Author: Janet Preus

“What’s the Word For” at Illusion Theater

Illusion Theater has renewed their collaborative relationship with local playwright Jeffrey Hatcher in a commissioned work that also honors producing directors Michael Robins (who directs this production) and Bonnie Morris for their commitment to developing and producing new plays. The…

“Werther and Lotte” produced by The Moving Company at The Lab Theater

We’ve learned to expect imaginative surprises from The Moving Company. The members of this relatively new company of familiar local theater artists just see theater differently. Werther and Lotte, the Passion and the Sorrow, created by company members Nathan Keepers…

While you’re in town, let’s record a single

Broadway touring shows can settle in and enjoy a long run in places like L.A. and Chicago, but in Minneapolis the routine is often “open on a Tuesday and close on Sunday.”  Just long enough to record a single. In…

Beautiful Thing produced by Theater Latte Da at The Lab Theater

Theater Latté Da has stepped to the edges of its musical milieu with the local premier of Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey, with Playwrights’ Center artistic director, Jeremy B. Cohen, making his local directing debut. It’s a wonderfully entertaining play…

American Idiot at the Orpheum Theater

Green Day’s “American Idiot” is one smashing great show. You’re going to have to like rock, but if you do, you will be moved by this refreshingly original musical. Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day front man, lyricist and co-bookwriter) is…

“An Ideal Husband,” produced by Walking Shadow Theatre Company at Red Eye Theater

Walking Shadow Theatre Company doesn’t produce period plays, typically, but its artistic directors have had Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” in the back of their minds for quite a while, I was told. They pulled it out at just the…

Dial M for Murder at the Jungle Theater

Welcome back to the days of civilized murder and mayhem, done with style by people who wear dinner jackets and sip brandy in an elegant gold-toned living room. This is the world recreated at the Jungle Theater for Frederick Knott’s…