Arsenic and Old Lace

Joseph Kesselring, Directed by Tod Peterson
Commonweal Theater, June 1, 2014

Arsenic and Old Lace is one of those plays that asks the audience to accept a plot driven by coincidences and characters who are over-the-top eccentric. In short, it asks us to suspend what we know of reality to enter into the world the play is creating. While comedy might seem like the most accessible type of theater, both because of our experience with it on television and the seemingly “lightness” of its subject matter, it actually makes great demands upon its audience. By asking us to suspend our sense of reality, to suspend what we know to be true, to suspend how we expect people to act in real life, comedy is asking the ultimate commitment of its audience. In return, a good comedy will reward the audience for accepting happenstance and coincidence for plot. The reward, of course, is the opportunity to laugh, but reward should also include some further engagement, perhaps some insight into the human condition.

A friend of mine once said of a Shakespeare comedy: “it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect the greatest writer in the English Language to include a plot in a work of drama.” While Arsenic and Old Lace has a plot, contrived as it is, the rewards of the play lie elsewhere. And like much of Shakespeare, the rewards for suspending belief are usually worth the trip.

One of the things that makes the Commonweal’s Arsenic and Old Lace worth the trip is the chance to see some great acting. The elderly sisters at the center of the story provide both the lace and the arsenic. Surrounded by Victorian furnishings, Abby and Martha Brewster (played by Patty Mathews and Catherine Glynn), practice a genteel and gracious hospitality that seems to be from a far better past. Mathews and Glynn ooze sweetness: nothing gives them more joy than serving tea to visitors or bringing soup to an ill neighbor. The two actors move together, sharing common gestures and thought patterns that bespeak a lifetime of intimacy. The slow revelation of the arsenic within the lace is delicious, even to the large number in the audience members who clearly have seen this play performed (and laughed freely at the foreshadowing lines).

The audience’s likely familiarity with a play could be a problem: the play can’t rest on its surprise twists of the plot; a successful commonly performed play has to find other ways to engage its audience. The Commonweal’s production really seems to depend on the quality of the acting to bring the play alive. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the production itself, no attempt to make the play “fresh” or modern. The staging looks pretty much like the description Kesselring provides in the play script. If anything, the set is a little less elaborate and a little less Victorian than the playwright describes. This of course is due to the use of a thrust stage rather than the standard proscenium box Kesselring would have been writing for. The play really does stand on the acting. The cast is relatively large, and as we have come to expect at the Commonweal, there is no drop of talent for the smaller roles. Besides the brilliant performances of the Brewster Sisters, the antics of their nephew Teddy prove both enjoyable and historically edifying. (Teddy is played by Nick Ferrucci.) The disfigurement of Jeremy van Meter’s face (playing the prodigal brother-achieved with make-up and extreme facial acting) even gently (or not-so-gently) pokes fun at our own cultural obsession with looking young and the unnaturally rigid faces of our aging rich and famous population.

While not all plays stand up well to repeated performances, Kesselring’s script has certainly held up to repeated viewings (and readings) over the past 75 years. But the best reason to see this play (or see it again, if you’ve seen it before) is to see these characters in the hands of really fine actors. The Commonweal is really strutting its stuff with Arsenic and Old Lace.

Arsenic and Old Lace plays in repertory through September 8.

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Spring is Here: Ibsen is on the way

Like pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, news of spring activity at the Commonweal means that the 2014 theatre season is on its way!

The apprentice Company presents, Tigers be Still by Kim Rosenstock.
The play runs March 20 - March 30. See the trailer below.

And then there is Iben Fest. Here is the Commenoweal's News and Notes announcing the festival:

News & Notes from Commonweal Theatre Company

March 10, 2014 Special Edition  The Commonweal Theatre in historic Lanesboro, MN is proud to announce the 17th Annual Ibsen Festival  April 11-13, 2014 a A weekend of events celebrating Scandinavian theatre, visual arts, music, dance, and food!  Featuring a world premiere adaptation of  Ibsen's rarely produced epic       The  festival line-up features Prof. Mark Sandberg, president of the Ibsen Society of America! Plus... Ibsen Adorned -- Part II Presenting the jewelry and photomontages of international award-winning jewelry designer/goldsmith Liz Bucheit. Professor  J.P. Rosensweig The Philosophy Institute: Bringing Ideas to Life Prof. Rosensweig will explore some of the philosophical issues in Brand, namely, what leads people to follow seemingly extreme religious leaders, often at the cost of developing their own individual religious identity? A Celebration of the Sámi Featuring a travel photography exhibit, costume and jewelry collection, lecture and class. Other events include Scandinavian cuisine,  a return of the Spirits of Scandinavia, artist demonstrations, kubb and more! Join us April 11-13 for the only annual Ibsen Festival in the United States!  Click here for a complete schedule of events. For more information on all of our Ibsen programming, including details on our 2015 Midwest tour of The Master Builder, visit  www.ibsenfest.org.  Or call Adrienne Sweeney, Ibsen Festival coordinator, at (507) 467-2905, ext. 208. For a sneak peek, check out the  Brand trailer! We appreciate your help spreading the word about this exciting academic, cultural and artistic weekend!  If you know someone who may be interested in the Ibsen Festival, please forward this email. And click here for a poster you can download and print. If you can't make the festival,  Brand runs through June 13.  Thanks for your support! The Ibsen Festival is  made possible with  the  support of Sons of Norway,  SEMAC, local  businesses and the   208 Parkway Ave N, Lanesboro MN 55949 800-657-7025

Commonweal Theatre Company | Lanesboro, Minnesota | (800) 657-7025 | (507) 467-2525 tickets@commonwealtheatre.org

Tigers Be Still

You've gotten to know them on stage and off. The Commonweal could not function without them. And now, they take center stage.

The 2013-14 Apprentice Company is set to open Tigers Be Still by Kim Rosenstock.

All we can tell you is that the play opens with a minor crisis: a tiger has just escaped from a local zoo. That crisis connects four people in a very unexpected way. You'll just have to see for yourself where the action goes from there.

Performance times are Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 1:30pm, March 20-March 30. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and Season Pass Holders. Our MDC members are welcome free of charge.  

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Miss Julie Opens Tonight

Katie Berger, Paul Steffens, and Ana Hagedorn in Miss Julie

Miss Julie

by August Strindberg
translated/adapted by Ethan Bjelland
Commonweal Apprentice Company

The commonweal apprentice acting company opens its capstone project, the culmination of a busy year of stage and behind-the-scenes work. The play is tranlated by apprentice company member Ethan Bjelland who played the sometimes clueless college student in last season's Drawer Boy. Katie Berger, Paul Steffens, and Ana Hagedorn play Kristine, Jean, and Julie in the Strindberg classic.

Miss Julie runs March 21 - 30, with a special production during Ibsen fest.

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Strindberg and Ibsen mix it up at the Commonweal

Commonweal’s traveling production of A Doll’s House returns to Lanesboro to find that Strindberg has commandeered it’s home stage. In late-(19^th)-Century Europe, Strindberg and Ibsen were dramatic foes; it would be an understatement to say the men didn’t like each other.

Trying to recapture the ideological battle between the two giants, Commonweal is not only allowing its apprentice company to stage Strindberg on Ibsen’s turf, it has even invited Strindberg to appear at it’s annual festival celebrating Ibsen in mid-april.

If you aren’t feeling the tension yet, The Commonweal offers this 21^st Century add campaign for the battle. Can’t you feel the love?

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets and information: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Ibsen Fest at the Commonweal

It’s getting to be that time of the year again. This Newsletter just came from the Commonweal:

News & Notes from Commonweal Theatre Company

March 7, 2013 Special Edition  The Commonweal Theatre in historic Lanesboro, MN is proud to announce the 16th Annual Ibsen Festival April 12-14, 2013  a A weekend of events celebrating Scandinavian theatre, visual arts, music, dance and food! Featuring a world premiere adaptation of A Doll's House!     This once-in-a-lifetime festival line up features international guests from India and Norway to share global  perspectives on the legacy of Nora...Ibsen's greatest creation. Highlights of the festival include speakers Astrid Sæther of the Centre for Ibsen Studies in Oslo; Amal Allana of the National School of Drama in Delhi, India; and Nissar Allana of the Delhi Ibsen Festival.  Other events will focus on gender and femininity in Ibsen's work, including a costume retrospective and jewelry show, sculpture exhibit at the Lanesboro Art Center, tarantella demonstration and videos celebrating 100 years since women's suffrage in Norway and a variety of perspectives on Nora and A Doll's House. PLUS... An encore performance of Miss Julie by August Strindberg!    Mark your calendar and join us April 12-14 for the only annual Ibsen Festival in the United States! Hope to see you there. For more information and a detailed schedule of events go to www.ibsenfest.org  Or call Adrienne Sweeney, Ibsen Festival Coordinator, at (507) 467-2905, ext. 208. The Ibsen festival is made possible with the generous support of The American-Scandinavian Foundation, Sons of Norway, SEMAC, local businesses and We appreciate your help spreading the word out about this exciting academic, cultural and artistic weekend!  If you know someone who may be interested in the Ibsen Festival, please forward this email. *If you can't make the festival, A Doll's House runs through June 14.   208 Parkway Ave N, Lanesboro MN 55949 800-657-7025

