Jungle theater 2016 season

Two women have directed at Jungle Theater in its 26-year history but, in its 27th season, all of the announced directors are female (including return visits by the previous trailblazers).

The first woman to direct at the Jungle, Casey Stangl (“Fully Committed”), returns to take the helm of “The Nether.” Jennifer Haley’s sci-fi thriller pits public against private in a world where it’s not always clear that technology is our friend.

Stangl is now based in Los Angeles, but when she was in the Twin Cities, she was the founder of Eye of the Storm Theatre and she worked with actor/director Larissa Kokernot on several shows, including “How I Learned to Drive.” Kokernot, also now based in California, will return to the Twin Cities to direct the Jungle’s “Anna in the Tropics,” a drama that was inspired by “Anna Karenina,” which opens the season in February 2017. Its cast will include Adlyn Carreras and Emil Herrera.

The third director is Jungle artistic director Sarah Rasmussen, who steered last season’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona.” She will direct “Lone Star Spirits,” a ghostly comedy written by Josh Tobiessen (Rasmussen’s husband) and starring Terry Hempleman, and “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.” The Jungle’s first holiday-themed show, ” “Pemberley” closes the 2017 season with a new comedy that imagines the adventures of Mary, the middle child in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”

No director has been named yet for the fifth show, “Fly by Night: A New Musical,” which takes place during the 1965 East Coast black-out.

Season tickets are on sale. Individual tickets will go on sale Dec. 5. To order, call 612-822-7063 or visit jungletheater.com.

The Jungle Theater in Minneapolis, MN.

The Jungle Theater announced its 2021-2022 season today. The historic theater in Uptown Minneapolis will present an abbreviated, three-show season with a new-for-the-theatre, pay-as-you-can model for ticketing.

This is the Jungle’s first season under new management, following the appointment of Christina Baldwin as Artistic Director and Robin Gillette as Managing Director in the Spring of 2021. The three mainstage shows are a mix of familiar and new:

• Every Brilliant Thing by English playwright Duncan Macmillan & British comedian Jonny Donahoe. This one-man play, originally written as a star vehicle for Donahoe, amassed hundreds of UK performances before a successful Off-Broadway production in 2016. The Jungle production will be directed by Meredith McDonough, and runs October 16-November 14, 2021.
• Redwood, a Kilroys list play by Brooklyn playwright Brittany K. Allen, was originally scheduled at the Jungle for March 2020. Its plot follows genealogical sleuthing into an exploration of slavery and its roots in a time and space-bending dramedy. The Jungle production will be directed by H. Adam Harris, and runs February 5-March 13, 2022.
• In a co-production with Theatre Mu, Lauren Yee’s familiar Cambodian Rock Band comes to the Jungle to close out its mainstage season. This play with music also features a trek across time, starting with an escape from the Khmer Rouge and jumping back and forth across three decades. The Jungle production will be directed by Lily Tung Crystal and run June 11-July 31, 2022.

Details on the Jungle’s ancillary programming were not available at press time.

Twin Cities Arts Reader

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Over the years I have been to several productions at the Jungle Theater - most recently "Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley" which was wonderful! (I hear it might be revived in the winter of 2018; if so I would go again.) I have seen other productions there over the years - "Macbeth", "Excursions" (a one-woman show about Eleanor Roosevelt starring the always excellent Claudia Wilkins), and others.

Pros: A small proscenium theater with only about 150-200 seats--so no seat is "bad" though of course, the closer one can get to the front, the better. Also there are several good restaurants, bars, and coffee shops nearby (including "It's All Greek to Me" which is practically next door), so if one gets there early, one can have a nice dinner.

Cons: Parking. Probably will need to pay for parking. There is a lot right behind the theater; though the rates are not that bad, all things considered. There is potential free parking the next few residential blocks behind the theater -- depends on how early you get there, etc.

The Jungle Theater will expand its 2018-19 season to seven shows, all of them directed by women (as they were in the 2017 season) and most of them written by women.

The lineup includes two world premieres commissioned by the Jungle (“Little Women,” “The Wickhams”), another world premiere (“Stinkers”) and four hits out of New York and London (“The Children,” “Every Brilliant Thing,” “Schoolgirls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play” and “Small Mouth Sounds”).

