The Cherry Orchard a Co-Production By The Moving Company and Jungle Theater

Nathan Keepers, Tracey Maloney Photo by Lauren B. Photography

This was my first experience with Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. I’ve seen three Chekhov adaptations over the last few years, but before that, I only knew him by reputation and the titles of his plays. With this production, I’ve now seen an adaptation of what Wikipedia calls “the four outstanding plays by Chekhov.” Out of curiosity, I read the synopsis there to see how faithful this version might be, but I resisted reading any analysis or criticism as I didn’t want to be told what I was supposed to think or feel about this revered work. I wanted my reactions to reflect how I responded in the moment, not through the lens of 1902 Russia when it was written.

These are my initial gut impressions, which I think are valid if you’re deciding whether The Cherry Orchard is something you want to experience. We all want to know up front: am I going to enjoy this? I did. I found it surprisingly funny, which sent me back to the synopsis to confirm whether that was typical. I’d never heard Chekhov described as funny; I always imagined his work as dark or depressing. This isn’t a straight-up comedy, but I didn’t expect the amount of humor in this production. The internet tells me Chekhov considered it a comedy; “dramedy” might be the best descriptor. Like Shakespeare, the play seems flexible allowing directors and actors to lean into either the drama or the humor depending on their interpretation.

The Moving Company consistently delivers strong performances, and this production is no exception. Nathan Keepers, exquisitely dressed by costumer Sonya Berlovitz, is excellent as Lopakhin, a wealthy businessman who once worked for the family that owns the cherry orchard of the title. The story follows a once-wealthy family who, through denial and poor decisions, have squandered their fortune. Their land and its famous orchard are about to be auctioned to pay their debts. Lopakhin offers a plan to save their estate, but the family is too paralyzed to act.

The concept of a privileged but foolish family losing everything feels like a reflection of Russia’s shifting social order—The Cherry Orchard premiered just thirteen years before the Revolution. Director Dominique Serrand, who also plays Leonid, the aging uncle, brings both humor and pathos to the production. Alongside Tracey Maloney as Liubóv, his sister and head of the family, the two create characters we should want to shake some sense into, but can’t help pitying even as they bring about their own downfall.

I don’t know if this is a typical interpretation of the play, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and am glad to have finally experienced such an important work.

The Cherry Orchard runs through November 2 at Jungle Theater in Uptown. For tickets and information, visit jungletheater.org/the-cherry-orchard.

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Two Gents Another Delightful Shakespear Interpretation From Ten Thousand Things

Kimberly Richardson and Michelle de Joya Photo by Tom Wallace

Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona is believed to be his first play, and many consider it one of if not the, weakest of his works. You can see the early seeds of plots and themes he would later refine, but as a whole, it’s undeniably problematic. Because of that, it’s performed far less often than his more popular comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, or Twelfth Night. I’ve only seen one other production, at the Jungle Theater more than a decade ago, and the plot had completely left my memory. That’s fine, though, since this new version makes some changes, which feels like a valid way to approach it. One of the most remarkable things about Shakespeare’s work is its universality, which allows artists to continually reinterpret it in new ways.

Nobody does Shakespeare quite like Ten Thousand Things (TTT), and Two Gents, their take on Two Gentlemen of Verona, is no exception. Part of the company’s mission is to make art accessible to everyone. They create stripped-down productions that can travel easily, bringing theater directly into the community. But they also make Shakespeare accessible by casting performers who can make the language clear and engaging for a modern audience. Which is something not every actor can do as skillfully as this cast.

I won’t try to summarize the plot, it can be a bit convoluted, but I always understood what was happening in a general sense, even if the finer details occasionally blurred. With this particular play, perhaps more than any other, the pleasure comes from the performances rather than the story itself.

This five-actor ensemble plays roughly sixteen or seventeen roles, and that’s where much of the production’s joy lies. One character, Sir Thurio, is actually portrayed by four different actors throughout the show. That might sound confusing, but Caitlin Lowans, the new artistic director of TTT who is making her directorial debut for the company, ensures it’s always crystal clear who’s who at any given moment.

As usual with TTT, the entire cast is strong. The standout is Kimberly Richardson, who plays Launce, the play’s most beloved comedic character. Richardson, a gifted comic actor, brings her considerable talents to all eight of her roles, stealing nearly every scene she’s in. Don’t mistake me though, the rest of the cast, which includes Michelle de Joya, Kamani Graham, Kurt Kwan, and Sara Richardson, definitely hold there own. It’s a true ensemble piece and every player adds to the whole!

Faithful viewers of The Stages of MN Show may remember my interview with Ryan Lee and Tod Petersen back in Episode 4. This production was one of the projects Ryan hinted at but couldn’t announce yet. Here, he creates an unobtrusive soundscape that perfectly complements the action onstage.