Commonweal Theatre Company | Lanesboro Minnesota | (800) 657-7025 | (507) 467-2525 tickets@commonwealtheatre.org

Pillars of Society

By Henrik Ibsen, Adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Hal Cropp
Commonweal Theatre (April 14, 2012)

Only a few weeks remain to see Commonweal’s Ibsen offering, Pillars of Society, the season’s best area offering of 2012 to date. (Pillars plays Thursday and Fridays through June 8).

Pillars of Society, one of Ibsen’s lesser performed plays, marks the beginning of Ibsen’s move from the melodrama that dominated theater of the 19th Century to the realism that marks the drama of the 20th Century. The play predates his ground breaking A Doll’s House, and can seem more clumsy and forced than the later plays. However, there is something about this production that gets beyond this clumsiness, bringing Ibsen’s exploration of the public and private lives to the center of the production. The success of the Commonweal production has a lot to do with Jeffery Hatcher’s adaptation of the script. In his third adaptation of Ibsen’s work for the Commonweal, Hatcher again demonstrates his ability to get to the heart of Ibsen’s story and the familial, economic, and political tensions that drive Ibsen’s work.

The public theme of the play centers around Karsten Bernick, the owner of a large ship-building company and a self-described leader or “pillar” of the community. Scott Dixon plays Bernick as a devout servant to his community-yes he has profited from the ship yards and his position in the community, but it is all for the greater good of society. Bernick feels he has sacrificed for the community and is deserving of the town’s accolades as well as certain perks that come with responsibility. It is a position that we see all too many corporate executives and politicians caught up in today: because of their perceived personal sacrifices and the overall benefit to society from their deals, trades, and vision, they don’t believe that have to follow the same rules as common people. So complete is their belief in their value to society, they view their excesses not as their just due but as part of their sacrifice on our behalf.

Scott Dixon, Stefanie Dickens Underferth, Catherine Glynn, Jeremy van Meter. Photo Jason Underferth.

While it is hard for Bernick to see the hypocrisy of his position, it is clear that it is his family that he has sacrificed. And perhaps this is the trademark of Ibsen’s modernism: the public persona of an individual must be looked at through the lens of the personal, even if that persona is clueless about the personal as Bernick seems to be in Pillars. As the play evolves, the list of people Bernick has sacrificed for his personal gain (and the betterment of society) continues to grow: spouse, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, past mistress, workers at the ship yard. Yet Ibsen, and this production, don’t simply paint Bernick as the bad guy: he’s a recognizable human who is susceptible to the all-to-human expectations, foibles, and delusions that prevent a person from honestly seeing themselves.

While the story is the Norwegian ship magnet’s, Americans threaten the equilibrium and in many ways steal the show. Off stage, the American sailors in port scandalize the small coastal town. On stage, the arrival of Lona Hessel from her self-imposed exile in America shakes up the ordered Scandinavian household. The tall figure of Catherine Glynn, who makes her Commonweal debut as Lona, dressed in red, sweeps onto the stage, inflaming the past jealousy of her sister and the long buried passion of Karsten Bernick. Glynn plays this pivotal role brilliantly, not only making the Bernick family squirm with her lack of decorum and willingness to confront the truth, but she also causes a bit of discomfort among the Minnesota audience.

Ibsen uses America (the sailors and the returned family members) as a dramatic device to shake up both the town and the Norwegian family depicted in the play. It is also a great bonus for us as we get a glimpse of how Americans were stereotyped by Europeans at the turn of the 19th Century.

Commonweal’s Pillars of Society is a great play. It is full of humor, heartbreak, betrayal, and forgiveness. It’s many ideas and questions are relevant in our own public and private lives; I find myself thinking about the play frequently, many weeks after I saw the production. Unfortunately, we only have a few more weeks to enjoy this production.

