and it’s open house day so she’s a little bit excited. She’s very welcoming and even gives us, the audience, a pre-open house tour. That should give you the gist of the show. The entire performance is a direct address to the audience and you are expected to join in. The notoriously anti-audience participation Blogger Cherry and Spoon was able to avoid joining the show but I believe had a wonderful time with it as well. So don’t let that put you off.

Rowe is a first rate clown and performer, brave and impishly mischievous, she has the audience in stitches for 70 minutes straight, which is another wonderful aspect of the show, it’s about 70 minutes long and so no need for those annoying intermissions. Rowe could hold the audience all on her own without set and props and costumes and dummies, but the addition of those things pushed this into the realm of something really special. Roofs off to I’m Staying Home with Madeleine Rowe and Michael Torsch for their Set Design. Sound Design by Dan Dukich and Lighting by Ariel Pinkerton add the perfect touches. Whoever designed the projections and puppet work deserves a big round of applause, there’s a duet sung with the aid of those elements that is a moment where I realized this was exactly what I needed tonight. It was a hard day today and I almost stayed home to process, I’m so glad I didn’t as Madeleine Rowe and her brilliant show lifted me up when I most needed it. Honey, I’m Home runs through February 24th at Open Eye Theatre in South Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.openeyetheatre.org/honey-im-home

Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. 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/

I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers (TCTB), where you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I when you follow us on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. We also produce the podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat!! which you can access through this link or wherever you enjoy podcasts https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/ . We post biweekly longer form episodes that will focus on interviews and discussions around theater topics. There is also shorter episodes in which we Bloggers tell you what we think you should get out and see as well as what we have on our schedules that we are most looking forward too.