The Turn of the Screw Prolongs That Halloween Atmosphere at Gremlin Theatre

Peter Christian Hansen and Julia Valen Photo by Alyssa Kristine

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is one of the great classic ghost stories, it was most famously adapted into the film The Innocents (1961) starring Deborah Kerr and most recently as the second season of Mike Flanagan’s Netflix horror anthology as The Haunting of Bly Manor. Jeffrey Hatcher who seems to have a play being produced at every theater in town this year, has fairly faithfully adapted the story into a play for two actors. Julia Valen plays The Woman while Gremlin Theatre Artistic Director Peter Christian Hansen plays The Man. Following the plot of James’ story, Valen primarily plays the role of narrator and Governess of two children Flora and Miles at Bly Manor. She has been hired by the children’s Uncle and guardian to take charge of them and under the strictest instructions never ever to bother him for anything. Hansen plays the Uncle and then every other character that comes into the play, mainly the housekeeper Mrs. Grose and Miles. Flora in this play is very timid and completely silent. Not long after assuming her post at Bly Manor, she begins to see what she comes to believe are the Ghosts of the former Governess and the Caretaker. She believes these ghosts are attempting to influence the children and that she must do everything in her power to severe any connection between the ghosts and her charges.

Carl Schoenborn is listed as both the Set and Lighting Designer which makes perfect sense as the lighting seems to act as part of the set. What does exist in a physical sense is a staircase towards the back of the stage, there are no other elements aside from the performers and the lighting and sound designs. This minimalist approach works well when you have two actors playing all of the characters but are not going the comedic route. We are already suspending our disbelief to the extent of accepting Hansen as multiple characters of different genders and ages the idea of a detailed set that tries to emulate some semblance of reality feels out of place. This lies somewhere between physical theater and theater of the mind and the design perfectly reflects that. I responded strongly to this shadowy production, which builds mystery and tension throughout and ends with an unexpected revelation, that works really well within the framework of James’ story. Both Valen and Hansen are well cast, with Hansen successfully navigating the difficult task of performing as a 10 year old boy without being childish or annoying.

I love a good ghost story and Gremlin Theatre’s production is a great way to extend Monster Month. The Turn of the Screw runs through December 1st at Gremlin Theatre for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://gremlintheatre.org/

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Twin Cities Horror Festival XIII Day 8 Review: Schaulust

With this final show I have attended all of the TCHF XIII productions and yet somehow I still didn’t get a Bingo. Oh well, sometimes it just isn’t in the cards. Besides I think the prize was a toothbrush and who the hell wants that, am I right? We want candy!!! I have to say that for the first time in my TCHF attendance which began in 2019, there wasn’t a single show that I had to write a bad review about. Hey they weren’t all great, but there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch. The more amazing thing, and what shows that this years producers were real risk takers, is that Allison Vincent wasn’t in any of them. Last year that was the one ingredient that guaranteed a hit show, so for no one to have cast her in a show was a very ballsy move. You can read my reviews of everyone of the productions in this years festival which continues through 11/4/24 at The Stages of MN. For more information and to purchase tickets to the remaining shows go to https://www.tchorrorfestival.com/

Schaulust written and performed by Keith Hovis is part musical, part horror show, and all character study of an unstable mind. Hovis plays Wyatt a man who likes to watch, not in a creepy sexual way, but in a creepy everyday kind of way. He describes how it led to his break up with his boyfriend, though it wasn’t the watching part, the boyfriend was fine with that, it was something else, his need to not be needed. After the break up he finds a couple of people online who need money and agree to install a camera in their homes so he can watch them in exchange for money. Again not in a creepy sexcam way, just watch them playing video games, cutting their nails, sleeping on the couch. I’m not sure who to credit with the scenic design but it’s extremely well done. Wyatt’s home is a window into his fraying and disintegrating mental health. You can see the benefit of Schaulust playing in the Studio space, it has allowed for a fairly elaborate design, which really does inform our understanding of the narrator. It’s also one of the handful of shows that has some real horror elements, which I always think is a nice touch at the horror fest. It’s well written and acted, Hovis’ performance is all in and his songs were perfectly suited to the material. It’s one of the most polished and effective shows of the entire festival and I can say that because I saw them all!