Here’s the season:

“Little Women,” Sept. 15-Oct. 21: Artistic director Sarah Rasmussen will direct the theater’s first-ever commission, the world premiere of Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.” Twin Cities favorites Christina Baldwin and Wendy Lehr star.

“The Wickhams,” Dec. 1-30: A follow-up to the Jungle’s popular 2017 holiday show “Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley,” this is a co-commission and co-world premiere with theaters in Chicago and the Bay Area. Also by “Pemberley” creators Margo Melcon and Lauren Gunderson, it will be directed by Christina Baldwin and star Angela Timberman. “The Wickhams” will feature the return of  Sun Mee Chomet, Kelsey Didion and James Rodriguez in their “Pemberley” roles and is a package addition for Jungle season subscribers.

“The Children,” Jan. 12-Feb. 10: Former Twin Cities theater-maker Casey Stangl returns to direct the regional premiere of “The Children,” which was recently nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Written by British playwright Lucy Kirkwood, “The Children” is set in the aftermath of a nuclear power station disaster.

“School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play,” March 16-April 14: Sha Cage will direct the regional premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy that explores the similarities — and differences — facing teenage girls around the world.

“Every Brilliant Thing”: The date and venue will be revealed later as the Jungle steps outside its Minneapolis Lyn-Lake theater space. Arizona Theatre Company artistic director David Ivers returns to Minnesota to star in this one-person show.

“Small Mouth Sounds,” May 18-June 16: This regional premiere will feature Jim Lichtscheidl, Christina Baldwin and Eric Sharp. Lauren Keating will direct. The 2016 New York Times Critics’ Pick asks if it’s possible to address life’s biggest questions without saying a word?

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Season tickets ($188-$148) are on sale and single tickets ($50-$40) will go on sale in August. For more information, go to jungletheater.com or call 612-822-7063.

2019-2020 SEASON

Ride the Cycloneby Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond
Miss Bennet: Christmas At Pemberleyby Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon
A Doll’s House, Part 2by Lucas Hnath
Redwoodby Brittany K. Allen (Rescheduled due to COVID)
Mary Janeby Amy Herzog (Rescheduled due to COVID)
Cambodian Rock Bandby Lauren Yee (Rescheduled due to COVID)

2018-2019 SEASON

Little Womenby Kate Hamill
The Wickhams: Christmas At Pemberleyby Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon
The Childrenby Lucy Kirkwood
The Wolvesby Sarah DeLappe
Schoolgirls: Or The African Mean Girls Playby Jocelyn Bioh
Small Mouth Soundsby Bess Wohl
Stinkersby Josh Tobiessen
 

2018 SEASON

Ishmael directed and adapted by Leo Geter
My Mother Has Four Noses written and performed by Jonatha Brooke
The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson
Hand to God by Robert Askins
 

2017 SEASON

Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz
Lone Star Spirits by Josh Tobiessen
Fly By Nightby Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick & Kim Rosenstock
The Nether by Jennifer Haley
Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

2016 SEASON

The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
Constellations by Nick Payne
Le Switchby Philip Dawkins
Bars and Measures by Idris Goodwin
The Oldest Boy by Sarah Ruhl

2015 SEASON

Gertrude Stein and a Companion by Win Wells
And the World Goes 'Round by Kander and Ebb
You Can't Take It With You by Kaufman and Hart
Annapurna by Sharr White
The Night Alive by Conor McPherson
 

2014 SEASON

Shakespeare's Will by Vern Thiessen
Detroit by Lisa D'Amour
The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz
The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam
On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson
 

2013 SEASON

Venus in Fur by David Ives
Deathtrap by Ira Levin
Urinetown The Musical by Mark Hoffman and Greg Kotis
Fool for Love by Sam Shepard
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry

2012 SEASON

Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott
The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter
Noises Off  by Michael Frayn
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
In the Next Room by Sarah Ruhl

2011 SEASON

Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell
Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
I Am My Own Wife  by Doug Wright
 

2010 SEASON

Blithe Spirit  by Noel Coward
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  by Edward Albee
The Mystery of Irma Vep  by Charles Ludlam
The Glass Menagerie  by Tennessee Williams
Fully Committed  by Becky Mode

2009 SEASON

Hitchcock Blonde  by Terry Johnson
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Shipwrecked! by Donald Margulies
The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien
Mary's Wedding by Stephen Massicotte
The Seafarer by Conor McPherson

