Day: 1
Show: 2
Title: Lily
By: The Algebra Theater
Written by: Becka Linder
Location: Theatre in the Round
Summary: A high school math teacher who once dreamed of becoming an actor, and maybe still does, returns home to Minnesota after living in California. She's struggling in her life, and keeps thinking back to her class in California, and one particular girl she can't stop seeing.
Highlights: Becka Linder is compelling and appropriately frenetic as the coffee-drinking teacher ("call me Ruthie"), and she also wrote and directed the piece, based on her real life experiences as a math teacher and an actor. She's also cast some of her real students as the students, and they're all wonderful, particularly Abby Maas as the title character. No sign of "acting," just kids being kids. The ending was a little lacking in resolution, especially in Ruthie's relationship with her husband, but worth seeing for the performances by adults and kids alike. And how can I not love a play with references to both local theater ("look, it's Mo Perry*!") and math (the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio).
Read more of my fringe fest reflections...
*Ironically, I found myself standing in line for my next show in front of Mo Perry. No I did not say "look, it's Mo Perry!" because someone beat me to it. A gentleman was talking to her about how much he loves her work, even though he couldn't quite remember what he'd seen her in recently. "Were you in An Ideal Husband?" "No." Finally he asked what she was last in - "Crashing the Party at Mixed Blood." "No, that's not it." An example of life imitates art imitates life. (I think he was thinking of Dangerous Liaisons.)
theatrical musings in Minnesota and beyond