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.

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

All the Devils Are Here is a Masterclass in Shakespeare’s Villains at the Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie Theater opens it’s McGuire Proscenium Stage as the first stop for Octopus Theatricals national tour of Patrick Page’s All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. Created and performed by the award winning actor of stage and screen Patrick Page who walks us through Shakespeare’s plays taking a look at nine of his villains, and how the role of the villain changed over the course of his career. Page is a mesmerizing performer who commands the stage from the moment the lights go up. Open and engaging warmly with the audience as he discusses his experiences with these roles, he slips easily into masterful performances from the plays and shows himself to be an excellent Shakespearean actor. Setting up each performance with a discussion of how each role added to the complexities of the archetype and showed Shakespeare’s maturation. For any fan of Shakespeare this is an essential production on the journey of understanding the artist and his works.

For a one person show that contains very few props or set pieces I must say this is a very well designed production. Everything is elegantly presented and the lighting design by Stacey Derosier is especially effective. Sound Designer Darron L West also adds some excellent little touches like the manipulation of Page’s voice as the three witches in Macbeth. My favorite story Page tells of his own experiences with Shakespeare’s plays revolves around Macbeth, which touches on the curse of the Scottish play. As many of you know our local production of Scotland, PA has been dealing with some injuries which may or may not have to do with the curse. In his performance of shakespeare characters, my favorites were Iago from Othello and Shylock from the Merchant of Venice. I appreciated Page’s explanation of the prejudices and other societal views from Shakespeare’s day. Explaining how things were so we can look at the characters through the lense of the time, but also pointing out that thankfully we know better now.

All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain runs through November 17th at the Guthrie Theater in Downtown Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2024-2025-season/all-the-devils-are-here/

Over the River and Through the Woods a Great Script With Fantastic Cast Creates Pure Gold

Mark Rosenwinkle, Melinda Kordich, Julia Ennen, Armando Harlow Ronconi, Kirby Bennett and Gabriele Angieri Photo by Brian Pierce

This was my third time out to Sidekick Theatre in South West Bloomington and my second time enjoying a meal before the show. I know that for some of my colleagues it seems like a bit of a trek for a show, but I’m to the West of the cities and for me this is much closer than going to St. Paul for a show, which I do on a nearly weekly basis. But honestly the reason I’ve come back for the second and third time is not proximity, it’s because I have been thoroughly entertained and indeed impressed with Sidekick Theatre’s offerings. Over the River and Through the Woods is the best show so far and deserves to be seen by everyone. Laugh out loud funny but also touched with moments of sweetness and truth. Characters and situations that everyone can identify with. The humor flows from life not simply one liners and it works it’s way into our hearts because of it.

The script by Joe DiPietro centers on Nick, an unmarried young man who works in the City in marketing, but comes out every Sunday to Hoboken, New Jersey to have dinner with his maternal and paternal grandparents. As the play opens Nick has uncharacteristically come out on a Thursday because he has something to tell the grandparents. We must be 15 minutes into the play before Nick can get out his announcement, though he’s trying to do so from the moment he walks into the house. The announcement that he has been offered a promotion at work comes with the catch that if he accepts it he will need to move to Seattle. Why does it take so long, because none of them listen to him, his Grandma Aida tries to push food on him non stop throughout the entire run of the play, when Grandma Emma and Grandpa Nunzio arrive he informs the audience that they are the two loudest people he has ever known. Throughout the play the characters break the fourth wall and address the audience directly. Much of the humor, and of humor there is much, comes from Nick’s frustrations in dealing with his Grandparents, whether it’s trying to share news or playing Trivial Pursuit. The humor is character based, the best kind, the type that builds and provides avenues for call backs. It is also full of universal beats that ring true to the audience.