2008 SEASON

The Syringa Tree  by Pamela Gien
Rabbit Hole  by David Lindsay-Abaire
The Gin Game  by D.L. Coburn
Hedwig and the Angry Inch  Music by Stephen Trask, Text by John Cameron Mitchell
A Life in the Theatre  by David Mamet
Souvenir  by Stephen Temperley

2007 SEASON

The Swan  by Elizabeth Egloff
K2  by Patrick Meyers
Two for the Seesaw  by William Gibson
Speed-the-Plow  by David Mamet
Shining City  by Conor McPherson

2006 SEASON

Betrayal  by Harold Pinter
The House of Blue Leaves  by John Guare
I Am My Own Wife  by Doug Wright
Last of the Boys  by Steven Dietz
The Rivals  by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

2005 SEASON

Honour  by Joanna Murray-Smith
How the Other Half Loves  by Alan Ayckbourn
Entertaining Mr. Sloane  by Joe Orton
Bone Dry AKA the Copy Editor Murders by Paula Cizmar
Same Time, Next Year  by Bernard Slade
 

2004 SEASON

The Drawer Boy  by Michael Healey
Sylvia  by A.R. Gurney
The Dazzle  by Richard Greenberg
Recent Tragic Events  by Craig Wright
Under Milkwood  by Dylan Thomas

2003 SEASON

Lobby Hero  by Kenneth Lonergan
Perfect Crime  by Warren Manzi
Orson Welles Rehearses Moby Dick by Kent Stephens
A Delicate Balance  by Edward Albee
MIKEANDNEALSHOW  by Michael Heintzman and Neal Lerner

2002 SEASON

The Fourposter  by Jan de Hartog
The Blue Room  by David Hare
Orange Flower Water  by Craig Wright
Hapgood  by Tom Stoppard
Fully Committed  by Becky Mode

2001 SEASON

Gertrude Stein and A Companion  by Win Wells
Sylvia  by A.R. Gurney
Torch Song Trilogy  by Harvey Fierstein
Tamarack  by Buffy Sedlachek
Molly's Delicious  by Craig Wright

2000 SEASON

On the Verge  by Eric Overmyer
Talk to Me Like the Rain  by Tennessee Williams
Silver Lake  by Karl Gajdusek
Happy Days  by Samuel Beckett
The Pavilion  by Craig Wright

1999 SEASON

Macbeth  by William Shakespeare
Tossin'Junk  by Meg Grundy
Picnic  by William Inge
Lobster Alice  by Kira Obolensky
Under Milkwood  by Dylan Thomas
 

1997 - 1998 SEASON

The House of Blue Leaves  by John Guare
A Child's Christmas in Wales  by Dylan Thomas
Tales from the Underbelly  by Kevin Kling
A Life in the Theater  by David Mamet
Dial M for Murder  by Frederick Knott

1996 - 1997 SEASON

The Diary of a Madman  by Nikolai Gogol
Krapp's Last Tape  by Samuel Beckett
Bus Stop  by William Inge
Long Day's Journey into Night  by Eugene O'Neill
Seascape  by Edward Albee
 

1995 - 1996 SEASON

The Swan  by Elizabeth Agloff
Waiting for Godot  by Samuel Beckett
The Glass Menagerie  by Tennessee Williams
Eleanor Roosevelt: Excursions  by Rhoda Lerman
Fool for Love  by Sam Shepard

1994 - 1995 SEASON

The Ice Fishing Play  by Kevin Kling
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  by Edward Albee
The Miracle Worker  by William Gibson
Journey's End  by R.C. Sherriff
Gertrude Stein and A Companion  by Win Wells
 

1993 SEASON

The Lower Depths  by Maxim Gorky
Old Times  by Harold Pinter
Levitation by Timothy Mason
The Diary of Anne Frank  by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Rio Bravo! Rio Grande!  by Jim Stowell

1992 SEASON

Dial M for Murder  by Frederick Knott
Home and Away  by Kevin Kling
The House of Blue Leaves  by John Guare
Gertrude Stein and A Companion  by Win Wells
 

1991 SEASON

Only You  by Timothy Mason
A Life in the Theater  by David Mamet
Three for Tennessee  by Tennessee Williams
Shimmer  by John O'Keefe
Happy Days  by Samuel Beckett