This may not be the best Shakespeare adaptation I’ve seen from Ten Thousand Things—which makes sense given the play’s reputation—but even weak Shakespeare, in TTT’s hands, is always entertaining.

Two Gents runs through November 2 at various locations. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit tenthousandthings.org/two-gents

Once on This Island, Is Not Enough. You’ll Want to Go Again and Again to Artistry Theater

“Beautiful.” That was the word that floated up from someone in the audience behind me as the cast prepared to take their bows after the final preview performance of Once on This Island at Artistry in Bloomington tonight. I was sorely tempted to leave it at that. I won’t be able to capture the evening any more perfectly than that, even if I used 5,000 words.

The best word to describe the music? Beautiful.
The best word to describe the story? Beautiful.
The best word to describe the cast? Beautiful.
And the best word to describe the star, Antonisia Collins, who plays the grown Ti Moune? Here I can add some qualifiers: possibly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen on stage. It’s perhaps the best casting of the year. Collins, who seemed to come out of nowhere and first caught my attention as Robin Hood last summer, has just made the jump to light speed and now sits atop The Stages of MN favorites list.

Once on This Island tells the story of Ti Moune, a young girl saved from a storm by four gods and placed in a tree to be found and adopted by a peasant couple. Mathias Brinda is also excellent as Little Ti Moune, showing remarkable stage presence for an eighth grader. Ti Moune wonders her whole life why the gods saved her as a child. When Daniel, a rich boy from the other side of the island, is in a car crash, Ti Moune discovers him. She knows in her heart the reason for her being saved was so she could save him. She nurses him back to health, falls in love, and when Papa Ge aka Death, comes for Daniel, she offers her own life in his place. Once Daniel is taken home, Ti Moune follows, and he seems to return her love. But where she sees with her heart, he is led by the expectations of others. In the end, he casts her aside and marries someone from his own class. It is Ti Moune’s innocence, her faith, and her belief in love that Collins captures so effortlessly.

There are many excellent members of the cast. A few of note: Darius Gilllard as Tonton Julian, Ti Moune’s adoptive father, whose voice is deep and powerful. Ninchai Nok-Chiclana, who plays the god Papa Ge, is also very good, getting a standout vocal moment in “Promises/Forever Yours (Reprise),” when he offers to spare Ti Moune—if she kills Daniel.

I’d seen the show once before when the tour came to the Ordway in the winter of 2020. Because I’d bought the tickets, I was probably seeing it at the end of its run, and I didn’t write a review. My only real recollection was that we were seated onstage, which was pretty cool, but that’s about all I remember. This time, I was in my favorite seats—front row center. Less novel, but arguably better than being behind the performers.

The production is simply staged, but with a beautiful simplicity that fits the story within a story style. Director Kelli Foster Warder adds some wonderfully creative flourishes, including a scene played entirely in shadows behind a white screen recounting Daniel’s family history. From my vantage point, I may not have been able to fully appreciate Nikki Long’s choreography, but what I could see up close looked fantastic—and I can only assume it looks even better from further back.

Music Director Sanford Moore, as always, draws a big sound from his orchestra, this time infused with a wonderful Caribbean flair. Once on This Island runs through October 26 at Artistry in Bloomington. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit artistrymn.org.

It’s Only a Play is a Hilarious Love Letter to the Theater World at Park Square Theatre

The Cast of It’s Only a Play Photo by Dan Norman

I’d like to be able to say that the cast is the reason to see It’s Only a Play part of Park Square Theatre’s 50 year celebration season. But that’s only one of the reason. There’s also the elegant set design by Benjamin Olsen, the creative and excellently staged Direction by Stephen DiMenna, and of course the knowingly hilarious script by Terrence McNally. Set in the bedroom of the townhouse of Broadway producer Julia Budder on opening night of her first solo production. Below there’s a party going on while upstairs a group of those involved with the play, their friends, the help, and even a critic, await the reviews. Filled with in jokes that those up on theater and pop culture will enjoy, but I feel like the humor is universal enough that you don’t have to be a theater nerd to enjoy it.

The cast is so good that rather than use a more interesting photo from the production I wanted to use one from the curtain call that featured the entire cast, because they are all so good and I can only comment on a few. The largest role is played by Jim Lichtscheidl, as James Wicker the playwrights best friend and an Actor who turned down the male lead he says because of his TV series, but really he thinks it’s a turkey.