The script is well written to be sure but the cast really make it feel authentic. It’s about growing up and growing older, it’s about family that drives you crazy but that you also love dearly. It is a comedy, but a comedy about characters that you laugh at but also grow to connect and even love. And so it isn’t just about laughs, it also contains moments of sweetness and melancholy. And those only come because we have grown to love these characters and that is thanks to the amazing cast. Armando Harlow Ronconi plays Nick and his performance is built as much on his reactions to the other performers as on what he says and how. He has a gift for portraying frustration and incredulity without every overdoing it, every reaction is perfectly calibrated to find the balance between comic effect and keeping the character grounded in a reality. Kirby Bennett as Grandma Aida finds ways of pushing food on Nick constantly without it ever falling into a repetitive comedic routine. Instead, she finds a way to internalized this repeated action into the core of her character. Mark Rosenwinkel as Grandpa Frank, Gabriele Angieri as Grandpa Nunzio, and Melinda Kordich as Grandma Emma all work together so organically that you feel as if they really have lived next to each other for 50 years. They are remarkably gifted at talking over each other, creating a cacophony of voices through which Nick has to try and navigate and yet which the audience is able to follow word for word. Finally Julia Ennen plays Caitlin, the young woman the Grandparents invite to dinner without telling Nick, hoping he’ll fall in love with her and decide not to move away.

Over the River and Through the Woods runs through November 3rd at Sidekick Theatre in Bloomington for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://sidekicktheatre.com/about-the-show-over-river I highly recommend purchasing the optional meal before the show, I’ve found both the weekend brunch and the weekday lunch options to be delicious. It’s always nice when there is something extra like that to make a trip to the theater a little extra special.

Heck is Enjoyably Funny But Less Than the Sum of its Parts at St. Croix Festival Theatre

Jesse March and Kathryn Cesarz Photo by Dan Norman

I journeyed up to St. Croix Falls for the world premiere of Heck, billed as a new musical comedy by the stars of the show and co-directors Kathryn Cesarz and Jesse March. We made a day of it, doing some hiking across the river in Taylors Falls, enjoying an old fashioned ice cream soda on main street, dinner at supper club and a little shopping. And if you are traveling from the cities to see the show, that’s what I recommend you do as well as I’m not sure the show itself justifies the two and a half plus hour round trip drive. But it is amusing enough as the capper to a days adventure. It feels less like a musical comedy and more like a comedy with a few songs as it felt like there were about five or six songs, three of which really seemed to add something to the show. To be sure, one of them was really a showstopper performed by Kathryn Cesarz and Alexandria Neyhart playing Madam Satan and Gabby (The Archangel Gabriel). What works best and ultimately swings this show into the positive column is the comedy. The individual bits and characters are very funny, though there are a too many storylines that seem poorly defined and in the end, don’t really seem to add up to anything. It isn’t that there isn’t a plot, it’s just that the show seems relatively unconcerned with it and as such, it isn’t very clearly defined. You get to the end and most of the characters are right where they were at the start, and you feel like every storyline was resolved, but you’re not really sure what they all were about anyway.

The positives are much easier to define and really do make the experience enjoyable. First off, is Jesse March’s turn as Satan’s emotional support demon Belpho. March is a truly gifted clown, interacting with the audience in an easy going manner, and always finding the perfect line reading to achieve the largest laughs possible. Cesarz’s Madam Satan, is less concerned with being funny, but she has the character’s air of cold aloofness, superiority, and a touch of the dominatrix down perfectly. Evan Grande gives voice and brings to life the puppet demon Squee, assisted by Mary Margaret Hughes, and Lindsey Fry. Squee is a very successful creation, the three performers work in collaboration in full view of the audience to bring him to life, but very quickly you stop looking at the puppeteers and only see the puppet as a character. The puppet created by Michael Pettit is really an exceptional creation. Final performance note Theater Blogger Alex Lauer of https://onefanshow.com/ gave an award worthy performance as audience member pulled on stage to have their mind read.

