Laura Adams, Matt Rein and Tinia Moulder starred in last winter's production. Photo by Sarah Whiting. Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, one of the few troupes in the United States dedicated to examining Jewish history and experience, is bringing back an audience favorite as a prelude to the 2012-13 season. "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding" packed them in last winter and with the issue of same-sex marriage on the ballot this fall, the St. Paul troupe felt a remount made sense politically. The musical, by David Hein and Irene Carl Sakoff, is based on Hein's mother. The title tells it all. The show opens Aug. 18 for a limited run. Our review ran in Feburary. MJTC is inviting Warren Bowles to direct "Photograph 51" to open the season in October. The play by Anna Ziegler focuses on Jewish scientist Rosalind Franklin, who never received sufficient credit for her fundamental work on the structure of DNA. A production in D.C. got a nice notice in the Washington Post. This is the first MJTC assignment for Bowles. (Oct. 13-Nov. 1) "Compulsion or the House Behind" runs in March. Playwright Rinne Groff tells of a Jewish writer who fights to get Anne Frank's diary published in its least-embellished state. Hayley Finn, who directed "The Last Word" at MJTC last spring, again takes the helm. "Compulsion" was developed by the Public Theatre and Berkley Rep. Mandy Patinkin starred in the premiere out in San Francisco. (March 2-24) "Handle With Care" closes the year in April. The story is about a young Israeli woman and her grandmother on a trip to America. It's the first play from writer Jason Odell Williams and was developed in the New York area before debuting at Ithaca, N.Y. Here's a review from a subsequent production near Naples, Fla. (April 13-May 2) For the holidays, MJTC brings back Buffy Sedlachek's "Hanukkah Lights in the Big Sky" about a Montana town that responds with support for a Jewish boy whose home is attacked after he puts a menorah in the window. (Dec. 8-21)