Misery at Yellow Tree Proves the Old Adage Third Times the Charm

Laura Esping and Dustin Bronson Photo by Alex Clark

I like to begin all of my reviews of Misery—and this is the third—by saying I’m Stephen King’s number one fan. Although after watching Annie Wilkes demonstrate the extremes of fandom toward writer Paul Sheldon, I’m not sure I should be so quick to claim it. I say it because it’s true, but I realize faithful readers may find the line repetitive. That was also my first reaction when I saw Yellow Tree Theatre was producing Misery again, making this the third production in as many years. There’s so much good theater I miss because I simply can’t see it all. Having already seen Misery twice since 2023—including Yellow Tree’s last staging—I thought I might skip this one. Then I saw the cast list: Laura Esping as Annie Wilkes and Dustin Bronson as Paul Sheldon. F*#%!. And so there I was once more, seated in the audience for Misery, William Goldman’s stage adaptation of King’s novel (Goldman also wrote the screenplay for the 1990 film).

The play opens with writer Paul Sheldon regaining consciousness in the home of Annie Wilkes, his self-declared “number one fan.” Disoriented, he learns he’s been rescued from a car wreck caused by a snowstorm. With both legs broken and a dislocated shoulder, he’s at the mercy of Annie, a former nurse who has splinted his injuries and dosed him with her stockpile of painkillers. But the phone lines are down, the roads impassable—or so she claims. What begins as a story of apparent salvation quickly shifts into one of entrapment. Annie’s quirks spiral into unsettling behaviors, until it becomes clear she loves Paul too much to ever let him go.

I want to tread carefully here, because I enjoyed both previous stage productions I’ve seen—Yellow Tree in 2023 and Lakeshore Players in January 2025. The actors then gave fine performances, and I praised them in my reviews. But Esping and Bronson deliver the strongest portrayals I’ve yet seen of these roles. Esping doesn’t command the physically intimidating presence of earlier performers or Kathy Bates’s iconic film version, so she wisely takes a different approach. Her Annie is less explosively menacing and more quietly dissonant, at times even comic. A scene where she clambers onto the bed to pull Paul back feels borrowed from silent film comedy, yet lands perfectly in character. She channels something closer to Julie Harris with violent mood swings—an unsettling mix that makes Annie’s darkness even more disturbing.

Bronson’s Paul Sheldon brings a sharper intelligence and freshness to a role I thought I knew inside out. I’ve read the book, seen the film in theaters when it premiered, owned it on VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and Blu-ray, and now watched three stage productions. Yet Bronson made it feel new again. Previous actors played the part well; Bronson inhabits it. In moments, I forgot I knew the script by heart, hearing familiar lines as though for the first time. That’s an extraordinary achievement—and it’s exactly why we return to plays over and over: great actors breathe fresh life into familiar works.

As with all productions of this script, the weak link is Buster, the sheriff. That’s no fault of Chance Carroll, who plays him here. In the film, Richard Farnsworth made the role memorable, especially alongside Frances Sternhagen. The stage version drastically trims Buster’s part, leaving it underdeveloped and his fate underwhelming. Goldman might have been better off cutting the character entirely. Still, the limitation lies in the script, not the performer.

If you’ve never seen Misery, now is the time. If you have, this production is well worth revisiting for its fresh, incisive performances. Esping and Bronson prove how much a cast can transform a play.

Misery is directed by John Catron, who also helmed Yellow Tree’s 2023 production. The show runs through October 19 at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo. For tickets and information, visit yellowtreetheatre.com/misery2025.

A Doll’s House at the Guthrie is Funnier and More Relevant Than One Expects From This Classic Play

Andrew May, David Andrew Macdonald, and Amelia Pedlow Photo by Dan Norman

A fresh adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House by Amy Herzog which premiered on Broadway in 2023 opened the 2025-2026 season at The Guthrie Theater. Written in 1879 Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was a controversial play that challenged societal and theatrical institutions. The story centers around Nora, a devoted wife and mother, who struggles with a secret she has long held. With it’s reveal and her husbands reaction, she learns that her value to him lies in her subservience, in her being exactly what he wants her to be. The final scene of the play we are witness to a woman coming into herself, or at least ready to take the steps necessary to discover who she is as a human being, not just as a wife and mother. In the later half of the 19th century it was a daring exploration of gender roles and the rights of women. You can see why Ibsen is seen as one of the most influential playwrights of his time and often referred to as the father of realism.

I had never seen the play performed live but in preparation for seeing Noura, a modern play inspired by it, the Guthrie in 2020 had a production of Lucas Hnath’s sequel A Doll’s House, Part 2 at the Jungle Theater that same winter. I watched a television version starring Julie Harris and Christopher Plummer from 1959. It’s a bit fuzzy now, but I didn’t remember that version being as funny as this one is. One thing that does hold true is how astonishingly progressive this play seems for a play written in 1879. I think that one might mistakenly attribute that to Herzog’s adaptation, but that isn’t the case if memory serves me. There’s been a lot of chatter about the updating of the language with some feeling that Ibsen’s language should be left alone and doesn’t need to be changed for modern ears. Well Ibsen’s language was Norwegian, Danish so unless you are seeing it in that language, you are not getting Ibsen’s language anyway. The act of translation is also the act of adaptation. The translator is rewriting the text so that a different audience can understand the work. This latest adaptation is simply doing that again but for an audience who understands 21st century English. I had no problem with the script and found it to be humorous but still grounded in the realism that Ibsen was so famous for. The ending still packs a dramatic punch, though I suspect our audience was less shocked and more sympathetic as a whole to Nora’s choices than those in 1879.