Pillars of Society plays in repertory with The 39 Steps through June 8.
Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

2012 Ibsen Festival

The Commonweal jumps into its 2012 season with its 15th annual Ibsen Festival. The festival features the premiere of Jeffery Hatcher’s adaptation of Ibsen’s Pillars of Society. Pillars of Society is directed by Executive Director Hal Cropp, and features resident company member Scott Dixon as Karsten Bernick, a respected shipbuilder with a hidden past. The cast also includes Katie Berger, Gary Danciu, Stef Dickens, Catherine Glynn, David Hennessey, Carla Joseph, and Jeremy van Meter.

Enemy of the People, 2011. Photo Jason Undererth.

Pillars of Society is the third Ibsen adaptation created for the Commonweal by Jeffery Hatcher as part of a series of new versions of Ibsen’s plays developed for the American stage, beginning with John Gabriel Borkman, last season’s An Enemy of the People, and slated to continue through 2014 with new imaginings of A Doll’s House and Brand.
The Ibsen Festival offers events and presentations throughout the weekend to satisfy a variety of interests. Guests may attend lectures, film presentations, musical concerts, and artist displays.
The Commonweal is proud to welcome Professor Errol Durbach, Professor Emeritus of Theatre Studies at the University of British Columbia and vice-president of the Association for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in Canada, as keynote speaker. Professor Durbach is the author of Ibsen The Romantic, A Doll’s House: Ibsen’s Myth of Transformation, and a collection of edited essays in Ibsen and the Theatre. He has also adapted Peer Gynt (2006) and The Master Builder (2009) for performance.
Building on the themes of Pillars of Society, the Commonweal Theatre will be partnering with The Lanesboro Arts Center, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, and The Minnesota Marine Art Museum to explore the Norwegian immigrant experience in America. Events officially begin Friday evening, April 13 and run through Sunday, April 15.

Weekend Highlights:

Visit Commonweal’s website for a full and up-to-date listing of events: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Friday, April 13

John Gabriel Borkman, 2010. Photo by Nyna Ramy.

Opening Reception: Maritime Art Exhibit
6:30 pm, free, Commonweal Theatre
Exhibit showcasing some of the world’s finest maritime art. These reproduction prints are on loan from the Minnesota Maritime Art Museum and include a selection of “traditional” marine paintings, Hudson River School works, and Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works that explore the ongoing and historic human relationship with water.

Over the Back Fence
7:30 pm, $5, St. Mane Theatre Theatre
This community variety show features a house band, musical guests, comedy, drama, skits, and audience participation. The theme for the evening…Moon over Norway!

Pillars of Society
7:30 pm, $20, Commonweal Theatre
The Commonweal is proud to present Jeffrey Hatcher’s world-premiere adaptation of one of Ibsen’s rarely-produced works. This final preview performance features a post-show discussion with the director and cast.

Saturday, April 14

Pastries and coffee
9:30 am. Free, Commonweal Theatre
Start your day with Scandinavian pastries and coffee at the Commonweal Theatre Events Hall.

Pannel Discussion: To America: The Immigrant Experience
10:00 am, free, Commonweal Theatre
Author of Linka’s Diary: A Norwegian Immigrant Story In Word and Sketches and head of the Luther College History Department, Professor Marv Slind will moderate a panel discussion examining the history of Norwegian immigration to the United States. Additional panel guests include a Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum guide and a participant in the Giants of the Earth Heritage Center oral history project.

Seminar: From There to Here: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors
1:00 am, free, Commonweal Theatre
Featuring genealogical researcher Janis Martin.

Lecture: Errol Durbach. “Tragic Ibsen?: The problems of staging Ibsen in the modern theatre”
2:00 pm, free, Commonweal Theatre
Author of Ibsen the Romantic and A Doll’s House: Ibsen’s Myth of Transformation and the writer and editor of many articles on Ibsen, Professor Durbach has translated and adapted several of Ibsen’s plays for production, including Peer Gynt, which won the most outstanding production award in Vancouver for 2006. He has translated and adapted numerous works by Ibsen, most recently completing an adaptation of Ghosts. He will discuss the challenges encountered in the process, focusing on the stagecraft, the symbolism, the light, its classical affinities, and the attempt of the modern theatre to break free of the melodrama that threatens to undermine one of the greatest tragedies of the 19th Century.

