Theater Latté Da opens Season 20 with a bold re-imagining of the musical MAN OF LA MANCHA, Broadway veteran Martín Solá stars as Don Quixote

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 7, 2017

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

THEATER LATTÉ DA OPENS SEASON 20 WITH A BOLD
RE-IMAGINING OF THE MUSICAL MAN OF LA MANCHA,
BROADWAY VETERAN MARTÍN SOLÁ STARS AS DON QUIXOTE

One of the most honored musicals of the American theater, MAN OF LA MANCHA was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ 17th Century masterpiece Don Quixote.

MAN OF LA MANCHA features Martín Solá as Don Quixote/Miguel de Cervantes,
Meghan Kreidler as Aldonza, and Zachary Garcia as Sancho Panza.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

Performances begin September 13 at the Ritz Theater.
Single tickets and season tickets are on sale now at latteda.org or 612-339-3003.

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Theater Latté Da today announced casting for the powerful, groundbreaking musical MAN OF LA MANCHA. Winner of 5 Tony Awards including Best Musical Play, this musical features a compelling book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and score by Mitch Leigh. Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein will re-imagine the production with Resident Music Director Denise Prosek. Performances begin September 13 at the Ritz Theater (345 13th Avenue NE in Minneapolis). Single tickets and season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at latteda.org or by calling 612-339-3003.

One of the most honored musicals of the American theater, Man of La Mancha was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ 17th Century masterpiece Don Quixote. It received five Tony Awards, including one for best musical play, as well as the Drama Critics Circle Award for best musical. Powerful, brutal, funny, and heartbreaking, Man of La Mancha celebrates the perseverance of one man who refuses to relinquish his ideals; and who is determined to see life “not as it is, but as it ought to be.”

“There is a quote from Cervantes’ Don Quixote that has been ringing through my mind for the past 6 or 7 months, says Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, “’when life seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies.’ I am looking forward to reimagining this great work of musical theater in a contemporary, political context.”

To launch Theater Latté Da’s 20th Anniversary season, Rothstein has assembled a dazzling cast: Martín Solá, a theater, film, and television actor, stars as the idealistic knight errant Don Quixote. Solá’s most recent appearance was in Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s Broadway musical On Your Feet. He made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning revival of The King and I starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy. Additional Broadway credits include Baz Luhrmann’s production of Puccini’s La Bohèmeand Coram Boy. “I am thrilled to be joining the company of Man of La Mancha at Theater Latté Da,” says Solá. “Cervantes and Quixote are amazingly complex and iconic figures, the likes of which an actor longs to play. I am also looking forward to spending time in the Twin Cities again, and exploring Minneapolis. In 2004, I was on tour with The King and I and we played the Ordway in Saint Paul. I have very fond memories of my time there.”

The production also features Twin Cities emerging artist Meghan Kreidler as the vivacious and tortured Aldonza. Kreidler most recently appeared in Mixed Blood’s production of Vietgone to much critical acclaim. Described as one of the area’s best talents, Kreidler has also appeared in Mu Performing Arts/Park Square Theatre’s production of Flower Drum Song and Mu Performing Arts production of A Little Night Music. Zachary Garcia, starring as Sancho Panza, recently appeared as Woody in Theatre in the Round’s production of Six Degrees of Separation and Hal in Proof at Artistry.

Several cast members will make their debut in Theater Latté Da’s first production of the season. Jon-Michael Reese, who recently appeared in public readings of Five Points and Goddess as part of Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Festival 2017, is featured as the Padre; Rodolfo Nieto makes his debut as Dr. Carasco; Dan Hopman  returns to Latté Da as the Captain of the Inquisition (Latté Da: Into the Woods); Sara Ochs as the Housekeeper and Maria (Latté Da: Sweeney Todd); Andre Shoals as the Innkeeper (Latté Da: Peter and the Starcatcher); Matt Riehle as the Barber (Latté Da: C.); McKinnley Aitchinsonmakes her Latté Da debut as Antonia/Moorish Girl.

MAN OF LA MANCHA features scenic design by Michael Hoover, costume design by Rich Hamson, and lighting design by Marcus Dilliard.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artists, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

FACT SHEET:

MAN OF LA MANCHA

Book by Dale Wasserman
Lyrics by Joe Darion
Music by Mitch Leigh
Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ masterpiece Don Quixote
Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Denise Prosek

Featuring: McKinnley Aitchison, Zachary Garcia, Dan Hopman, Meghan Kreidler, Rodolfo Nieto, Sarah Ochs, Jon-Michael Reese, Matt Riehle, Martín Solá, and Andre Shoals

Dates: Wednesday, September 13 – Sunday, October 22, 2017

Venue: Ritz Theater (345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN 55413)

One of the most honored musicals of the American theater, Man of La Mancha was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ 17th Century masterpiece Don Quixote. It received five Tony Awards, including one for best musical play, as well as the Drama Critics Circle Award for best musical. Powerful, brutal, funny, and heartbreaking, Man of La Mancha celebrates the perseverance of one man who refuses to relinquish his ideals, and who is determined to see life “not as it is, but as it ought to be.”

Performance Dates and Times:

Wednesday, September 13 at 7:30 PM (Preview)
Thursday, September 14 at 7:30 PM (Preview)
Friday, September 15 at 7:30 PM (Preview)
Saturday, September 16 at 7:30 PM (Opening Night)
Sunday, September 17 at 2:00 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Wednesday, September 20 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, September 21 at 7:30 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Friday, September 22 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, September 23 at 2:00 PM
Saturday, September 23 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, September 24 at 2:00 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Wednesday, September 27 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, September 28 at 7:30 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Friday, September 29 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, September 30 at 2:00PM
Saturday, September 30 at 7:30PM
Sunday, October 1 at 2:00PM (Post-show Discussion)
Wednesday, October 4 at 7:30PM
Thursday, October 5 at 7:30PM (Post-show Discussion)
Friday, October 6 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, October 7 at 2:00PM
Saturday, October 7 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, October 8 at 2:00 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Wednesday, October 11 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, October 12 at 7:30 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Friday, October 13 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, October 14 at 2:00 PM
Saturday, October 14 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, October 15 at 2:00 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Wednesday, October 18 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, October 19 at 7:30 PM (Post-Show Discussion)
Friday, October 20 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, October 21 at 2:00 PM
Saturday, October 21 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, October 22 at 2:00 PM

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Theater Latté Da Announces 2017-18 Season

American Theatre Editors American Theatre Magazine

May 2, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS: Theater Latté Da has announced its 20th anniversary season, which will feature five musicals, including a Sondheim production, a local holiday favorite, and a world premiere. This season marks the first in the company’s new Ritz Theater.

“I am truly grateful for the generosity and support of this community,” said founding artistic director, Peter Rothstein in a statement. “With our 20th anniversary season, we continue to stretch the boundaries of musical theatre, telling stories that resonate with our contemporary world.”

The season kicks off with Man of La Mancha (Sept. 13–Oct. 22), by Dale Wasserman with lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. Inspired by Cervantes’s Don Quixote, this musical drama follows the famed author through trials and mishaps during the Spanish Inquisition and will be re-imagined in a contemporary setting.

Next up will be A Christmas Carole Petersen (Nov. 29–Dec. 30), by Tod Petersen and Peter Rothstein. Back for its 11th consecutive year, this show follows Carole Petersen, the author’s mother, and her obsessive love for all things Christmas.

Ringing in the new year will be Assassins (Feb. 7–March 18, 2018), with book by John Weidman with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. This musical explores the psychology of four assassins, and one would-be assassin, of U.S. presidents, and the extremes people will go to for power.

Following will be the world premiere of Five Points: An American Musical (April 4–May 6, 2018), by Harrison David Rivers with music by Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, and lyrics by Lyons. Set in New York City during the Civil War, this musical follows two men, a young black performer and an Irish immigrant, and their struggles in pursuit of the American dream.

Wrapping up the season will be Underneath the Lintel (May 30–July 1, 2018), by Glen Berger with original music by Frank London. A Dutch librarian sets out to find who’s responsible for returning a travel guide that’s 113 years overdue, with only some writing in the margins and a dry-cleaning ticket as clues.

The annual NEXT Festival will also run during summer 2018, showcasing three new musical works.

Theater Latté Da is committed to the expansion of musical theatre and sharing it with the community.

