By Rick Pender

Charles Keating in Twelfth Night at The Guthrie Theater

Cincinnati's thriving theatrical scene hasn't cornered the market for onstage vitality. On a recent trip to Minneapolis, I was reminded of the wonderful spectrum that's possible. (A tour guide told me, "Minneapolis has more theaters per capita than any city in America except New York.") I went to the legendary GUTHRIE THEATER, a "classical repertory theater" (they stage "classic" works, from Shakespeare to the Greeks, and modern writers like Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill), created in 1963 by Sir Tyrone Guthrie, who also gave North America the excellent Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. The Guthrie's current artistic director, Joe Dowling (hired away from Dublin's Abbey Theater in 1996), is opening his 2000-2001 season with a delightful production of Shake-speare's Twelfth Night. To freshen our palate, Dowling moved the setting to Hollywood in the 1920s, translating Count Orsino into a wealthy but bored movie producer. Charles Keating, a Guthrie regular and familiar television actor (you might recognize him from Xena: Princess Warrior or several soaps, especially Another World) is Malvolio, a stuffed shirt who gets his comeuppance. Twelfth Night's characters are into play-acting, so the movie-making theme enhances the play's romantic atmosphere. Doing no disservice to Shakespeare's text, this interpretation reminds audiences of the timeliness and timelessness of great theater, where witty language and fine timing elicits as much humor today as it did four centuries ago. (Info: www.guthrietheater.org) But Minneapolis goes well beyond reinterpreting the classics. In fact, I was sad to leave town because the MINNESOTA FRINGE THEATER & PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL was set to begin in just a few days. The festival's organizers invited anyone interested to stage a short show (most under an hour), and they'll offer over 100 of them on 11 stages. A $50 pass gains access to all events; most are individually priced around $8. (More info: www.fringefestival.org) Such festivals -- often found in cities with lively theater communities such as Chicago, New York or Seattle -- are great showcases for new talent and projects that simply don't get exposure the rest of the time. They encourage creativity ... and a lot of avant-garde zaniness. Since many shows happen at the same time, everyone sits up and takes notice, whereas the occasional, oddball production at any other time would be overlooked. A fringe festival could be a perfect addition to a Cincinnati summer, perhaps in August, when a lot of performance spaces are otherwise dark. Sounds like a great project to be encouraged by the League of Cincinnati Theatres. ... Speaking of the League, so many actors turned out for the UNIFIED AUDITIONS for 13 theaters back in June that not all could be accommodated. So another round is set for August 10, 1-8 p.m. at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, 1127 Vine St. Info: Khara Pease at ETC, 421-3555, ext. 28. ... Earlier this year Cincinnati's puppet-master, Mark Fox, announced that during August his group, SAW THEATER, would present his evocative work, Account Me Puppet, based on sections of Milton's Paradise Lost. Then some touring dates came up. Fox has moved his local performances to late October and early November. Info at www.sawtheater.org or 513-541-0872.

E-mail Rick Pender

Two-Faced (July 27, 2000)
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