Concert: Natalie Nowytski with Dee Langley
4:00 pm, free, Commonweal Theatre
Natalie Nowytski, master vocalist of traditional Eastern European folk music, is an award-winning composer and performer who sings in more than 40 languages. Natalie will be joined by internationally renowned composer and accordionist, Dee Langley, both of whom are members of the Twin Cities-based Balkan group, Orkestar Bez Ime, winner of the 2011-2012 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians. They will share their love for traditional folk music with ancient vocal styles and authentic instrumentals, recounting stories of immigration and exploring the history of “New Americans” through the music of their homeland.

Enemy of the People, 2011. Photo Jason Undererth.

Art Exhibit Opening & Reception: “Land by Hand: Fiber Artists Explore Place.”
6:00 pm, free, Lanesboro Arts Center
Opening reception for “Land by Hand: Fiber Artists Explore Place.” The Commonweal Theatre is proud to sponsor this striking exhibit which explores the concept of land and place through the medium of fiber arts.

Pillars of Society
7:30 pm, $30, Commonweal Theatre
Celebrate the opening night of Pillars of Society! After the show, join the cast and crew for an opening night reception.

Sunday, April 15

Pillars of Society
1:30 pm, $30, Commonweal Theatre
The Commonweal is proud to present Jeffrey Hatcher’s world-premiere adaptation of one of Ibsen’s rarely-produced works.
Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

The Metal Children

By Adam Rapp, directed by Megan K. Pence
Commonweal Apprentice Company
March 30, 2012

The Commonweal’s apprentice company production has proved to be a rewarding investment of my theater-going time the past 4 years. While The Metal Children may not rank with last year’s Metamorphosis, it remains a compelling piece of theater, doing what art at its best should do: ask the important questions.

In Rapp’s play, a small town in the Midwest is banning a book called The Metal Children, and the High School English teacher who uses the book has invited the author to town to defend the work. This sets up a classic confrontation between the artistic, freedom-of-expression, led by the author, against the small-town evangelical church and the small-minded school board. However this classic standoff doesn’t really take place—the author of the book seems clueless as to how to defend the book.

The play centers on the young adult fiction author Tobin Falmouth, played by Gary Danciu.  Danciu spends most of the play struggling to clear the fog from his head: early it is an alcohol and drug induced haze, later it is a daze caused by cracked ribs and an inability to come to terms with a world where an entire town has taken his fiction seriously. The audience waits for the protagonist to wake up and act heroically. It doesn’t happen.

High school senior, Vera Dundee, played by Rachel Kuhnle, on the other hand, is willing to defend the book and is clear about what the book means and what it calls her to do. Kuhnle has captured the often militant surety of a cause that young adults often embrace. She has hints of adolescent sweetness, but chillingly acts out a zealous response to Falmouth’s book.

Like all good theater, this play has my mind returning to the play in the days since I saw it. Rapp and director Pence keep the meaning ambiguous, not allowing for easy, comfortable compartmentalizing of the play: Is this play about the importance and power of literature? Is the play about censorship? Is the play about the responsibility of the community to guide its youth? Is this a play about the role of religion in the public schools? Rapp seems to keep the audience off balance with a musty controversy that most of the audience likely entered the theater thinking they understood.

When I do think of the play, I often think of the post show conversation with the company more than the play itself. I can’t help but think that the company was a bit disappointed by the questions and comments from those who stayed to discuss the play. One group of questions expressed frustration that Falmouth remained largely detached and missed his opportunities to do the right thing. As audience members, we are hoping for the protagonist to rise to the occasion, but the verisimilitude of the play would make this unlikely. Falmouth does grow in the play: he is able to move from a self-absorbed despondency to a self-absorbed sobriety and productivity. Taking on the full responsibility of an altruistic adult would have been too much to ask in the short arc of the play. Likewise, Vera has significantly matured in the year since the showdown over the book. But she too has only come so far. She is sobered by the impulsive choice she made and is now making adult responses to her situation. Yet she hangs on to her infatuation with Falmouth’s fictional characters. Roberta Cupp (Carla Joseph) speaks eloquently for her church, which is leading the charge against the book. She is able to have brief moments of human connection with Falmouth, but not the breakthrough that the audience longs for.

Another set of audience questions placed the blame on the high school English teacher for not properly guiding the students through a potentially dangerous book. I think this response is an understandable one: to blame the book would be to come down on the side of censorship, so it must be someone’s fault. After all, 40 girls ran away from the small town, many intentionally becoming pregnant, and one girl commits suicide. But if it is the English teacher’s fault that the 40 girls ran away in response to the book, then it must be the religious community’s responsibility that Tami Lake’s understanding of a different book caused her to turn toward suicide.

