A Unique Assignment at History Theatre Humanizes the Past Forging a Greater Understanding of a Dark Period in Our History

Pearce Bunting, Kevin Fanshaw, James A. Williams Photo by Rick Spaulding

Presently we are faced with a great and grave racial problem in our country. It points deep in many directions. I feel that it is essential that we solve this problem, if America is to hold the place among nations that it deserves.
James Meredith in a letter to Lt. Gallagher from A Unique Assignment by Harrison David Rivers

The excerpt from the script of A Unique Assignment by Harrison David Rivers may or may not be based on a real letter, I suspect it is. If so, it was a letter written in either 1962 or 1963, but it feels like it could have been written today. One of the important things about History is to remind of where we were and how far we have come. Sometimes I despair at the state of our country and I wonder how we came to a place where ignorance is so prevalent. Then, I see a play like A Unique Assignment, and I realize we have always been in that place, we just cycle through periods when hatred and small mindedness are emboldened. A period of silent stupidity began to dawn in 1962 when, as noted in the Playbill, President John F. Kennedy had to mobilize: “31,000 American servicemen were required to quell the violence – the largest ever invocation of the Insurrection Act of 1807.” In 2021, at the urging of President Donald Trump, another insurrection completed the journey of the previous four years to a new era of open intolerance and ignorance. The play illuminates an event in history that I was shamefully under informed about, it also contributes to this writers growing perception of the what life was like for a fellow human of a different skin color just 60 years ago. Something I will never be able to fully comprehend, but must continue to strive to increase my understanding. With this work as with so many others before it, History Theatre continues to facilitate that growth through their powerful telling of the stories of those who lived through the dates and places that shaped our world.

The History Theatre’s new play tells the true story of Lt. Henry T. Gallagher who was in charge of security for James Meredith. Meredith was trying to exercise his constitutional right to enroll in and attend the University of Mississippi, his attempt to integrate the Ole Miss resulted in a riot and threats of violence against Meredith and the US Marshals assigned to protect him. The story is told in flashback by Gallagher at the age of 73 played by Pearce Bunting who shares the stage with Kevin Fanshaw playing Gallagher aged 23. James A. Williams plays James Meredith as well as other ensemble characters, the cast is rounded out by Kevin Brown Jr. who plays a multitude of characters. Bunting and Fanshaw do a nice job of creating connection between the versions of Gallagher separated by 50 years. Rivers script allows for moments of humor to create a connection between the character and the audience, he doesn’t shy away from having Gallagher detail his missteps, and even finds a little Minnesotan humor. Bunting is open and able to laugh at his younger self, Fanshaw gives us those moments in a way that allows us to laugh but also relate, which is key to our identifying with the character. Williams as James Meredith in contrast is given little in the way of humor, instead he has a wisdom and gravitas that puts his character at the moral center of the story. Gallagher becomes our stand in, an example of how a cross between how we hope we would respond and how we suspect we would, Meredith is our intellect and our ideals. Williams is excellent as Meredith, he portrays him with a calmness that signifies someone who knows what is right and has accepted the costs associated with doing it. Williams ensemble roles give him the chance at some moments of humor as well, he gets to do a little of everything and he does it all brilliantly. Kevin Brown Jr. plays a lot of different roles and proves a versatile actor, both with serious characters and the more comical. My favorite was his portrayal of a member of the Navy who’s basically kidnapped by Gallagher to help them find their way to the University of Mississippi.

The play is directed by Richard D. Thompson the new Artistic Director of History Theatre. Thompson knows that when you have a memory play with a cast of four, two of whom will be playing multiple characters, that realism takes a backseat to telling a story in a clear and understandable way. He keeps the set design by Ursula K. Bowden simple with angled black flats on which images can be projected to convey visual cues to locations and events. A few rectangular boxes can be shifted around to stand in for counters, desks, bunks, and jeeps. Thompson understands that when you have actors changing characters from one moment to the next that you need to let go of the idea of trying to create realism with sets and costumes, you focus on the story, the characterizations and let simple shapes and images stand in for concrete places and objects. If the play works, which this one most certainly does, less is more, we are happy to accept the same actor in multiple roles when lens we are seeing them through is one of minimalism and suggestion rather than attempted realism and intricate details. There were some nice lighting moments from Lighting Designer Kurt Jung, one involving photographers flashbulbs was a really effective touch.

