The Royal Family

by CHRISTINE SARKES The Royal Family at the Guthrie Theater is an entertaining, long and chaotic mess of a tribute to a comically dysfunctional Broadway “theat-ah” family – a thinly-veiled homage to the Barrymore dynasty. Although the play has muddled themes of honoring family traditions, work/life balance and living up to parental expectations, it is…

Great Expectations

by CHRISTINE SARKES This is not your dreaded high school AP English version of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: Director Joel Sass’s adaptation at Park Square Theatre is instead alive and accessible, with diverse casting and dynamic staging that highlight the humor and humanity of the play. My daughter, who was my guest to the opening…

To Kill a Mockingbird

by CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Guthrie Theater’s new artistic director Joseph Haj could not have chosen a more timely and relevant play to open his first season than Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, now through October 25 (recently extended) on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. As he states in the program’s introduction, “There is a timeliness to…

Q and A with Aisle Say Twin Cities’ Founders Sophie Kerman and Anna Rosensweig: A Farewell Tribute and Virtual Legacy

BY CHRISTINE SARKES SASSEVILLE Recently, Aisle Say Twin Cities lost the second of its two founding members as life pulled them in different directions. Sophie Kerman announced that she was moving on in her last post, a review of the Ivey Awards. Anna Rosensweig left us in 2012 to complete her Ph.D. and begin postdoctoral…