Rapp’s treatment of the interactions of characters on stage maintains a reliable verisimilitude, even while the play is surrounded by the inconceivable in a way that the audience doesn’t question. For example, a full-sized statue of Tami Lake appears just after she commits suicide. Forty-girls from a small town high school are moved by a work of fiction enough to secure a mortgage on a farm in Montana and move there before any of their parents are able to stop them. And most fantastic of all, everyone in the small town seems to have read the book and knows more about what is in the book than the clueless author. Even those who hate its content readily tell the author what a great writer he is—the vigilante thugs even quote from the book. This tendency of the audience to accept the fantastic perhaps leaves the audience willing to blame someone—the author, the church, the school—for actions that are highly unlikely while missing the point of the teen suicide which is all too common.

While Rap’s play, and presumably Commonweal’s interpretation of the play, doesn’t provide answers to the questions and doesn’t provide us with a feel-good protagonist who saves the day, there is a pivotal scene where the English teacher, Stacey Kinsella (Brandon Grayson), lying on what might be his death bed, asks Falmouth to read a specific passage from his book. In the passage, a girl tells her father that she is pregnant. The scene is full of both fear and hope, as the girl’s future lies with the father’s response. We never learn what the father says, but from what the play does disclose about the book, the father missed his opportunity.

Commonweal Apprentice Company Presents: The Metal Children

As has become the custom at the Commonweal, the Commonweal season begins with a full production by the resident apprentice company. The production comes as the capstone of a 10-month residence at the Commonweal for the 5 actors, directors, production team members, ticket-takers, box office workers, and practitioners of every job conceivable at the Commonweal. All five members of the company have been busy on stage and off during the 2011 season.

It has also become customary that the apprentice production stands up very well on the Commonweal stage. The shows are challenging, thought provoking and very well played. This year’s production of The Metal Children promises to continue this custom.

Gary Danciu and Rachel Kuhnle in Adam Rapp’s The Metal Children by the Commonweal Apprentice Company. Photo by Jason Underferth.

The Metal Children, written by Adam Rapp, follows a washed up young-adult novelist as he leaves his NYC apartment for the American heartland after his book, The Metal Children, is banned by a small-town school board. There he finds something more bizarre than fiction—extreme politics, radical teens, and vigilantes in Porky Pig masks—all because of his book.

Megan Pence, who served as assistant director for two productions last season, will direct. She finds that “what’s interesting about The Metal Children is how one artist’s creation can spur a multitude of consequences. An author writes a book, and it reaches further than he ever could have imagined.”

The 2012 Apprentice Company includes Pence, Gary Danciu, Brandon Grayson, Carla Joseph, and Rachel Kuhnle—all seen on the Commonweal mainstage during the 2011 season. The set, costumes, props, and sound design are also handled by the five apprentices with the addition of guest lighting designer Michael Dold, who is a senior at St. Mary’s University in Winona.

The Apprentice Program at the Commonweal Theatre is a ten month commitment designed for recent college graduates or young professionals with commensurate experience who would benefit from a prolonged relationship with a small professional theatre company. Focused primarily on experiential learning through a traditional mentor/apprentice relationship, the program affords artistic opportunities, regular classroom instruction, and administrative responsibilities in the areas of Marketing, Development, and Production.

The Metal Children has a limited run of 8 shows, Thursdays - Sundays, March 22 - April 1.

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Sylvia

A.R. Gurney, Dir. By Alan Bailey
Commonweal Theatre (July 11, 2011)

The premise of A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia is pretty simple: A middle-aged man whose kids have moved off to college and whose job has lost its purpose and whose wife has filled her life with a new profession finds a stray dog in Central Park and falls terribly in love with it, placing stress on the relationship with his wife.

It’s always dangerous to bring either kids or animals on stage because the audience can move into the oh cute mode. In fact, when a picture of a real dog is displayed at the end of the play, the audience gives a collective “oh cute.” But Sylvia largely stays above this emotive realm by representing Sylvia as a human being, not a person in a dog suit.