The set design by Luciana Stecconi in combination with the lighting design by Robert Wierzel creates a dramatic feel to the proceedings that Director Tracy Brigden undercuts effectively with a generous stream of comedic moments. The tone of the set helps to underscore the darker under currents that run beneath the characters cheerful facade. Amelia Pedlow as Nora has a light touch when the character is simply being, simple. But when things gets serious, Pedlow expertly shows us the shattering of Nora’s illusions about her husband and her coming to terms with Torvald’s outburst and what they represent to her. David Andrew Macdonald, as her husband Torvald, is masterful at playing sweetly condescending while also bringing gasps and jeerings from the audience with his line readings.

A Doll’s House is a strong opening to the Guthrie’s Theater season delivering an adventurous (get used to hearing people say that word this season) take on this classic play. One may ask, why stage this play now? The answer is that more than ever in today’s political climate when the rights of women are coming under attack. We need to remind some of our neighbors that women are not wives and mothers first, but human beings. It’s shocking that nearly 150 years after it was written, we are having to make these statements. A Doll’s House Runs through October 12th at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-tickets/2025-2026-season/a-dolls-house/

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Maybe You Could Love Me a World Premiere From Theater Mu

Ashembaga Jaafaru and Sushma Saha Photo by Rich Ryan

One of the things I love about seeing so many productions is the different cultural perspectives I get to see the world through. The shows Theater Mu presents during its season are great examples of this. Maybe You Could Love Me by Samah Meghjee gives us an inside look into the lives of two young Muslim girls, Noor and Sajida, who are best friends. The play explores topics familiar to us as coming of age themes but through their specific cultural lens. It highlights what is universal about the human experience while also reflecting the unique ways in which our environment effects the ways in which we process those experiences. Like many white midwesterners, I know far too little about Islam, so while I’m not always sure what the characters are referring to specifically, Meghjee’s script provides enough context for me to understand what is happening without ever feeling like I’m being spoon fed information. We are simply observing the relationship between Noor and Sajida through time, seeing how their relationship develops through glimpses into three different ages 8, 17, and 26. It explores sexuality with a frankness that feels genuine and completely non-exploitative. Maybe You Could Love Me is a fascinating exploration of how friendship, queerness, and culture intermingle in the lives of these two young women.

Katie Bradley, who directs the show, is becoming a very strong Director with a clear understanding of how to communicate the growing and changing relationships between characters. Her last effort Stop Kiss, also for Theater Mu, also focused on two young women navigating their sexuality and relationship over multiple time periods. Bradley’s experience as an Actor is a strength in helping her guide these stories which focus on relationships and the connections between the characters. You can see her sensitivity towards the actor’s process in the way she stages the transitions between scenes. Building in time for Ashembaga Jaafaru and Sushma Saha, who play Noor and Sajida, to reset and center themselves into the next age as they change costume on stage. I do want to also note how much I enjoyed the spacious set by Scenic Designer Mina Kinukawa, which even features a bathroom that pushes out from the back wall complete with shower that is used to great effect.

There are other characters in the play that appear only via voices heard through the door to Noor’s room or on a telephone, but this is essentially a two hander between Jaafaru and Saha. Both performers handle the age shifts effectively, finding little touches to show us how they have changed as well as how they have remained the same over the 18 years which the play spans. It’s interesting to note through the script and the performances how the characters have swapped places in key ways. The younger Noor is the more adventurous of the two the one who is less strict with following the tenants of her religion. While Sajida the more timid and more apt to worry about whether something is allowed or isn’t. By the end it is Noor who has fallen inline with the cultural expectations of her community, while Sajida has chosen to follow more of her own path. This also reflects the status of their home lives, where Noor’s family is intact, Sajida’s parents are divorced and her father is uninvolved in her life. Jaafaru and Saha have an very natural intimacy between them which establishes them quickly in the minds of the audience as girls who have known each other since before they can even remember. The final scene plays all the more powerfully because of the bond we feel between them in the scenes from Act 1. Saha as faithful viewers of the YouTube show know is a Stages of MN favorite and they are well matched with Jaafaru. These are two very strong performances that make Maybe You Could Love Me a powerful play that speaks to everyone, while also allowing us a better understanding into Muslim culture.

Maybe You Could Love Me runs through September 28th at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatermu.org/maybe