Thinking About Theater

Did you know that the Twin Cities have more theater seats per capita than anywhere but New York? I’ve occupied at least six of those seats in one semester, and I’m not even a theater major.

BY MELINDA VOGEL ’11
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Really, what is a theater class without seeing real works performed by real people? And in the Twin Cities, great theater is everywhere.

I was a little nervous for my first class in the fine arts, African American Theater, taught by Professor Harry Waters Jr., who made it clear that he expected us to attend a lot of local performances. Reading a play is not enough, he told us; seeing ”how bodies fill spaces” is key to understanding it.

In our third week of class, the classroom whiteboard angrily asked, “What are you waiting for? Why haven’t you seen No Child … or Black Pearl Sings!?” That weekend three of us saw Black Pearl Sings!at Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. In this play, a white woman collecting slave spirituals and an incarcerated black woman navigate a complicated friendship with music. Never before have I heard one woman’s voice fill a space so completely.

A week later with my friend Neil, I biked to the Pillsbury House Theatre to see No Child …, a one-woman show about a school in New York City putting on a play. The actress in No Child… switched between 16 different characters for over an hour and a half. She went from the old janitor to a sassy student named Shaundrika and back to the self-proclaimed artist-teacher, who was attempting to put on a play within the play. The performance was surprisingly funny, while making a statement about the education act No Child Left Behind and the state of public schools.

Really, what is a theater class without seeing real works performed by real people? And in the Twin Cities, great theater is everywhere.