A Unique Assignment runs through April 7th at History Theatre in St. Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.historytheatre.com/2023-2024/unique-assignment

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The Doctor Wee-Woo Show at Open Eye Theatre

An Alleged Theatre Company Production The Doctor Wee-Woo Show opened Friday at Open Eye Theatre for a two week run. A show filled with humor, puppets, and lessons about moving on and following your dreams. I was invested in the characters in a way I hadn’t expected. The show is written by the co Artistic Directors of the company Jake Mierva & Danylo Loutchko and appears to be a children’s show called The Doctor Wee-Woo Show. Everything goes along and slowly a few little things happen that seem kind of not quite right for a kids show. Once the program ends more is revealed through Dr. Wee-Woo’s interaction with his creations: Sedrick the Sasquatch, Mailbag, Mrs. Apple Tree, Rob the Blob, and Broom & Dustpan. Sedrick is Doctor Wee-Woo’s primary co-star on the show and as we transition from the children’s show to behind the scenes, the roles begin to reverse between Sedrick and the Doctor. In the beginning Wee-Woo is guiding Sedrick through the resolution of a problem, by the end it’s clear that Sedrick is trying to lead Wee-Woo towards a new beginning. The script is clever in the way it creates tropes that seem familiar for a kids show and then goes to some darker and more adult places with them. At the heart is a really interesting relationship between Doctor Wee-Woo and Sedrick, which becomes almost like a patient and therapist dynamic. Praise has to go out right from the start for the puppets created by Robert McGrady with consultation from Yvonne Freese and the set and props designed by Danylo Loutchko. Thanks to all of their talents the show has an authentic, though slightly off, Children’s show feel.

J. McIntyre Godwin plays Doctor Wee-Woo who is a Doctor of learning (accompanied by a sound effect), physician heal thyself. Godwin does a nice job of putting on the face of a children’s show host, it feels like an actual Show. As the show ends and he prepares to shoot another episode he starts to unravel a little bit. His puppets keep trying to get him to stop making another episode for reason that will become apparent. Goodwin is masterful at Playing the frustration with his puppets at just the right level so we see it, but also recognize the character is trying to control himself and move the show along. The Stages of MN favorite Jeffrey Nolan plays Sedrick the Sasquatch, who is a puppet controlled and voiced by Nolan. Nolan keeps the legend alive with another strong performance, he has a way of getting inside a puppet character unlike anyone I’ve ever seen. Watching the performance one feels like the puppet and the human performances merge and you see it as one single character. Nolans manipulation of the puppet give it a very real presence, while his facial expressions and body language add immeasurably to the character. It was nice to see another fun turn from Thomas M Baun (Pooh Bear in Who’s Afraid of Winnie the Pooh) here he plays Rob the Blob and Dustpan. Dustpan is married to Broom who is played by Sarah Halverson. The simmering resentment between those two inanimate objects feels very real, both Halverson and Buan play it just right, you can almost interchange them with that couple friend of yours that don’t know how to keep their interpersonal issues to themselves around others. The cast is rounded out by Yvonne Freese as Mrs. Apple Tree, she wears a large cardboard tree with a cutout for her face. Even with very little to utilize but her face and voice she does a nice job, both within the children’s show and after when things get a little darker.