Adrienne Sweeney and Phil Losacker in the Commonweal’s Sylvia
(Photo by Jason Underferth as seen in American Theatre)

Adrienne Sweeney handles the role of the stray dog, and it is her performance that makes the play stay on the right side of the oh cute line. Sweeney plays the role on two feet and largely as a human being. Yet, she offers enough subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) moves that anyone who has spent any time with animals would see her as a dog. In fact, by the end of the play, Sweeney has become the dog. When that picture of the real dog is displayed at the final scene of the play, I think the audience is a little surprised to see an actual dog and not Sweeney in the portrait.

Sylvia speaks, in English. In fact, the dog has the first lines of the play. If having an animal on stage risks pushing a play over the edge, an anthropomorphic animal—a Snoopy or Garfield—could doom a play. But somehow, Sweeney and her surrogate family, Greg (played by Phil Losacker) and Kate (played by Laura Depta the night I saw the play) are able to keep the conceit working: Sweeney is still the dog. The play’s notes suggest Gurney’s strategy for the talking dog: the dog speaks largely what the people around her expect her to say and sometimes what the people around her are thinking. While this may not always be the case, the talking dog motif works because the dog does seem to reflect what the people feel and what people expect the dog to feel. And this seems to be one of Gurney’s main observations: people interact with their pets with a both a frankness and affection that is therapeutic.

This therapeutic effectiveness of pet ownership is contrasted with the three advice-offering characters that Scott Dixon plays in Sylvia. (This seems to be a recurrent talent of Scott Dixon—playing a large number of the supporting characters in a play. I’m not sure if this is written into the play as it was in Jeffery Hatcher’s adaptation of Turn of the Screw last fall or if this is a Commonweal invention. But it is fun to watch). Dixon plays the recurring role of Tom, a New York tough who is strangely in touch with the complex relationship between man and dog and husband and wife. (Tom’s dog is named Buster, a much safer name for a man’s dog than the gendered Sylvia, he warns.) In each appearance, Tom has read another pop psychology book and has another insight into the relationship between a man and his wife and a man and his dog. Greg seems to find Tom’s insights helpful, but mostly his accidental meetings with Tom give Greg the opportunity to talk openly about his relationship with his dog. Tom’s thinking certainly is more substantial than the other two characters Dixon plays: Kate’s former college classmate and self-proclaimed expert on New York society and Kate’s androgynous and self-obsessed therapist, Leslie.

While Dixon plays these two cross-dressing roles effectively and to many of the play’s biggest laughs, these two characters move the play outside of what an audience can accept as real. This is a bit of irony: the anthropomorphic dog plays like realism while the socialite driven to the scotch decanter by an over-friendly dog plays like a bad sitcom; the pet seems a living character while the therapist languishes as a caricature.

The strength of Gurney’s play, and the strength of this production, lies with the ability to make Sweeney’s character feel like a living character—a dog. A human playing a dog is certainly a comedic element, but I find it a satisfyingly comedic element rich in its subtly and physicality. I’m not as satisfied with the play’s willingness to embrace the cheap laugh, the laugh that seems to be the staple of all too many summer comedies. Of course, this type of comedy wouldn’t be used if it did not resonate with play-goers. On the way out of the theater, people were talking about Sylvia, about their own pets, but mostly about Dixon’s portrayal of Leslie the therapist. One fellow patron declared that his favorite character in the play was the therapist.

Sylvia plays in repertory with Little Shop of Horrors through August 19.
Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Sylvia

By A.R. Gurney; directed by Alan Bailey
Commonweal Theatre

The Commonweal Theatre Company opens A.R. Gurney’s comedy Sylvia, Saturday, May 21. The title character is a stray dog that meets Greg, a middle-aged financial trader in the midst of questioning where his career and his life have taken him. This chance meeting with Sylvia turns Greg’s entire world upside-down. This outrageous comedy challenges everything we think we know about love, sex, relationships, and the meaning of life.

Sylvia’s director, Alan Bailey says, “What sets Sylvia apart and makes it memorable and fun is that an actress plays Sylvia, a poodle-lab mix. But this isn’t an attempt at a faithful recreation of a dog, but an artist using her human body and voice and expressions to convey Sylvia as a full-realized character in the play.” [For commentary on the success of this “fully-realized character,” check out Sylvia’s trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnVne6JgYAQ

Phil Losacker (Greg) and Kirby Bennett (Kate). Photo by Jason Underferth.

Pet-lovers will undoubtedly recognize how powerful a force for change “Sylvia” proves to be in this play. “Without question, pets have the ability to change our lives,” Bailey adds. “If you invite your pet to truly be a member of your family - and increasingly, many of us invite pets into our homes to fill larger and more meaningful roles - then they absolutely become friends and confidantes and combatants.”

