By: Play off the Page on October 13, 2012 - 12:35pm - Add new comment

The Crow Wing State Park located nine miles south of Brainerd on highway 371 offers gorgeous trails with historical markers. The Chef and I walked along the trails where the Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers intersect. I wondered why I hadn't been there before either on my own or with a school group with one of my kids. Some schools do use this park as one of their field trips. My kids' classes did not go here. I think they missed out.

By: Play off the Page on October 8, 2012 - 8:29am - Add new comment

I've seen "The Diary of Anne Frank" performed several times, and this production at the local college/Brainerd community theatre was different. It is a newer adaptation of Anne's diary. I had a stronger sense of their religion and customs in this version. Anne speaks more openly about her body and sexuality, though not overtly, rather as most girls do as they're growing up and curious about their bodies and who they will fall in love with. I felt more of a tenderness between Anne and her mom towards the end of this production than I've ever felt.

By: Play off the Page on September 30, 2012 - 1:54pm - Add new comment

I would like to thank Michelle Woster for inviting me to view and review "Measure for Measure", by Ten Thousand Things Theater. They are a theater company that takes the show on the road, performing at prisons, shelters, housing projects, remote rural locations, and accessible venues. (They have hopes of coming to the Brainerd area next year.) They keep the set and props simple and representative, making it easy to set up their "stage" wherever they go. We walked into the performance space at The Open Book, downtown Minneapolis, where the chairs were set for theater in the round.

By: Play off the Page on September 24, 2012 - 4:43pm - Add new comment

In "Tales from Hollywood" the exiled writers who fled Nazi Germany form a community in Los Angelos. They're trying to write in a foreign country using a foreign language with foreign ideals and concepts. And, all the while they're trying to make sense of this cruel world and eek out an existence. Bertolt Brecht questions why he is writing for the screen when he is a playwright in a medium where there is no interaction with the audience. In an interesting use of light and sound, the creative team at The Guthrie Theater projects scenes from the play onto screens as the backdrop.