"The One-Woman Playwright Festival" at Yellow Tree Theatre

For the month of February, Yellow Tree Theatre is bringing us a new play by a local female playwright every weekend in "The One-Woman Playwright Festival." I would love to be able to see every one of these plays, but they're only having two readings of each, and in this busy month of February that just wasn't possible. But I definitely made time to head to Osseo last weekend to support my friend and fellow Twin Cities Theater Blogger Mary Aalgaard from Play Off the Page. She's a playwright, actor, piano teacher, and music director in the Brainerd area (who drives to the Cities to see and review theater - and people think I'm dedicated!). Read on for a little more about her play It's Murder, Dontcha Know, and then check out one (or both) of the final two plays in the series (by #TCTheater artists Jamecia Bennett and Thomasina Petrus, the first play was by George Keller).

It's Murder Dontcha Know is an adaptation of the book by Minnesota author Jeanne Cooney (the first in a trilogy). Mary been working on the script for the last several years, including some readings and workshops. The play will have a full production at Central Lakes College Performing Arts Center in Brainerd later this month, but first - a staged reading at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo. Yellow Tree has a history of quirky small-town Minnesota comedies (co-founder Jessica Lind Peterson's Miracle on Christmas Lake, A Gone Fishin' Christmas, and A Hunting Shack Christmas just to name a few) so this play fits right in. 

To call this performance a reading is selling it short. The Brainerd-based cast has been rehearsing the play for weeks, and many of them were off book. Neither did they all sit on chairs as is typical for a reading. The actors came on and off stage as needed and moved around to different settings. There are quite a few locations in this play, and their Brainerd stage is larger and will allow them to spread out a bit more. The play is a murder mystery with tons of Minnesota jokes, references, and accents, which Minnesota audiences love. The show is a lot of fun, and the large and talented cast (which includes the playwright) is having a lot of fun with it. If you're in the Brainerd area you should definitely go check it out at CLCPAC February 27 - March 2. Some of the bloggers made the trip up to see Mary in a production of August: Osange County last summer and it was fantastic! Because you don't have to drive to the big city to see great theater - it's everywhere.

Twin Cities Theater Bloggers on the Yellow Tree stage
with playwright Mary Aalgaard