'Man of La Mancha' to open 2017-18 Latté Da season; 'La Bohème' coming up

Pamela EspelandMinnPost

May 4, 2017

Theater Latté Da has announced its 20th anniversary season, a provocative blend of new works and classics served up with a few twists. Hint: Tyler Michaels will play Lee Harvey Oswald.

Now settled into its new home in the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis, Latté Da will open 2017-18 on Sept. 13 with the five-time Tony winner “Man of La Mancha.” Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein sees it as a musical that “celebrates the perseverance of one man who refuses to relinquish his ideals.” He’ll set it in an immigration holding center with a multilingual cast, featuring Jon-Michael Reese and Rodolfo Nieto in their Latté Da debuts.

We’ll get a Christmas break from worldly concerns with “A Christmas Carole Petersen,” Tod Petersen’s ode to his mother, Carole, and her love of all things Christmas. The holiday hit will return for its 11th season beginning Nov. 29.

Starting Feb. 7, 2018, Latté Da will continue its love affair with Stephen Sondheim (after “Sunday in the Park With George,” “Company,” “Into the Woods,” “Gypsy,” and the brilliant “Sweeney Todd”) with “Assassins,” the multiple Tony winner about our nation’s culture of celebrity. What’s one of the fastest routes to instant fame? Shoot a U.S. president. Here’s where Michaels stars as Oswald, with Dieter Bierbraurer as John Wilkes Booth and Sara Ochs as Sara Jane Moore. The Ritz will be converted into a sinister fairground. This could be the most talked-about production of the season.

April 4 brings the world premiere of “Five Points: An American Musical,” with a book by Harrison David Rivers, music by Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, and lyrics by Lyons. Set in New York City in 1853, it tells the stories of two men, one a young black performer at a dance hall and the other an Irish immigrant. In a statement, Rothstein said, “Harrison David Rivers’ book provides an insightful look at the complicated relationship between the African American community and the recent European immigrants who converged on New York’s Lower East Side.”

The season’s final show, which opens May 30, is Glen Berger’s “Underneath the Lintel.” The play about a librarian who embarks on a journey that spans the globe and the ages has been performed around the world and translated into many languages. Latté Da’s production will be the first to feature live music (following up on this year’s “Six Degrees of Separation”), and the role of the librarian, originally written for a man, will be played here by Sally Wingert.

Latté Da's annual NEXT Festival of new works will take place in the summer, dates and venues TBD.

Season tickets are on sale now.

Penumbra and Theater Latte Da enter the Trump era with timely 2017-18 seasons

Jay GablerCity Pages Minneapolis

May 2, 2017

Standing onstage at the Ritz to announce Theater Latté Da’s 20th anniversary season, Peter Rothstein recited a line from Man of La Mancha that, he said, has been resonating with him of late.

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?”

The 2017-18 theatrical season is the first to be announced in the Trump era, and companies across the country are grappling with what that means for their programming. In the cases of Theater Latté Da and Penumbra Theatre, both of which announced their upcoming seasons this week, it means work that’s sharply engaged with questions of truth, justice, and identity.

In addition to the season-opening Man of La Mancha, Theatre Latté Da’s season will also include a world premiere musical set during the Civil War, Stephen Sondheim’s controversial Assassins, and a reimagining of the one-man (now, one-woman) show Underneath the Lintel.

Penumbra is also getting musical with a 30th anniversary production of its beloved Black Nativity, as well as with a Children’s Theatre Company co-production of The Wiz. Its season kicks off with Alice Childress’ Wedding Band, concludes with Harrison David Rivers’ This Bitter Earth, and features Khanisha Foster’s world premiere play Joy Rebel.

Man of La Mancha may seem like an escapist nugget, but Rothstein says he plans to set it in a contemporary context: an immigration holding center. Assassins, a 1990 musical about actual and would-be presidential killers, is set in a fairground shooting gallery. Latté Da will invite the audience onstage before each performance to visit the dark carnival. If you’ve been dying to see Tyler Michaels play Lee Harvey Oswald, this will be your chance.

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?”

The 2017-18 theatrical season is the first to be announced in the Trump era, and companies across the country are grappling with what that means for their programming. In the cases of Theater Latté Da and Penumbra Theatre, both of which announced their upcoming seasons this week, it means work that’s sharply engaged with questions of truth, justice, and identity.

In addition to the season-opening Man of La Mancha, Theatre Latté Da’s season will also include a world premiere musical set during the Civil War, Stephen Sondheim’s controversial Assassins, and a reimagining of the one-man (now, one-woman) show Underneath the Lintel.

Penumbra is also getting musical with a 30th anniversary production of its beloved Black Nativity, as well as with a Children’s Theatre Company co-production of The Wiz. Its season kicks off with Alice Childress’ Wedding Band, concludes with Harrison David Rivers’ This Bitter Earth, and features Khanisha Foster’s world premiere play Joy Rebel.

Man of La Mancha may seem like an escapist nugget, but Rothstein says he plans to set it in a contemporary context: an immigration holding center. Assassins, a 1990 musical about actual and would-be presidential killers, is set in a fairground shooting gallery. Latté Da will invite the audience onstage before each performance to visit the dark carnival. If you’ve been dying to see Tyler Michaels play Lee Harvey Oswald, this will be your chance.

Rivers, a playwright based in St. Paul, will have a play onstage in each of the Twin Cities come April 2018, when Penumbra’s production of This Bitter Earth coincides with Theater Latté Da’s premiere of his musical Five Points. Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons wrote the music for the show, which centers on a young black entertainer and an Irish jig master caught up in the draft riots of 1863.

Penumbra founder Lou Bellamy will direct Wedding Band, a 1962 play from the Black Arts Movement. Foster’s Joy Rebel examines multiracial identity, and Roger Guenveur Smith will take the Penumbra stage in February for the one-man show Frederick Douglass NOW. (Sorry, Mr. President, Frederick Douglass himself will not actually appear on stage.)

Latté Da will stretch the season into the summer months with Underneath the Lintel, a well-known 2001 play about a questing librarian that’s recently been a Minnesota Fringe Festival favorite starring local actor Pat O’Brien. In Latté Da’s take, the male central character will become a woman, played by Sally Wingert. The company is also bringing playwright Glen Berger to town to collaborate with klezmer master Frank London in creating new musical elements for the show.

The coming season will also be Sarah Bellamy’s first full season as sole artistic director of Penumbra. “I am excited,” she said in a press release, “to welcome audiences and artists to celebrate the courage of those who love outside the lines, who fight to be all of who they are, and in doing so, urge us to manifest a more loving, inclusive America.”

Theatre Latté Da: 2017-18 season

Man of La Mancha By Dale Wasserman Lyrics by Joe Darion Music by Mitch Leigh Directed by Peter Rothstein Sept. 13 - Oct. 22, 2017

A Christmas Carole Petersen By Tod Petersen and Peter Rothstein Directed by Peter Rothstein Nov. 29 - Dec. 30, 2017

Assassins Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by John Weidman Directed by Peter Rothstein Feb. 7 - March 18, 2018

Five Points: An American Musical (world premiere) Book by Harrison David Rivers Music by Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons Lyrics by Douglas Lyons Directed by Peter Rothstein April 4 - May 6, 2018

Underneath the Lintel By Glen Berger Music by Frank London Directed by Peter Rothstein May 30 - July 1, 2018

New Work Festival Summer 2018

Classics and new work in next Theater Latte Da season

Chris HewittPioneer Press

May 2, 2017

A timely presentation of a controversial Stephen Sondheim musical is among the offerings next season from Theater Latte Da.

Featuring a song called “The Gun Song,” weapons and political unrest are both themes in “Assassins,” which Latte Da will produce in February 2018. With a cast including Dieter Bierbrauer, Tyler Michaels and Sara Ochs, the show features presidential assassins and would-be assassins in a nightmarish carnival setting, where they talk about their motivations.

“Man of La Mancha” opens Latte Da’s 2017-18 season at the Ritz Theater in September, followed by the 11th version of Tod Petersen’s holiday hit, “A Christmas Carole Petersen.” Next up is “Assassins” and then the world premiere of another politically charged work, “Five Points: An American Musical.”

With a book by St. Paul playwright Harrison David Rivers — whose “This Bitter Earth” will be at Penumbra Theatre next season — “Five Points” features music by Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, who also wrote the lyrics. Set in New York City on the eve of the Civil War, its main characters are a black man and a white man whose paths collide in that time of upheaval.