The love triangle in Sylvia features Twin Cities acting duo Phil Losacker and Kirby Bennett as Greg and his much-irked wife Kate with Commonweal Resident Artist Adrienne Sweeney as the titular Sylvia, who provides sudden competition with Kate for Greg’s time and affection. The cast is joined by Commonweal Resident Artist Scott Dixon playing triple roles of a fellow dog-lover in the park, an old college friend of Kate’s, and a marriage counselor.

Sylvia plays in Repertory with Enemey of the People through June 10 and with Little Shop of Horrors through August 19.
Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre

14thAnnual Ibsen Festival

Featuring Jeffery Hatcher’s adaption of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People at the Commonweal

The Ibsen festival marks both spring and the beginning of the area’s professional theater season. The centerpiece of the weekend will be the Commonweal’s production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. This will mark the second Ibsen play adapted by playwright Jeffery Hatcher. Last year’s Commonweal season featured Hatcher’s first run at Ibsen with John Gabriel Borkman as well as Hatcher’s take on Turn of the Screw. Scott Dixon Directs the Ibsen classic.

The weekend is full of food and cultural events. Below is a partial listing of events. For a full listing, download the festival brocure.

Weekend Highlights:

Friday April 15

Film
Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story
7:30 pm; Free Will Donation; St. Mane Theatre
Presented by the Lanesboro Arts Center with support from Lanesboro Local, the film traces the development of America’s heartland and its effect on the legendary river. The film offers fresh ideas and concrete solutions to the river’s troubles. Following the film there will be a discussion with sustainable agricultural specialist Loni Kemp. For more information visit www.lanesboroarts.org.

Theatre
An Enemy of the People
7:30 pm; Commonweal Theatre
Newly discovered health springs offer prosperity to a struggling town, until a local doctor realizes the waters are dangerously polluted. How far will a community go to turn a blind eye when the truth will bring about their personal ruin? This final preview performance features a post-show discussion. Reservations recommended.

Saturday, April 16

Book Signing
11:00 am to 3:00 pm; Lanesboro Local Publisher and author Deb Nelson Gourley was raised on her family’s ancestral Norwegian farm in Amherst, Minnesota. The author of Astri My Astri, Deb takes inspiration for her stories from her Norwegian ancestors.

Lecture
For the Love of Lakes
Darby Nelson
11:00 am; FREE; Commonweal Theatre
Minnesota – the land of 10,000 Lakes! But there is much more to a lake than meets the eye. With Thoreau’s ghost over his shoulder, Darby Nelson (President of Conservation Minnesota) explores the natural history of lakes and our relationship with these alluring bodies of water that are so much a part of our lives.

Artist Demonstration: Debra Ganglehoff
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm; Lanesboro Arts Center
Taking her inspiration from the beauty in nature, fiber artist Debra Gangelhoff works with felting, appliqué, and stitchery to make beautiful, useful items for the home.

Lecture
Ibsen Our Contemporary
Richard Hornby
1:00 pm; FREE; Commonweal Theatre
Chair of the Theater Department at the University of California at Riverside and theatre critic for the Hudson Review, Professor Hornby will discuss the challenges and opportunities of staging Ibsen for contemporary audiences.

Panel Discussion and Script Signing
Adapting and Staging Ibsen
4:00 pm; FREE; Commonweal Theatre
The Commonweal has commissioned Jeffrey Hatcher — one of America’s premiere playwrights — to adapt five plays from Ibsen’s canon, including An Enemy of the People. Join Jeffrey, director Scott Dixon and Interim Executive Director Hal Cropp as they discuss the many facets that go into creating a contemporary adaptation of a text more than a century old. Immediately following the panel discussion Jeffrey Hatcher will be signing copies of his script.

The Luther Jazz Quintet
6:30 pm; FREE; Commonweal Theatre Events Hall
Plan to arrive early for the show and enjoy an improvisational jazz concert featuring Tom Bourcier and inspired by the themes found in An Enemy of the People.

Theatre
An Enemy of the People
7:30 pm; $30; Commonweal Theatre
Join us for the opening performance of this world-premiere adaptation and stay for a celebration with the cast and crew after the show. Reservations recommended.

Sunday, April 17

Film
Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story
11:00 am; FREE; Commonweal Theatre

Theatre
An Enemy of the People
1:30 pm; $30; Commonweal Theatre

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre