mnartists.org: Frank Thetre

PUNTILA AND HIS HIRED MAN MATTI

Frank Thetre — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:30:42 GMT

MR. PUNTILA AND HIS HIRED MAN MATTI revolves around a wealthy landowner, Mr. Puntila, who is humane, caring and generous when he is inebriated, but when he suffers his "attacks of sobriety" becomes mean, petty and selfish. His hired man, Matti, navigates his through various adventures, in the end, proving that he is the intelligent one. PUNTILA echoes Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp and the Millionaire in City Lights. A bawdy comedy subtitled "A People's Play," PUNTILA was based on a story by Finnish writer Hella Wuolijoki, who Brecht met while living in exile in Finland. Frank Theatre's production of MR. PUNTILA AND HIS HIRED MAN MATTI featured a cast led by Grant Richey, Carson Lee, Emily Zimmer, andPatrick Bailey with an ensemble that included Maria Asp, Jake Endres, Celeste Taylor, Jennifer Phillips, Joe Botten, Tony Nelson, Kai Asp, Odin Asp, Aaron Coker, and Cheryl Willis. Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox directed the production, with musical direction by Jake Endres, set design by John Bueche, costuming by Kathy Kohl, and lighting by Michael Wangen.

BY THE BOG OF CATS by Marina Carr

Frank Thetre — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:22:22 GMT

Set in rural Ireland, By The Bog of Cats mixes the trademark dark humor of the Irish with an uncompromising tale of abandonment and shocking self-sacrifice. Hester Swane (Virginia Burke) is an Irish "tinker," a woman born of gypsies, and tied to the bleak landscape of the bog where she has lived her whole life. Her younger lover, Carthage Kilbride (John Catron), with whom she has a daughter, is on the verge of a marriage to another woman that will bring him land, wealth and respect. Refusing to acknowledge that Carthage could ever leave her, Hester grips more tightly and tragically to the life she believes is rightfully hers. In this loose retelling of Euripides' Medea, Marina Carr blends the mythic with the modern, populating The Bog of Cats with misfits, witches, and ghosts. Following the sold-out run of their Ivey Award-winning production of The Pillowman during the Guthrie's 2007-2008 season, Frank returns to the Dowling Studio to bring its fearless, take-no-prisoners style to this bold and uproarious play. Frank Theatre's production of BY THE BOG OF CATS features a stellar cast that also includes Bob Davis, Annie Enneking, Melissa Hart, Cheryl Willis, Anika Habermas-Scher, Eric Sharp, Gabe Angieri, Tony Brown, Christopher Kehoe, and Sulia Altenberg alternating with Izzy Rousmaniere. The production is directed by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox, with scenery by John Bueche, costumes by Kathy Kohl, lighting by Jeff Bartlett and sound by Michael Croswell. The production is stage managed by Spencer Putney with assistance from Katie Burger.

VINEGAR TOM by Caryl Churchill

Frank Thetre — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:13:31 GMT

Witches, cunning people, and desperate folks, young and old, inhabit the English countryside in the 1600s. VINEGAR TOM opens with a tryst between a strange man and a young woman; when she asks him to take her to London with him, he scoffs, saying if she is not a wife, a widow or a virgin, then she must be a whore or, as it turns out, worse: a witch. This sets the tone for a world set against the backdrop of the 17th century witch hunts in England. VINEGAR TOM focuses on women impoverished and trapped by their class, and the perpetuation of their status in a world where varying from the norm is a crime, and everyone is looking for a scapegoat for the unordinary or the inexplicable. Right or wrong is never a question, and simple finger-pointing serves as judgment. The implications of 17th century witch-hunting echo through history right up to the present. VINEGAR TOM, written in 1976, is an early work by a writer who is one of the most produced playwrights in the world, Caryl Churchill; Frank has presented two of her other works--our acclaimed production of TOP GIRLS in 1990, and MAD FOREST in 1993. Churchill said, "The women accused of witchcraft were often those on the edges of society. I wanted to write a about witches with no witches in it; a play not about evil, hysteria and possession by the devil but about poverty, humiliation and prejudice, and how women accused of witchcraft saw themselves." VINEGAR TOM's stellar cast included Patrick Bailey, Virginia Burke, Dona Werner Freeman, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Katrina Hawley, Christopher Kehoe, Lori Neal, Anika Solveig and Cheryl Willis. The production was directed by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox, costumes by Kathy Kohl, scenery by Andrea Heilman, lighting by Michael Wangen, and sound by Zach Humes. Original music for the show was composed by Annie Enneking, Marya Hart, George Maurer, Ruth MacKenzie and Pablo. The production was stage managed by Kasey Brandt and Spencer Putney with assistance from Katie Burger.

Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

Frank Thetre — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:39:10 GMT

Veering from the macabre to the hysterical, this viciously funny and disturbingly gruesome thriller centers on a writer in a totalitarian state who is brought in for questioning when the plot lines of his stories bear an uncanny similarity to real-life crimes that have been committed in the community. Intertwining family secrets with the irrepressible power of storytelling and imagination, Martin McDonagh's THE PILLOWMAN takes on some of today's most potent issues - from censorship and the power of the state, to freedom of speech and the rights of the individual--all wrapped in a testament to the power of the imagination. A stellar cast including Jim Lichtscheidl, Grant Richey, Luverne Seifert, Chris Carlson, Patrick Bailey, Maria Asp, and Kai Russell performed Frank's production of THE PILLOWMAN at the Guthrie's Dowling Studio. The production was directed by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox, with scenery design by Joel Sass, costumes by Kathy Kohl, lighting by Mike Kittel, and sound by Michael Croswell. The production was stage managed by Spencer Putney with help from Katie Burger.

THE EXONERATED by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen

Frank Thetre — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:36:01 GMT

Culled from interviews, letters, transcripts, case files, and the public record, THE EXONERATED tells the true stories of six people who spent from 2-22 years on Death Row for crimes they did not commit. Moving between first-person monologues and scenes set in courtrooms and prisons, the interwoven stories paint a picture of an American criminal justice system gone horribly wrong and of six brave souls who persevered to survive it. "I'm no different from you," one character says. "I wasn't a street thug, I wasn't trash, I came from a good family, if it happened to me, man, it can happen to anyone." That man, Kerry Max Cook, spent 22 years on death row. THE EXONERATED featured prominent Twin Cities' actors such as Maria Asp, Virginia Burke, Emil Herrera, Gary Keast, Tom Sherohman, and others, directed by Frank Theatre Artistic Director Wendy Knox.

Venus

Frank Thetre — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:29:16 GMT

VENUS by Suzan-Lori Parks Directed by Wendy Knox March 2006 at the Traffic Zone Center for Visual Arts Starring Sha Cage, Patrick Bailey, Maria Asp with Gary Keast, Dana Munson, Virginia Burke, Jonathan Peterson, Emily Zimmer, Michelle Myers, Adia Morris, Taous Khazem and Carson Lee. Set by Joel Sass Sound by Michael Croswell Lights by Michael Kittel Costumes by Kathy Kohl Stage Managed by Elizabeth McNally with Katie Burger Dramatrugy by Julia Gallagher, Steve Matuszak and Beth Cleary

The God of Hell by Sam Shepard

Frank Thetre — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 03:27:37 GMT

Sam Shepard's THE GOD OF HELL, presented in Oct./Nov. 2005