Latte Da favorite Sally Wingert, who just closed in the theater’s “Six Degrees of Separation,” will return in another play that uses live musical elements. “Underneath the Lintel,” by Glen Berger (with music by Frank London) is a solo piece that stars Wingert as a Dutch librarian who goes on a worldwide adventure, spurred by the discovery of a book that was returned, 113 years overdue.

Peter Rothstein, artistic director of Latte Da, is on tap to direct all five shows. The Next Festival, featuring staged readings of new work, will also return in a season that finds Latte Da on the road with remountings of its stripped-down “Ragtime” and the holiday show, “All is Calm” (neither will be seen in the Twin Cities). Season subscriptions are available at 612-339-3003 or theaterlatteda.com.

Theater Latté Da Launches its 20th Anniversary Season!

  For Immediate Release May 1, 2017 Contact: Emilee Elofson emilee@latteda.org 612-225-1246 office

Theater Latté Da Launches its 20th Anniversary Season

The Company Continues its Rigorous Exploration of Musical Storytelling, including a Reimagined Classic, a Rarely-Produced Sondheim Musical, and a World Premiere

Season subscriptions are on sale now and can be purchased at latteda.org/subscribe or by calling 612-339-3003.

(Minneapolis, St. Paul) In September, Theater Latté Da will launch its 20th Anniversary Season at their new home, the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. The highly celebrated company will launch a season that boldly reimagines work from the canon, continues its passion for Stephen Sondheim’s work, infuses a globally successful play with live music, premieres a new musical set in the Civil War, and continues its robust commitment to the development of new musicals and plays with music.

Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein states, "I am truly grateful for the generosity and support of this community. We simply could not do the work we do without an adventurous audience, generous donors, and a state that truly values the arts. With our 20th Anniversary Season we continue to stretch the boundaries of musical theater, telling stories that resonate with our contemporary world."

The season opens September 13 with Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman with lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. One of the most honored musicals of the American Theater, Man of La Mancha was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes' 17th Century masterpiece Don Quixote. It received five Tony Awards, including one for best musical play, as well as the Drama Critics Circle Award for best musical. Rothstein states, "Man of La Mancha celebrates the perseverance of one man who refuses to relinquish his ideals, who is determined to 'see life not as it is, but as it ought to be.'"

The Theater Latté Da production will reimagine the musical drama in a contemporary context, and will feature a multi-lingual cast. The production will feature Twin Cities newcomer Jon-Michael Reese as The Padre and Rodolfo Nieto as Dr. Carasco, both making their Latté Da debuts.

The Company's holiday hit, A Christmas Carole Petersen, returns for its eleventh holiday season. Tod Petersen’s (Gypsy, Our Town, A Man of No Importance) hilarious ode to his mother Carole and her overly enthusiastic love of all things Christmas is one of the most requested shows in Latté Da's history.

Latté Da continues its celebrated commitment to the work of Stephen Sondheim having produced Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Into the Woods, Gypsy, and their hugely successful production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The rarely produced Assassins will begin performances February 7, 2018. A multiple Tony Award-winning theatrical tour-de-force, Assassins combines Sondheim's signature blend of intelligent lyrics and stunning music with a panoramic story of our nation's culture of celebrity and the violent means some will use to obtain it. John Weidman's book is bold, original, disturbing, and alarmingly funny. Rothstein states, "The musical provides a theatrical glimpse into the psychology of America's four successful and five would-be presidential assassins, and has earned its place as one of the most controversial musicals ever written."

Latté Da's production will feature Dieter Bierbraurer (Oliver!, Company, Floyd Collins) in the role of John Wilkes Booth, Tyler Michaels (Peter and the Starcatcher, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret) in the role of Lee Harvey Oswald, and Sara Ochs (A Christmas Carole Petersen, Sweeney Todd, Company).  in the role of Sara Jane Moore. The Ritz Theater will be converted into a sinister fairground and will open an hour prior to each performance. The audience will be encouraged to join the cast on stage for concessions, libations, and carnival games.

Beginning performances on April 4, 2018 will be the world premiere of Five Points, with a book by Harrison David Rivers, music by Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons, and lyrics by Douglas Lyons. Set in New York City in 1853, amidst the tumult of the Civil War, Five Points chronicles the journeys of two men, Willie Lane, a young black performer at the famed Almack’s Dance Hall, and John Diamond, an Irish immigrant and former jig champion, as they risk everything in pursuit of the American Dream. Inspired by real events, this world premiere musical is about what happens when worlds collide -- both the chaos and the possibility.

Rothstein states, "I believe in telling big stories and important stories; Five Points is both. Harrison David Rivers' book provides an insightful look at the complicated relationship between the African American community and the recent European immigrants who converged on New York's Lower East Side, specifically with regard to the recruitment of soldiers into the Union Army. The score by Douglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar is one of the most exciting new scores I've ever heard. It is a sophisticated fusion of Gospel, Celtic, Broadway, and contemporary pop."

The final show of the 20th Anniversary Season will be Underneath the Lintel by Glen Berger with original music by Frank London. The production stars Sally Wingert (Six Degrees of Separation, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret) as a Dutch librarian who embarks on a quest to find out who anonymously returned a library book; a travel guide which is 113 years overdue. A clue scribbled in the margin of the book and an unclaimed dry-cleaning ticket take her on a mysterious adventure that spans the globe and the ages. The librarian, who has never left her native town of Hoofdrop, grows ever-determined to track down the offender. As she travels around the world on her obsessive search, she finds herself on a journey that not only unlocks ancient mysteries, but moves her to new revelations about her own place in the universe.

Glen Berger's celebrated play has been performed around the world and has been translated into numerous languages, but Latté Da's production will be the first time the play is performed with live music. Rothstein has been collaborating with playwright Glen Berger, composer Frank London (bandleader of the New York-based Klezmatics), and musician Dan Chouinard to explore how live music might elevate Berger's funny, whimsical, and poignant play.

Theater Latté Da continues its robust commitment to new work with their NEXT Festival. The summer festival showcases three new works that stretch the boundaries of musical storytelling, where audience members are invited into the ground floor of the creative process.

Season tickets are currently on sale; packages start at $105. Call the box office at 612-339-3003, or visit LatteDa.org

Theater Latté Da On The Road

Theater Latté Da's powerful reimagining of Ragtime, that opened the company's 19th season, will be remounted at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in the fall of 2017 and at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida in the spring of 2018

All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, by Peter Rothstein with musical arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, will not play in the Twin Cities this year but will tour to California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Iowa, Wisconsin, and five communities in Minnesota.

20th ANNIVERSARY SEASON AT A GLANCE

MAN OF LA MANCHA

Written by Dale Wasserman

Lyrics by Joe Darion

Music by Mitch Leigh

Directed by Peter Rothstein

Music Direction by Denise Prosek

Featuring Rodolfo Nieto and Jon-Michael Reese

September 13, 2017 - October 22, 2017

A CHRISTMAS CAROLE PETERSEN

Written by Tod Petersen and Peter Rothstein

Directed by Peter Rothstein

Music Direction by Denise Prosek

Starring Tod Petersen

November 29, 2017 - December 30, 2017

ASSASSINS

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by John Weidman

Directed by Peter Rothstein

Music Direction by Jason Hansen

Featuring Deiter Bierbrauer, Tyler Michaels, and Sara Ochs

February 7, 2018 - March 18, 2018

FIVE POINTS (World Premiere)

Book by Harrison David Rivers

Music by Ethan D. Pakchar & Douglas Lyons

Lyrics by Douglas Lyons

April 4, 2018 - May 6, 2018

UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL

By Glen Berger

Music by Frank London

Directed by Peter Rothstein

Music Direction by Dan Chouinard

Starring Sally Wingert

May 30, 2018 - July 1, 2018

NEXT FESTIVAL

Summer 2018

Venues and show titles to be announced

All performances are at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis.

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Theater Latte Da's 'Six Degrees' adds another week of performances

Rohan PrestonStar Tribune

March 28, 2017

It's not just the unusually warm spring weather that is exciting people in the Twin Cities. "Six Degrees" also is hot in Minneapolis.

Producer Theater Latte Da has announced that director Peter Rothstein's revival of John Guare's 1990 play has added a week of performances at the Ritz Theater.

The one-act stars Mark Benninghofen (left), Sally Wingert and JuCoby Johnson, who plays a young conman pretending to be Sidney Poitier's son in this tale of art, impersonation and cunning.

Rothstein's production has received strong notices and audiences apparently agree. The show will now close April 15.

Theater Latte Da to revive its powerful 'Ragtime' on the coasts

Rohan PrestonStar Tribune

March 22, 2017

Theater Latte Da is restaging its powerful production of “Ragtime” for audiences in the northwest and southeast next season.

Theater founder and director Peter Rothstein has been tapped to remount his re-imagined version of the musical for the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle in the fall and the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota in spring 2018.

With a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, “Ragtime” tells of the American dream as seen by three groups: blacks, whites and immigrant Jews. The size of the show has made it somewhat prohibitively expensive to stage, since it usually has a cast with three distinct groupings of people.

Rothstein decided to stage the show with a slimmed down cast where all the players support each of the three interlocking narratives.

“The metaphor there, that all the people are responsible for each other’s stories, adds another layer to show,” said Rothstein.

He added: “There are reductions that feel like reductions and reductions that feel like bold choices. According to the audience response and reviews, this one worked.”

Rothstein will take most of his creative team with him, including scenic designer Michael Hoover, costume designer Trevor Bowen and choreographer Kelli Foster Warder.

He’s not sure if he will be able to take his actors. In the Twin Cities, the production starred David Murray as Coalhouse Walker Jr. and Traci Allen Shannon as his wife (pictured in this photo by Dan Norman.). Other headliners were Britta Ollmann as the white mother, Sasha Andreev as immigrant Tateh and Andre Shoals as Booker T. Washington.

Latte Da has toured “All is Calm” at the holidays for the past 10 years.

“But this is the first time we’ll take a production that originated here elsewhere,” said Rothstein. “I’m super-excited about it. The piece created such needed dialogue here and we hope that it will instigate similar dialogue in these communities, too.”

REVIEW: Six Degrees of Cons (Theater Latté Da)

Bev WolfeTwin Cities Arts Reader

March 21, 2017

Phoniness, lack of human connectedness and class distinctions are the prevalent themes in John Guare’s play Six Degrees of Separation, which opened last weekend at Theater Latte Da. The play originally debuted on Broadway in 1990 and was nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for Best Play. Peter Rothstein directs a crisply paced and thoughtful production of Guare’s play.

The play begins with the well-to-do, but temporarily asset-depleted, couple of Ouisa and Flanders Kittredge hosting a wealthy friend named Geoffrey. Geoffrey is an industrialist from South Africa, which during the play is still in the midst of Apartheid. Flanders is an art dealer who is in critical need of acquiring an expensive painting for resale to Japanese buyers. The Kittredges need to persuade Geoffrey to invest $2 million to complete the acquisition. As their evening begins, they are interrupted by a young, well-dressed but bleeding young man named Paul who has just been stabbed. Paul claims he goes to Harvard with the Kittredge’s children and sought help at their place because he was mugged. With a little bit of first aid, Paul proceeds to flatter and charm the Kittredges and Geoffrey.

In addition to attending college with their children, Paul reveals that he is the son of Sidney Poitier. A running joke in the play is that Poitier is directing the movie version of the musical Cats. With Paul’s charm and his promise to make all three of them extras in Cats, Flanders is able to obtain the necessary monetary commitment from Geoffrey. The Kittredges insist that Paul stay the night, but the Kittredges’ wonderful evening crashes with a thud the next morning when, in a very jarring scene, they discover that Paul has brought a naked street hustler into their home.

The Kittredges still hang on to the thought that Paul is Poitier’s son until they learn that their friends had a similar evening and similarly expect to be cast in Cats. The couples contact the police and find at least one more victim. They also confirm that their children do not know Paul. Despite his culture mannerism and appearance, it is learned that that Paul was also a street hustler. He became involved with an MIT student who went to high school with the victims’ children and who schooled Paul in the ways of the well-to-do as well as the known gossip about these affluent parents. However, Paul’s phony persona takes a tragic turn when he takes advantage of a young, poor couple who befriended him.

The play is set in for the late 1980s and its datedness seems quaint. No one uses cell phones and, more importantly, there is no Internet whereby the Kittredges could quickly verify Paul’s connection to Sidney Poitier. Instead, Ouisa must go to a secondhand bookstore to find an out-of-date Poitier biography to verify that Paul was not Poitier’s son.

JuCoby Johnson plays a charming and convincing Paul, who is either a) the ultimate con artist, or b) so desperate to be in the upper class that he starts to believe his own con. Sally Wingert shines in the role of Ouisa. She makes believable the fact that her character, despite knowing of Paul’s deception, has a closer emotion bond to this stranger than she has with her own children, or even her husband. Mark Benninghofen, as Flanders, captures the essence of a man who is primarily interested in his bottom line and has no sympathy for Paul, but who can’t say no to his wife when she wants them to pick up Paul and help him turn himself into the police. Jay Albright, as Dr. Fine (another of Paul’s victims), brings some welcome humor to the play as he relates his encounter with Paul.

When I first saw that this show was part of Theater Latte Da’s season, I assumed it was a musical version of the play. However, there is no musical version of the play – at least not yet – but director Peter Rothstein successfully takes an innovative approach for integrating music by having the actors perform music both as background for certain scenes and during the transitions.

Kate Sutton-Johnson’s set design is another highlight in the show. The set displays a lavish, but realistic upper class living room surrounding by art including a Kandinsky constructivist painting in the center of the stage. It was in great contrast to the bare and raw staging that has been more commonly used at the Ritz Theater.

Staging a non-musical is a significant directional change for Theater Latte Da, but, with a fine cast, it has proven to be a very successful direction. This production does justice to the many layers of Guare’s play.

Theater Latte Da's Six Degrees of Separation

Kare 11 TVPat Evans

March 21, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS - Inspired by the real-life con artist David Hampton, the acclaimed drama "Six Degrees of Separation" is now being performed at Minneapolis Ritz Theatre through April 9.

The witty and sincere social commentary wrestles with the human desire for meaningful connection.

Paul, a young black man, convinces wealthy white New York couple Ouisa and Flan Kittredge that he is the son of Sidney Poitier. Enraptured by his intellect and charm, the couple invite him to stay the night. But Paul’s ruse is soon undone, leading to discoveries that leave them all forever changed.

Nominated for four Tony awards, Six Degrees of Separation is a singular tragicomedy on race, class and manners. Peter Rothstein directs a stellar cast of actors and musicians who inhabit and underscore John Guare’s riveting drama. The Theater Latté Da production contains full-frontal male nudity, strong language, and adult situations.

For tickets visit latteda.org or call 612-339-3003.

‘Six Degrees Of Separation’ Stars Talk Chemistry, Class

WCCO TV March 21, 2017

Sally Wingert and Mark Benninghofen spoke with Ali Lucia and Kim Johnson about the tragicomedy on race, class and manners (3:25).WCCO 4 News At Noon – March 21, 2017

Six Degrees of Separation

Arthur DormanTalkin' Broadway

March 16, 2017

John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation is without doubt one of the great American plays of the past fifty years. It strikes at our attitudes about money and wealth, our reverence for celebrity, and the intersection of race, class, and sexual orientation. It is at once a biting satire, a comedy of manners, and a poignant meditation on the forces that connect us and that keep us apart. It is back in a smashing production by Theater Latté Da that fires on all cylinders, including fantastic performances from Sally Wingert, Mark Benninghofen, and JuCoby Johnson.

Six Degrees of Separation appeared in 1990, triggered by a true story told to Guare. In 1983 a young black man named David Hampton conned at least a dozen people into believing he was the son of Sidney Poitier. On that basis, his victims invited him to stay for dinner, spend the night in their posh homes, and gave him money before Hampton was caught, brought to trial, and given a prison sentence. In the real world that allowed Hampton's ruse to succeed (for a while), just being, or claiming to be, the child (spouse, parent) of a celebrity establishes credentials and a connection to others in the same social strata. But what real connections—acquaintance, school affiliation, familial ties, work history, or otherwise—actually link us to one another?

Guare's stroke of genius was to meld the con-man anecdote with a theory of social linkages, found in the work of psychologist Stanley Milgram (1933-1984) on what he called the "small world" problem. The notion that all of us, round the world, are connected by a string of affiliations of no more than six people came to be called six degrees of separation, and captured the public imagination, despite lack of scientific proof of its validity. As Guare's character Ouisa Kittredge states, "Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find it A) extremely comforting that we're so close, and B) like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the right connection."

The play begins with Ouisa and her husband Flan in their bathrobes, exclaiming about an upheaval that apparently just occurred in their stylish, expensive-looking home. Was anything stolen? They could have been killed! Suddenly, they turn to us and go back to how it started, making a story of it, tag-teaming as couples do when relating a shared experience.

The Kittredges are high-end art dealers, buying high-priced works of art away from the public eye, and selling them at even higher prices. The evening before, they were entertaining a wealthy friend visiting from South Africa, whom they hoped to persuade to pony up two million dollars toward the purchase of a Matisse—which they knew they could sell to a Japanese buyer for a great deal more. Suddenly, a young black man bursts into their apartment. He introduces himself as Paul, a friend of the Kittredges' two children at Harvard (a third Kittredge child is at Groton). Paul happened to be in Central Park, across the street from their home, when a mugger took all his money and his briefcase containing the only copy of his thesis, and left him with a stab wound. Though they'd never met, he knew from Tess and Woody's accounts of their parents' kindness that Ouisa and Flan would help him. Indeed they do, nursing his wound, giving him clean clothes, and urging him to join them for dinner.

Paul is charming, well spoken, thoughtful and bright. It is clear he knows their kids well, and that Tess and Woody had spoken often about their home. He reveals that his father is Sidney Poitier, who will arrive in New York in the morning. Well, of course Paul must stay the night with them. The evening is a complete success. However, the morning shows things in a different light when Ouisa finds a completely naked man, a hustler, in bed with Paul. After frantic screaming and chasing the hustler out the door—throwing his clothes after him—they tell Paul he had better leave too. He does, apologizing profusely and begging them not to tell his dad: "He doesn't know," Paul pleads. This takes us back to the beginning, with Flan and Ouisa ranting about the harm they narrowly escaped.

Flan and Ouisa soon learn that their friends whose son also attends Harvard had almost the same experience, hosting their son's pal Paul Poitier. They finally reach their children (in the pre-text message era) and realize that Paul is a total fraud. They enlist their kids' help to figure out who knows them well enough to have passed on so much personal detail to Paul, and who would do such a thing. What they learn is both astonishing and believable. But Paul is not finished. Using a shocking new ruse, he wins the confidence of Rick and Elizabeth, a sweet young couple from Utah pursuing theater careers in New York. Paul's betrayal of their friendship is ruinous to the couple and at last provide grounds for Paul to be sought by the police. Only then does Paul reach out to Ouisa for help. Ouisa's response is a great transformative theater moment.

The three lead performances perfectly capture each character's charms and flaws. Audiences are well aware of Sally Wingert's (Ouisa) spectacular range, flipping from biting comedy to dramatic yearning with the wave of a hand. Mark Benninghofen is also well known for his excellent portrayals of deceptively complex men. JuCoby Johnson is newer to our stages, but in just a few years has given numerous strong performances, most recently as a freed slave in Minnesota Jewish Theater Company's stellar mounting of The Whipping Man. As Paul, he is so good looking, bright and charming that he makes the truth of his deceptions all the more heartbreaking. Johnson is clearly an actor on the rise.

Of the other characters, three—the South African friend, played by Patrick Bailey; Paul's accomplice Trent, played by Grant Sorenson; and Paul's too-trusting friend Rick, played by Gabriel Murphy—are given some substance in Guare's script. All three actors bring authenticity to their portrayals. The college-age children of Flan, Ouisa, and Paul's other victims are depicted as annoying, parent-bashing youth, frankly grating in contrast to Paul's veneer of courtesy and polish.

The production's creative team has done outstanding work. Kate Sutton-Johnson have created a sensationally lush and arty living room for Flan and Ouisa, with nooks and pedestals displaying artwork culled from artists working in the northeast arts district, where Theater Latté Da is based. Alice Fredrickson's costumes perfectly represent the Kittredges' chic pretensions, Paul's preppy-clean persona, and Rick and Elizabeth's thrift shop bohemian look. Barry Browning's lighting draws the focus down as needed to create different levels of intimacy.

Theater Latté Da is known for superb productions of musicals and plays with music. Six Degrees of Separation is neither, but director Peter Rothstein has added live music to the production. Four cast members, when they are not in character, play songs (guitar, piano, tenor sax and cello) that create suitable background ambience during scenes and transitions, a nice addition to the play. Overall, Rothstein's direction is sharp, catching all the wit, but focused on the questions raised by the play.

Those questions are numerous, and different viewers will no doubt find different questions more or less compelling. Like the characters in the play, its themes may connect with audience members through a variety of linkages to past experience and current concerns. In 1990, John Guare wrote a brilliant play that continues to provoke such questions, while spinning a darn entertaining yarn. Peter Rothstein, his stellar cast and gifted designers, have mounted it with elegance, intelligence and heart. This production of

Six Degrees of Separation is flat out terrific, and should not be missed.

Six Degrees of Separation continues through April 9, 2017, at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN. Tickets: $35.00 - $48.00. Student Rush Tickets (two per valid ID): $20.00; Public Rush Tickets: $24.00. Rush tickets must be purchased at box office, cash only, starting one hour before performances. For tickets call 612-339-3303 or go to theaterlatteda.com. Note, the play contains full male nudity and adult themes.

Writer: John Guare; Director: Peter Rothstein; Associate Director and Scenic Design: Kate Sutton-Johnson; Costume Design: Alice Fredrickson; ; Lighting Design: Barry Browning; Sound Design: Sean Healey; Properties Master: Abbee Warmboe; Dialect Coach: Keely Wolter; Technical Director: Bethany Reinfeld; Stage Manager: Tiffany K. Orr; Production Manager: Allen Weeks.

Cast: Jay Albright (Dr. Fine/Doorman/piano), Patrick Bailey (Geoffrey), Mark Benninghofen (Flanders Kittredge), JuCoby Johnson (Paul), Julie Madden (Kitty), Riley McNutt (Doug/detective/tenor saxophone), John Middleton (Larkin), Gabriel Murphy (Rick/hustler), Dan Piering (Woody/ policeman/ guitar/cello), Grant Sorenson (Trent/Ben), Kendall Anne Thompson (Tess/Elizabeth/guitar), Sally Wingert (Ouisa Kittredge).

'Six Degrees of Separation' at the Ritz

Pamela EspelandMinnPost

March 16, 2017

The picks

Now at the Ritz: “Six Degrees of Separation.” First, Theatre Latté Da’s new production of John Guare’s play about a young black con man who targets Manhattanites is not a musical. There is live music, but no singing. Second, if you haven’t already heard, “Six Degrees” contains full-frontal male nudity. Way to keep it fresh, Latté Da. The cast is led by Sally Wingert and Mark Benninghofen (last seen at the Ritz in “Sweeney Todd”) as posh couple Ouisa and Flan Kittredge; JuCoby Johnson is the con who claims to be Sidney Poitier’s son and talks his way into their lives. Johnson was last seen at the Minnesota Jewish Theatre in “The Whipping Man,” directed by Sally Wingert, because everyone on the planet is separated by only six other people. Kate Sutton-Johnson’s upscale set spans the width of the Ritz and is filled with art by Twin Cities artists (we love that); Barry Browning’s lighting is inspired. If all you know of “Six Degrees” is the Kevin Bacon joke, this is a dark play, and talky, and absolutely worth seeing. Peter Rothstein directs. FMI and tickets ($35-48). Ends April 9.

Review: Theater Latté Da's 'Six Degrees of Separation'

Graydon RoyceStar Tribune

March 14, 2017

There have been several occasions over the years in which Theater Latté Da has cracked its theatrical skin and stretched toward something new.

That sense of metamorphosis imbues Peter Rothstein’s production of “Six Degrees of Separation,” which opened Saturday at the Ritz in northeast Minneapolis.

No, John Guare’s crunchy 1990 play has not been transformed into a musical — Latté Da’s metier. Some of Rothstein’s actors play musical instruments as accents during and between scenes, creating an indispensable cinematic dimension, but music supports — rather than drives — this thoroughly theatrical endeavor. “Six Degrees” is Rothstein’s most substantial foray into a nonmusical on Latté Da’s stage.

Guare’s play jumps off from real life. In the 1980s, a con man passed himself off as Sidney Poitier’s son and worked his way into the apartments of several tony Manhattanites.

In “Six Degrees,” the character Paul (JuCoby Johnson) knows details about his marks’ children and he can talk intellectual smack about “The Catcher in the Rye,” the absence of imagination and the phoniness of self-satisfaction.

Guare, though, isn’t satisfied with a mere caper. Sally Wingert’s Ouisa Kittredge (how marvelously smug is that name?) agonizes late in the play about Paul’s fate: “He wanted to be us. He envied us. We aren’t enough to be envied.” Aha! Self-awareness invades the Kittredges’ existential stupor. Paul has forced Ouisa to muse on how all humans are just “six people apart.”

Johnson starts the evening a bit stiff — perhaps by design, because he’s trying to make a good impression on the Kittredges. He relaxes into Paul’s con scheme and by play’s end we are fixated on who this desperate, quixotic character is — phony or real?

Wingert and Mark Benninghofen, as Ouisa’s art-dealer husband Flan, share a very watchable chemistry built from years on stage together. Their characters here grow subtly apart. Ouisa looks at the collage of her life (all color but no structure) and wonders how she can hold onto the experience — that dazzling, frightening moment — when Paul invaded their lives. Flan bluntly shoves Paul out of mind and resumes his quest for the brass ring.

Patrick Bailey, as a buttoned-up South African tycoon, Gabriel Murphy as a tragic consequence of Paul’s counterfeit personality and Kendall Anne Thompson as the Kittredge daughter distinguish themselves in the rock-solid cast.

“Six Degrees” uses direct address and scatters its mojo around the stage. Rothstein is immeasurably aided by Kate Sutton-Johnson’s swanky New York loft, complete with artwork, and Barry Browning’s spot-on lighting scheme. As classy and distinct as both elements are, they feel natural in this intentionally stagey event.

Theater companies either innovate or become stale. “Six Degrees” is a milepost on Latté Da’s march toward the former.

Six Degrees Of Separation: highly recommended

John OliveHowWasTheShow

March 12, 2017

First things first: Six Degrees Of Separation (Theater Latté Da performing at the newly purchased Ritz, through April 9) looks terrific. Yeoperson work has been by the crackerjack design team – Kate Sutton-Johnson (sets); Alice Frederickson (costumes); Barry Browning (lights). Et al. They’ve created a marvelous Upper East Side apartment. Even better (and this is a first for this jaded reviewer): Latté Da has assembled excellent artwork (paintings, photographs, sculptures) and scattered then effectively around the large set. Come a few minutes early and check ’em out.

Second things second: the City – New York, that is – is a major character in John Guare‘s affecting (and disorienting) Six Degrees Of Separation. The main character, Paul – is his last name Poitier? Kittredge? The question is asked but never answered – sits shivering (one imagines) in Central Park, looking up the at the inviting and warmly lit windows. Paul (who is African-American) would do anything – anything – to be part of these loving (he imagines) families. So he stabs himself in the ribcage (claiming a thug did it), then collapses in the entranceway to the sprawling Kittredge ( a wonderful WASP name) apartment. Armed with the sketchiest of information (the first names of the Kittredge children) insinuates himself into the household, cooks a delicious meal, performs a gorgeous recitation of the meaning of Catcher In The Rye, agrees (after a strenuous argument) to stay overnight in the empty bed of one of the Kittredge children.

And yet, New York is a place where love and companionship must be purchased, and this Paul does. He sneaks out, engages the services of a (male) prostitute, Later it’s discovered that he has stolen TVs and money from other people. And he has victimized (is this the appropriate word?) other families.

Who is this man? What does he represent for these (mostly wealthy) people? Do they hate him? Need him? And Paul himself: what does he want? Guare here has created a truly fascinating character.

Paul is played with thoughtful earnestness by the uber-talented JuCoby Johnson. There is a wonderful sense that Paul never expected to get this far and now that he’s arrived he’s unsure what to do. But he wants – he wants, he needs – to keep the charade going. Johnson is soft-spoken, perhaps somewhat to a fault (opening night jitters?). Still, his Paul is beautifully underplayed.

Paul’s last phone call with Mrs. K, in which Paul pleads for acceptance, is gorgeous. Director Peter Rothstein has a way of building to a climax and then staging it simply and quietly. This wrenched my gut for sure.

Veterans Sally Wingert and Mark Benninghofen play the Kittredges and perfectly capture their over-energized anxiety, about money, their quasi-successful business, their surly children, the City. They prowl – and own – the large set and provide scads of rich comedy. Wonderful.

Okay, I’m out of space and thus unable to wax enthusiastic about the rest of the cast, especially the sullen children with their abrasive sense of entitlement. Know that Six Degrees Of Separation is beautifully acted, intelligently designed and staged, and well worthwhile.

John Olive is a writer living in Minneapolis. His book, Tell Me A Story In The Dark, about the magic of bedtime stories, has been published. His The Sisters Eight will be presented at First Stage Milwaukee. His screenplays, A Slaying Song Tonight and The Deflowering Of Father Trimleigh are under option. Please visit his informational website.

Theater review: Latte Da’s ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ connects

Chris HewittPioneer Press

March 12, 2017

From the start of “Six Degrees of Separation,” New York couple Flanders and Ouisa Kittredge speak directly to us, as if we are old friends at a party they’re throwing. One question audiences may ask themselves is, “But do I want to be friends with them?”

One of the feats of John Guare’s beautiful play is to expose the ugliness of some of its characters — who are wealthy, privileged, smug and both casually racist and classist — and then peel that back to reveal the deeply human fears beneath the elegant veneer these characters project.

That’s particularly true in director Peter Rothstein’s fresh, smart staging, which has the whole cast on-stage the entire time, so the actors who are not involved in any given scene sit off to the side, as if they’re members of the audience like us.

Or, to take that idea to its extreme, as if we paying customers are actors/observers in this drama, too.

“We’re all in this together” is, of course, a theme of the play that popularized the notion that everyone is separated from everyone else by a chain of half a dozen strangers — or, as Ouisa (Sally Wingert) puts it, “I am bound to everyone on the planet by a trail of six people.”

Ouisa comes to this revelation after a dinner party. The party is interrupted by a young man named Paul (nimble, code-switching JuCoby Johnson), who says he’s both a friend of their children and the son of movie star Sidney Poitier. It’s not giving away too much to reveal that he is not who he claims, or that, even in the midst of his lies, he is so charming and somehow genuine that he sparks something within Ouisa.

Moving from glittering repartee to heartbreaking drama, “Six Degrees” climaxes with a phone call from prison. Paul reaches out to Ouisa for help in the call, during which Wingert gracefully strips away Ouisa’s facade to reveal the capacity for empathy and compassion that Paul has awakened.

Rothstein’s staging makes sure that we also recognize that “Six Degrees” is Paul’s story and that, as much as “Six Degrees” is about the illusions we sometimes create to keep our lives going, it’s also about the one person of color on stage, who is desperately imagining a spot for himself in a world that seems to have no place for him.

At one point on opening night, it occurred to me, “Shouldn’t this play be called ‘Six Degrees of Connection,’ since it’s predicated on the notion that we are all connected?”

But “Separation” is right. “Six Degrees” means to upset, not to reassure. Having overturned belief systems and fractured relationships, Latte Da’s “Six Degrees” steers its characters to the brink of chaos, until a thrilling final image offers hope that meaningful connections await us, if only we can remember how to reach out to each other.

IF YOU GO

• What: “Six Degrees of Separation”
• Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Mpls.
• When: Through April 9
• Tickets: $48-$35, 612-339-3003 or theaterlatteda.com
• Capsule: A fine production of John Guare’s wise, witty play.

Actress Sally Wingert returns to 'Six Degrees' this weekend at Theater Latté Da

Rohan PrestonStar Tribune

March 10, 2017

In his autobiography, Malcolm X noted that when he was a young, wayward street hustler, he often interacted with underworld figures whose intellectual acumen could have been put to good use in science, math or the humanities, if given a chance.

Sally Wingert sees a bit of Malcolm in Paul, the young, black gay hustler who pretends to be Sidney Poitier’s son and cons a wealthy white family in the drama “Six Degrees of Separation.” Charismatic and charming, he quickly learns the codes of upper-crust white society — something that shows he has promise despite his actions, Wingert said: “He has brilliant potential but isn’t born into the right circumstances to realize his gifts.”

The veteran actress plays wealthy Upper East Side hostess Ouisa in a Theater Latté Da production of “Six Degrees” that opens Saturday in Minneapolis.

Wingert has a deep connection to John Guare’s 1990 one-act, having been part of a memorable 2003 production at the Guthrie Theater. That production took a cue from the art-world characters and played with perspective. This staging will realize similar things, said Wingert.

“It’s about the illusions, and illusory worlds, we create for ourselves,” she said. “The same way that Paul has to tell lies, Ouisa and Flan do as well. They’re living on a higher plateau, clearly, but they are one painting-sale away from having their illusion blown. Everything with them appears perfect until we find out they’re on very thin ice.”

‘Six Degrees’ history

The 1990 one-act reunites Wingert with Mark Benninghofen, who also was her partner in Latté Da’s recent “Sweeney Todd.”

Their director in both shows, theater founder Peter Rothstein, has a connection to the playwright. In the summer of 1991, while on break from graduate school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Rothstein visited his roommate in Manhattan.

“He lived in the same building as John Guare, and his parents were kind enough to set up a coffee with him,” said Rothstein. “I spent two hours with [Guare] in his apartment, which was stacked floor to ceiling with books. You couldn’t see a wall.”

When it debuted, “Six Degrees” was a brave work to stage, said Rothstein. “You have to remember that we were still in the grip of the AIDS crisis, which demonized gays, and that Jeffrey Dahmer had just been arrested for murdering and dismembering gay men. It was a scary time, and then to have this bold, black gay character onstage.”

Coincidentally, the play is getting a Broadway revival that opens next month. Its original 14-month run on Broadway led to a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a movie starring Will Smith — the superstar’s first major film role — while Stockard Channing’s portrayal of Ouisa scored an Oscar nomination as best actress.

Latté Da is known for doing musicals, or music-infused work. As Rothstein approached the script, he said he asked himself, “What would make this a Latté Da show?”

His answer: “Music. So we have live musicians onstage.”

The cast of 10 includes four who play instruments, underscoring the action.

That’s not all. The action is set in a home owned by art-world people with a keen sense of taste who like art that plays with perspective. The Latté Da design team includes clever set designer Kate Sutton Johnson.

Parallels to the past

Paul is played by young actor JuCoby Johnson, who is two years out of the Guthrie/University of Minnesota BFA program. Wingert recently directed Johnson in her highly regarded production of “The Whipping Man” at Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company.

“I don’t want to speak for JuCoby, but in that show he played a slave for whom learning to read was an illegal, illicit activity,” said Wingert. “Paul is in a similar situation. His quick learning and intelligence says that he belongs to an educated class. He just hasn’t the opportunities to develop his gifts.”

Johnson, the first of three children born in Jacksonville, Fla., to a retired military man and a nurse, said he sees young men with Paul’s potential when he travels to downtown Minneapolis.

“When I’m on the light rail, I see these kids with such light, such energy, such joy,” he said. “And then when their friends get off and they’re alone, they kind of close up. I look at them and think, they have some of Paul’s energy in them.”

All the members of the team believe that “Six Degrees” holds up well after a quarter-century.

“It not only ties in with race issues, but with questions around fear and immigration,” said Benninghofen. “It’s about how we place people in categories where we think they belong. This kid doesn’t belong in our rarefied air. But he learns the language and earns our trust by flattery — and looks like he could be a better kid for us than our own children, who are ashamed of us. Who can’t relate to that?”

7 things you probably don’t know about ‘Six Degrees of Separation’

Chris HewittPioneer Press

March 10, 2017

Like the great “Tracey Ullman Show,” the play, “Six Degrees of Separation,” is a work of art that is now better remembered for an offshoot than for itself.

Just as “Ullman” gave birth to the still-running “The Simpsons,” John Guare’s “Six Degrees of Separation” eventually led to the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” meme, which has fun with the play’s idea that everyone on the planet is connected to everyone else by six degrees or less: You once baby-sat for someone whose hair was cut by someone who drove a cab for someone who was a student of the Dalai Lama, for instance (that’s only five degrees).

Hopefully, Theater Latte Da’s production, which runs through April 9, will be a reminder that the play remains vital, hilarious and heartbreaking. It’s the story of Ouisa Kitteridge (Sally Wingert) and her family, whose lives are transformed after they come to the aid of a penniless man (JuCoby Johnson) who tells them he is Sidney Poitier’s son. (Tickets, from $48-$35, are at theaterlatteda.com.)

Taking another look at four “Degrees” — the original Broadway production (in 1990), an about-to-open Broadway revival, the Oscar-nominated movie version from 1993 and the Guthrie Theater production in 2003 — is also a reminder that those worlds are interconnected. Some fun facts about those productions, which are separated by much fewer than six degrees:

1. Both Broadway productions of "Six Degrees" have starred women who were nominated for "best supporting actress" Emmys on the same TV show. Name the TV show.

"The West Wing." Stockard Channing was in the original, 1990 production, Allison Janney in the upcoming revival.

2. Sally Wingert stars in Latte Da's production. She was in the Guthrie's 2003 "Six Degrees," playing the supporting role of Kitty and understudying the lead role. She shares that dual distinction with what Broadway/TV star?

Kelly Bishop

3. A running joke in "Six Degrees" is its characters' disdain for a popular musical that was on Broadway at the same time as the original "Six Degrees" and, coincidentally, has returned at the same time as the upcoming Broadway revival. Name it.

CATS

4. He's now a famous director but, in the 1993 "Six Degrees" film, he played a cranky college student.

That's J.J. Abrams, who went on to co-create "Lost" and direct "Super 8" and a couple "Star Trek" films.

5. The supporting cast of the original Broadway production of "Six Degrees" was an incubator for soon-to-be stars. Name one of three future Tony winners who played supporting roles.

Laura Linney, Courtney B. Vance, and John Cameron

6. Two future "Sex and the City" husbands appeared in the 1990 "Six Degrees" production on Broadway. Can you name them? (Hint: One's more of a Charlotte; one's more of a Miranda.)

Evan Handler and David Eigenberg

7. "Six Degrees" at Latte Da is the second show in a row Sally Wingert has worked on with actor JuCoby Johnson. Did you see the first?

"Whipping Man" at Minnesota Jewish Theater

Review: Peter and the Starcatcher

Arthur DormanTalkin' Broadway

February 7, 2017

When Tyler Michaels, as an orphan with no name, sat on the stage floor at the Ritz Theater pleading "All I want is to be a boy for a while," my throat tightened as I felt the urge to shout out, "Me too!" Who can resist the lure of the boy who becomes Peter Pan and never grows up, whose life is one adventure after another in Neverland, and who gets through them all unscathed? Of course, his is the province of children, but something in that boy stirs the adult heart every time—at least, for this adult.

Peter and the Starcatcher is a play by Rick Elice based on the novel "Peter and the Starcatchers" by John Barry and Ridley Pearson. It is an invented back-story for Peter Pan, revealing how he came to be in Neverland, the creation of his devoted fairy partner Tinkerbell, and how he drew the eternal enmity of a foppish pirate captain—as well as how that pirate, who had been called Black Stache, lost his hand and acquired the name Captain Hook. It's an origins story for the original super hero of many a childhood.

Okay, I confess, I've loved James M. Barrie's creation all my life. "Peter Pan" was the first chapter book read to me as a very young child, and it was the first theater work I ever saw, by way of Mary Martin's performance live on NBC in 1955 and again in 1956. I doubted that I had the bravado to be Peter Pan—besides, there could only be one Peter—but I imagined finding eternal bliss as a lost boy. Yet, I never wondered from whence Peter, or Tink or Hook had come. I was perfectly able to accept the idea that they had just appeared, spawned out of the same magic dust Peter uses to teach children to fly. Well, thank goodness Barry and Pearson wanted some answers and put them in a book, and that Rick Elice thought it would be a good idea to put those answers on a stage. Even more fortunate, Theater Latté Da had the brilliant notion to include Peter and the Starcatcher in their current season.

As delightfully fanciful as the story is, the manner in which it is told turns it into the merriest thing to turn up on a stage in many years. It uses the most basic props (a plunger and a tennis racket become swords in a duel between Peter and Hook), an English music hall sensibility, and a set that looks like a mad hatter's attic, framed by a giant octopus with its tentacles stretched over the proscenium. The constant silliness to the proceedings is made all the more fun by the earnestness of the characters. Music, played on stringed instruments by actor Silas Sellnow, provides a jaunty soundscape, and occasional choral numbers add to the unruly playfulness. The text includes scads of double entendres, sly anachronisms, and unabashedly bad puns (of course, with puns, the worse they are, the better).

The play is set in 1885, well into the reign of Queen Victoria, whose likeness hangs on one side of the stage, lighting up at each mention of her royal name. Three orphan boys are sold off and put aboard the good ship Neverland to become slaves to the king of the far off island of Rundoon, though the boys believe they are on their way to be the king's special helpers. Also on board is Molly, the precocious and accomplished 13-year-old daughter of Lord Aster. Lord Aster, a widower, takes Molly with him on his many world travels, but this time they are traveling on separate ships to Rundoon. He is sailing on The Wasp, a swifter vessel, to dispose of a trunk of containing magical staff stuff in the world's hottest volcano, Mount Jalapeño, which is also on Rundoon. It is because his mission is so dangerous that Lord Aster insists Molly travel separately, under the protection of her nanny, Mrs. Bumbrake—a delightful character written to be played by a man, in the English pantomime tradition.

Soon after boarding the Neverland, Mrs. Bumbrake meets Alf, a coarse and flatulent old seafarer, and the two are attracted to one another, forming a twosome that provides laughs throughout the play. Molly meets the three orphan boys: Ted, who is obsessed with food; Prentiss, hung up on being the group leader; and one who became orphaned before being given a name. Meanwhile, Lord Aster realizes that The Wasp is no longer under the command of his friend Admiral Scott, but has been seized by pirates led by the nefarious and flamboyant Black Stache, aided by faithful first mate Smee. Black Stache demands the key to the trunk, but Lord Aster maintains a stiff upper lip, always the Brit.

From this start, the rollicking story includes: a native island people called the Mollusks who are led by Chief Fighting Prawn; incandescent mermaids; annoying yellow birds; a flying cat; swordplay; a huge man-eating crocodile named Mr. Grin; a near drowning; two identical trunks—one packed with treasure, the other a decoy—that get switched (talk about tired conventions made sparkling new); surprising kisses. And the boy without a name gains not only a name—Peter Pan—but a home—Neverland. More than that, he learns that a leader is one who puts others before himself. As Peter proves himself a hero, Black Stache (who has now become Captain Hook, but I'm not about to tell you how that happens) rejoices, for with a genuine hero to do battle against, he can be a genuine villain.

The entire cast shines from start to finish. All praise to Tyler Michaels as Peter, a role he already proved himself born to play at Children's Theater Company's production of Peter Pan a couple of years back. This time out, Michaels portrays an even richer character, for he must grow from sullen and cynical into boy hero, experiencing pangs of first love along the way. Michael's physical dexterity—making leaping about the scenery, hanging from a rope, crouching like a frog—seem like no more effort than bending a pinky. He is, as always, a joy to watch.

But he is not alone. Pearce Bunting is terrifically self-absorbed and decadent as Black Stache, rolling through both the wordplay and swordplay with ease, and moving about the stage with haughty swagger. Megan Burns is delightful as Molly—chatty, accomplished, competitive and bossy, yet endearing. Adam Qualls is hilarious as both Smee and Alf, while Craig Johnson steals every scene he is in as Mrs. Bumbrake and a tricked-out mermaid named Teacher who brings enlightenment to Peter. Ricardo Beaird and Silas Sellnow warm the heart while raising laughs as the orphans Prentiss and Ted.

Everything about the physical production—Joel Sass's eye-filling set, Sonya Berlovitz's glorious costumes, Marcus Dilliard's lighting, and Sean Healey's sound design—could not be bettered. Sass also directs the piece, keeping it moving at a breakneck pace, with pauses just brief enough to make sure the jokes land (and they do!). The characters on occasion speak directly to the audience, making it clear they know this is just a play, just pretend, but they go back to playing their parts with the utmost sincerity, just like children at play, pretending to be cops and robbers, or perhaps Peter Pan and pirates.

More than any show in recent memory, I was saddened when Peter and the Starcatcher came to an end. Presented with fizz and humor and heart, like the boy at the center of the tale, it is a worthy addition to a story that never grows old.

Peter and the Starcatcher continues through February 26, 2017, at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN. Tickets: $35.00 - $48.00. For tickets call 612-339-3303 or go to theaterlatteda.com.

Writer: Rick Elice, based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson; Music: Wayne Barker; Director and Scenic Design: Joel Sass; Music Director: Denise Prosek; Choreography: Carl Flink; Costume Design: Sonya Berlovitz; Costume Design Assistant: Jeni O'Malley; Lighting Design: Marcus Dilliard's; Sound Design: Sean Healey; Properties Master: Abbee Warmboe; Wig Design: Andrea Moriarity; Dialect Coach: Keely Wolter; Fight Director: Annie Enneking; Technical Director: Stein Rosburg; Stage Manager: Andrea K. Bowman; Assistant Director: Eric Norton; Assistant Stage Manager: April Harding; Production Manager: Allen Weeks.

Cast: Ricardo Beaird (Prentiss), Pearce Bunting (Black Stache/Mack), Megan Burns (Molly), Craig Johnson (Grempkin/ Mrs. Bumbrake/ Teacher), Tyler Michaels (Boy/Peter) Adam Qualls (Smee/Alf), James Rodriguez (Slank/Rufus/Hawking Clam), Silas Sellnow (Ted), Andre Shoals (Lord Aster/Fighting Prawn).

Theater Latté Da's 'Peter and the Starcatcher' offers magic straight on till morning

Rohan PrestonStar Tribune

February 6, 2017

It’s easy to be swept up into the magic of “Peter and the Starcatcher,” the “Peter Pan” prequel that opened Saturday at the Ritz in Minneapolis.

Director Joel Sass’ staging of this music-infused play for Theater Latté Da is often captivating, with well crafted small bits that explode into delirious fun, though the first act is a bit overlong. Playwright Rick Elice, who wrote this adaptation from a 2006 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, could have used a judicious editor to make the first act hum with the verve, vitality and juice offered in the second act.

Like “Wicked,” which grew out of “The Wizard of Oz,” “Starcatcher” takes its cue from a classic text, specifically J.M. Barrie’s fantasy about a boy who never grows up. The show offers a fantastical back story about how Peter Pan, Molly, Captain Hook and the others came to be, and how Peter Pan developed his aversion to the adult world.

Set in the 19th century during Queen Victoria’s reign, “Starcatcher” involves sailing ships, a trunk full of treasure, pirates, magic and an island of aggrieved people once sold into British slavery. This is the first local staging of the Tony-winning work, which played Minneapolis in 2014 on a national tour.

The stage at the Ritz is chock-full of things seemingly rescued from a demolished Victorian home. That deconstructionist style is present not only in Sass’ set design, which includes the innards of a piano as well as sundry musical instruments, but also in Sonya Berlovitz’s seemingly slapdash costumes. These elements ground the play in a simple world where anything is possible.

Tyler Michaels, who played Peter Pan to acclaim at Children’s Theatre in 2014, plays the adult-averse Boy. He offers innocence and magic in a staging that combines English music hall with vaudeville. Using simple props and puppetry as they make inventive sounds, members of the acting ensemble hook our imagination.

Pearce Bunting hams it up as the malaprop-prone, scenery-chewing pirate captain Black Stache while Megan Burns gives 13-year-old Molly precociousness and power. She and Andre Shoals, who plays Molly’s father, the ship captain Lord Aster, have one of the funniest scenes in the play when they communicate in Norse code — a Viking antecedent to Morse code that Aster has taught his daughter. (He’s also taught her Dodo and Porpoise.)

Other notables include Adam Qualls as Smee, Black Stache’s bumbling first mate; Ricardo Beaird and Silas Sellnow as orphans Prentiss and Ted; James Rodriguez as scary Slank, and Craig Johnson, whose chaste Mrs. Bumbrake, Molly’s caretaker, is a sight to behold as she draws roars of laughter in a show full of joy.