The Doctor Wee-Woo Show runs through March 24th at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://allegedtheatre.com/on-stage/

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Hairspray is a Blast From the Past and One Hair of a Good Time at the Ordway in St. Paul

Deidre Lang (center) as Motormouth Maybelle Photo by Jeremy Daniel

It was just over a year ago that the Hairspray National tour came through town running at the Orpheum in January 2023. Due to the opening night of this run, at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts this time, being cancelled thus shortening the run, I am reusing some elements from my previous review, particularly the plot synopsis. I had a blast last winter and I had an equally great time this… shall we call it spring? The show packs an important message about acceptance on multiple fronts utilizing the techniques pioneered by Mary Poppins they add some sugar to make the lesson seem like fun. This is such a big hearted show, the ignorant and hateful characters are very blunt, but they are the minority, the majority just don’t seem to see with eyes of hate. Is that realistic for Baltimore in 1962 where and when the musical takes place? No. But the characters also break into song and dance around a lot so I’m guessing it’s meant to be a bit of a fantasy. This is a show that is meant to entertain you with toe tappin’ music, some fabulous footwork, and a whole lot of humor and on those terms it is wildly successful. If they sneak a little reminder in there that it doesn’t matter what we look like on the outside it’s what’s on the inside that counts, well good for them. I can’t think of a simpler or more important message to send out into the world. I just wonder at a world, that needs to be told that.

Hairspray follows Tracy Turnblad who dreams of being one of the dancers on the Corny Collins Show, a local TV program that features kids dancing to the latest pop chart songs. When an opening on the show becomes available, Tracy skips school with her friend Penny in order to audition, against her mother Edna’s wishes. The resident Teen Diva Amber Von Tussle who is the daughter of the shows producer Velma Von Tussle, ridicules Tracy over her weight and she’s refused the chance to audition. Back in school during detention she strikes up a friendship with Seaweed, a black student and son of Motormouth Maybelle who hosts the “Negro Day” on The Corny Collins Show and bond over dance moves. When Corny Collins comes to their high school for the Sophomore Hop, Tracy wows him with the dance moves she’s learned from Seaweed and he awards her a spot on his show. After her first broadcast, not only has she fallen in love with Link Larkin the resident teen heartthrob, and Amber’s boyfriend, but she becomes a local celebrity. Tracy’s dream was to become a dancer on the show but she also wants to integrate the broadcast so that the black and white kids can all dance together. Her success leads her mother to reassess whether or not there’s a place for people of her and Tracy’s size out in the world. They deal with some fairly heavy issues, race, being marginalized due to weight, self esteem, corruption, hell nearly every woman in it winds up behind bars at one point, but they do it with humor and optimism. It’s Tracy’s heart that never stops fighting for what is right that changes everyone around her.

Caroline Eiseman makes a great Tracy, her vocals get drowned out by a slightly off balance sound mix, which did seem to improve as the night progressed. One thing that couldn’t be drowned out were her dance moves and her infectious can do attitude, both of which win over her fellow characters as well as the audience. As Tracy’s mother Edna we have Greg Kalafatas following in the long tradition of the character being played by a man in drag. This dates back to Hairspray’s roots the 1988 John Waters film in which the role was played by the Divine (Harris Glen Milstead) who sadly passed away less than two weeks after that films release. It’s a character full of insecurities who grows in her own confidence as she watches her daughter carry on in the face of ignorance. The character is used for comic relief, but she also contains a lot of what is beautiful about the entire show. A willingness to change and a capacity to love. Kalafatas handles both aspects wonderfully, know when to be funny and knowing when to show a little bit of vulnerability. You may have noticed that the photo I chose doesn’t highlight Tracy, that’s not because she isn’t the focus of the show, she is . But I wanted to highlight Deidre Lang because her performance as Motormouth Maybelle, though supporting, was exceptional. Her rallying of the kids to not give up after their first setback which ends with her song “I Know Where I’ve Been” is a show stopper. Her vocals are simply incredible, and you suddenly wish she had three other solo songs in the show. Another favorite in a show full of great dances, choreographed by Robbie Roby, was Josiah Rogers as Seaweed, that man has some moves. His love interest Penny was also a favorite character thanks to the performance by Scarlett Jacques, whose got fantastic comic timing.

Hairspray runs through March 17th at the Ordway Center For Performing Arts in St Paul. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/hairspray/ . Due to the cancellation of the planned opening night performance the remainder of the run has limited availability. I urge you not to wait to get tickets, it could very well sell out.

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.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is “Some Kind of Wonderful” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

Shad Hanley and Monet Sabel Photo by Dan Norman

This isn’t my first production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, I saw the touring production that came through Minneapolis about five or six years ago, but it is undoubtedly the best. The production has an intimacy and organic flow to the narrative that alluded the national touring Company. Certainly it’s filled with the same great music and I’m sure that previous cast was good, but it’s hard to imagine a better Carole King than Monet Sabel. I remember feeling as if the previous production was simply hitting bullet points on a plot outline. The Co-Directors, father and daughter team of Michael and Cat Brindisi, have wiped away all the disjointed story telling I sensed before and have staged a production that lives and breathes. The smooth and thoughtful handling of transitions and the passages of time create a sense of life moving fluidly forward and of a story unfolding like the images on a tapestry rather than simply taking us from A to B on a road map. The show hits right in my pop music sweet spot, while my friends were moshing to Pearl Jam in high school I was listening to my Buddy Holly, The Beatles, and Billboard Top Rock’n’Roll Hits for the years 1957-1961 CD’s. This music is part of my DNA so I was bound to love that aspect of the show particularly knowing the musical side of things would be handled by Chanhassen’s wonderful orchestra under the musical direction of Andy Kust. They sound suburb as always.

But the show is better than the music, it sidesteps the typical criticisms one levels at the Jukebox musical, it tells a story that features music rather than a story that has a million popular songs awkwardly shoehorned in. Sabel’s performance mirrors that sentiment, it is a natural lived in performance that incorporates singing in it’s exploration of the character. The songs work so well because King wrote about her life in her songs, even the early teen targeted songs, spoke to her life, whether she was always conscious of it or not. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” speaks to all of us in a way but it is a specific reflection of her own insecurities, particularly in her relationship with her husband Gerry Goffin, played here by an excellent Shad Hanley. Hanley’s speaking voice sounded a little overtaxed, but thankfully his singing didn’t and his character work was solid. Other standouts in the cast were Shinah Hey and Alan Bach as Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, fellow songwriters and Carole and Gerry’s best friends. They provided perfect little moments of humor without becoming the comic relief, they had their own arc and their relationships with each other and Carole and Gerry felt substantial. The cast members who collectively played The Drifters and The Shirelles were absolutely fantastic and really showed off some nice choreography by Tamara Kangas Erickson. The leads of both groups, John Jamison II for The Drifters and Quinn Lorez for The Shirelles, are hair on the back of the neck raisingly good.

Part of why the show flows so well is how the Directors handle the transitions. There are a lot of scene changes and in many productions it means deadstage time as set pieces are moved on and off. What the Brindisi’s do for many changes is have the lighting change the character move out of one area of the set continuing on with their scene as the set changes behind them. Eliminating the grind to a halt, blacked out stage, with nothing happening while changes are made that can suck the energy from a shows momentum. Other times the set change is as simple and swift as rotating a piano to a different angle, all of these techniques keep the show moving quickly, sweeping us along rather than leaving us waiting in the dark. One of the key things a Director, or two, needs to do to ensure their production feels fluid is to get the scene changes and transitions right and this is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of doing just that. Part of that success surely goes to Nayna Ramey whose scenic design helped to make those transitions and changes work. I also admired the lighting design by Sue Ellen Berger, which played a role in scene transitions but also contained some fun cues like the starlights that came on over the audience during the song “Up on the Roof”, it was a magical little touch. I also absolutely adored the period costumes from Barbara Portinga including a superfast and crowd pleasing costume change done by Katemarie Andrews as Little Eva as she begins to sing “Locomotion”.

