"The Lady Demands Satisfaction" by [un]qualified theatre at University Baptist Church

Another new #TCTheater born out of the Minnesota Fringe Festival continues to make great work outside of Fringe. [un]qualified theatre's super fun and playful adaptation of The Invisible Man was one of my favorite shows of 2023. Now they're bringing that playful silly vibe to the play The Lady Demands Satisfaction. This 18th Century farce was written in this century, so it feels both period and modern. Co-Artistic Directors Jake Sung-Guk Sullivan and Kiko Laureano serve as director and associate director, respectively, and have made a fun scrappy little show, performed in a church basement. They read this play during the pandemic and wondered why no one was doing it here, so they decided to do it themselves. That's the great thing about this theater community, that a group of young artists can put on a show with a much lower budget but just as much entertainment value as the big theaters in town. Unfortunately this is a super short run, with only two performances remaining at University Baptist Church in Dinkytown (go early to navigate construction, traffic, crowds, and parking).

The gist of this improbably farcical story is that teenager Trothe (Nadya Dominique) becomes an orphan and must fight a duel (or many duels) against those who are challenging her to win her family estate. She's aided by her father's best friend Lord Abernathy (Kjer Whiting), her aunt Lady Theodosia (Amanda Espinoza), herself a master swordswoman, and two well-intentioned servants Penelope (Kari Heistad) and Tilly (Kelly Solberg). Penelope comes up with a plan in which Trothe marry the best swordsman in the land, a Prussian named Luitger (R Merit Burgett), who can fight for her, but she's in love with the poet Osric (understudy Ben Thacker). So an alternative plan is enacted, which includes disguises (natch) and sword fights, in which one (or maybe both) parties is attempting to lose. It's a wild ride of a plot with lots of twists and turns, but just hold on and enjoy the fun.

Trothe (Nadya Dominique) and her Aunt Theodosia
(Amanda Espinoza, photo by Molly Weibel)

Everyone in the seven-person cast is committed to the stylized tone of the piece, and the accents, and they're a lot of fun to watch. There's even a bit of fake and real Prussian (aka German) being spoken (once again my German minor comes in handy at the theater). The wildly inventive fight scenes (with swords, daggers, and baguettes) are choreographed by Mason Tyer and performed with gusto by the cast. They're dressed in fun and colorful period clothing that looks more costumey than authentic, but that's what's called for by this ridiculous script.

This play is literally performed in a church basement, albeit one with a tiny stage on one end, the maybe 40-60 audience members seated on several rows of plastic chairs on the floor. Importantly, the stage allows for four different entrances and entrances (more doors = moor funny in farce), two on stage and two sets of doors on either side of the stage, and they're well used to comic effect. The charmingly DIY set includes some curtains (that were constantly falling down), a couple of benches moved around in different configurations, and some great prop food for the dinner/fight scene.

This regional premiere of The Lady Demands Satisfaction is a great choice by [un]qualified theatre, funny and farcical and silly, but with a lot of great roles and arcs for women, who get to partake in sword-fighting! (The play was originally written for a Chicago company called Babes with Blades.) And this cast and creative team put a lot of heart and humor into it, for a fun evening of theater in this Dinkytown church basement. Despite the cheeky name, [un]qualified theatre is indeed quite qualified to make theater. You have two more chances to see it - tonight and tomorrow afternoon (click here for info and tickets).