Current Productions

Mainstage season tickets are $18 Thursday – Saturday, Wednesday evenings are pay-what-you-can.

All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

For more information call 612-825-0459.

Underneath the Lintel: An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences
By Glen Berger.
Directed by Noël Raymond.
February 23 – March 17, 2007
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

This performance is recommended for ages 12 and up. Children under 12 are not allowed into the theatre.

Breaking Ice: Fling My Arms Wide
Written and performed by the Breaking Ice Company.
Directed by Heidi Hunter Batz
May 11 & 12, 2007
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

LOW
Written and performed by Rha Goddess.
Directed by Chay Yew
May 30 – June 16, 2007
*There is no performance of LOW on Saturday, June 2*
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Article by Dr. Peter Fraenkel: “Rha Goddess is Good for Mental Health”

Home
By Samm-Art Williams
Directed by Marion McClinton
October 5 – November 3, 2007
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Underneath the Lintel: An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences

In Underneath the Lintel: An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences, Glen Berger’s one-man Off Broadway hit comedy, a Dutch librarian comes across a book that is 113 years overdue. An obsession to find the miscreant borrower sets the librarian on a world-wide quest. As he gathers more clues about the mysterious library patron, his collection of “lovely evidences” leads him to the belief that he is on the heels of a myth. Underneath the Lintel is a funny and profound play that explores the nature of time, the substance of life and the possibility of miracles.

Underneath the Lintel had over 450 performances Off-Broadway, Time Out New York named it one of the Ten Best Plays of 2001 and the play also received a 2001 Ovation Award for Best Play and the Garland Award for Best Playwriting. Pillsbury House Theatre’s production features former Twin Cities resident John Shuman, who was most recently seen in Li’l Abner at Goodspeed Opera House and on Broadway in La Cage aux Folles. PHT’s Co-Artistic Director Noël Raymond, who last directed An Almost Holy Picture, directs the production. Underneath the Lintel runs February 23 – March 17, 2007.

This performance is recommended for ages 12 and up. Children under 12 are not allowed into the theatre.

Breaking Ice: Fling My Arms Wide

On May 11 & 12, Breaking Ice will perform an originally created production. For over ten years, Breaking Ice has brought artists from the Twin Cities community together to collaboratively create theatre for a vast array of audiences. In 2006, Breaking Ice performed across the country, inspiring dialogue around social issues in hospitals, universities, government agencies, conferences and corporations. Breaking Ice will bring its provocative performance style to the mainstage using poetry, music, movement and scenes to follow a host of characters as they navigate their way through social norms and biases in search of a sense of belonging.

LOW

The season continues with LOW, written and performed by Rha Goddess and directed by Chay Yew. LOW is a one-woman multidisciplinary theatre piece that explores the mythology, stigma, fear and confusion surrounding mental illness. The title of the show refers both to its main character, Lowquesha, and to the way she feels. Low, a budding poet, grows from a bright, happy and creative young girl to a troubled teenager who quickly descends into homelessness, addiction and a frightening psychosis. Low’s arduous journey gives voice to those who strive for dignity and self-possession even as the painful descent into madness takes over. LOW initially was presented as part of the 2006 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Rha Goddess is a world-renowned performance/recording artist, poet, social activist and a legendary voice in the hip-hop community. Her debut album Soulah Vibe was named “one of the year’s coolest records” by Time magazine in 1999. As a community activist, she founded The Next Wave of Women and Power and co-founded the Sista II Sista Freedom School for Young Women of Color and the World Conference Against Racism. Essence magazine named her one of the 30 Women to Watch in the new millennium. Chay Yew was the director of the Taper’s Asian Theatre Workshop for 10 years. His numerous directing credits include The Architecture of Loss (New York Theatre Workshop); Citizen 13559 (Kennedy Center); LOW (Actors Theatre of Louisville); 36 Views (Portland Center Stage, Geva Theatre Center and Laguna Playhouse); and Frozen, The Laramie Project and Strange Attractors (Empty Space). LOW runs May 30 – June 16. *There is no performance of LOW on Saturday, June 2*

Home

The mainstage season closes with Samm-Art Williams classic of the African American theatre canon, Home. First produced to great acclaim by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1979, the production subsequently moved to Broadway the following year and was nominated for both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards. In the play, Cephus Miles is raised on the family farm in the rural community of Cross Roads, North Carolina. His life is hard but happy, filled with work on the family farm, church revivals, and stolen kisses from his sweetheart Pattie Mae. With the onset of the Vietnam War, Cephus is forced to make a life-altering decision, and finds himself part of a great migration to the urban north. But the glitter of the city quickly fades and Cephus returns to North Carolina, settles on the land and finds redemption in coming home.

Home marks the Pillsbury House Theatre directing debut for Marion McClinton. A long-time member of the Penumbra Theatre Company and a Pillsbury House Theatre associate company member, McClinton recently directed the Mixed Blood production of Yellowman at Guthrie’s Dowling Studio, and the world premiere of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at Goodman Theatre and Mark Taper Forum. His Broadway productions include Drowning Crow, the revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and King Hedley II (Tony nomination). His Off-Broadway credits include Jitney (Obie and Lortel Awards), Roar, Talk and Breath, Boom. Home runs October 5 – November 3.