Last night I went to the Minneapolis New Breed at the Southern Theatre located conveniently right around the corner from Town Hall Brewery who, I should mention, made a killing off of the actors, stage hands and various theatre-goers after the show. I wouldn't be surprised if as the casts from all three plays took their final bows about sixty percent of the audience thought: "I need a drink." But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
In fact, there was a bit of a reception catered by The Red Stag Supper Club before the show. As suggested by Elizabeth, my co-worker and friend playing Nina in the final play "The Seagull", I had my fill of free pinot grigio before taking my seat. "You'll need it," she assured me. I approached the counter where three wines and a very cute girl greeted me. Though I could plainly read the bottles before me, I asked about the pinot grigio. A coy smile spread across her face and a sweet voice replied: "It's delicious, full. A good wine, if you like good wines." I then slid my hand across the counter to take one of the classy plastic cups. Her hand gently fell onto mine. "Can I see an ID?" While I dug out my driver's license, I was silently cursing the moron at the DMV who took the terrible picture of me. I handed the cute girl my ID and with her free hand, she curled some hair behind her ear. As she returned my ID she said: "So Kendra, are you usually a white wine girl? Where do your flavors lie?" Upon hearing my name, I corrected my posture, grabbed a glass, took a sip and then replied: "I enjoy rieslings, typically full, wet wines."
We both blushed.
"Rieslings can be quite zany, can't they?"
"Zany. That's an excellent word."
"I like zany, do you?"
After another sip: "Yes, in fact, I do."
A line had formed behind me and I could feel the pressure of their thirsty hands trying to reach for a cup. I thanked the girl, smirked as I turned on my heels and thanked the Universe for the conversation. I joined my co-worker Lori and her friend Dane and Lori asked if I was carded. She laughed when she said that she hadn't seen anyone else carded the entire time they had been there. Oh? More smiles and blush spread across my face as I took another sip.
The food provided was flavorful but not in any way impressive. I wasn't really let down though, I honestly was only interested in the free wine. Free and wine are some of my favorite four letter words, especially when the first describes the second. My first glass was gone rather quickly (to be fair, it was more or less only two shots of wine in the cup) and I re-approached the counter for another. The girl was uncorking a bottle but paused to smile at me and slide another pinot grigio my way. I thanked her again and accepted her wink with a smile.
A couple minutes after returning to Lori and Dane, Elizabeth and Gabe joined us. They both had before the show jitters, Elizabeth in particular. Gabe enlightened us on the origin of his amazing tie, Lori and Elizabeth babbled about the new MAC eyeshadows they purchased that day, and Dane and I finished our drinks and he returned with one for each of us. A photographer from Vita.Mn, a local entertainment magazine asked us to get together for a photo. Later at home I realized that my ex-roommate will see that picture and will see me in her shirt, the one I have sworn to have not seen since November 2008. Oh well.
Here's the picture:
The theatre doors opened and we took our seats. This is where I'll give a not-review of the shows. If you'd like an actual review (and I do suggest you read it, it's quite humorous),
check out this review by Jay Gabbler of the
TC Daily Planet. And in case you're wondering, Elizabeth is the girl cawing like a seagull in the first picture. Precious.
As you're sitting down, four people bend, twist and warm up vocally as well all behind a stretched screen. Their bodies shrink and grow with the backlighting. I sat front row, center. Why? I could get into the fiasco with selecting my seat but instead I'll tell you a little about the people I sat next to.
On my left, a not-so-gentleman. His laughter during the production came at rather inappropriate times and the unfortunately audible murmurs he made during the dry-humping in Mad King Thomas' "Like a Circus, Only Death" made me incredibly uncomfortable.
To my right, a very stiff, petulant woman in her mid to late sixties. She scoffed and clicked her tongue. I didn't happen to notice if she ever covered her eyes but I wouldn't have been surprised.
Behind me, one man that was convinced his opinions of what was happening on stage needed to be shared with the class. I wish I could have given him a dunce cap and told him to sit in the corner to think about what he did.
And back to the stage. SuperGroup's "Shouldwetitleitnoworwait" was egotistical but mesmerizing at times and I was really glad for those glasses of wine sloshing in my empty belly. I was both distracted and impressed with the hair growth protruding from one of the actress' armpits. I couldn't quite tell if she crimped it to match everyone's crimped head hair.
So then there was "Like a Circus, Only Death" from the trio that is Mad King Thomas. Ke$ha and Queen, booze, boxing, dry-humping, messy making-out and a cardboard elephant. Okay, I was thoroughly entertained with this piece but mostly because it gave me hope that some of the trash I come up with could actually one day be performed.
Then the moment, well series of moments I was waiting for: Lamb Lays with Lions vs. Katie Mitchell's "The Seagull". For the many weeks leading-up to opening night, Elizabeth has recounted tales from rehearsals and her hopes and fears about the production. I had a good grasp of the storyline of Chekhov's "Seagull" and was ready to see the clash between the very classic production created with notes from Katie Mitchell and the mess of mediums the other side of the stage would throw together. I may have been the only audience member fully prepared for what we were about to see.
Director Jeremey Catterton was on stage interacting with each cast throughout the mess of what was going on. He even kept them on a tight time limit with a buzzer on his iPhone indicating when they needed to proceed to the next act. I was legitimately angry when reading from one of his books, Trigorin in mid sentence had to stop for the buzzer went off. We didn't get to hear which lines Nina so specifically wanted Trigorin to read. And the actor playing Trigorin got pissed and threw the book down. I think he even said: "What the fuck?" or "Fuck this." Wonderful.
There was so much commotion going on that no one even expected the gunshot. Surprisingly, I didn't jump. After the actors from each play took their final bow, I did jump out of my seat to find where Lori and Dane were seated. Their thoughts included:
"Lori fell asleep twice in the first show"
"That was like soft-core porn"
"They did the Electric Feel!"
And later, after Lori had a few extra beers in her tiny body, she said: "Kendra, you don't even know how hot I got." The actress who wore basically nothing on stage walked by en route to her seat at the other end of the table. "Let's get her to strip down to those sparkly panties and red bra again!"
The food was good the wine was decent and the conversation was awesome. Gabe and I chatted about how much of a small world it is that we both know Abbi. Lori, Elizabeth and I gabbed about Lush and Dane kept making references to what he had in his pants.
It's been months since I've been surrounded by theatre folk and I definitely need to get back into it. That's where I'm most comfortable, in the arms of the quick-witted, impoverished individuals who live vibrantly for their love of the craft of acting, the love of the hushed theatre before the curtain raises and their love of art for art's sake.
