Welcome to One Show to See This Week, a weekly newsletter about theater in the Twin Cities written by Alex Lauer. Every Monday I send out a recommendation for the one play or musical I think you should see in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in the next seven days, along with some helpful tips for ticket discounts and things to do, because I think theater should be part of your weekly routine.
This is just the second edition of the newsletter, which is also posted on my website. If you like what you’re reading, please forward along to anyone you think would be interested too! This is a one-person operation, so I appreciate you all helping me to spread the word. If you’re not yet subscribed to the email newsletter, use the form below. And if you have any comments, recommendations, or suggestions, my inbox is always open: alexlauer.mpls@gmail.com. I’m also on Instagram at @OneFanShow.
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One Show to See This Week
I and You
St. Croix Festival Theatre
The Historic Auditorium, 210 N. Washington St., St. Croix Falls, WI 54024
Through October 26th
According to the Minnesota DNR, it’s last call for fall foliage. That means one thing: road trip! But you need a destination, and I’ve got the perfect one: St. Croix Festival Theatre has one weekend left of the Lauren Gunderson play I and You, a captivating two-hander involving a homebound teenage girl (played by Lindsey Fry) who gets a surprise visit from a classmate (James Xavier Randolph) who ostensibly has a school assignment to give her, with performances Thursday at 7:30 p.m., and 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
St. Croix Festival Theatre punches far above its weight, located as it is in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin (population: 2,310). The theater company came on my radar a year ago when they reopened the town’s Historic Auditorium with a rousing Spitfire Grill, and it’s exactly the type of troupe that made me want to broaden the scope of this newsletter to the “Minneapolis-St. Paul area.” Their main theater is about an hour’s drive from the Twin Cities — head northeast and scoot across the Wisconsin border and the St. Croix River — and the caliber of their productions makes the drive more than worth it. (They’ve even staged original work.) Not that you need an excuse to drive through the St. Croix River Valley in the prime of autumn.
What to Do Before or After
When I went to a Festival Theatre show for the first time last August, I asked Lindsey Fry, who was in The Spitfire Grill and is also starring in I and You, for some recommendations about where to eat in the area, so my thanks to her for these gems: The Watershed Cafe is a popular (read: don’t try and go here at the last second before a show!) spot 15 minutes south in Osceola, and Be Wild Burgers is a fun little walk-up burger joint in town (hours are very limited though, so only applicable here if you want to grab food before the Saturday show). Also, you’ll probably pass by the delightful Franconia Sculpture Park on your drive, so plan a jaunt around the grounds before or after.
How Much Are Tickets? Any Discounts?
$34.75 for adults and $20.75 for youth (ages 5 to 25), including fees. But they’re running an amazing promo for this show: If you’ve never been to Festival Theatre before, they’re offering $15 off up to two tickets if you book by calling the box office at 715-483-3387. A steal!
Can’t Make It to St. Croix Falls? Try This.
I’m already going back on my mission to recommend just one show every week, but there is one other production I feel compelled to mention as it’s related to Festival Theatre. If you’re interested in the Twin Cities Horror Festival, a two-week theater extravaganza dedicated to all things macabre and frightening currently underway at the Crane Theater in Minneapolis, be sure to check out Madness and Betrayal: A Grand Guignol Double Feature, which is playing Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 9 p.m., and Sunday at 6 p.m. The three actors in this pair of one-act melodramas include the fantastic Jesse March and Kathryn Cesarz — I saw both of them last year in the musical Heck at Festival Theatre, and let me tell you, if you’re in the mood for madcap theater, these are artists to know. Tickets are $15 and recommended age is 16+. Go and get scared.
Question of the Week
What’s your favorite theater on the outskirts of the cities within a 75-minute drive from Minneapolis or St. Paul? For me, besides Festival Theatre, I’m also a Lyric Arts booster at this point.
See you here next week!
-Alex
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