For more information and to purchase tickets to Heck which runs through October 27th in St. Croix Falls WI go to https://www.festivaltheatre.org/

Measure For Measure is Must See Shakespeare From the Birth Play Project at A-Mill Artists Loft

Measure for Measure is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays. I’ve never seen it performed before and have no recollection of skipping it if it has been performed locally in recent years. The play is usually given a pass as one of Shakespeare’s problem plays. Is it a comedy or is it a tragedy, what happens exactly at the end and as the cast performing this production acknowledges, there are some twists and convolutions that nobody understands why they are included. Based on this one exposure to Measure for Measure I think this may be Shakespeare inventing the black comedy. The great thing about Shakespeare is that all the plays are around 400 years old, they’re in the public domain baby! You can do whatever you want with them, that’s how we get a Hamlet adaptation entitled Strange Brew and Henry IV as My Own Private Idaho. You can cut, rearrange, add to, completely modernize, and even set it on a Forbidden Planet. The Birth Play Project’s adaptation by Madeline Wall & William Edson embraces that freedom and comes up with a captivating production that feels like a Ten Thousand Things Shakespeare production. That is some very nice company to be in and The Birth Play Project earns their place at the table.

The play opens with Vienna’s Duke Vincentio placing Angelo in charge when she has to leave the city. She doesn’t actually leave though but disguises herself as a nun in order to observe Angelo and the citizens without their knowledge. Angelo, mad with power, decrees that anyone having sex out of wedlock will be put to death. The first offender is Claudio and his lover Juliet, who he is in the process of marrying and is pregnant. Claudio’s sister Isabella comes to plead with Angelo for Claudio’s life. This scene is where the show really clicked for me. Isabella Dunsieth who plays Isabella and Madeline Wall who plays Angelo debate back and forth like a slightly more serious Benedict and Beatrice. Angelo falls for Isabella, who is in the process of taking her vows to become a nun. All comparisons to that “will they or won’t they” couple end abruptly when Angelo agrees to let Claudio live if Isabella will sleep with her (Did I mention there is a lot of gender swapping in this production?). Isabella relays the information to Claudio who expresses his feelings that dying is worse than losing your virginity. Isabella is assisted by a nun, really the Duke in disguise, and it is arranged that Angelo will have sex with someone else thinking it is Isabella. After having her way with Isabella’s stand in, Angelo changes her mind and orders Claudios head to be cut off immediately. Again the Duke in disguise intervenes and another prisoners head is cut off instead. Can you kind of see why this is a Problem play? The twists and turns and convolutions are right out of his comedies, except instead of pretending to be a servant and wooing a princess, they are swapping people to be beheaded. It’s absurd and also very very dark. I didn’t even mention the live birth, that you almost sort of witness.

I absolutely loved what Wall and Edson who also co-directed the play did with this adaptation. Likewise the cast is excellent and embraces the weirdness of the play and all its twists and odd turns. They do two things that are crucial in a good Shakespeare performance. The first is you need actors who can speak the language so that it makes sense to the audience, everyone does so here. Secondly they need to not only make it understood but breathe fresh air into it, which they also accomplish admirably. The big surprise for me was Isabella Dunsieth, who I feel I know primarily for her work in the Brave New Workshop shows such as No Country For Two Old which she is currently also appearing in. Here she speaks shakespeare’s language as if it were her first, which being english I guess it probably was… but you know what I mean, she’s a natural. Edson and Wall both do triple duty not only adapting and directing but also acting in the show. Wall is Angelo and the sparks that fly as Isabella and Angelo debate are electric. Edson plays Claudio and makes a good argument himself when pleading for his life. There are too many cast members to go through them all, but trust me there is no weak link in this chain of performers.

This is a great opportunity to see a little produced play from Shakespeare. One can see why it’s not often staged, because it takes a very special theater company like The Birth Play Project to make it come alive like this. I suspect I will never see a better production of Measure for Measure and as such I highly recommend you see it while you can. Measure for Measure has three more performances at various location for tickets go to https://linktr.ee/birthplayproject.