Whether you think you are a Carole King fan or not, I promise you that you are. You will not want to miss catching this show, you’ll be surprised how many songs you know from Goffin and King and their friends Mann & Weil. One of the things that makes Chanhassen unique is the “Dinner” part of the Theatre. It’s not just the famous Chanhassen Chicken, there are many wonderful options and a great selection of beverages including ice cream drinks and delicious desserts. Sometimes dinner theater means a mediocre meal, that is not the case at Chanhassen, the food is as good as the shows, which are terrific. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical runs through September 28th at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in Chanhassen MN. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://chanhassendt.com/beautiful/ and don’t forget they also have two other stages The Fireside theatre which hosts their concert series and Stevie Ray’s Comedy Cabaret.

Bear Grease is the Word an Indigenous Peoples Parody Presented by New Native Theatre at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul

Bear Grease is a rough around the edges but very fun show that wears it’s Fringe Festival roots on it’s Pink Aunties jacket sleeve. Most Fringe shows, at least from my experience with the MN Fringe Festival run about 50 to 55 minutes, This show runs about 75. It opens with some comedic making of skit videos and then 4 classic songs from 50’s and 60’s performed in their original style, two by the Pink Ladies and two by the Tug Boats as if in concert. Which then brings us to the show proper which runs about 50 to 55 minutes. Does that opening detract from the show and feel like the padding it probably is? No, I loved it all, but then that’s my kind of music. If they had wanted to call the show Bear Grease and then just come out and done covers of early rock-n-roll songs for 75 minutes, I’d have been just fine with that. The lead singer of each group do great renditions of the songs and the rest of the cast have the background singer sounds and moves down perfectly. The team behind the creation of Bear Grease, Crystle Lightning and MC RedCloud would love for it to make it to Broadway. It’s a long way from being ready for that, but they have the bones of something that could be built up. As I said this began as a show for the Edmonton Fringe Festival and it has the budget and production design that matches that level, which is absolutely fine for presentation.

The story follows the basic, though extremely abbreviated, plot of the movie Grease, which is subtly different from the original Broadway musical version. The twist is that aside from having a cast that is made up entirely of indigenous performers, it has also been rewritten with that community in mind. As a white man I’m sure I didn’t get all of the jokes, but I think I got most of it if not from prior knowledge but from context. The show will obviously have a much higher understanding by those from the native cultures from which it draws it’s humor, but is very accessible to all. They also replace a lot of the 50’s and 60’s style music with Hip Hop, thankfully for many of the songs they have the words projected behind them on a screen, I personally don’t have the best hearing and fast paced Rapping can leave me unsure of all the lyrics. I enjoyed all of the music whether is was new lyrics to a classic Grease song, or the often humorous hip hop take on moments from the original. One of my favorite moments was when Tammy Rae as Rezzo sang Stand By Me, most of it in I think the language of the Cree. The cast is great, there is some really fun dancing and the vocals are very good. Particularly the vocal work of Melody McArthur as Sandy and Bryce Morin as Danny, they could sing me the top hits of early days of rock n roll all day.

The theater world is getting better about giving voice to communities other than white which has dominated for so long, but it still has a long way to go. We can all help with that, by attending shows like this and others put on by companies like New Native Theatre. We need to show that there is an audience, a curiosity, and a market for these stories. Diversity and different perspectives enrich life and help us connect to each other, and it doesn’t always revolve around deep and political ideas or message plays. Sometimes, and maybe more often it should be about what’s funny and joyful about the communities from which these stories come, like with Bear Grease. the show runs one more weekend through March 9th at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://newnativetheatre.org/bear-grease-comes-to-minnesota/

