Gremlin Theatre gets inside the brain of a dementia sufferer with 'The Father'

January 3, 2019 at 9:11PM
Actor Peter Christian Hansen watched the rehearsal of "Dial M for Murder" as stage manager Sarah Bauer followed along with the script Thursday night at the Gremlin Theatre. ] AARON LAVINSKY ¥ aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com Over the past couple years, a corner of St. Paul running along the Green Line from Prior Avenue west to Hwy. 280 has been quietly booming. St. Paul's Creative Enterprise Zone, featuring an eclectic mix of potters and playwrights, builders and brewpubs, is home to business
Actor Peter Christian Hansen watched the rehearsal of "Dial M for Murder" as stage manager Sarah Bauer followed along with the script Thursday night at the Gremlin Theatre. ] AARON LAVINSKY ¥ aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com Over the past couple years, a corner of St. Paul running along the Green Line from Prior Avenue west to Hwy. 280 has been quietly booming. St. Paul's Creative Enterprise Zone, featuring an eclectic mix of potters and playwrights, builders and brewpubs, is home to businesses employing more than 43,000 people and has a heftier tax base than downtown St. Paul. Now those who helped create this creative corner want the city's help to preserve it. Worried that its growing popularity could eventually price out the artists and creators who made it popular - much like what's happened in Lowertown - a coalition of businesses is asking St. Paul leaders to forge policies to promote the area, keep rents affordable and preserve the myriad artists and entrepreneurs that started the boom. We photograph a play rehearsal for "Dial M for Murder" with actors from Gremlin Theatre on Thursday, August 16, 2018 in St. Paul, Minn. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Father

Through Jan. 27: Several recent plays, including Park Square Theatre's 2017 "Dot," have dealt with dementia, but this French comedy/drama takes audiences inside the disorienting disorder. It's as if "The Father" is depicting it from within the head of André (Craig Johnson), who finds it increasingly difficult to make sense of the world around him. Miriam Schwartz plays André's beleaguered daughter in a cast that also includes Gremlin Theatre artistic director Peter Christian Hansen. (7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun. Gremlin Theatre, 550 Vandalia St., St. Paul. $25-$28, 1-888-718-4253 or gremlintheatre.org.)

Chris Hewitt

Sarah Whiting credit Miriam Schwartz in "DAI (enough)"
From left: Miriam Schwartz, Craig Johnson and Peter Christian Hansen (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Director, Craig Johnson, at the Theater Garage. Torch Theater Presents: Dangerous Liaisons Directed by Craig Johnson, starring John Middleton as Valmont and Stacia Rice as the Marquise de Mertuil [ TOM WALLACE • twallace@startribune.com _ Assignments # 20021320A_ January 5, 2011_ SLUG: stag0113_ EXTRA INFORMATION: Other in the cast are: Linda Kelsey, Mo Perry, Ann Michels, Karen Weise-Thompson, Katharine Moeller, Liam Benzvi, Dave Gangler, Matt Riehle & Shannon Elliot.
Director, Craig Johnson, at the Theater Garage. Torch Theater Presents: Dangerous Liaisons Directed by Craig Johnson, starring John Middleton as Valmont and Stacia Rice as the Marquise de Mertuil [ TOM WALLACE • twallace@startribune.com _ Assignments # 20021320A_ January 5, 2011_ SLUG: stag0113_ EXTRA INFORMATION: Other in the cast are: Linda Kelsey, Mo Perry, Ann Michels, Karen Weise-Thompson, Katharine Moeller, Liam Benzvi, Dave Gangler, Matt Riehle & Shannon Elliot. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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