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Frank is thrilled to announce its upcoming season of three productions! In September, we will present the area premiere of ECLIPSED by Danai Gurira, an Obie Award-winning playwright (In the Continuum, 2006) at the Playwrights’ Center, Sept. 17-Oct. 10. ECLIPSED centers on the lives of five women who are thrown together by the recent civil war in Liberia. Salvaged as chattel from wartime looting, these “wives” of the commanding officer form a hardscrabble alliance and develop their own a hierarchy as they confront questions of survival within their compound. The arrival of a new girl who has learned to read, and the return of a former “wife” who has learned to kill, quickly transforms their possibilities. Surprisingly vivacious and often funnier than you would expect, Eclipsed raises thought-provoking questions about power and resistance, solidarity and complicity, as the women hold out for the hope of a brighter destiny. The production features Frank veteran Shá Cage (VENUS, F***ING A), Hope Cervantes, Nisreen Dawan, Signe Harriday (SHREW) and Yeukai Mudzi, with direction by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox. Tickets are available at (612) 724-3760, or HERE. In November, Frank heads downtown for a holiday visit to Hennepin Stages with our production of David Sedaris;’ SANTALAND DIARIES. A delightfully absurd look at the commercial underbelly of the holiday season by the NPR humorist and best-selling author of When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Sedaris’ sharp observations of his odd encounters during the season of forced joy are a delightful antidote for those who have had it up to here with the Christmas treacle! SANTALAND DIARIES features Joe Leary as “Crumpet,” the elf. The production will be directed by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox, who has directed acclaimed productions of the play at Syracuse Stage (Syracuse, NY) and Portland Center Stage (Portland, OR). Ticketing information is available at (612) 724-3760. Next spring, Frank will stage the musical CABARET by Kander and Ebb in an undisclosed venue. Casting for the show is still in process, but we are delighted to have Melissa Hart, who played Sally Bowles in Hal Prince’s original Broadway production join us as Frau Schneider! Directed by Wendy Knox, with Musical Direction by Michael Croswell. This mystery is still evolving, but stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted… ALSO: DON’T MISS FRANK’S ANNUAL SILENT AUCTION OCT. 2!! $65 gets you a ticket to the performance of ECLIPSED, some delicious nosh and wine before the show, some viciously cut-throat bidding which is rewarded by your triumphant exit with some fabulous auction items donated by a fantastic variety of local businesses, and a little dessert post-show. Click HERE FOR TICKETS! Here are some reviews from Frank's most recent production, The Metamorphosis: “When Frank Theatre couldn't get the rights to a recent, critically-acclaimed adaptation of Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis," they decided to create their own. And what a fortuitous decision that was. The collaboration between Wendy Knox and her company has produced a truly idiosyncratic, brilliant and enthralling piece of work….This kaleidoscope of grotesques…Every aspect of this production evokes the moral decay of these characters, from John Bueche's moldering set to Kathy Koll's ironic costume touches, like a rotting coat and a skeletal top hat, to Kari Olson's bleak, often nightmarish lighting….Given the sheer power and imaginative depth of this production, not getting the rights to the adaptation Frank Theatre wanted was clearly no loss at all.” -StarTribune “For anyone who has ever awoken in the morning feeling for all the world like a revolting, prostrate, chitin-dripping giant insect—and really, who hasn't?—Kafka's Metamorphosis retains evergreen appeal. In Frank Theatre's lean, faithful interpretation of its source novella, the horror of Gregor Samsa's predicament is rendered with equal parts humor and strangeness… Wendy Knox directs, and her taste for rough edges and incautious intensity is well suited to what transpires… It's a hysterical laugh, a sob, then a throwing up of the hands: Here it's delivered with all the spiky swings intact.” --CityPages “…snappy, impeccably-acted, funny, yet human telling of this well-known tale of alienation.. when all is said and done -- makes for a wonderful evening of entertainment I can recommend without equivocation..” –howwastheshow.com “Open Eye is the perfect venue for this creepy tale, and John Bueche's set effectively turns the little Open Eye proscenium into the door between a cramped kitchen and the little bedroom where Gregor is pitiably trapped. Kathy Kohl's costume design is eye-popping…incorporating grotesque puppets by Virginia Burke. Michael Croswell's live music isn't just background; it's integral to the production, and it wraps the performers in a spine-tingling soundscape. Frank's Metamorphosis is bracingly true to Kafka's dark vision, a production that sizzles with thrillingly dreadful life.” --tcdailyplanet.net ***************************************
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