FETAL, a Brilliant Play That Traffics in Empathy From Frank Theatre

Carolyn Pool, Kate Beahen, Julia Valen, and Elena Yazzie Photo by Tony Nelson

FETAL the play by Trista Baldwin that had its world premiere last fall was such a hit that Frank Theatre is remounting it a mere three months after it closed. I wasn’t able to catch the initial run, m’colleague over at Cherry and Spoon had it on her list of the best plays in 2023, with that and after going gaga over Frank Theatre’s production of Ironbound in January, I was very excited to learn they were remounting FETAL and there was no chance I’d let it slip by a second time. The show runs through March 10th, but already has some sold out performances coming up, don’t let your chance to see this powerful and important work pass you by. Baldwin’s play is set in a clinic in Texas that provides legal abortions to women two days a week. We meet three woman that represent different points on the spectrum of age, situation, and believe systems. While each woman’s story is unique, these characters are not meant to represent all woman, but they are intended to give us a look into the complexities of the issues surrounding a woman’s right to choose and to have power over her body and health. FETAL is what I call an issue play, it’s goal isn’t to simply entertain you, it has a message it wants to relay to you. It’s also the best kind of issue play, it doesn’t simply preach at you, it isn’t trying to win you over with arguments and facts to its point of view. It’s doing what great art does, creates empathy, and it’s doing it in the most effective way there is by reducing it’s beliefs not to an argument, but to a person. If Baldwin simply had her characters tell you that a woman should have the right to say what happens with her body, she would fail in her goal. What she does, and it’s why the play succeeds, she shares her characters stories. It is through the personal that we gain understanding of others not through facts and figures, Data can open our eyes, but stories open our hearts. The other character in the play works at the clinic, she’s not a Nurse or a Doctor but there to do patient intake and go over the state required information that’s intended to scare people out of having an abortion. That’s her job function, but she’s really there to receive their stories, and carry them once they leave so they don’t have too.

The characters have names in the program but they are never used in the play, instead the three woman are given numbers to protect their identities. This may be to mirror the actual procedures on clinics in Texas or it could be to remove one layer between the characters and the audience. Without names they are even easier to see as yourself or others in your life. What has been used at times to stifle individuality in other real and artistic endeavors, here is used to turn the individual into anyone, it’s an effective reversal that like everything in this play works to connect us to the characters. The women are played by Elana Yazzie, Julia Valen, and Carolyn Pool, the clinic employee is played by Kate Beahen. Sometimes after a show on the car ride home we play a game called who was your favorite, sometimes it’s more of the, who gave the best performance variation. Tonight two responses came to mind. Firstly, no one was better than anyone else, they were all perfect for the role they were playing. The favorite? Well, that is about who you identify with the most and that will vary from audience member to audience member. Secondly, not only couldn’t you say anyone was better than the others, but when everyone is this good, and the story is so much about supporting each other, the thought of judging them against each other felt very wrong. They all made each other better, there was a sense that while the characters were supporting each other, so were the performers. It felt honest, it was simply woman supporting women in every way, beautiful.

A script that creates empathy in a way that will make audiences, who are on board with the playwrights beliefs, think about what they have seen. Many people seem to think that the two sides of this argument are people who don’t want women to have abortions and people who want women to have abortions, but that isn’t it at all. The two sides are those who want to control what other people do and those who think everyone has the right to decide for themselves. So those who want to control others and those who want the right to exercise the free will that God gave us. With a script this good and a cast so so so perfect and brilliant, it would be easy to wrap up this review and feel like I’d done my hobby. But I would be forgetting to acknowledge the incredible work of several other key players in this production. Wendy Knox who is becoming one of my favorite local Directors is batting a thousand. The way she utilizes the wonderful lighting design of Tony Stoeri to highlight each character when it is their turn to share their story. The way she has the characters interacting, with themselves arguing their emotions with their reason through the surrogate of Beahen’s character. The set design by Rick Polenek which turns the Frank Theatre’s Studio (basically their rehearsal space) into a very realistic waiting room of a clinic. The sound design by Dan Dukich is perfectly balanced, it doesn’t ever drown out the performers but also never fully lets us forget, that outside the building, are protesters spewing the hateful rhetoric that Jesus wants them to shout at women who are already having a very difficult time. Last, but not least is Kathy Kohl whose costumes fit these characters perfectly and I’m certain were of great use to the performers in finding their characters. Clothes give the audience an idea of who the characters are but they also help the actors to find who they are as well.

FETAL runs through March 10th at the Frank Theatre Studio for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://franktheatre.org/events/fetal-trista-baldwin/

Silent Sky Soars to Dizzying Heights At Theatre in the Round In Minneapolis

Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson concluded its opening night performance at Theatre in the Round Players (TRP) to a thunderous standing ovation that you could tell caught the actors by surprise. I imagine, when you are working on a play day after day, you are a little too close to it to know if it’s working as well as you hope. Well I can’t imagine a better production of Silent Sky then I saw tonight, at least in the ways that matter. It’s a small intimate story about one woman’s passion that also encompasses the infinite in terms of the universe and the human spirit. Like her Christmas at Pemberley trilogy, Gunderson exhibits here a gift for the emotional resonance, knowing humor and female empowerment that characterizes the work of Jane Austen. She is undoubtedly the modern playwright successor to that genius of English literature. The only thing that could lessen her work would be a cast who doesn’t rise to its quality, blessedly TRP has assembled a cast that bring humor and heartache in equal measures from reciting the phonebook if called upon. Lucky for us they are instead given Gunderson’s wonderful words and with those they soar to the heavens and beyond.

The story, set in the late 1800’s and early 20th Century tells the true story of Henrietta Leavitt, a pioneer of Astronomy whose contributions have had an immeasurable effect on science and our understanding of the universe. Leavitt left home after graduating college to work at the Harvard College Observatory where she learns that as a woman she is not allowed to operate the telescope. She is put to work instead with the other “computers” Williamina and Annie measuring and cataloging the brightness of stars from photographic glass plates. She is passionate about her work and lives for it forgoing visits home and staying late, sometimes overnight, working on ideas of her own. Henrietta is played Eva Gemlo who recently played Elizabeth Darcy in The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, and there is much of that character and that of Jo March in Henrietta. Gemlo is marvelous at playing the smartest woman in the room, she is fire and passion, wit and intelligence with a gift for putting her boss Peter Shaw in his place. When an attraction begins to develop between the two, it happens so naturally that one is caught off guard at first but suddenly become excited by the budding romance. Peter is played by Ben Qualley who is a master at be being put in his place, thrown off balance and generally run circles around by his female employees. Annie and Williamina are played by Rachel Postle and Wini Froelich who seem so incredibly in sync and casual with each other I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they are old friends in real life. These rules are crucial to widening the scope of the play beyond Henrietta’s ambition and the posible love story. They show that Henrietta isn’t the sole woman capable of being more than was allowed of a woman at that time. Through them we see other shades of how woman greatly contributed to the world without getting credit. They also provide a lot of the gentle humor that flows through the piece, Postle and Froelich give wonderful performances creating fully realized characters that it is a joy to spend two hours with. The cast also includes Clare Rolinger as Henrietta’s sister Margaret, through her we also get to see a woman who has chosen to stay at home, marry and raise a family, because that’s not just what most women did back then, but it’s also an acceptable choice for women to make today if they wish. But, we also learn at the end that she composed a symphony, so don’t judge a book by its cover.

The production is directed by Gretchen Weinrich, who obviously generates great performances from the cast finding just the right tone for every scene. There is a some extraneous set piece movements that felt unnecessarily busy, but they didn’t really detract from the production as a whole. Sadie Ward’s Set Design is simple but kind of magical with the cosmos painted on the floor and walls. The lighting design by Peter W. Mitchell continues the motif with star fields appearing all around at various points. I also really enjoyed the costumes by Colleen O’Dell, which isn’t something I ordinarily notice, but the period dress was really excellently realized, particularly the slacks worn by Annie in the last scene.

Silent Sky Runs through March 17th at Theatre in the Round Players in Minneapolis, for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.theatreintheround.org/home/season-placeholder/72nd-season/silent/